Tag: raw live results

WWE Raw live results: Crown Jewel go-home show

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: October 6, 2025
Location: American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX 

The Big Takeaway —

The same three men who lost to Seth Rollins at Clash in Paris are still vying for the next world title shot. Three straight matches tonight ended thanks to a distraction, and another ended because one person just stopped paying attention. 

Crown Jewel is Saturday.

**********

Show Recap — 

(There’s an updated Raw thumbnail on Netflix. The old one had Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, and Bianca Belair, three people who are frequently not on Raw. The new one has Rhea Ripley, Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins, CM Punk, Jey Uso, Dominik Mysterio and Penta.) 

Roman Reigns opens Raw 

Reigns entered after a recap of his return last week. The crowd sang his name and chanted “OTC.” He told the Dallas crowd to acknowledge him, and they did, but he was quickly interrupted by Bronson Reed and Paul Heyman. 

Nothing happened for a while (because they stood around waiting for crowd chants), so Reigns asked them if they were just there to stare or to say something. Heyman told the crowd to acknowledge their Tribal Thief. They booed. Heyman wanted Reigns to acknowledge the one man he feared in his heart—Bronson Reed. 

Heyman said Reigns has never been beaten so badly that he needed to be taken out on a stretcher. Reed (who was booed as he spoke) said Afa and Sika never got stretchered out in their careers. Reed wondered how they would feel looking down at Reigns getting stretchered out at his hands. 

Reigns said Reed didn’t know his dad or his uncle, but the dumbass Heyman did, so Heyman knew what they would tell Reigns: fight him now. Reigns challenged Reed to a fight right now. Reed was ready, but Heyman talked him down. Reigns knew Heyman was delaying it, so he said he would be ready whenever they were. 

Heyman issued the challenge for Crown Jewel on Saturday in Australia in a match Reed has never lost, an Australian street fight. (This got a lukewarm reaction.) Reigns accepted. 

As Heyman began to leave, Reigns said they had shown up ready to fight, but now they were leaving like a couple of bitches. Reed marched to the ring to brawl with Reigns. 

Reigns got the better of Reed until security and officials got between them. Reigns broke through and gave Reed a second Superman punch. Reigns posed for the crowd as Reed looked on from the stands.

(The crowd had an understandably underwhelming reaction to the announcement of a street fight between these two. We just saw Reigns wrestle Reed, and Heyman teased the match type like it would be something big, but it’s something we see all the time, including on Raw.) 

********

CM Punk (wearing a Chicago Cubs cap), Lyra Valkyria, and Iyo Sky were shown arriving. 

Backstage, Asuka demanded that Adam Pearce make a match between Kairi Sane and Sky tonight. Pearce said he had to make sure there was enough room in the show first. (He also mentioned that Rhea Ripley was already in Australia doing media.) 

Pearce left as Sane arrived. Asuka was riled up while speaking to Pearce, but she wore a smile upon seeing Sane. Asuka told her that she’d be facing Sky tonight. Sane wasn’t happy about fighting her friend, but Asuka slapped her in the face and told her the match was happening. 

******** 

Non-title match: Women’s Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch vs. Maxxine Dupri

Dupri went for a simple dropkick but missed the target and dropkicked Lynch in the knee. It was meant to hit Lynch up high. Lynch reacted by hunching over, but because the spot was meant to hit her in the head and send her out of the ring, Lynch went from being hunched over to doing a back bump and rolling out of the ring. 

Dupri hit a cannonball off the apron, but Lynch suplexed her into the barricade to take over ahead of a break. Dupri fired back after the break and applied an ankle lock (after dropping her straps like Chad Gable or Kurt Angle). Lynch broke out of it, but Dupri hit a sit-out powerbomb (which didn’t look great) for two. 

Lynch hit a superplex for two and applied a Disarmer, but Dupri countered into a cradle for a nearfall. Dupri countered a Man-handle Slam and hit a German suplex. 

Dupri followed with a roundhouse kick for a very close nearfall that had the crowd going. (It was one of those nearfalls that probably should have been three, as Lynch barely kicked out at the absolute last millisecond.) They traded a few more cradles, and Dupri even tried a schoolboy with her feet on the ropes, but they all ended in nearfalls. 

Lynch was frustrated, so she tossed Dupri around ringside, driving her into the announce table and barricade. 

Lynch taunted the crowd while standing on the announce table, but she stopped paying attention to Dupri, who rolled back into the ring to beat the ten-count. The ref counted out Lynch, and Dupri was declared the winner. 

Dupri celebrated while quickly scampering up the ramp away from Lynch. 

Match result: Maxxine Dupri defeated Women’s Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch via count-out in a non-title match (13:34) 

This was the biggest mixed bag of a match. It started poorly, and Dupri’s offence didn’t look good, but the counters and nearfalls were laid out well, so the crowd really got into Dupri almost pinning Lynch. Wade Barrett was too over-the-top trying to emphasize Dupri’s supposed improvements, and even called the match a banger before all the nearfalls happened. 

********

Reigns met with Jimmy and Jey Uso backstage. Jimmy was about to tell Reigns that they had his back at Crown Jewel, but Jey cut him off to say, “I got you.” Reigns didn’t want their help, especially not Jey. Reigns already told Jey to focus on himself. Reigns mentioned that it was CM Punk—not Jey Uso—speaking at the top of the hour. Jey didn’t like that, so he left. 

Reigns told Jimmy that he knew everything that was going on around here. He asked Jimmy why there would be a problem with Jey seeking his advice. (Referring to Jimmy’s obvious discontent.) Reigns left. 

********

Lyra Valkyria (w/ Bayley) vs. Roxanne Perez (w/ Raquel Rodriguez)

(The opening match was a rematch from August 11th, and this was a rematch from September 15th.)

Perez worked over Valkyria’s arm through a break, enough that Valkyria had trouble hitting her finisher. 

It was time for a distraction, so Rodriguez distracted the referee, which also distracted Valkyria as she went to the top rope. Valkyria stopped what she was doing upon seeing Rodriguez on the apron, so Perez tried a move off the ropes, but Bayley held Valkyria’s arm down to prevent that from happening. Valkyria gave Bayley a thumbs up before hitting Perez with a moonsault for two. 

Rodriguez booted Bayley, so Valkyria dropkicked Rodriguez. Perez threw through the ropes and laid out Valkyria with a tornado DDT. Perez followed with Pop Rox in the ring for the pinfall win. 

— Bayley was not happy, so she encouraged Valkyria to storm to the back with her.

Match result: Roxanne Perez defeated Lyra Valkyria (9:24) 

********

There was a video package for John Cena vs. AJ Styles. They really want you to think this match is happening because of the fans. 

Jackie Redmond tried to interview Styles about his upcoming match against Cena, but he was interrupted by the male members of Judgment Day. Dominik wondered why Styles thought he could beat Cena when Styles couldn’t even beat him. (Dom wore a t-shirt with the picture of himself as a kid playing PSP.) 

Finn Bálor heard a rumour that Styles and Dragon Lee wanted to challenge for the tag titles. Bálor warned Styles that would be a mistake. 

Styles said they were acting tough because it was three on one. Styles said he would find Dragon Lee and a partner, and they would have a six-man match tonight. (Hopefully, there’s enough room on the show.) 

After a break, Styles and Dragon Lee met with Penta. The meeting ended before Penta could answer their request because Bayley and Valkyria were beating the crap out of Perez and Rodriguez nearby. Pearce and officials stormed in to break it up.

******** 

Some professional bull riders and Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders were in the crowd.  

CM Punk, LA Knight and Jey Uso segment

(Long story short, the three guys who most recently wrestled for the world title still want to be world champion.) 

Punk was glad to be back after being gone for two weeks. He thanked the fans for their warm welcome back of AJ Lee. 

Punk spoke about the upcoming match between Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins. He called it title vs. title, but quickly noted no titles were on the line and didn’t want anyone in the back getting mad at him (for calling it title vs. title). 

Punk hasn’t been around because he didn’t want to get involved in their match. But he noted that he kicked off the year by beating Rollins on the Netflix premiere. He wanted to end the year by beating Rollins for the title. He had Rollins’ number. He always won when it was one-on-one and man-to-man. Punk was better than Rollins, and Rollins knew it. 

LA Knight interrupted. Knight said he deserved and earned a reign as world champion. Knight said Punk was known for his pipe bomb, but lately, he’s been known for being a husband. That wasn’t meant to be an insult. Everybody needed love—it was a beautiful thing. But as good a husband Punk seemed to be, he was a trash champion. 

Knight said Punk was champion for five minutes before Rollins pinned him in the ring. Rollins pinned him again at Clash in Paris. Knight called himself the guy who had never been pinned by Rollins. Punk said he’s also the guy who has never been world champion. 

Knight called Punk a two-time loser against Rollins, while Knight was the last to pin Rollins. Knight would be the next to pin Rollins and become champion. 

Jey Uso interrupted. Jey was finally thinking clearly. He was the one. The one who never got his singles rematch for the world title. He was up next. 

Knight said this was déjà vu. It was the three of them again (after they wrestled Rollins in Paris). Knight said Jey’s time came and went. Knight knew Jey thought he lost because he wasn’t quite Roman enough. Knight said that was a good thing, but Jey should probably focus on being a tag champion right now. But given The Usos’ recent history, Jey should probably stop sucking at being a tag team first. 

Jimmy marched out after hearing that comment. Knight kept rambling, so thankfully, Jey superkicked him to shut him up. 

Punk (whose hair now looks like Beavis or Butt-head) told Jey that Knight had a point. Maybe Jey should focus on being a tag team. Punk liked Jey Uso—but he didn’t like Little Roman. 

Punk and Jey argued, but Jimmy got between them. Jey was about to superkick Punk, but Jimmy pulled him away. Punk saw the attempt, so he decked Jey. Jimmy didn’t like that, so he superkicked Punk. 

********

There was an Iyo Sky video package outlining her recent history with Asuka. 

A tag match was made official for tonight with CM Punk and LA Knight facing The Usos. There will also be a six-man match with AJ Styles, Dragon Lee and Penta facing Judgment Day. (It’s hilarious that Pearce even suggested there may not be room on the show for one impromptu match, given that there are now three of them.) 

IYO SKY vs. Kairi Sane (w/ Asuka)

Sky wiped out Asuka with a dive before the match officially began, although it didn’t really matter. There was a terrifying spot moments later. 

Sky went after Sane while outside the ring, but a distraction by Asuka allowed Sane to shove her into the side of the ring. Sane followed by giving Sky an Alabama Slam onto the edge of the ring, and boy did it look like Sky’s head slammed right against the ring. Her arms were up, too, so hopefully they caught the brunt of it. (Even worse, this happened during commercials.) Sky continued the match. 

Later on, Sane went for an Insane Elbow, but Sky got her feet up and followed with a corner meteora. 

As in the previous match, the heel outside the ring jumped on the apron, which distracted the babyface. This allowed Sane to cradle Sky—as Asuka held down Sane’s arms for leverage—for the pinfall win.

— After the match, Asuka held down Sky while Sane hit an Insane Elbow. (Ripley is in Australia, so there was no save.) 

Match result: Kairi Sane defeated IYO SKY (9:51) 

********

They aired part two of the three-part video package for Rhodes vs. Rollins. 

Lynch ranted to Rollins backstage about losing to Dupri. She was pissed at the way she was treated and left to tell Pearce she wasn’t going to Australia until they got better referees. 

After she left, Rollins repeated to Heyman that he had to beat Rhodes on Saturday. Rollins asked him what would happen if he lost to Rhodes. Heyman didn’t take that possibility seriously, but Rollins wanted him to consider it. 

Heyman said Rollins would lose the locker room if he lost. He would lose the faith of Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed. He would throw away the fact that the entire Netflix era has been built around him. Rollins would become a de facto secondary champion. Heyman told him not to lose. 

Rollins wondered what Heyman would do if he lost. Heyman would have to ask himself why he picked Rollins, and why he picked him over Reigns. Heyman left. 

********

Jey wasn’t happy about Jimmy getting involved and having to wrestle a tag match while he was focused on getting the world title. Jey wondered if Jimmy was protecting Punk earlier, and told him to know what side he’s on tonight. Jey left. 

Jimmy told Reigns that he and Jey were nothing like him. Reigns told Jimmy that if he wanted to help Jey, he should just get out of his way. 

********

Styles “tried” cutting a promo before the match, and seemed like he had something to get off his chest, but he was interrupted by Judgment Day’s music, so he stopped out of frustration. (I think having a microphone allows people to hear you despite music being played.) 

Six-man tag team match: AJ Styles, Dragon Lee & Penta vs. Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio & World Tag Team Champions Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh

They went to break twice in the first 7.5 minutes of the match, so the first 10 minutes included 5 minutes of commercials. 

Absolutely nothing happened during the second break, and Dragon Lee made a hot tag to Penta as soon as they returned. Penta ran wild and went for a Canadian Destroyer, but McDonagh reversed into a Spanish Fly (Joe Tessitore thought it was Penta who hit the offensive move). 

Styles tagged in next and hit a Dom with a spinning rack bomb, but McDonagh broke up the cover. Dragon Lee got rid of McDonagh, and Penta wiped out Bálor with a flip dive. 

Dom went for a 619 on Styles, but stopped in his tracks upon seeing Rusev. Yes, another distraction. 

Rusev marched out, and Dom bailed from the ring. Dom grabbed his belts and tried to escape, but Rusev caught him. Penta went to superkick Dom, but Dom ducked, and Penta superkicked Rusev by mistake. Dom bailed through the crowd. 

Styles grabbed McDonagh and hit a Styles Clash for the pinfall win. 

— Styles grabbed a mic after the match. He said his match against Cena didn’t need a story because it wrote itself. Two men will dance for the last time. They would leave it all in the ring, and it will kick ass. Styles did Cena’s salute. 

Match result: AJ Styles, Dragon Lee & Penta defeated Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio & World Tag Team Champions Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh (14:05) 

********

Crown Jewel card (8 am ET start time, with a 6 am pre-show): 

  • John Cena vs. AJ Styles 
  • Roman Reigns vs. Bronson Reed – Australian Street Fight 
  • IYO SKY & Rhea Ripley vs. Asuka & Kairi Sane 
  • Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer vs. WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton 
  • World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins vs. Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes 

Raw next week (also an 8 am ET start time): 

  • Dominik Mysterio (c) vs. Penta for the Intercontinental Championship 
  • Bayley & Lyra Valkyria vs. Roxanne Perez & Raquel Rodriguez 

The announcers said Penta earned the IC title shot with tonight’s win (Styles pinned McDonagh in the match). We can probably guess how the match will end, considering what happened with Penta and Rusev tonight.

********

Punk and Knight agreed that neither of them wanted this match tonight. Knight had one thing to ask of Punk: don’t get pinned. 

