WWE Raw Results: Biggest Winners, Losers and Moments from August 14

The Road to SummerSlam 2017 rolled through Boston Monday night as the WWE presented the final Raw before this Sunday's Biggest Party of the Summer.

A show that featured two matches originally scheduled for the pay-per-view netted different results for the men involved.

For Akira Tozawa, his victory over Neville for the Cruiserweight Championship was the culmination of a steady build and journey to gold for the Japanese competitor. While some will argue his victory should have been saved for SummerSlam, booking it for Raw allowed for a genuine surprise and, more importantly, kept the feud from descending into repetition and boredom.

Finn Balor and Bray Wyatt were not so lucky.

The enigmatic and mysterious rivals should have had the fans in the palms of their hands heading into the event, their first one-on-one match scheduled for the summertime spectacular. Unfortunately, the misguided decision was made to book their bout for Raw, a choice that will undeniably hurt the anticipation for their bout in Brooklyn.

Sasha Banks scored an enormous win Monday, and Elias' character maturation continued to engross the audience.

Winner: Sasha Banks

In her hometown of Boston, Sasha Banks turned in her best performance since Great Balls of Fire, defeating Nia Jax in a hotly contested match and punching her ticket to SummerSlam.

The Boss was forced to fight from underneath for the majority of the match, overwhelmed by Jax's power and size. But she never quit. Banks seized an opening and applied the Bank Statement not once, but twice, and she scored the submission victory.

The reaction for her win suggests that not only is she beloved by her hometown fans, but all of the booking miscues surrounding her character over the last year have not diminished the connection she has with fans.

Now, she enters The Biggest Party of the Summer ready to do battle with real-life nemesis Alexa Bliss over the Raw Women's Championship. Having suffered career disappointment a year ago at the same event, can she make good Sunday and win a title that has eluded her since 2016?

We will find out in a match that, if their battle at Great Balls of Fire was any indication, could be one of the most intense of the entire card.

Losers: Finn Balor and Bray Wyatt

One of the more intriguing SummerSlam matches was, before Monday, the showdown between Finn Balor and Bray Wyatt. The NXT exports had never worked one-on-one on television before, giving fans the opportunity for a fresh match on a major pay-per-view.

Until WWE officials booked the first encounter for a free episode of Raw six days before they were meant to do battle in Brooklyn.

The match itself was fine, and the post-match angle will help bring about the return of The Demon.

What helped earn Balor and Wyatt "loser" status, though, is the distinct lack of heat that will accompany that match come Sunday night.

The crowd will pop for the return of Balor's face-painted alter-ego, but the match itself will suffer from the "been there, done this" attitude of an audience who just watched it happened days earlier. The decision to book that match for Boston Monday will do Balor and Wyatt a great disservice when trying to generate heat from a crowd who will sit through a bloated card Sunday night.

It is unfortunate because if any program could reinvigorate both Balor and Wyatt after questionable use over the last few months, it was their feud with each other. Now, though, the excitement surrounding their match has been hampered by a frankly stupid creative choice.

Winner: Akira Tozawa

Akira Tozawa's rise to the top of the Cruiserweight division culminated in Monday's victory over Neville for the Cruiserweight Championship. A charismatic Superstar, the Japanese competitor paid off months of chasing The King of the Cruiserweights, pinning him to win his division's top prize.

The reaction for his win was enormous and suggests Tozawa may finally be gaining in popularity with the WWE Universe. For the longest time, his music would play, he would do his little chant and fans would respond in kind. But there was no emotional connection to speak of.

Tozawa's win Monday would seem to suggest that is changing.

The relationship with Titus O'Neil has done him wonders, allowing Tozawa to find an identity beyond "talented cruiserweight." Now, it will be up to WWE Creative to build on the momentum he has and continue giving fans a reason to care.

If it can accomplish that, the division will have a Superstar it can build around not named Neville for the first time in this incarnation's existence.

Winner: Elias

There are some characters who suck the audience in and make them pay attention.

Elias is one of them.

From the way he looks into the crowd, then condescendingly addresses them and strums his guitar, Elias has done a phenomenal job of adding elements to his performance that guarantees him heel heat. That much was on display Monday night as he disparaged the Boston fans.

Before the bell even rang, the fans had pledged to boo the ever-loving hell out of Elias. That is heat even the most prominent of heels cannot generate. He has a firm understanding of crowd psychology, which is his greatest weapon.

The aggression he exhibited in beating down R-Truth is another superb element of the character, one that serves as a warning to the crowd: Elias may be cool, calm and collected while strumming his guitar, but behind those eyes and soothing voice is a dangerous man ready to unleash on any unfortunate soul placed before him.

On a show where character development is often times sacrificed in the name of filling the three-hour run time of Raw with as much wrestling as possible, Elias is a welcome and intriguing addition.