WWE spent much of tonight’s WWE Raw building up its big matches for SummerSlam, and many of them received a welcome boost in drama or hype before WWE brought the show to a close. The show featured many of its biggest superstars, though it also continued to build up some of its newest superstars as well. That said, some superstars are still looking for some much-needed wins as well as a vaunted spot on the SummerSlam card. We’re here to break down all of the night’s biggest moments and reveal which ones were home run hits and which ones were complete misses, so let’s get started with the first key segment of the night.
Paul Heyman and Jey Uso battled on the microphone to start Monday Night Raw, and while it took a while to get off the ground, Heyman did eventually land the plan with his promo. Granted, Heyman’s crowd interaction skills are second to none, so that’s always entertaining, but the real meat of this promo was when Heyman started to target Jey’s role in the original Bloodline.
Heyman brought up a bunch of key Bloodline history that is easy to forget, but is a great way to plant seeds of doubt within Jey and Roman’s alliance. Bringing up that Solo was picked to lead the Bloodline over Jey was an especially great point to make, and it would be amazing to see them play on that with a confrontation between Solo and Jey at some point to sow even more doubt if this alliance is going to continue.
Hit: Return of Mixed Tag Team Matches
WWE doesn’t often dip into the mixed Tag Team well, but between last week’s Raw and this week’s Raw, it seems that isn’t necessarily the case any longer, and that’s a wonderful thing. Tonight’s mixed Tag Team match featured the team of AJ Styles and the Kabuki Warriors against the Judgement Day squad of Dominik Mysterio, Raquel Rodriguez, and Roxanne Perez. We’ve seen stories featuring these six superstars over the past several weeks, but mixing them together helps keep things fresh while also moving them forward, even if it’s in a smaller way. More of this please!
Hit: Truly a New Day
Last week Grayson Waller returned and started interacting with New Day’s Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston, and this week their alliance was truly made official. I wondered last week what the plan was for New Day after suffering a loss and exiting the Title picture (at least for now), and it would seem that the plan is now getting some aid from Waller.
While that’s not what I would have expected as New Day’s next evolution, not going to lie, it might actually work pretty well. Waller is the perfect complement to this heel version of New Day, and he gives them a welcome boost of unpredictability that should help them stay in the mix on Raw. How it plays out from here remains to be seen, but as a combination, it holds promise.
Miss: Missing the Payoff
Unfortunately, that Waller team-up does come with a miss alongside it, though it has nothing to do with New Day. Those who have been watching Raw and even NXT over the past year likely know that one of the longer play storylines was the break-up of A-Town Down Under, which was the Tag Team of Waller and Austin Theory. Over time, the break-up had been teased a number of times, and at several points in this story, the crowd was shown to clearly be behind Theory finally breaking away from his selfish and egoistical teammate.
Sadly, WWE never got to pay off that storyline, as an injury has sidelined Theory for a long enough timeframe that WWE is moving Waller into another story, and there’s no guarantee that when Theory is ready to go, that storyline will actually receive a payoff. Even if it does get addressed, it won’t have the same momentum that it did at one point in time, and it’s a shame, as Theory really could have gotten a nice push from that story as a babyface. While long-term storytelling is wonderful, there can be times when you wait too long to resolve it, and this is unfortunately one of those times. We wish Theory all the best and hope for a speedy recovery.
Miss: This Isn’t Clicking…right?
Speaking of Waller, he was actually in the middle of another story thanks to his opponent Sheamus, who is currently in a feud with Rusev. Their last two matches have been physical and hard-hitting battles, and now it seems we’re getting a third battle between them sooner rather than later. While that match will likely be good too, there’s just something about this particular rivalry that isn’t clicking. I wish I could put my finger on it, but at the moment, I’m just waiting for both superstars to move on to something else with more of a compelling hook.
Miss: Weaker Than Usual
The feud with Becky has unlocked another level for Lyra Valkyria and has allowed her to really connect with the fans. You can tell this the moment she starts walking to the ring, with the ‘wooos’ ringing out loudly right in step. Her hard-hitting offense lands too, and the crowd seems to be fully behind her as a babyface who isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty, and working with Lynch has allowed those elements to come through.