Knight’s entrance was cut short by Punk, who stormed out to get things started against The Usos. 

CM Punk & LA Knight vs. Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso

Punk and Knight weren’t getting along, and Punk chopped Knight’s chest to tag him in. Jey aggressively launched Knight into the steel steps as the Usos held control through an early break. 

Punk made a hot tag and hit Jimmy with a flying elbow drop. Jimmy slipped out of a GTS attempt and tagged in Jey, who hit an Uso splash, but Knight broke up the cover. Knight gave Jimmy a BFT, then Jey superkicked Knight. Jey speared Punk and went back to the top, but leaped down to knock Knight off the apron. 

Punk gave Jey a GTS, but Knight tagged himself and pinned Jey for the win. 

Match result: LA Knight & CM Punk defeated Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso (9:30) 

A weak finish and match to end a weak show.

WWE Raw live results: The Usos vs. Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: September 29, 2025
Location: Lenovo Center in Raleigh, NC 

The Big Takeaway —

Not much happened on Raw until the very end, when Roman Reigns returned to help The Usos beat Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed. It was good timing by Reigns because the Usos were getting obliterated. Jimmy Uso has been worried about Jey turning into Reigns, and the closing shot saw Reigns imparting more words of encouragement on Jey, as Jimmy looked on disapprovingly. 

Plus, Iyo Sky will team with Rhea Ripley to face Asuka and Kairi Sane at Crown Jewel.

**********

Show Recap — 

The Usos, Judgment Day, Los Americanos (all three of them), and Rusev arrived at the arena in Raleigh. 

Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett are tonight’s announcers. 

Tessitore welcomed us to Raleigh, NC, and said the city was “That unique mix of cutting-edge business savvy and rah-rah spirit that mirrors modern-day WWE.” 

There was a recap of Asuka and Kairi Sane attacking Iyo Sky and Rhea Ripley. 

Rhea Ripley kicks off Raw

A pissed off Rhea Ripley entered to a big reaction. She said Asuka and Kairi Sane crossed the line with what they did to Iyo Sky, whom they claimed was family. Ripley wanted to settle things in the ring and called them out, but Sky entered instead. 

Sky admitted Ripley was right about Asuka and Sane, and it broke her heart to say that. But they were her family, and she still loved them. 

Asuka and Sane appeared on the screen. Asuka addressed Ripley and Sky. (It was a pre-taped promo, so there were subtitles.) Asuka said she taught Sky everything she knew and paved the way for her, but now Sky acted as if none of that mattered. Sky became champion because of her, but now Sky calls Ripley family and tries to forget about her (Asuka). 

Asuka was willing to forgive Sky, but wanted an apology. “Be like Kairi. You can both be my students.” Sane (still a hesitant participant in this) told Sky they can still be a family. Asuka said it was too late for Ripley. 

Ripley tried talking sense into Sky. Ripley said she knew what it was like for family to turn on you (Judgment Day), and there was no way Sky could go back to Asuka and Sane. Sky was upset. She needed time. She apologized to Ripley and left. 

Asuka and Sane attacked Ripley from behind. Sky wasn’t sure what to do, but she ran into the ring and pulled Asuka away from Ripley. Sane pleaded with Sky until Asuka spat mist in Sky’s face. 

Ripley attacked, but Asuka and Sane fought her off. Asuka held Ripley down in the Asuka Lock while Sane hit an Insane elbow. Officials entered to check on the babyfaces as the segment ended.

******** 

Dom entered with his Intercontinental and AAA Mega Championship belts. Finn Bálor and JD McDonagh initially entered with Dom, but they returned to the back for the match. 

Intercontinental Championship: Dominik Mysterio (c) vs. Rusev

Rusev was all over Dom early on, sending him over the announce table with a fallaway slam, which sent us to break less than two minutes into the match. Not much happened until Dom made his comeback following a break, leading to a springboard senton for just a one count. Dom went for a 619, but Rusev clotheslined him. 

Rusev set up for the Machka Kick, but Dom spilled out of the ring. Dom shoved Rusev into the steel steps and hit a 619 to the gut back in the ring. Dom hit a normal 619 and went for a frog splash, but Rusev moved and hit a Machka Kick for a nearfall. 

Rusev applied the Accolade, but Dom quickly wriggled out of it and escaped the ring. Dom grabbed his two belts and started to leave, but Rusev pulled him back in the ring. 

Dom tried to pull an Eddie Guerrero trick by feigning that Rusev hit him with a belt, but the referee caught him. As the ref put the belt away, Dom low-blowed Rusev and applied a schoolboy for the pinfall win. 

Match result: Dominik Mysterio defeated Rusev to retain the Intercontinental Championship (8:56)

This was ok. It followed the same pattern as most WWE TV matches, so the crowd only got into it toward the end with Dom’s antics, and they popped big for his win. 

********

Earlier today, LA Knight told Adam Pearce he wanted a world title shot because he was the last person to beat Seth Rollins. 

New Day interrupted them because they wanted a tag title shot. Pearce told them to earn it. Knight tried to dismiss them, so Kofi Kingston told him that only one of them had actually been a world champion. Knight said he would be world champ very soon, and told Pearce to make a match between him and Kingston. Pearce agreed. 

********

There was a shot of Cody Rhodes’ tour bus, followed by part one of a video package exploring the history of Rhodes and Seth Rollins since Rhodes’ return. 

Happy Bayley approached Lyra Valkyria, who wasn’t buying what Bayley was saying. Bayley wanted Valkyria’s help tonight (in her match with Raquel Rodriguez). Valkyria didn’t want to give her any more chances and told her she was on her own. 

******** 

They announced the launch of Zuffa Boxing with a picture of Turki Al-Sheikh and Dana White.

Bayley vs. Raquel Rodriguez (w/Roxanne Perez)

Bayley went for a hurricanrana off the apron (like Kelani Jordan tried in her recent TNA match with Lei Ying Lee), but Rodriguez successfully caught her and drove her into the barricade. 

Bayley fought back after a break and hit a senton bomb for two. They were in North Carolina, so Bayley did the Hardy Boyz pose before the spot. Rodriguez and Bayley messed up a spot, so they moved on, and Rodriguez clotheslined her. 

Bayley responded with a figure four (to pay tribute to Ric Flair in NC), but Rodriguez called the ref for help to distract her. This allowed Perez to rake Bayley’s eyes and break up the hold, and the ref didn’t see it because she has no peripheral vision. Rodriguez followed with a big boot and Tejana Bomb for the pinfall win. 

— The heels attacked Bayley after the match, so Valkyria ran out to make the save. The heels got the better of her, but Bayley suddenly snapped. She popped out of the corner and cleared the ring by herself. Bayley cackled like heel Bayley and helped Valkyria to her feet. 

Match result: Raquel Rodriguez defeated Bayley (10:24) 

********

The Usos met backstage. Jimmy wanted to know why Jey walked away from him and LA Knight last week. Jey said helping Knight got them nowhere, and he was the reason they lost at Wrestlepalooza. Jey wanted to know why Jimmy helped Knight. 

Jey basically reiterated what Roman Reigns told him (without mentioning him), that they shouldn’t be helping anyone. 

Jey did what he had to do. He beat Knight. Mission accomplished. If he did more of that, maybe he’d be world champion. That was something Jimmy didn’t understand. Jey told him to forget about Knight so they could take care of the Brons. They shook hands. 

*******

The useless medical staff was still tending to Sky, who was still covered in blue mist and having trouble seeing almost an hour after the opening segment. Sane approached Sky and tried reasoning with her. 

Sane wanted Sky to apologize to Asuka so they could be a family again. Sky told Sane to leave her alone. A very sad Kairi left, but not before leaving a photo of the three of them together. (The camera zoomed in on the picture in case you were having trouble understanding.) 

******** 

LA Knight vs. Kofi Kingston (w/Xavier Woods)

Knight had control until a Woods distraction allowed Kingston to take over ahead of a break. Woods also took a cheap shot during a break. Knight made his post-commercial break comeback, hitting a slingshot shoulder tackle and neckbreaker. 

Woods distracted Knight again, this time by jumping on the apron in front of the referee. Knight knocked him off, but Kingston applied a rollup with his feet on the ropes for two. Knight ducked a Trouble in Paradise and hit a BFT for the pinfall win. 

Match result: LA Knight defeated Kofi Kingston (10:22) 

Another ordinary, patterned match. 

******** 

Becky Lynch approached Maxxine Dupri and Akira Tozawa. She mocked Dupri for being a loser. Lynch called herself the greatest of all time and reminded us that everyone was saying it. Durpi said not everyone, certainly not AJ Lee. 

Tozawa, playing a total caricature, giggled at the comment. Lynch punched Tozawa, and he dropped to the floor. Dupri stood up for Tozawa, so Lynch backed off. Durpi checked on Tozawa, but Lynch attacked her from behind and hammered away until officials broke it up. Lynch found Rollins nearby. Rollins left to head to the ring. 

******** 

Byron Saxton interviewed Dom during a break. Dom bragged about his win before being confronted by Penta. Saxton asked Dom for comment, but Dom dismissed Penta as a challenger because he’s already beaten him so many times. 

Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes segment 

(Long story short, Rhodes isn’t buying that their Crown Jewel match will determine the future. Rollins wanted to make it clear that any perceived allegiance between them in the past meant nothing. The match was meaningful because Rollins would win and write a new story.) 

Rollins entered. The crowd sang his song, chanted for CM Punk and “OTC.” The fans remembered he isn’t currently feuding with those guys, so they eventually started singing for Cody Rhodes. 

Rollins finally spoke when they did. Rollins acknowledged that he had lost all three matches against Rhodes. It didn’t bother Rollins because it didn’t matter. Those were in the past. Those versions of Rhodes and Rollins were in the past. They were both men trying to reach the top, but now, headed into Crown Jewel, they were on top. 

The winner of the match wouldn’t just be the Crown Jewel champion—the winner may just decide the next 10-20 years of the entire industry. Rollins didn’t understand why anyone would want Rhodes to win that match and lead this company into the future. 

Rollins said he has done everything right. He stayed with this company when times were tough, brought the company into its golden age, and took two young men—Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed—and took them under his wing so they could reach the top. Rollins has tried to rid this place of cancers like Reigns and Punk, yet people still chanted for Rhodes (instead of him). 

Rhodes entered to a big reception. Rhodes wanted to know what Rollins was even talking about, as if either of them had any control over the future of the industry. Rhodes looked at the fans and said they were the ones who controlled the future. 

Rhodes mentioned that Breakker and Reed appeared on SmackDown, but it wasn’t Rollins who sent them, it was Paul Heyman. Rhodes wondered who was really in charge. Rollins claimed it was him who sent them because every decision ran through him. 

Rhodes wondered if it was also Rollins’ idea for Heyman to introduce Brock Lesnar. Rollins reiterated that every decision ran through him. 

Rhodes said Crown Jewel should be about best versus best. Rhodes wondered where they would be in twenty years. Would they be sitting in the back, reminiscing about the past? Rhodes recalled Rollins being his shield at WrestleMania 40. He thought Rollins was his friend. 

Rollins told him to shut up. Rollins said he was never Rhodes’ friend. That act at WrestleMania was a means to an end. Rhodes was the lesser of two evils. They would never be friends reminiscing about the past. They would never shake hands. That would never happen. 

Rollins planned on cleansing the timeline at Crown Jewel. Everything that happened between them before was dead. Rollins would write a new future at Crown Jewel. 

********

Ripley approached Sky, still covered in blue mist. Sky told Ripley she was right about Asuka. She spoke to Pearce and got them a tag match against Asuka and Sane at Crown Jewel. Ripley earnestly asked Sky if she could trust her. Sky said she could. Sane was lost, and she could not go back to them. 

********

Dragon Lee cut a pre-match promo. The crowd was quiet for it. He was honoured to team with Styles and said he was coming for Dom’s Mega Championship. 

Styles spoke about his upcoming match against John Cena. Styles said it was thanks to the fans that this match was happening, and now he got to do something that he loved: “I get to beat up John Cena.” 

AJ Styles & Dragon Lee vs. Los Americanos

The two Americanos who aren’t Ludwig Kaiser have new fake names, Rio and Bravo. 

They went to break 40 seconds into the match, and the Americanos had the heat on Dragon Lee as the fans watched quietly. The crowd woke up when Styles made the hot tag. He ran wild and wiped out Kaiser with a springboard forearm to the outside. 

Lee hoisted an Americano into the air and into the arms of Styles. Lee wiped out the other Americano with a dive while AJ hit a Styles Clash for the pinfall win. 

Match result: AJ Styles & Dragon Lee defeated Los Americanos (7:02) 

Another match where you only need to see the last minute or so. 

********

Next week on Raw in Dallas, TX (start time 8 pm ET/5 pm PT): 

  • CM Punk appears 
  • Becky Lynch vs. Maxxine Dupri (non-title) 
  • Lyra Valkyria vs. Roxanne Perez 

********

Jackie Redmond interviewed Stephanie Vaquer about her upcoming match against Tiffany Stratton. Vaquer respected Stratton, but Stratton would learn why nobody could stop her. 

Stratton suddenly showed up. Stratton said she’s proven herself as champion against some of the best over the past 268 days. Vaquer has only been on top for a few weeks, and she would learn that it was still Tiffy Time. Vaquer said Tiffany’s time was over. 

********

In the back, a very serious Rollins told Heyman that he needs to beat Rhodes. Heyman was upbeat and confident that he would, but Rollins cut him off and said, “I have to beat him. I have to.” 

Tornado Tag Team Match: Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso vs. Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed (w/Paul Heyman)

The Usos attacked the Brons with dives during their entrance, so the referee chose that moment to start the match, which hardly seems fair. The Brons fought them off and eventually took control anyway. The highlight was Breakker putting Jimmy through the announce table with a leaping clothesline off the barricade. 

This left Jey on his own for a while. Jey tried fighting back, but Reed cut him off with a world’s strongest slam. The Brons followed with a Steinerizer. 

Reed went up for a Tsunami, but Jimmy woke up and shoved him off the top. Jimmy hit Breakker with a superkick and a pop-up Samoan drop. However, Reed gave Jimmy a Jagged Edge (DVD), and Breakker speared Jey. 

Breakker stacked up the Usos, who were getting decimated in a fair fight, and Reed set up for a Tsunami, but Roman Reigns’ music hit. 

Reigns entered with a chair in hand to a gigantic pop. Reigns dumped Breakker from the ring and hit Reed repeatedly with a chair, eventually sending him over the barricade. Breakker tried to attack from behind, but Reigns hit him with the chair and sent him into the ring. 

Jimmy superkicked Breakker, and Jey followed with a spear. Jimmy and Jey hit Breakker with simultaneous Uso splashes for the pinfall win. 