That brings us to the miss in all this. While the connection was there with the fans throughout her segment, even when Becky came out to attack her, Valkyria’s promo was one of her weaker ones, especially considering her work on the mic over the past few months. It didn’t have the same conviction or confidence as her past promos, though the good news is that her going beast-mode with the kendo sticks on Becky helped end the segment in the right direction. Looking ahead to SummerSlam, these two will likely have another classic match, so this slightly weaker showing will pretty much be forgotten anyway when all is said and done.
Hit: Bayley’s Turn Seems Inevitable
Last week, Bayley suffered another disappointing loss for the Tag Team Titles, and at the time, I said that loss was a miss unless it was building towards a heel turn. Forward to this week, and lo and behold, it seems we’re actually getting that turn, with tonight’s backstage segment teeing things up nicely.
Bayley was asked about not appearing at SummerSlam, and she looked genuinely disheartened and disappointed about how things have been going for her, highlighting missing out on the Intercontinental Title, the Tag Titles, and WrestleMania 41 before then losing out on a SummerSlam match. The evidence is mounting that she will turn a corner soon, especially when she added the statement, “for the first time in my career, I’m at a loss for words.” Heel Bayley seems inevitable at this point, and if we get that at SummerSlam, this could be the biggest hit of the list.
Miss: Not the Only One Missing Out
Bayley’s not the only superstar missing out on SummerSlam, but unlike with Bayley, which seems like it’s part of a story, Nikki Bella is missing out for seemingly no reason at all. Tonight, fans got a bit of a dream team-up when Bella joined forces with Stephanie Vaquer, Iyo Sky, and Rhea Ripley, and they all had their moments to shine against the equally great team of Naomi, Chelsea Green, Alba Fyre, and Piper Niven.
Bella got some good spotlights during the match, which builds upon her rivalry with Green since returning, but it didn’t build to anything for SummerSlam specifically. Granted, this could change with a surprise announcement this week, but even if that’s the case, it will still feel less than it could be given the lack of build or meaningful stipulations. I’m sorry, but if you can find a spot for Jelly Roll and Logan Paul to have a tag match with nothing on the line, you can find a spot for a WWE Hall of Famer who just returned at Evolution.
Hit: Best in the World
Gunther is one of the most imposing figures in WWE, and few superstars, including legends like Goldberg, ever make the Ring General look or feel small. Enter CM Punk, who took it as a mission to showcase just why he is called the Best in the World, especially when it comes to hitting haymakers on the microphone.
Punk went off on Gunther, essentially dismantling him at several points before actually calling him a kid, and somehow doing it all while also still complimenting Gunther’s skill and ability throughout. This was a showcase for how you can break down someone in the ring while still building up the match, and Punk delivered it all brilliantly. If Gunther wins, he will be able to build off this in a major way, but this exchange also set the stage for the possibility that Punk wins and adds another huge accomplishment to an already impressive career.
Hit: The Next Rollins
Tonight’s main event was supposed to be between Jey Uso and Bronson Reed, but as seen throughout the entire show leading up to this, this main event was more about the two major forces in WWE colliding and what it means for their respective futures. The match ending in a DQ certainly brought his to light, and when Roman Reigns headed out to make the save, I didn’t expect what the final takeaway from the chaos would be.
It was pretty clear by the end of the night, and the final takeaway is WWE already knows who their next Seth Rollins is going to be, and it’s Bron Breakker. Now, mind you, I don’t mean anyone is replacing Seth Rollins anytime soon, and as wrestlers, they have completely different skill sets, so it doesn’t even work on that level anyway. What I mean is that Rollins delivered a defining moment in his career when he turned on The Shield, setting the stage for an all-time run as a heel that he has even gone back to at several different points along the way, including now.
WWE made a point to highlight throughout the show that Breakker has his own plans and his own ideas, and that was the case when Rollins was still around. Now that Rollins isn’t around every day due to an injury, Breakker’s seizing the moment, even to Paul Heyman’s continued shock, and tonight was a statement to Heyman, Rollins, Reigns, and the WWE Universe that this is his yard now. Breakker even did his own version of Reigns’ famous “this is my ring” promo from his feud with Brock Lesnar, as Reigns and Jey were knocked out in the ring, and then he did one better by spearing both of them through a barricade. It seems to be Breakker who will be the one to give Rollins a taste of his own medicine, and while it might take a while, it will be Breakker’s show eventually, and he wants everyone to know it.
Alright, what do you think of our WWE Raw hits & misses? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things wrestling with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!