— Reigns attacked Breakker again with a chair after the match. 

Reigns shook hands with Jey. They stood face-to-face as Reigns gave Jey words of encouragement (telling Jey that this was his show and to take everything). Jimmy had a skeptical look on his face and didn’t like what he was seeing. 

Match result: The Usos defeated Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed in a tornado tag team match (12:38)

WWE Raw live results: Wrestlepalooza fallout

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: September 22, 2025
Location: Ford Center in Evansville, IN

The Big Takeaway —

Asuka and Rhea Ripley wrestled for the first time in almost three years, and the show’s closing angle saw Asuka turn heel on Iyo Sky. (See more below.) 

Jey Uso beat LA Knight, and a heel turn may be around the corner for Jey, too. (It could be leading to something else, but the teases are increasingly less subtle.)

As expected, WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and World Champion Seth Rollins will wrestle at Crown Jewel, while Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer will wrestle the winner of SmackDown’s triple threat title match between WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton, Jade Cargill and Nia Jax. While it ultimately doesn’t matter who the Crown Jewel Champion is, Rhodes and Rollins had a long talking segment to add some intrigue to their match.

**********

Show Recap — 

A new signature video opens the show (as it did at Wrestlepalooza), and the clips focus on the company’s more recent history. 

There was a Wrestlepalooza video recap, in which they also spliced in clips from wrestlers and personalities making the rounds on ESPN leading up to the show. 

The Vision, Stephanie Vaquer (and her father), The New Day and Grayson Waller, Bayley, and LA Knight arrived at the arena. As Knight arrived, Rusev confronted Dominik Mysterio and shoved him into some equipment boxes. 

Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett are tonight’s announcers. They announced that Cody Rhodes would face Seth Rollins for the Men’s Crown Jewel Championship in Perth, Australia. 

Cody Rhodes kicks off Raw

Rhodes showed off his inaugural Crown Jewel championship ring and said he would love to win another. 

Rollins and the Vision (minus Becky Lynch) interrupted. Rollins told his partners to remain in the aisle as he entered the ring alone. The crowd sang Rollins’ song before switching back to chants for Cody. 

Rollins said he had Crown Jewel circled on his calendar since they both walked out of SummerSlam as champions. Two of the best in the world in their primes would go one-on-one, and may the best man win. At least it should be that simple, but it wasn’t. It was deeper than that and bigger than that. 

Rollins knew what everyone (the fans, wrestlers, and “the internet”) thought about him, but he didn’t give a damn. The fans didn’t know what was good for them. (The fans chanted for CM Punk, and Rollins shut them down by saying Punk didn’t matter here because he didn’t have a championship.) Rollins wanted to know what Rhodes thought of him. 

Rhodes said Rollins has recently made some questionable choices, including aligning with Paul Heyman. But Rollins also changed his life. Rollins changed his life because Rhodes wouldn’t have known what he was capable of if not for their Hell in a Cell match. Rollins changed his career by being his shield at WrestleMania and helping him bring the world title to the Rhodes family. 

Rhodes knew it was pro wrestling 101 to run Rollins down right now to hype up their match, but Rhodes wanted to know what Rollins thought of himself. Rhodes said Rollins could be the absolute best in the business. But that version of Rollins wouldn’t be hiding behind the three Vision goons. 

Rollins pointed out his wristwatch, the one Rhodes gifted him after WrestleMania 40. Rollins hadn’t worn it until tonight. Rollins wondered if that was a real gift or a token gesture because Rhodes was fantastic about saying all the ring things about him, but only when it suited Rhodes. Rhodes undermined everything Rollins stood for. 

Rollins didn’t appreciate Rhodes going on interviews and saying he was the guy to take this business into the future. Rhodes called himself QB1, so Rollins wondered what that meant for him. Either Rhodes thought Rollins wasn’t good enough, or just not as good as him. 

Rollins said the Vision weren’t goons, they were the future of the business, and he was the tip of the spear, not Rhodes. Rhodes could be the quarterback if he wanted to, but he would be Rollins’ quarterback. It didn’t matter what Rhodes thought, because they would get the answer at Crown Jewel. This wasn’t a two-man show. Rollins stated, “I’m the alpha.” 

Rhodes reminded Rollins that they’ve had three matches, and they’ve all been one-on-one. Rhodes peered over at the Vision and asked if it would be the case again in Perth. Rhodes concluded with a question: “In the three matches that we’ve had, Seth Rollins, how many of those have you won?” 

Rhodes left the ring, and the Vision cleared a path for him to leave. 

********

Jimmy Uso met with Jey Uso backstage. (Jey had tape over stitches on his forehead.) Jimmy said their loss was trash because he knew they could beat the Brons. Jimmy went to Adam Pearce to request a rematch, only to learn that Jey was already busy tonight because he had asked for a match against Knight. 

Jey was red-hot and said they would have won if not for Knight being the referee. Jey was also pissed about Jimmy tagging with Knight last week (and losing). Jimmy asked if he was being blamed for their loss. Jey settled down (realizing he didn’t want to upset Jimmy) and said no, but he planned on beating up Knight tonight. 

******** 

Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods cut their usual ad-break promo. 

No disqualification six-man tag match: The New Day & Grayson Waller vs. The War Raiders & Penta

Woods wore a gigantic black hat a few weeks ago, so all three heels had a hat this week. They put the hats on during the break, so the babyfaces stole the hats and posed with them. The heels attacked them from behind to gain the heat. 

Kingston hit Penta with a diving leg drop off the top turnbuckle through a table outside the ring. The camera missed it because Woods blocked the cameraperson, so they immediately showed a replay. Erik brought both members of New Day by himself off the ropes, and Ivar went for a moonsault, but New Day dodged it. 

Penta avoided going through a corner table and instead suplexed Kingston through it. Waller cracked a kendo stick over Penta’s back, but Penta fought him off and hit an avalanche Canadian Destroyer for the pinfall win. 

Match result: Penta & The War Raiders defeated Grayson Waller & The New Day (10:15) 

This was pretty fun for the time they had, and the crowd was super into it. They popped huge for Penta’s finish. 

********

Dominik approached Judgment Day backstage. He wanted their help with Rusev, but Finn Bálor and JD McDonagh weren’t interested. Bálor wondered why El Grande Americano didn’t help Dom, but Dom said he was back in Mexico. Bálor claimed he was busy and began doing something on a tablet. 

Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez talked McDonagh into helping Dom. McDonagh only agreed because it would be best for Judgment Day. McDonagh said he would speak with Peace, but Dom told him he already got McDonagh a match against Rusev. McDongh (and Bálor) weren’t thrilled to hear this, but Dom was sure pleased with himself. 

********

Bayley met with Lyra Valkyria backstage. Bayley had selective memory, and Valkyria was surprised to learn that Bayley wasn’t mad at her after calling her an idiot last week. Bayley was all smiles and said she didn’t know what Valkyria was talking about. Bayley asked her to be at ringside for her match tonight. Valkyria wasn’t sure, but she eventually agreed. (Bayley wore Punk’s “AJ’s husband” jacket.) 

********

During a break, Byron Saxton asked Heyman about seemingly being Brock Lesnar’s advocate again. Heyman ignored the question and instead said Rollins would beat Rhodes at Crown Jewel. 

Heyman cut the promo on behalf of Rollins, but did so as if he was talking about Lesnar (using a lot of the lines he normally uses for Lesnar promos). Heyman said Rollins winning wasn’t a prediction or even a spoiler—it was a prophecy. 

********

Stephanie Vaquer promo 

Vaquer entered to a good reaction. Pearce congratulated her on winning the Women’s World Championship. Vaquer called this a dream come true. At times, it seemed impossible, but she worked hard for it and accomplished it. She beat one of the best in Iyo Sky and had her dad as inspiration. She pointed out her dad in the crowd.

Vaquer said this championship represented the motivation and support the fans gave her. They celebrated with her at Wrestlepalooza. She thanked them. Vaquer said her fire would keep making history, and nobody could stop her. 

Pearce told Vaquer that Tiffany Stratton was defending her title against Jade Cargill and Nia Jax in a triple threat on SmackDown, and the winner would face Vaquer at Crown Jewel. Vaquer looked forward to being there. 

Fireworks went off as Vaquer posed with her title belt. 

— Nikki Bella and Rhea Ripley approached Vaquer backstage to congratulate her. Ripley gave her a friendly reminder that she was coming for the title. 

Asuka (with Kairi Sane) confronted Vaquer. Asuka said Sky deserved to be champion, not Vaquer. Vaquer said she would fight Asuka any time she wanted. Vaquer left (with Bella). 

Ripley was tired of Asuka. Asuka told her to stay away from Sky, or else. Ripley challenged her to a match tonight, and Asuka accepted. The crowd popped for that. (The match was made official later on.) 

********

Bayley (w/Lyra Valkyria) vs. Roxanne Perez (w/Raquel Rodriguez) 

Barrett noted that Perez was tied with Knight for most matches in WWE in 2025, and they spoke about how the experience was helping Perez get better and better. (Perhaps a lesson to be learned there.)

Bayley was in control and went to the middle rope, but she distracted herself by watching Rodriguez at ringside. Perez kicked her leg out of her leg and took control ahead of a break. Rodriguez also took a cheap shot at Bayley during a break. 

Bayley fought back after a break, but Perez cut her off. Perez went for a suicide dive, but Bayley blocked it with a forearm. Perez fought her off and hit a Pop Rox outside the ring, and Bayley just barely beat the ten count. 

Rodriguez booted Bayley as Perez distracted the referee, so Valkyria attacked Rodriguez and drove her into the ring post. Perez then wiped out Valkyria with a suicide dive. 

This caused Bayley to snap into another personality, I guess, and she nailed Perez with a Bayley-to-belly, a running boot, and Rose Plant for the pinfall win. 

(Tesstitore tried to convince us that this was a violent attack, but it was really just one wrestler hitting another wrestler with their big moves for the win.) 

— Valkyria was pumped up for Bayley and gave her a hug. Bayley suddenly had no interest in Valkyria being there and shoved her down. Valkyria was shocked as Bayley screamed at her and told her to stay out of it. 

The crowd was into Bayley during the match, but they booed her in the post-match (which was the idea). 

Match result: Bayley defeated Roxanne Perez (10:46) 

********

Jimmy congratulated Rhodes on his Wrestlepalooza win. Rhodes asked how Jey was doing. Jimmy said Jey was in his own head and wouldn’t listen to him. Jimmy asked Rhodes if he would talk to him, so Rhodes agreed. 

Rhodes approached Jey after a break. Rhodes said Jimmy was worried about him. Jey said Big Jim was always tripping and told Rhodes not to worry. Rhodes said he knew what Jey felt like. There were highs and lows, wins and losses. People in their position isolate themselves, but Rhodes reminded Jey that he has his family, friends and fans. Rhodes told him, “We believe in you.” 

Jey told him not to worry. “Imma find my way back to the top, Cody.” Rhodes left, and Jey stared at him as he did. 

******** 

Rusev’s entrance happened during a break. 

Rusev vs. JD McDonagh (w/Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio)

Rusev was in complete control until McDonagh kicked the steel steps into his legs. McDonagh followed with an Asai moonsault ahead of a break. McDonagh continued to shine with a few spots after a break, including a moonsault for two. 

McDonagh hit Rusev with multiple clotheslines, but couldn’t knock him down. Rusev nailed him with a body slam and Matcka Kick. Rusev applied the Accolade, and Dom hopped on the apron. Dom considered breaking it up, but was too afraid to get involved, so McDonagh taped out. 

— Rusev wouldn’t let go of the hold after the match as Dom just stood there, so Bálor ran out and gave Rusev a reverse DDT (which got a modest pop). Before Rusev could get up, Judgment Day escaped while Bálor admonished Dom. 

Match result: Rusev defeated JD McDonagh (10:12)

This match was between two heels, so the crowd wasn’t super into it, but they did get into McDonagh a bit thanks to his offence. 

********

Sky approached Asuka and Sane backstage, but Asuka didn’t want advice from someone who lost. Asuka left. Sane was in agony over all of this, but told Sky that Asuka was the reason they were there, so they had to listen to her. 

********

Jackie Redmond interviewed Knight. Redmond’s question was taking too long to get out, so Knight cut her off. Knight said Jey should be worried more about his own health. Knight was only checking on Jey’s well-being during the Wrestlepalooza match before he got speared through the table. 

Knight wasn’t trying to hurt Jey before—but he would tonight. Jey might’ve brain’ed himself on Saturday, but if he hadn’t, Knight would do it for him with a BFT. 

Jey Uso vs. LA Knight

Jey wore all black (with white sneakers) and did his full entrance. Knight did his entrance, but as he jumped down from the middle rope, Jey punched him before the match officially began. The ref called for the bell to begin. 

Jey was all over Knight until Knight cut him off with a neckbreaker. Jey avoided a baseball slide and clotheslined Knight to regain control during a break. After the break, Knight scaled the ropes to bring Jey down with a superplex. 

They traded strikes until Knight ducked one and hit a reverse DVD for two. Jey followed later with a suicide dive and superkick for two. Knight responded with a DDT and flying elbow drop for two. 

Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed ran out, so Knight attacked them both before they could enter the ring. The referee just watched this all transpire. 

Knight re-entered the ring but ran into an Uso spear. Jey followed with an Uso Splash for the pinfall win.  

— Jimmy joined Jey on stage after the match. Jimmy thought they should help Knight because he was about to be attacked by the Brons. Jey didn’t care, so he left. 

Jimmy grabbed a chair and sprinted to the ring. Jimmy invited the Brons into the ring, but Heyman talked them down, and they left. 

Match result: Jey Uso defeated LA Knight (8:36)

This was good, although I hate these distraction finishes. The referee looked like an idiot, letting things just continue normally after the Brons got involved. The match itself went at a fast pace, with the crowd into it all the way, and it felt like a fight between two guys with building animosity.

********

Becky Lynch ranted backstage while Rollins was in deep thought as he looked at his wristwatch. Lynch ranted about Rhodes, the Usos, and the fans. Lynch said the fans were thieves trying to steal the things they built. Lynch wanted to make an example. She left. (Rollins didn’t say a word.) 

********

Sky approached Ripley. Ripley, a grown adult, asked if they were allowed to be around each other. Sky wanted Ripley to cancel her match against Asuka. Ripley said she was sick of Asuka’s disrespect. Ripley hoped they could beat the respect into each other like she did with Sky. Sky said, “Fine.” 

Before Sky could leave, Ripley told her to be careful around Asuka. Sky was offended by this comment. Sky said Asuka was family and was the reason she was there. Sky said she could trust Asuka, but didn’t know if she could trust Ripley. Sky left, and Ripley was upset.  

******** 

Raw next week (7 pm ET/4 pm PT start time): 

  • Dominik Mysterio (c) vs. Rusev for the Intercontinental Championship 
  • Bayley vs. Raquel Rodriguez 
  • The Usos vs. Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed in a tornado tag match 

********

There was a video package for Los Americanos, trying to make it seem like they were a deeply rooted part of lucha libre history. Of course, they used gross-looking AI for the video. 

Maxxine Dupri asked Pearce for a match because she wanted to prove herself. Pearce told her to keep working until he finds someone. 

AJ Styles and Dragon Lee approached Pearce next. Styles said the Americanos were pissing him off and admitted to being a petty man. Dragon Lee wanted them in a tag match next week. Pearce said he would talk to them. (So he knows who they are?) Styles told Pearce not to sign any more Americanos for a while. 

******** 

Rhea Ripley vs. Asuka (w/Kairi Sane)

This was their first match since December 2022, and the announcers built this up as a PLE-level match. They went to commercial break a minute into it. 

Asuka was in control while targeting the leg, but Ripley came back with clotheslines, a thrust kick, a dropkick, and a Northern Lights suplex for two. Asuka avoided a Razor’s Edge, dropkicked her leg, and hit a sliding kick for two. Ripley responded with a boot and cannonball off the apron, leading to a second break. 

Ripley maintained control through a break and hit a superplex when they returned. They traded strikes until Asuka applied a jackknife cover for two. Ripley followed with a thrust kick, Razor’s Edge, and shining wizard for two. Asuka went for an armbar, but Ripley managed to escape. 

Ripley missed a charge and collided with the turnbuckle, and Asuka followed with a kick to the head for two. (The crowd chanted for Ripley.) Asuka knocked Ripley out of the ring and bounced her head off the table. Asuka said something to Sane before getting back in the ring. 

Ripley tried another kick, but Asuka caught her in a leg lock. Ripley tried getting to her feet, so Asuka nailed a German suplex. Asuka came off the top, but Ripley nailed her mid-air with a dropkick. (The crowd chanted, “This is awesome.”) 

Asuka shouted orders to Sane, so she reluctantly jumped on the apron with her fist clenched. Sane went for a back fist, but Ripley blocked it. Asuka went for a running hip attack, but Ripley moved, and Asuka knocked Sane off the apron by mistake. 

Ripley grabbed Asuka in a small package for the pinfall win. 

— Asuka blew mist in Ripley’s face immediately after the match. Asuka commanded Sane to attack, so she did hesitantly. They attacked Ripley until Sky quickly ran out to make the save. 

Sky settled Asuka down. Asuka was in tears, and they hugged. Asuka suddenly dropped Sky with a spinning back fist, and the crowd booed. 

Asuka commanded Sane to attack Sky. Again, Sane didn’t want to, but she did. Asuka saw Ripley getting to her feet, so she knocked her down with a spinning heel kick. Asuka held Sky as Sane (still in anguish over all of this), hit an Insane Elbow. 

The crowd booed as Asuka stood tall (while holding Sane), with Sky and Ripley laid out. 

Match result: Rhea Ripley defeated Asuka (17:15) 

This was excellent, although they relied yet again on an interference/distraction spot. Given the story being told, this was an appropriate spot for it, but it was hindered by the fact that they do this in 80% of TV matches. 

The match and the post-match were great, and they have built well to Asuka finally turning heel. Asuka and Lynch have both turned heel before to their detriment, but this one felt more purposeful. Asuka has looked awesome since returning, and her inevitable match with Sky feels like a big one. 

WWE Raw live results: Wrestlepalooza go-home show

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: September 15, 2025
Location: MassMutual Center in Springfield, MA 

The Big Takeaway —

Wrestlepalooza is Saturday. 

**********

Show Recap — 

Penta (wearing his mask but no makeup underneath), Stephanie Vaquer, El Grande Americano, and Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch, Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed were shown arriving. (It’s a little weird that they show Penta without his face paint for the sake of this gimmick of showing people arriving at the arena.) 

There was a recap of Jey Uso spearing LA Knight as Raw concluded last week. 

Back to the live show, Knight shoved Jey Uso as he arrived with Jimmy Uso. Adam Pearce and some officials quickly broke it up, and he demanded they see him in his office or their paychecks would be missing zeros. 

Despite some stars actively on the screen, the crowd was already chanting for John Cena, who is scheduled to open the show. 

Joe Tessitore and Corey Graves are tonight’s announcers.

John Cena kicks off Raw

Cena was happy to be back on Raw and in Springfield, Massachusetts. Cena informed the younger fans in the crowd that he played football up the street at Springfield College. He told the older fans he was an offensive lineman, which is why they probably didn’t know this. 

Being an OL meant you never got your name in the paper, you got your ass kicked, and you showed up the next day prepared to get your ass kicked again. Springfield College prepared him for life in WWE. 

Cena said he had friends and family in the building tonight, and he wished his niece a happy birthday because she couldn’t be here tonight. He acknowledged that there was no stage because the arena was packed. 

He enjoyed these moments with the fans and wanted to while he could, because he had a tall hill to climb. His intro called him the last real champion, but Brock Lesnar wanted to end the last real champion. 

He called Lesnar intimidating, “controversial,” and nearly invisible. Fans chanted, “F—k you, Lesnar.” 

Cena said Lesnar returned to WWE once again and again targeted him. Cena could have used his influence to turn down a match with Lesnar. Saying ‘no’ was safe, especially with only six appearances left. The crowd chanted, “Whoop his ass,” and “Thank you, Cena.”

As the fans chanted, Cena said they were the reason he said ‘yes’. He was the last real champion. He didn’t fight his battles backstage, he fought them in the ring. Being the last real champion wasn’t about holding a belt or fighting in the main event. The last real champion didn’t take their ball and go home. They fought with hustle, loyalty and respect. 

Cena admitted he was afraid of Lesnar and could fail—but he would never back down. We would take the fight to the beast because that’s what we did. On the history-making Wrestlepalooza on ESPN, it would be the final showdown between two generational titans. 

Cena didn’t care how many suplexes Lesnar had in Suplex City. He has taken Lesnar’s best shot for 20 years. His jorts were stronger than Lesnar’s jeans. On Saturday, Cena was ready for war. 

*********

Pearce met with Jey and Knight. After some arguing, Pearce agreed to Knight’s request to fight the Brons tonight, but said he needed to pick a partner. Knight looked Jey in the eye and said his partner would be Jimmy. Jey didn’t like that, but there was nothing he could do. 

Lyra Valkyria vs. Roxanne Perez (w/Raquel Rodriguez)

Rodriguez tripped Valkyria from outside the ring, so the referee tossed her from ringside. Perez applied a cradle, but the referee missed it because she was still arguing with Rodriguez. After she left, Perez yanked Valkyria off the top turnbuckle to take control. 

(The match started as soon as they returned from a break, so they were actually able to wrestle for about four minutes instead of the usual 90 seconds before going to break.) 

There were chants for both women during the break. Perez cut off Valkyria’s comeback and hit a double knee drop for two. Perez applied a crossface, but Valkyria powered to her feet and hit Nightwing for the pinfall win. 

— Rodriguez attacked Valkyria from behind after the match, and Perez gave her a Pop Rox. Bayley ran out to make the save. She wiped out Rodriguez and gave Perez a Bayley-to-belly. 

The crowd was happy to see Bayley, who was full babyface—at least at first. She suddenly had a stern demeanour as she stared at Valkyria, but she snapped out of it and turned into hugger Bayley. She smiled and excitedly hugged Tessitore, Graves, Alicia Taylor, and a bunch of fans. (So, Bayley will indeed be doing a split-personality gimmick.) 

Valkyria was nonplussed. 

Match result: Lyra Valkyria defeated Roxanne Perez (9:06)

This match was just there to get Valkyria a win after losing to Rodriguez last week and set up Bayley’s return. 

********

Pearce met with Iyo Sky and Stephanie Vaquer backstage. He made their world title match official for Wrestlepalooza. They wished each other luck. 

Asuka and Kairi Sane barged in. Asuka got in Vaquer’s face and told her she wasn’t ready for Sky. Vaquer told her to get out of her face, so Asuka told Vaquer she would face Sane tonight. Sane was surprised to hear this, but she was ready. Pearce made it official. Asuka giggled as she left, before calling for Sane to join her. (Asuka is so good in this role.) 

******** 

Knight met with Jimmy Uso. Jimmy didn’t think it was a good idea for them to team up. Knight said he could trust Jimmy after he helped him last week. Jimmy said Knight put him in a tough spot and politely declined being his partner. Knight left. 

********

They’ve removed the commercial break countdown timer, at least for this week. I wasn’t sure if they were in a commercial break or not, but I realized they were because New Day cut a promo. 

Xavier Woods and Grayson Waller wanted the Mexican Destroyer banned. Kofi Kingston said his home state should be cheering him, but he understood because his part of the state had much more money than this piss-hole city. Kingston called Pearce a tyrant and told the fans they should thank God for him. 

Penta vs. Kofi Kingston (w/Xavier Woods & Grayson Waller)

Kingston took control thanks to a distraction about a minute into the match, and they went to break. Kingston cut off Penta’s comeback attempt after the break with an SOS. They traded strikes until Penta hit an enziguri. (Woods made cracks to the fans about Shelbyville because they were in Springfield.)

Penta set up for the Canadian Destroyer, but Woods distracted the referee. Penta superkicked Waller before he could interfere and chased Woods off the apron. Penta then hit Kingston with a springboard Destroyer for the pinfall win. 

Match result: Penta defeated Kofi Kingston (7:30) 

This was an ordinary match until the finish, which looked awesome. Penta gets his win back over Kingston, who beat him three weeks ago. 

This was the second straight match with a distraction, and this is now seven straight going back to last week. 

********

Jimmy approached Jey as Jey was leaving a voicemail for someone on the phone. Jey didn’t tell him who it was. They had a disagreement after Jey told Jimmy he had to turn down Knight tonight. Jimmy said he already turned down Knight, but he also didn’t like the way Jey was bossing him around as if he had the Ula Fala around his neck. Jimmy stormed off. 

After a break, Jimmy told Knight he would be his partner tonight. Knight was glad to hear it. 

There was a clip of Jey Uso throwing out the first pitch at yesterday’s Boston Red Sox game. 

******** 

AJ Lee & CM Punk go face-to-face with Becky Lynch & Seth Rollins 

Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch entered first (Rollins’ music played first, followed by Lynch’s). Rollins took his time introducing himself and Lynch. Rollins introduced her the way he introduces himself, including calling her “Becky freakin’ Lynch.” 

AJ Lee and CM Punk entered to Lee’s music. Punk introduced himself as Lee’s husband. He didn’t plan on wasting time (like Rollins) with a long-winded introduction explaining who she was. (The fans chanted for Punk at first, so he made sure to feed them a line to get them to chant for Lee as well.) 

Punk referred to Lynch and Rollins as goofs (based on their matching leather outfits) and said they must share the same closet. They also came out to two annoying songs, but Punk gladly put Cult of Personality on the shelf so they could enter to Lee’s Let’s Light it Up (patting himself on the back). 

Rollins actually wanted to give Punk some credit because Lee was the best decision he ever made—in his personal life. (After some “Shut the f—k up” chants, the crowd chanted, “No one likes you.”) However, inserting Lee into this was something he would regret for the rest of his days. 

Lee said the regret would be Rollins’. She wouldn’t even be here if he hadn’t used his wife as a human shield. 

Lynch said nobody expected Lee to come back, and she couldn’t believe how irresponsible Punk was. She said Punk only cared about three things: himself, Rollins’ title, and AJ. 

Lynch read Lee’s book and said she might have healed mentally, but she wondered how she felt physically. Lynch asked how her neck was doing and asked how Punk would feel when she pummeled Lee’s face in. Lynch called Lee a liability, not an asset. 

Lee thanked Lynch for reading her book and said she didn’t read Lynch’s. (The crowd sang Lee’s name.) Lee admitted she didn’t know how her neck would hold up on Saturday. Lee also said she won two titles on that same neck. (Lee made a comment about Lynch looking constipated, so the fans chanted for that, too.) 

She didn’t know what she was going to do on Saturday. She’s been known to make rash decisions. She was a Puerto Rican girl from New Jersey—sometimes you had to shank a chick. Rollins liked to have a plan, but Lee warned them that they can’t plan for what they can’t predict. 

Rollins laughed at the idea that he couldn’t handle Lee. He called her a little girl. He may not be able to predict her, but he could read Punk like a book. Rollins warned Lee that Punk had a habit of leaving things when he was let down. Lee better hope to God that Punk doesn’t leave her, too. 

Lee slapped Rollins. Rollins said he wouldn’t put his hands on a lady, but knew someone who would. Lynch was not on board with this right now, so they argued. Punk and Lee looked on, amused. Lynch and Rollins argued until Lynch stormed off. 

It was all part of the plan, of course, and Punk fell for it. Punk went after Rollins, who escaped the ring. That left Lee alone, so Lynch caught her from behind and hit a Man-handle Slam. 

Punk tended to Lee as he stared down Lynch. Lynch slapped him and left with Rollins. The heels held their belts up high as Punk checked on Lee. 

********

There was a recap of Dominik Mysterio winning the AAA Mega Championship. Byron Saxton interviewed Dom and asked him about El Grande Americano. Dom responded, “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart,” and called himself the Mega Intercontinental Champion. 

The interview was cut short by a nearby commotion. New Day laid out Penta, and the War Raiders chased them off. 

El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser) vs. Dragon Lee

There was a cool sequence early on where Dragon Lee used a leaping hurricanrana over the top rope to send El Grande Americano off the apron. Dragon Lee followed with a flip dive, sending both men into the announce table. 

Americano took over during a break. (He tied Dragon Lee’s mask to the rope during the break, which Kingston also did to Penta during the earlier match.) Lee hit Liger Bomb for two and a double foot stomp off the top rope for two. 

The distraction/interference streak continued because a mystery masked man attacked Lee. Americano hit a leaping blockbuster for a nearfall. 

AJ Styles marched out to even the odds. The masked man (Pete Dunne) tried to hide under the ring, but Tessitore pointed him out. Styles chucked him over the barricade. 

Styles stood by the timekeeper’s area but was attacked by a third masked person. The third person distracted the referee while masked Dunne shoved Dragon Lee off the top rope. Kaiser applied a deep submission, and Lee tapped out. 

— The three masked men did the Spider-Man meme pose outside the ring. 

Match result: El Grande Americano defeated Dragon Lee (10:12) 

Three matches on Raw, three distractions. That’s eight straight going back to last week. 

********

Valkyria approached Bayley’s locker room door but stopped upon hearing an argument. Bayley’s personalities were arguing with each other until there was a loud bang against the door. Valkyria hesitantly entered the room, and Bayley sat calmly on a sofa. Bayley told her off for entering without knocking and called her an idiot. Bayley stormed off. 

********

Rhea Ripley (who got a huge pop) approached Vaquer to wish her luck and tell her that she’d be ready for the winner. 

Stephanie Vaquer vs. Kairi Sane (w/Asuka)

The crowd was relatively quiet until Vaquer set up for Devil’s Kiss, but Sane countered it into a roll up for two. Sane followed with a DDT and went to the top, but Vaquer followed her there. A battle on the ropes led to Sane hitting a double foot stomp (the same one we saw in the last match) for two. Sane hit consecutive spinning back fists, but Vaquer came back with a headbutt and a dragon screw. 

Sane rolled outside the ring into the arms of Asuka, so Vaquer wiped them out with a dive off the top. Back in the ring, Vaquer hit Sane with Devil’s Kiss and SVB for a nice, clean pinfall win.

— Asuka hit the apron and got in Vaquer’s face, but Sky ran out to get between them before anything could happen. Sky settled Asuka down until she left. 

Sky and Vaquer faced off and shook hands ahead of their title match on Saturday. 

Match result: Stephanie Vaquer defeated Kairi Sane (11:57)

******** 

There was a video package for Breakker and Reed. 

A red-hot Asuka confronted Sky as Sane tried holding her back. Asuka wanted to ensure Sky became champion, but Sky wanted to do it on her own. Asuka continued screaming in Japanese. She seemed to agree to Sky’s request, but she was pissed. 

******* 

The announcers ran down the Wrestlepalooza card and let us know how we can watch. 

  • John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar 
  • CM Punk & AJ Lee vs. World Champion Seth Rollins & Women’s IC Champion Becky Lynch (mixed tag match) 
  • IYO SKY vs. Stephanie Vaquer for the vacant Women’s World Championship 
  • Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre for the Undisputed WWE Championship 
  • The Usos vs. Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed 

******** 

The Judgment Day met backstage. They toasted champagne to congratulate Dom on his title win. (Finn Bálor’s glass was all head, poured poorly by JD McDonagh. Bálor didn’t seem to appreciate that.) 

Bálor was still unhappy with Dom about the El Grande Americano situation. He fired up at Dom until McDonagh calmed him down. McDonagh asked Dom what Americano wanted from him. 

Dom didn’t think it was a big deal that Americano would simply want the respect of the greatest Mysterio ever. Bálor told him that he shouldn’t expect their help next time. Bálor and McDonagh left together. 

Rusev approached Dom. Rusev got in his face and told him he was the next IC champion. Rusev smiled and told him to enjoy his party. 

********

LA Knight & Jimmy Uso vs. Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed 

Knight and Jimmy worked well together early on and had control until Reed headbutting Jimmy gave the heels control during a break. The crowd chanted for Jimmy, who was cut down by a Breakker suplex. Jimmy avoided Reed’s senton and made the hot tag to Knight. 

Knight gave Breakker a neckbreaker, but turning his attention to Reed allowed Breakker to cut him off with a knee strike. Reed tagged in, but Knight avoided a Jagged Edge (DVD) and hit a reverse DDT and elbow drop. Jimmy tagged himself in and hit an Uso splash, but Breakker broke up the cover. 

Knight clotheslined Breakker out of the ring, and Jimmy hit Reed with a suicide dive. Jimmy went for another, but Reed caught him with a forearm. Knight attacked Reed and sent him back into the ring. Jimmy hit Reed with a superkick and spear. As Jimmy went to the top, Breakker ran over Knight with a leaping shoulder tackle. 

Breakker went after Jimmy, but Jimmy kicked him off the apron. The distraction allowed Reed to hit Jimmy with Jagged Edge for the pinfall win. 

— Breakker speared Jimmy after the match, so Jey ran out to make the save. Jey attacked both Brons with a chair as the fans Yeeted. 

The crowd gasped as Knight grabbed a steel chair with Jey’s back turned. Jey turned around and went face-to-face with Knight. Knight dropped the chair, and Jey offered a handshake. 

Knight shook his hand—then dropped him with a BFT (as payback for last week). 

Match result: Bronson Reed & Bron Breakker defeated Jimmy Uso & LA Knight (12:02)

WWE Raw live results: AJ Lee appears

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: September 8, 2025
Location: Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, WI 

The Big Takeaway —

AJ Lee and CM Punk will team against Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins at Wrestlepalooza because Lee wouldn’t give back Lynch’s IC title belt. The setup for the match was silly, but Lee’s return promo was worth watching. 

The rest of Raw was not. All five matches tonight had some sort of distraction or interference, and outside of maybe one match, the in-ring action didn’t exactly make up for it. 

**********

Show Recap — 

There was a video package of AJ Lee’s return on SmackDown. Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins were shown arriving at the arena in Milwaukee. Lynch was without her Intercontinental title belt after AJ Lee retrieved it. 

Tonight’s announcers are Joe Tessitore and Corey Graves. They said Wade Barrett was on vacation. Graves joked that the internet said Barrett was exiled. 

Jimmy & Jey Uso kick off Raw

Jey and Jimmy Uso entered together through the crowd to Jey’s music. The fans asked them to run it back as usual, so they did. 

Jey spoke briefly about Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed before they quickly interrupted. Breakker told Jimmy (a SmackDown wrestler) he must be lost because the Vision ran Raw. Breakker got flustered in his promo, so he suddenly snapped like he wanted to hit the ring, but Reed held him back. 

All Reed wanted was for Roman Reigns’ family to acknowledge their Tribal Thief. (The crowd sang for Reigns.) Reed said they dealt with Reigns already, and Jimmy would be next. 

Jimmy told him to watch his mouth. Jimmy made some crack comparing them to J&J Security. The Usos also made quips about Paul Heyman, calling him an orca (instead of an oracle, because he looks like a whale) and quoted Hangman Page Reigns by calling him a dumbass. 

The Usos challenged them to a tag match and were ready to do it right now. Reed said they can wait until Wrestlepalooza. 

They were suddenly interrupted by LA Knight, who attacked the Brons from behind. The Usos helped him out, but some miscommunication between Knight and Jey led to Jey getting squashed by Reed in the corner. Jimmy got rid of Reed with a superkick. Jey and Knight argued as the segment ended. 

********

They announced that Raw will start at 7 pm ET/4 pm ET next week (they did not mention anything about the following weeks). 

AJ Styles and LA Knight promos 

AJ Styles cut a promo during a break, and they tried to make it more interesting than the usual off-screen promo. Styles said he didn’t have anyone at his side for the first time in his career. He put up the Too Sweet sign before putting it down. 

He said Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson weren’t there. Michin was on SmackDown. It almost felt like someone orchestrated a way for him not to get help. He would take things out on El Grande Americano tonight so the person who didn’t want him there could feel his pain. 

After a break, Knight said he didn’t care about The Usos’ reunion or their match at Wrestlepalooza. If Jey Uso had a problem with him, they could deal with it face-to-face. Knight wanted one of the Brons in a match tonight. It could be Bronson Reed, Bron Breakker, LeBron James, Little Bronny, or Charles Bronson. He just wanted to beat the piss out of someone named Bron. 

********

AJ Styles vs. El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser) 

Styles attacked Kaiser during his entrance and beat the crap out of him until the referee decided to start the match after Styles clotheslined him out of the ring. Styles continued to beat him up and seemed on the verge of a quick win, but as he set up for the Phenomenal Forearm, a second man dressed like El Grande Americano (in a track suit) ran out to grab him by the leg (while Kaiser distracted the referee). 

Kaiser took control, so it was time for commercials. Styles made his comeback when they returned and hit a rack bomb for two. Kaiser begged off as he backed into the corner. Styles fell for it, so Kaiser dropped him over the top turnbuckle and hit a blockbuster for two. 

Styles was about to go for a Styles Clash, but stopped what he was doing as the other masked man jumped on the apron. Dragon Lee ran out to take him out, and Styles gave Americano/Kaiser a Styles Clash for the pinfall win. 

The crowd certainly liked Styles, and they popped big for his win. 

Match result: AJ Styles defeated El Grande Americano (9:00) 

********

Adam Pearce informed Iyo Sky that Stephanie Vaquer couldn’t make it to Raw, so the contract signing was off. However, he still anticipated her being ready for their title match at Wrestlepalooza. Sky was relieved. Nikki Bella approached Sky and put her over, but Asuka and Kairi Sane barged in. 

Asuka told Nikki to leave. Nikki told Asuka to show some respect. Asuka laughed at that and offered to beat some respect into her tonight. Nikki accepted. 

Sane tried to apologize to Sky, but Asuka called her away. 

(Asuka is great in this role.) 

********

They claimed that the clip of AJ Lee’s return received 178 million “social views.” They aired a video package for her, highlighting her career and run as a multi-time Divas Champion. 

Lyra Valkyria vs. Raquel Rodriguez (w/Roxanne Perez)

Rodriguez took control after catching Valkyria’s flying crossbody attempt and hitting a fallaway slam. Rodriguez wrenched Valkyria back-first against the ring post before hitting consecutive corkscrew elbow drops to the back. 

Rodriguez continued to work over her back during a break, but Valkyria made a comeback with a spinning heel kick, some sort of bulldog/jawbreaker, and tornado DDT. Rodriguez followed with a rope-assisted vertical suplex for two. 

Valkyria went for a sunset flip powerbomb, but Rodriguez held onto the ropes. Valkyria hung on to Rodriguez, sat up, powered her down, hitting the powerbomb for a nearfall. (Graves put over Rodriguez’s strength here, but it was really Valkyria with the impressive showing.) 

Valkyria tried going for Nightwing but dropped Rodriguez, partially because her back was hurt and because Perez hopped on the apron (which we also saw in the last match). 

Valkyria and Rodriguez traded counters until Valkyria applied a deep cradle for two. Valkyria went to the top, but Rodriguez brought her down with a Tejana Bomb for the pinfall win. 

Match result: Raquel Rodriguez defeated Lyra Valkyria (12:41) 

This was a pretty good match despite some weak spots. The crowd seemed more into Valkyria than they had been in recent weeks or months. 

********

The War Raiders met with Penta backstage before Penta met with Pearce. Penta said everybody loved Penta when he got to WWE, but he wondered why Pearce didn’t love him. Pearce wondered what he meant, so Penta told him that his Intercontinental Champion was a pendejo. Penta wanted a title match. 

Rusev interrupted them. He reminded Pearce that his plan was for him to return, crush Sheamus, and get a title match. Penta got in his face, so Pearce made a match between the two for tonight. (They had so little planned for tonight that we’ve had two impromptu matches.)

******** 

New Day (with Grayson Waller) cut a promo during commercials, the only time they seem to talk. 

AJ Styles thanked Dragon Lee for having his back. Jimmy Uso approached them to say hi and ask where Jey was. 

Jimmy saw Jey nearby. Jey had his bag and was leaving. Jimmy said they had a play to run by helping Knight against Reed. Jey didn’t care about that. Jey didn’t appreciate what happened earlier. Helping Knight wasn’t going to help the Usos or help him get the world title back. Jey was pissed and said they should all acknowledge the Usos, or they would smash them all. Jimmy said Jey was starting to sound like Reigns. 

******** 

AJ Lee segment

AJ Lee entered to a big reaction, wearing Lynch’s Intercontinental title belt. She wanted to introduce herself to the fans who weren’t around ten years ago and explain why their millennial parents were so excited on Friday. She was your favourite wrestler’s favourite wrestler. 

She retired ten years ago because she thought she had accomplished everything she wanted in wrestling. She didn’t plan on getting in the ring again wearing jean shorts that were two sizes too small. So she went on another journey to accomplish other dreams she had in life. And she did it. 

She also went on a mental health journey. She wasn’t healthy and needed to take care of herself and get right. She went for therapy (and was happy to hear the fans cheer therapy). She took all the mental chaos and turned it into her superpower. Every day was a fight, but that fight was worth it. You are worth it. 

She felt really good for a long time. And then she watched Raw. Healing wasn’t linear. It was one thing to watch your husband face Drew McIntyre or Seth Rollins or John Cena, but it was another seeing him in there with Becky Lynch. 

AJ Lee wanted to like Lynch. They had so much in common. Lynch was a leader, a rebel, and a New York Times best-selling author. (Lee added that she did that first.) Then she saw Lynch motorboat her husband. She put her hands on him and defamed him. 

Lynch interrupted. She said this was not about AJ’s stank-ass husband. She thought everyone was insane and pointed out Lee wearing her title. Lynch informed Lee that they were nothing alike. Lynch got in a fan’s face before telling everyone was the greatest women’s wrestler of all time. 

The crowd told Lynch that she sucked, and Lynch said she’ll need to go to therapy after this. The crowd chanted, “Therapy.” Lee told her that therapy worked. 

Lee claimed she forgot she was even wearing the IC title belt. She’s been skipping around the house with it, and she slept with it. Things even got a little awkward with it this morning. Before she explained further, she noted Lynch’s black eye (hidden by Lynch’s large sunglasses). 

Lee said Lynch was the greatest of all time, so if she wanted her belt, she should come get it. 

Lynch wondered where CM Punk was and wondered what kind of man hid behind his wife. This had nothing to do with AJ Lee. She stuck her neck where it didn’t belong. Lynch called out Rollins so Lee could see what a real man and champion looked like. Rollins entered and told Lee to give back the title so they could leave this dump of a city. 

Lee offered Lynch a chance to get her belt right now so she could give her another black eye. Or, they could agree to a tag match: AJ Lee and CM Punk against Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins. 

Rollins explained that he was the champion, and he called the shots. He was going to get in the ring and get the title back for his wife. Lee thanked him for mansplaining. Rollins stepped into the ring, but Lee stepped between him and the title and got in his face.

CM Punk appeared and was about to hit Rollins with a GTS, but Rollins escaped. Rollins was pissed, so he accepted the tag match challenge for Wrestlepalooza. Lynch didn’t like that. 

Because the deal was made, Lee tossed the IC title belt out of the ring so Lynch could have it back.

(This was a very long segment. AJ Lee was great with her re-introduction promo. But it’s silly that this big tag match being made came down to who had possession of the physical IC title belt.) 

********

Bayley is still talking to herself. 

Rusev vs. Penta 

Rusev held control until Penta fought back after a break, but of course, we need a distraction, so New Day ran out with Waller. Penta wiped them out with a dive. He was about to hit another dive, but Rusev blocked it. Back in the ring, Penta caught Rusev with a Code Red for a nearfall. (Tessitore called it a Mexican Destroyer, and Graves corrected him.) 

For the third match in a row, somebody hopped on the apron. Penta kicked Xavier Woods off the apron before flying off the top rope, but Rusev caught him with a mid-air Machka kick for the pinfall win. 

Match result: Rusev defeated Penta (8:33) 

********

During a break, Vic Joseph interviewed Dominik Mysterio about his AAA Mega Championship match against El Hijo del Vikingo. The fans sang Dom’s name and cheered him as he left. 

Brock Lesnar will be on Friday’s SmackDown. 

Jimmy Uso approached LA Knight. Jimmy said they should be on the same page against the Vision. Knight wasn’t interested in anyone’s help anymore. He tried to play nice and got superkicked in the mouth instead. Knight also recalled being cost the world title by both Jey and Jimmy on separate occasions. If Jimmy wanted to help, he should stay out of it because Knight planned on doing it alone. 

******** 

Nikki Bella vs. Asuka (w/Kairi Sane)

This was a first-time ever match. There were deuling chants as the match began. 

Asuka dodged a baseball slide and hid behind Sane. Nikki shoved Sane aside (another match with a distraction), allowing Asuka to kick her in the face and take over ahead of a break. Asuka held a rest hold as the commercial counter ran down. 

Asuka hit a German suplex following the break, but Nikki avoided a missile dropkick and fought back with strikes and a springboard kick for two. Asuka hit strikes of her own, but Nikki blocked an Asuka Lock and hit an Alabama Slam for two. 

Asuka hit a roundhouse kick, spinning heel kick, and applied the Asuka Lock for the submission win after Nikki tapped out. 

Match result: Asuka defeated Nikki Bella (10:29) 

It was a pleasant surprise that Asuka won, especially because Nikki just doesn’t look that good in the ring. This was an uninteresting match, and Nikki seemed hesitant to take any strikes. 

********

Next week on Raw (7 pm ET/4 pm ET start time): 

  • AJ Lee & CM Punk go face-to-face with Becky Lynch & Seth Rollins 
  • Lyra Valkyria vs. Roxanne Perez 
  • John Cena appears 

******** 

Judgment Day met backstage. For at least the third week in a row, Finn Bálor and JD McDonagh wondered where Dom was all night. Bálor didn’t like Dom hanging out with El Grande Americano. Dom said it was a lucha thing, and they didn’t understand. Dom was upset they got tossed from ringside last week, and he stormed off. Perez left to go talk to him. 

********

Asuka confronted Nikki backstage. Asuka said she did to Nikki what Sky would do to Vaquer. Nikki, who just tapped out, acted tough and asked if she was ready for round two. They argued until Nikki shoved Asuka. 

The camera panned out to show Rhea Ripley, who magically appeared beside Nikki. Ripley asked if there was a problem, and Asuka said she had two (while pointing at them). Asuka called herself the top woman in WWE, so Ripley reminded Asuka that Sky, not her, was going for the world title. Asuka told her to zip it and left. (Sane stood there awkwardly until Asuka called her away again.) 

******** 

LA Knight vs. Bronson Reed (w/Bron Breakker)

About ten minutes into the match, Knight avoided a charge outside the ring, and Reed fell into the timekeeper’s area. Back in the ring, Reed blocked a neckbreaker, but Knight dodged a senton and hit a diving elbow drop for two. 

Knight went for a BFT, but Reed shoved him off, and Knight bumped Breakker off the apron (so four of five matches tonight had an outside party hit the apron). 

Knight stumbled back into Reed, who hit a DVD for the surprise pinfall win. The crowd seemed caught off guard by the DVD being the finish. The move is now called the “Jagged Edge,” and we know this because Tessitore screamed it repeatedly. 

— The Brons attacked Knight until Jimmy Uso ran out for the save, but Breakker cut him down with a spear. Jey ran down next, but Breakker speared him too. 

Knight attacked the Brons with a chair and ran them off. Knight helped Jimmy to his feet. 

Jey suddenly speared Knight, which got a mixed reaction. Jey told him they were even. 

Match result: Bronson Reed defeated LA Knight (11:43)

Since “beating” Seth Rollins at SNME, LA Knight has won one of his last seven matches, and that one win was by DQ in a tag match.

WWE Raw live results: Clash in Paris go-home show

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: August 25, 2025
Location: bp pulse LIVE in Birmingham, UK 

The Big Takeaway —

LA Knight lost to Bron Breakker in the main event. Jey Uso laid out CM Punk and Knight as the show ended, with Seth Rollins looking on in amusement. Rollins defends the World Championship against Knight, Punk and Jey this Sunday at Clash in Paris. 

There will not be a match for the vacant Women’s World Championship on Sunday, but instead, Becky Lynch will defend the Women’s Intercontinental Championship against Nikki Bella. 

Raw in Paris next week begins at 2 pm ET/11 am PT. 

**********

Show Recap — 

LA Knight, Rhea Ripley, and Nikki Bella arrived at the building in Birmingham. 

There is only one level of stands in this arena, so the stage is smaller than usual, but the arena is completely packed. 

Roman Reigns opens Raw

The crowd anxiously chanted “OTC” and sang Reigns’ name before he even got to the ring. The singing continued in the same cadence as usual after his music cut. They followed with a different song and more “OTC” chants before Reigns finally spoke 10 minutes into the show. 

Reigns had big plans for tonight, for the rest of this year, and next year. But he had to be honest with himself. The fans acknowledged him, but there was something he had to acknowledge. The fans were loud as always, like old times, but Reigns was not the same guy he used to be. The fans chanted, “Yes, you are.” 

Reigns responded, “Maybe I can be.” Cody Rhodes predicted it a year and a half ago. (There was a smattering of boos upon hearing Rhodes’ name, and Reigns responded, “Interesting.”) Reigns said Seth Rollins and The Vision followed through on everything Rhodes said. They took everything from him. The crowd chanted, “F—k you, Rollins,” and Reigns felt the same way. 

Reigns didn’t have what he used to have. He didn’t have a Bloodline. After the crowd chanted, “Yeet,” Reigns said he was proud of Jey Uso. People complained about Jey being in the title match instead of him, but Jey was the one who scored the pinfall in their match. He deserved to be in the title match (instead of him). 

The Vision took his Bloodline, his wiseman, and his titles. They ran out of things to take, so they had to find something else. He was about to bring up Bronson Reed, but Paul Heyman interrupted with Reed. 

Heyman said it’s been five years since Brock Lesnar’s wiseman joined Reigns. They changed the entire industry together. Reigns was all alone now, but Heyman missed him. Heyman loved him five years ago and loved him now. 

The fans sang Reigns’ name, so Heyman instead sang Reed’s name to the same tune. He tried to lead the fans, but they sang for Reigns’ instead. Heyman said the fans disrespected him, but they weren’t tough enough to live in Manchester or rich enough to live in London. 

Heyman did not want to disrespect Reigns. But what Reigns needed was tough love. Heyman wasn’t man enough to beat the tough love into him, but Reed was. 

Reigns called Heyman a dumbass because Heyman would kiss his ass after he kicked Reed’s ass. 

Reed gave Reigns a history lesson. He said Reigns’ tribe from Samoa is civilized, but Reed’s isn’t. Reed’s tribe was exiled to Australia. Reigns’ tattoos were all paid for, but Reed’s were earned. Reed was the Samoan that Reigns’ dad and uncle warned him about, and he was about to find out why. 

Reigns responded, “Hold up, this guy’s Samoan? That means your ass belongs to me.” The crowd popped for that. Reigns invited him to the ring to return his shoes, apologize to the fans, and acknowledge him. (The fans chanted, “Give his shoes back.”) 

Reed turned him down, so Reigns left the ring. They met at the aisle and brawled into the ring. Security got between them, so Reed broke through and squished everyone in the corner. Reed went up for a Tsunami as officials tried to stop him, but Reigns popped up and gave him a Superman punch. Reigns went after Reed again outside the ring, but they were held back by security as they went to break. 

The show was 27 minutes old by the time the opening segment ended. 

*******

Like last week, Finn Bálor couldn’t find Dominik Mysterio backstage, but at that moment, he bumped into Dom speaking to El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser). Bálor asked him what was up. Dom said not to worry about it and he’d join them later. 

Dragon Lee vs. JD McDonagh (w/Finn Bálor)

Bálor was tossed from ringside early in the match. The fans seemed disappointed as this was a very rare occasion where the fans actually booed the referee for tossing a heel from ringside. 

McDonagh took control as they went to break 90 seconds into the match, and Dragon Lee made his comeback the moment they returned. Dragon Lee hit a snap German suplex and poisonrana, but McDonagh hit a Spanish fly for two. Lee followed later with a great-looking Liger bomb for a nearfall. 

The Netflix feed lagged, and the action happened in slow motion. It was fixed as they got to the finish. 

Dom tried to interfere, but AJ Styles ran out to attack him and chase him off. (Corey Graves called Styles hater of the year for once again travelling overseas just to attack someone.) Dragon Lee hit Operation Dragon for the pinfall win. 

Match result: Dragon Lee defeated JD McDonagh (8:42) 

Not including NXT, this was Dragon Lee’s first win on TV since April, and his first singles win since November 2024. 

********

LA Knight interview

Jackie Redmond interviewed LA Knight. He wondered if CM Punk maybe put him through the table on purpose last week. Even if it was an accident, Punk shrugged his shoulders and left. Knight agreed with Punk that they should have worked together against Rollins, but Punk created an environment where that could no longer happen. 

Knight knew Punk was hungry, but they were all hungry. Knight would make sure everyone else went to bed hungry because he would win the title in Paris. He found it very convenient that he was the only one from the four-way that had a match tonight. Knight planned on smacking Bron Breakker back to factory settings.

******** 

There was a Rusev video package. 

Judgment Day met backstage. Raquel Rodriguez stopped an argument between Dom and Bálor. Dom said Bálor has known Styles the longest and suggested he deal with him tonight. Bálor got in Dom’s face and said he’d talk to Adam Pearce and deal with Styles. After he left, Rodriguez told Roxanne Perez to be ready for her match tonight. 

Styles vs. Bálor was made official during the next match. 

********

Penta vs. Kofi Kingston (w/Xavier Woods & Grayson Waller)

The New Day continue to wear all-black as they continue to mourn their tag title loss. Woods wore a black neck brace and had a black cane. 

Penta set up for a flip dive early in the match, but Kingston sprinted away up the aisle as they went to break. Kingston took control during the break and gave Penta a back body drop onto the announce table. It took Penta a full nine seconds to make it back to the ring. 

As Penta made his comeback, Michael Cole said it would be embarrassing if New Day lost to him for a second straight week. Graves wondered what he meant, and Cole said it was because New Day talked so much trash. 

They traded moves, which led to Penta going for a Canadian Destroyer, but Kingston countered it with a back body drop. Kingston followed with a fameasser for two. Penta botched a potential rana off the ropes, so he hit a superplex to bring Kingston down instead. 

Penta followed with a Penta driver, but Kingston kicked out. (Graves said this may have been the first time someone kicked out of this move, and reminded us that Kingston was a former world champion.) 

Penta kicked Waller in the face, and his papers went flying, before hitting Kingston and Woods with a flip dive. Penta went to the ropes for a Destroyer attempt, but was distracted by Waller (who didn’t technically do anything). 

Kingston tripped Penta off the ropes and hit Trouble in Paradise for the pinfall win. The crowd groaned at the finish. 

Match result: Kofi Kingston defeated Penta (10:21)

******** 

Iyo Sky approached Rhea Ripley backstage. She thanked her for having her back last week. She respected Ripley, but Asuka and Kairi Sane were her family. They didn’t like that Ripley got in her business, so they should probably keep their distance for a while. 

At this moment, Asuka and Sane appeared in the background and watched the rest of this transpire. Ripley understood Sky’s sentiment. Ripley was about to leave, but Sky pulled her back for a hug. The hug caused Asuka to storm off in the background. 

(I get what they’re doing, but this was overly dramatic.) 

******** 

There was a video package of Naomi’s announcement. 

Pearce informed Stephanie Vaquer that she was still the number one contender, but her match was not happening in Paris. Pearce asked her to give him a week to find her an opponent. Vaquer was disappointed she wouldn’t be wrestling in Paris, but said she’d be ready when Pearce found her opponent. 

******** 

Becky Lynch and Nikki Bella segment

Lynch entered first. Like she did on Smackdown, Lynch played babyface for a brief moment before quickly turning on the crowd. She called Birmingham a dump, just like Nikki Bella. They advertised this as Bella calling out Lynch, but Lynch didn’t plan on getting called out like a dog by anyone. 

Nikki entered. She said if Lynch wasn’t a dog, then she should stop acting like a bitch. Nikki suggested Lynch give her a title shot. 

Lynch said she wasn’t about to give out title shots, especially to broke-neck Barbie. Nikki said she kicked her ass last week. And thanks to her blazing a trail, Lynch had a page to write history on. 

Lynch credited Nikki and her better twin for blazing that trail and bringing in a new audience, but frankly, she just didn’t care. Lynch never wanted to respect Nikki—she wanted to replace her, and she’s done a pretty good job doing so. 

Nikki said Lynch was afraid to face her. Lynch was once Charlotte Flair’s little sidekick. Lynch said she was no one’s shadow. She was the greatest of all time, even Sports Illustrated thought so. Nikki didn’t care what SI thought. She cared what the people thought—the people who made Lynch. Lynch came off as desperate, and everyone could see it. 

The crowd tried chanting “Becky’s desperate,” but she cut them off. Lynch knew the fans were trying to take over. She called it classic British behaviour and wondered if 800 years of oppressing the Irish wasn’t enough for them. 

Nikki wondered if The Man lost her balls. Lynch assured her by saying, “I have balls. I have balls.” Nikki said Lynch was cheap and another c-word—a coward. Lynch thought she meant the other c-word. 

Lynch agreed to a match in Paris because she wouldn’t wrestle in Birmingham. The only good thing to come out of Birmingham died a month ago. At least Ozzy Osbourne had the sense to move to LA first. 

Nikki knew why Lynch was so mad. No matter how hard she tried, her name would never be as big as Bella. Nikki said she would win the title in Paris. 

Lynch went for a cheap shot, but Nikki decked her. Lynch bailed before Nikki could hit her finisher.

(This was one of those segments where the heel was much more entertaining than the babyface, who, in this case, just isn’t that interesting. Nikki accused Lynch of using cheap insults, but Nikki was the one who called her a bitch, insinuated she was a c-word, and accused her of not having balls. It would also be nice if they didn’t feel the need to tell us Nikki blazed a trail every chance they get.) 

********

CM Punk interview 

Redmond interviewed CM Punk. He said he didn’t put Knight through the table, but he also didn’t care that Knight fell through a table because he was a clumsy idiot. 

Punk wasn’t just hungry—he was obsessed with holding the title. It was ripped from him by Rollins. Punk warned all three of his opponents that he would cripple them if he had to and walk out of Paris as champion. He finished his promo by saying his name in the same cadence as “L.A. Knight.” 

********

There was a Sheamus video package. He said Rusev’s return was a superstar return that no one wanted or asked for. Rusev lost his love for the game. He was passionless, speaking from a darkened room, and acting like a bully. Rusev was cringe. But Sheamus noticed that Rusev had woken up in their recent battles and won back his respect. Sheamus wanted the old Rusev back, and they would have a banger in Paris. 

********

Rhea Ripley vs. Roxanne Perez (w/Raquel Rodriguez) 

The fans sang Ripley’s name in the tune of We Will Rock You. Perez got a lot in this match. A distraction by Rodriguez allowed Perez to take over with a suicide dive. She worked over Ripley’s leg during a break and spiked her with a DDT after the break. 

Another distraction allowed Perez to bring Ripley off the top with a hurricanrana. Perez followed with a double knee drop for two. Ripley followed with a Razor’s Edge and a running kick for two. Ripley knocked down Rodriguez, blocked a Pop Rox, and hit Rip-tide for the pinfall win. 

— Rodriguez attacked Ripley after the match. Ripley fought her off, but an assist by Perez allowed the heels to take her down. 

Sky ran out to make the save and sent Rodriguez out of the ring with a missile dropkick. Ripley hugged Sky as they smiled over the heels. 

Match result: Rhea Ripley defeated Roxanne Perez (10:39) 

********

Seth Rollins psyched up his buddies backstage as the fans sang his song. 

Sky checked on Ripley backstage. As soon as Ripley left, an angry Asuka confronted Sky as Sane held her back. Asuka told Sky to stop talking to Ripley. Asuka left. Sky asked Sane to trust her. A very sad Kairi Sane told Sky she was sorry, and she left. 

(I guess there was no specific reason for Ripley to get involved here, but she would’ve been close by to stand up for Sky when Asuka confronted her, but because she was off-screen, that meant she actually vanished.) 

********

AJ Styles vs. Finn Bálor

This was their fifth-ever singles match. The crowd gave a polite applause as the match began. They wrestled back and forth for a few minutes until Bálor dropkicked Styles off the apron. Styles maintained control through a break. 

Styles blocked a crossbody and hit a backbreaker, followed by a fireman’s carry neckbreaker for two. Bálor responded with a slingblade and dropkick into the corner. Styles avoided a Coup de Grace, and a series of counters led to a Styles Clash for a decisive pinfall win. 

Match result: AJ Styles defeated Finn Bálor (8:05) 

There was nothing wrong with it, but this was as standard a match between these two men as you will ever see. 

******* 

Jey Uso and Roman Reigns segment 

Jey Uso was all wound up as he met with Reigns backstage. Reigns warned him to never trust Punk. Reigns also wondered why Jey was so uptight. He told him to stop helping people. He’s helped enough. He’s helped Reigns, their family, the locker room and the company. It was time for Jey to do it for himself. It wasn’t about being one of the boys or making friends. It was about cashing in on the moments and locking in a legacy. Reigns said that was his perspective—it was up to Jey to be Jey. They shook hands. 

This was good.

********

Bayley video, Judgment Day segment

There was another Bayley video where she could hear her inner voice(s), and we, the audience, can hear it too. It started with the younger, upbeat version of Bayley talking to her, before the heel version interrupted. The two voices argued until the real Bayley told them to stop. 

Backstage, a concerned Lyra Valkyria asked Pearce if they had checked on Bayley or if there was an update on her medical state. He said he has called her, but there’s no official status. He promised an update.  

The male members of Judgment Day confronted Pearce about Styles. Dom wanted things to end with Styles. Pearce agreed, so he put Dom in a match against Styles next week on Raw in Paris for the Intercontinental champion. Dom wasn’t happy, and he referred to Pearce as Charles Xavier. 

Bálor was selling in the background after just wrestling, but he looked up and smiled when Pearce made the announcement. That was funny. 

********

Official card for Clash in Paris: 

  • Roman Reigns vs. Bronson Reed 
  • Sheamus vs. Rusev – Good Ol’ Fashioned Donnybrook Match (no DQ, no countout) 
  • John Cena vs. Logan Paul 
  • Becky Lynch (c) vs. Nikki Bella for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship 
  • Seth Rollins (c) vs. CM Punk vs. Jey Uso vs. LA Knight for the World Heavyweight Championship 

*******

As Bron Breakker walked through the back, Reigns suddenly shoved him into an equipment box. Reed tried to get involved, so Reigns knocked him down with a Superman punch. Reigns was taken away by security. Pearce told Breakker he still had a match, and Breakker wasn’t pleased.

Knight jumped in next to attack Breakker and dragged him out to the stage. 

LA Knight vs. Bron Breakker (w/Paul Heyman)

Knight continued to beat up Bron before the match began and attacked him around ringside. They entered the ring, and the match started. Despite Knight attacking Bron for a good five minutes (and after Reigns blindsided him earlier), Bron made his own comeback and took control. 

After a break, Bron gave Knight a Frankensteiner. Knight slipped out of a press slam and hit a DDT. Knight made his comeback and hit a neckbreaker. Bron cut him off and went for a running spear or tackle, but Knight booted him. With Bron standing on the top, Knight leaped to the top and brought him down with a superplex. Knight followed with a flying elbow drop. 

Rollins’ music hit, and he ran down to ringside. Knight chased him around ringside like an idiot and ran into a spear by Bron. The crowd chanted for Punk, but he did not show. 

Bron followed with a spear in the ring for the pinfall win. 

— Rollins and Bron attacked Knight, but Jey Uso made the save. Jey hit Rollins with a superkick and turned his attention to Bron, but Rollins grabbed him and hit a Pedigree. 

Punk finally entered to his music. They cut the song, but the fans sang it anyway as Punk posted Bron. Punk attacked Rollins, but Bron pulled Rollins out of the ring to safety. (The crowd chanted, “Seth’s a p—sy,” which was censored.) 

Punk helped Jey to his feet, but Knight confronted Punk. Jey tried to settle them down, but Knight brushed him off. Punk and Knight traded fists until Punk shoved Knight into Jey. 

Punk grabbed Knight for a GTS, but Knight slipped out and stumbled toward Jey, who laid him out with a superkick. Jey stood next to Punk—then laid out Punk with a superkick, too. Rollins was amused by this. 

Rollins looked on confidently as Jey Yeeted with the crowd as the show ended. 

Match result: Bron Breakker defeated LA Knight (13:45)

Knight came across so poorly here. Breakker was blinded by both Reigns and Knight, allowing Knight to have complete control of the match. Breakker came back anyway and basically won clean because Knight was too stupid to focus on the match. I don’t think Breakker should be losing, but beating Knight this close to the title match was not a good idea either, especially in this manner. 

Jey at least got to shine at the end, but I’m not sure any of this would make you feel like Rollins is losing the belt on Sunday.

WWE Raw live results: Naomi addresses her status

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: August 18, 2025
Location: Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, PA 

The Big Takeaway —

Naomi is expecting a child with Jimmy Uso and relinquished her World Championship. The segment turned her into a big babyface, so we’ll see what happens when she returns. She made it clear that she’s coming back as soon as she can to recapture the title. 

Raw’s streak of inconclusive main events ended as Jey Uso beat Bron Breakker in an Extreme Rules match, which included a lot of interference. 

It wasn’t announced, but Roman Reigns appears to be facing Bronson Reed at Clash in Paris. 

Next week’s Raw in Birmingham airs at 3 pm ET/12 pm PT.

**********

Show Recap — 

Jey Uso and Naomi were shown arriving (separately) after a recap of last week’s Raw. 

The Vision opens Raw

They advertised that The Vision would appear on Raw and, in fact, the four men who are on Raw most weeks entered to kick off the show. 

Seth Rollins wore a floral-patterned shirt and pants. The fans sang his song, the heel group was cheered, and people loudly barked for Bron Breakker. 

They also cheered for Paul Heyman, who said he was God in this city (Philadelphia). The city would build him a statue, but he was far too humble to accept the credit he deserved for everything he’s done in front of and behind the camera. “Bluntly—I am the GOAT.” 

Heyman said the ring was filled with GOATs. He put over Breakker and Bronson Reed in the same manner he always does. Reed continues to carry Roman Reigns’ shoes with him, so the crowd chanted, “OTC.” Heyman put over Rollins next and said he’s beaten Reigns twice. The crowd sang his song again. 

Rollins was about to speak, but Jey Uso entered through the crowd. Jey remained in the crowd to cut his promo. (He pointed the microphone at a few young fans who all said, “Yeet.”) Jey was tired of The Vision. He called Breakker a puppy dog who would have to deal with him tonight. 

Rollins egged on Breakker by claiming Jey said things about Breakker and his family that he never actually did. Rollins claimed Jey said he was a better and stronger athlete than Breakker, and claimed Jey thought his family was stupid. I guess Breakker believed him because he wanted to go after Jey right now, but Rollins stopped him. (Jey seemed unbothered by all of this.) 

Heyman said that in a bingo hall not so far away, men used to settle their differences in the ring in a particular type of match. He was about to proclaim the match in the name of Sandman, New Jack, Rob Van Dam, Sabu, Tommy Dreamer, and The Dudley Boyz, but Jey cut him off and offered the match instead: extreme rules. 

(When Heyman said Dreamer’s name, he called him the “late, great Tommy Dreamer.” He went on to say that he knew Dreamer wasn’t dead but added, “he should be.”)

This was the usual opening segment to build to the main event, with some ECW references in Philly thrown in to make it feel different. 

********

Asuka apologized to Iyo Sky backstage for shoving her last week. Kairi Sane and Asuka offered to be at ringside for her match, but Sky politely turned them down. They were all happy and on the same page. 

IYO SKY vs. Raquel Rodriguez (w/Roxanne Perez)

Sky was about to go for a dive, but was tripped by Perez from outside the ring (with the ref distracted). Rodriguez used the distraction to boot Sky. Rodriguez took over the moment they went to break, and Sky came back the moment they returned after dodging an elbow drop. 

Sky hit a missile dropkick, and the crowd cheered when she did her pose. Sky went for a bullet train, but Rodriguez caught her and hit a Samoan drop, followed by a corkscrew elbow drop for two. Rodriguez avoided a moonsault and turned Sky inside out with a clothesline for two. 

Sky wiped out Perez with a suicide dive and went for one on Rodriguez, but Rodriguez caught her and rolled through to her feet. Rodriguez lawn-darted Sky onto the ring apron and went for a Tejana Bomb in the ring, but Sky countered out of it and hit the bullet train. Sky followed with a moonsault for the pinfall win. 

— Perez and Rodriguez attacked Sky after the match, but Rhea Ripley (not Asuka and Sane) ran out to make the save. Sky quickly joined in, and they worked together to get rid of Rodriguez. 

Match result: IYO SKY defeated Raquel Rodriguez (11:00) 

This wound up being pretty good, particularly the portion following the commercial break. 

********

Jackie Redmond interviewed LA Knight. Before he could say much, CM Punk interrupted. Punk said Redmond could leave, but Knight told her to stay. Punk thought Knight didn’t like him, but Knight said it wasn’t personal. Punk kept stepping into his business. 

Punk thought they should stay on the same page against Rollins’ crew, but Knight wasn’t interested after Punk attacked him last week. Knight was focused on walking out of Paris as the world champion. 

********

The New Day cut a generic heel promo during a break. Kofi Kingston said the 76ers were losers, and Xavier Woods said Penta owed him money for his hat. 

They aired highlights of Triplemanía and said it was the most viewed edition in history, with 4.3 million views in the first 24 hours. They did not mention that it aired on YouTube. 

Asuka and Sane approached Ripley and Sky backstage. Asuka didn’t appreciate Ripley stepping in to help Sky instead of them. Asuka and Ripley got into a shouting match until Sky yelled at them even louder to stop. Sky kept shouting as she left and could be heard off-screen as Asuka and Ripley stared at each other. Asuka left, Ripley was annoyed, and Sane looked disappointed at this turn of events. 

********

Xavier Woods (w/Kofi Kingston & Grayson Waller) vs. Penta 

The heel took control 90 seconds into the match, which meant it was time for a break. During the break, Michael Cole said Woods tracked down Petey Williams to find out how to counter Penta’s Canadian Destroyer. (Although, Cole said Woods asked Williams about his Canadian Destroyer to counter Penta’s Mexican Destroyer.) 

Penta made a comeback and wiped out Woods and Waller with a dive. Woods responded later with a reverse vertical suplex for two. The crowd was deathly silent as Penta countered Woods’ Honor Roll with a Penta Driver. 

Penta didn’t immediately go for a cover, and Woods managed to roll to the ropes. This allowed Kingston to put Woods’ foot on the bottom rope to break up the cover, so Penta wiped out Kingston and Waller with a flip dive. (I like that Waller did nothing at ringside besides get laid out by two dives.) 

Woods tried to steal a win with a small package, but Penta kicked out and hit a Canadian Destroyer for the pinfall win. 

Kingston and Waller entered the ring to go after Penta, but he bailed. 

Match result: Penta defeated Xavier Woods (9:48) 

Congrats to Penta, who moves to one win above .500 in 2025. 

********

They showed Dominik Mysterio getting pinned by El Hijo del Vikingo at Triplemanía thanks to AJ Styles. (They played loud music over the crowd’s reaction to Vikingo winning.) 

After the show, Dom called Styles an “old bat” for costing him the title and said he would beat Vikingo at Worlds Collide on September 12th. (Rey showed up to mock Dom for losing.) 

Non-title match: World Tag Team Champions Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh (w/Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio) vs. Dragon Lee & Mr. Iguana

Mr. Iguana got a modest reaction. Dragon Lee was in control for a couple of minutes before tagging him in. There were light cheers when he tagged in, but Bálor immediately cut him off. The crowd sang Dom’s name as Bálor had the heat. Dragon Lee and Mr. Iguana wiped out Bálor and McDonagh with dives ahead of a break. 

This slowed down during a break. When they returned, McDonagh hit Dragon Lee with a poisonrana, but Lee quickly responded with a Liger bomb. Mr. Iguana made a hot tag, and his offence included using his puppet, “La Yesca,” which didn’t get much of a reaction. Dragon Lee tagged himself in, and McDonagh wiped out Mr. Iguana with an Asai moonsault. 

Bálor hit Dragon Lee with a slingblade, but Lee came back with a superkick. McDonagh distracted the referee as Dom grabbed Lee by the leg. This allowed Bálor to hit Lee with a dropkick and Coup de Grace for the pinfall win. 

— Judgment Day put the boots to the babyfaces post-match. Dom cleared the announce table but was attacked by Vikingo. 

Vikingo attacked McDonagh in the ring, but Dom attacked Vikingo from behind with his AAA Mega Championship belt. Judgment Day aided Dom, who hit Vikingo with a frog splash. 

Match result: Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh defeated Dragon Lee & Mr. Iguana (9:52)

Dragon Lee looked good here, but there was only so much he could do. Mr. Iguana didn’t do much, but they definitely wanted you to know he has a puppet. Neither Mr. Iguana nor Vikingo got significant reactions. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be used on WWE programming, but the crowd isn’t with them yet. 

*******

Redmond interviewed Becky Lynch and asked why she attacked Natalya last week. Lynch claimed we saw the best of Maxxine Durpi thanks to her, and she was only defending herself when Natalya shoved her. Lynch said Natalya has been wrestling in different promotions to prove herself, but Natalya didn’t belong in the ring with her. Lynch welcomed her back to the big time. 

*******

There was a follow-up to that Bayley interview last week. She’s talking to herself now. She has a split personality like Two-Face, and her inner voice was constantly calling her a loser. Of course, we can hear it too, which doesn’t make any sense. 

This was stupid. 

******** 

Women’s Intercontinental Championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Natalya (w/Maxxine Dupri & Akira Tozawa)

We got normal WWE Natalya in this match. Lynch posted Natalya, and they went to break 90 seconds into this title match. They tried to play it up like Natalya had a shoulder injury. The ref checked on her, but Lynch went after and worked over her arm through the break. 

Lynch applied an armbar when they returned. Natalya eventually fought out and hit a powerbomb. Natalya sold her arm before going for a Sharpshooter. Lynch avoided it, but Natalya hit a discus clothesline for two. 

Dupri checked on Natalya, so Lynch booted Dupri and hit Tozawa with a baseball slide as he checked on her. This led to Natalya applying a cradle, which was probably meant to get a reaction since it came off a distraction, but it didn’t. Lynch kicked out and applied a Disarmer for the submission win. 

— Lynch decked Natalya and Dupri after the match. She put Dupri on a Disarmer until Nikki Bella ran out to make the save. Nikki laid her out with a “Rack Attack 2.0.” 

Match result: Becky Lynch defeated Natalya to retain the Women’s Intercontinental Championship (7:51) 

A standard WWE match with a crowd as quiet as you’ll ever hear. 

*******

They announced a “special edition” of Stephanie McMahon’s podcast with Naomi (who Stephanie called “Trinity”) and Jimmy Uso. They aired a clip but cut away before Jimmy could make an announcement. 

Naomi is up next. 

********

Redmond tried to interview Sheamus, but they were interrupted by Rusev. The two men were about to brawl, but officials broke it up. A furious Adam Pearce said they would settle things in a good old-fashioned donnybrook. 

Vic Joseph interviewed Trick Williams during a break, but they were interrupted by Je’Von Evans. Trick left and said he’d see him tomorrow. Evans plugged the match on tomorrow’s NXT. 

Punk approached Jey Uso and offered to have his back tonight. Once again, this did not go the way Punk hoped. Jey wanted to do this on his own and was focused on Paris. They shook hands. 

******** 

Naomi’s announcement 

Naomi entered with her world championship. She was emotional and asked the fans to turn to the screen. They aired the announcement on Stephanie’s podcast. Jimmy announced they were having a baby, and the crowd popped huge. Stephanie wanted to hear it from Naomi, so Naomi confirmed she was pregnant. 

Back in the ring, Pearce congratulated Naomi and said they were all happy for her. The fans cheered. 

Naomi looked angry as she turned her attention to Pearce. She said this wasn’t her first time relinquishing a title. She handed it back the first time, but this time, “I ain’t handing you shit.” Her hormones were jumping like a disco, so she told Pearce to get to steppin’ and get out of her ring. He left. She encouraged the fans to sing the goodbye song at him, so they did. She thanked them. 

Naomi said the women in the back should be thanking one person. Some fans chanted for Jimmy Uso, and she smiled because that’s who she meant. If it wasn’t for Big Jim, she would’ve walked them all like a dog. But thanks to Big Jim and Netflix and chill, that wasn’t happening. The fans chanted, “You deserve it,” and she was happy to hear it. 

Naomi exclaimed: “On the bright side, I guess the Bloodline continues, baby!” (Some fans decided to chant, “OTC.” Some much smarter fans chanted, “Baby Uso.”) 

Naomi placed the belt down in the ring. She told the heffers in the back they had just over nine months to get ready. She would do whatever it took to get her title back, even if that meant doing it while breastfeeding her baby. She advised them to proceed with caution. 

The crowd cheered as she waved goodbye.

(This was great, and of course, turned Naomi into a big babyface.) 

********

Next week on Raw in Birmingham, UK (start time 3 pm ET/12 pm PT)

  • Rhea Ripley vs. Roxanne Perez 
  • Kofi Kingston vs. Penta 

******** 

Backstage, Judgment Day weren’t sure where Dom was, but they bumped into him while he spoke to El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser). Dom told Bálor he just wanted to ensure Judgment Day always stayed on top. 

Bálor acted like he was fine with this, but was clearly caught off guard. (Bálor has been the one pulling the strings for weeks, but this was the first time he seemed like he wasn’t in control of things.) 

******** 

Extreme Rules match: Jey Uso vs. Bron Breakker (w/Paul Heyman)

Jey wore a bandana like New Jack and carried a shopping cart full of weapons to ringside. Early in the match, Jey clotheslined Bron over the top, and Bron landed right on top of the cart, which didn’t look fun. Bron stayed down for a while until blocking Jey’s dive attempt by hitting him with a steel chair. (Before this, Jey tossed chairs into the ring one at a time as the fans yelled “Yeet.”) 

Bron cut off Jey’s comeback attempt and dropped him gut-first onto the top edge of two steel chairs. Bron did his usual leaping clothesline off the apron, but used a trash can this time to send Jey over the announce desk. During a break, Jey gave Bron a back body drop through the thin piece of cardboard that covers the announce desk. 

Bron hit a Frankensteiner and went for a super spear, but Jey cut him off with a spear of his own for a nearfall. Jey hit him repeatedly with a steel chair before hitting another spear. Jey hit an Uso splash, seemingly for the win, but Bronson Reed pulled the referee out of the ring. 

Reed attacked Jey as Cole said this was all legal. You could question why Reed wasn’t out there from the beginning, but to answer that question, Knight ran out to even the odds. Rollins ran out through the crowd to attack Knight. Rollins laid out Jey with a pedigree, and Punk entered next. 

Rollins slipped in the ring to escape Punk, but wound up getting attacked by both Knight and Punk. Punk set up Rollins for a GTS, but Rollins slipped out and shoved Punk into Knight. Knight fell off the apron and crashed through a table. Punk shrugged his shoulders and chased Rollins through the crowd. 

Bron set up a table in the corner, but Jey superkicked him onto the table. Jey went to the top, but Reed shoved him off. The crowd chanted for Roman Reigns, knowing he was advertised for the show. Sure enough, as Bron set up for a super spear, Reigns’ music hit. 

Bron hesitated while he watched the stage. Reigns didn’t show, so Bron went for the spear, but Reigns appeared at ringside and cut him off with a spear. Reigns also speared Reed. 

Jey superkicked Bron onto the table and hit an Uso splash for the pinfall win. The crowd was happy. 

— As Jey posed for the crowd, Reigns told Reed he would see him in Paris. Reed was on board.

Match result: Jey Uso defeated Bron Breakker in an Extreme Rules match (20:26) 

This was basically a WWE main event match in a nutshell. Pretty good action, tons of interference, stars interrupting to their music. The crowd ate it up, and they were way, way, way more into this than anything else on the show, aside from Naomi’s announcement.

WWE Raw live results: CM Punk appears in Quebec City

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: August 11, 2025
Location: Centre Videotron in Quebec City, QC 

The Big Takeaway —

Raw’s main event ended in a DQ/no contest for the fourth week in a row when Seth Rollins attacked CM Punk. The result led to Adam Pearce announcing that Rollins would defend his world title at Clash in Paris in a four-way against Punk, LA Knight and Jey Uso. 

Sami Zayn might have been in the title picture, but he failed to beat Rusev after Solo Sikoa and the MFTs interrupted that match—also leading to a DQ. 

Naomi did not appear, and there was no update on her status. Iyo Sky lost to Roxanne Perez after some failed assistance from Asuka and Kairi Sane. Asuka appears to be turning sooner rather than later.

**********

Show Recap — 

There was a long, dramatic recap of last week’s Raw. 

Michael Cole informed the live and TV audience that Naomi was not medically cleared to compete and, therefore, would not be defending her title tonight. 

CM Punk and LA Knight segment

Quebec City is red-hot, and CM Punk entered to a big ovation. 

Punk said the fans made it hard for him to stay angry, but he was angry because he should be standing there representing them as champion. He wasn’t, though, because he had a Seth Rollins problem. Rollins was a visionary who couldn’t see what was right in front of his face. He was trying to be CM Punk, but was failing miserably. 

Punk climbed to the top of the mountain at SummerSlam and became the champion for the first time in 12 years “in this company.” He couldn’t help but feel he let the fans down because he wasn’t the champion anymore. However, if he was obsessed about becoming champ before, he was even more possessed now. 

Punk knew to hate the game and not the player. He’s cashed in Money in the Bank multiple times before, but boy, did he hate Rollins. Rollins pretended to be Punk and pretended to be injured so he could cash in when the time was right. Punk promised to regain the title. Rollins wouldn’t have to pretend to be injured because Punk would break his legs. 

LA Knight interrupted to a big reaction. They shook hands. Knight said Punk was robbed at SummerSlam and deserved to have his rematch. (Punk responded, “Yeah!”) However, Knight had his title match against Rollins last week, and Punk couldn’t help but get involved and get him disqualified. Wrong place, wrong time. 

Knight said he didn’t have a problem with Punk and would like to keep it that way. If Punk wanted Rollins, he should do it on his own time. Punk could get his rematch—after Knight got his. 

Punk said Knight should be thanking him. Knight wasn’t about to become champion after getting his head stomped in. Punk called himself the number one contender and told Knight to get behind him in line. 

Knight recalled Punk saying there were levels to this, and Punk was not on his level. Knight wanted a favour from Punk. Knight suggested he take the title from Rollins first, then Punk could be his first successful title defence. 

Punk called himself the best in the world. They seemed to be spinning their wheels at this point and repeating themselves when Paul Heyman interrupted with Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed (carrying two pairs of Roman Reigns’ shoes around his neck). 

Heyman spoke a couple of words in French before admitting that’s all the French he knew. The crowd yelled obscenities at him in French. Heyman advised Knight not to do any favours for Punk. 

Heyman rambled until Punk cut him off and invited the Bron-Brons into the ring. Heyman was on board and agreed: Punk and Knight against Breakker and Reed tonight. 

Knight didn’t initially accept (likely because he wanted Rollins instead), but Punk cut him off and said they accepted. Knight made it clear Punk didn’t speak for him, but he accepted. (They argued as the segment ended.) 

When it seemed like the segment was done, Breakker made his way down the aisle but was held back by Reed. Bron told Punk, “You’re 47! What are you gonna do?” and added, “You’re both 100 years old combined!” Reed and Heyman convinced Breakker to back off.

(This segment was ok. Punk and Knight are both good speakers, but their interaction felt forced. Punk’s initial promo wasn’t his best, either. After all their talking, the highlight of the segment was Breakker at the very end.) 

********

Dominik entered the Judgment Day clubhouse with El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser). Raquel Rodriguez didn’t like him being there. Finn Bálor pulled Dom aside and reiterated that they didn’t really want him there. Dom said it was cool because Americano was joining him at Triplemanía. Bálor was on board because Americano could help Dom bring the AAA Mega Championship to the Judgment Day. 

The announcers plugged Triplemanía during entrances for the next match. 

AJ Styles & Dragon Lee vs. Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio & El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser)

Dragon Lee wiped out Americano with a dive before the match began, and they gave the babyfaces the edge until they went to break, when the heels took over. Lee made a hot tag after the break, but the heels got the advantage again. This led to a second break just nine minutes into the match. (Dom wrestled for a few moments while wearing a mask.) 

Americano ripped at Lee’s mask during a break and actually exposed a decent amount of his face. The match slowed until it was time to return from break, when Lee hit Americano with a double foot stomp. Dom yanked Styles off the apron to prevent a tag, but Styles chased him around ringside and tackled him over the barricade. 

Styles made a hot tag and hit Americano with a fireman’s carry neckbreaker, but Dom broke up a cover. Lee monkey flipped Dom into a Styles Clash, which was a cool spot. However, Americano shoved Lee off the top rope, so Styles gave him a reverse DDT. 

Americano tried placing a steel plate under his mask, but Styles hit an enziguri. The plate dropped into the hands of Dom, who put his mask on and placed the plate inside. As Styles came off the rope, Dom headbutted him, and Americano caught Styles in a schoolboy for the pinfall win. 

Match result: El Grande Americano & Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio defeated AJ Styles & Dragon Lee (16:38) 

********

Earlier today, Sami Zayn (wearing a Quebec Remparts jersey) asked Adam Pearce if he had decided on a world title match at Clash in Paris. Zayn desperately wanted the match. Pearce said he couldn’t make any promises. He told Zayn to focus on Rusev, then they could talk about it. 

Sheamus entered. Pearce didn’t want him going after Rusev again. Sheamus wasn’t about to listen to Pearce, but Zayn asked him sincerely to stay out of it. Sheamus agreed, but said he would go after Rusev the second their match was over. 

*******

Iyo Sky lamented to Pearce about not getting a title match (now that Naomi is hurt). Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez showed up to mock her. Sky said she came to Quebec to fight, so she challenged Perez. Pearce made it official. 

There was a graphic highlighting some wrestlers who came out of Quebec: Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, The Quebecers, Pat Patterson, Stan Stasiak, Rick Martel, and more.

******** 

Sami Zayn vs. Rusev

They took turns posing for the Quebec fans as the match began, and you can guess the reactions. Zayn hit an Arabian press to the outside, and the crowd popped, but Rusev cut him off with a uranage. During a break, the crowd yelled obscenities at Rusev. He posed again for the crowd and got way more heat this time, the most he’s received since returning. 

Zayn made a comeback after the break and hit a tornado DDT as the fans rose to their feet. Zayn went for a Helluva Kick, but Rusev cut him off with a Machka Kick for two. Zayn avoided an Accolade and applied a schoolboy for two. Rusev avoided an exploder and hit Zayn with ten beats of the Bodhrán (to piss off Sheamus). 

Rusev stalled for too long, so Zayn hit an exploder in the corner. The camera zoomed way in on Zayn as he set up for a Helluva Kick, so you knew something was happening. 

Zayn was pulled out of the ring by Solo Sikoa’s MFTs for the disqualification. Tala Tonga booted Zayn as officials ran down to chase them away. The crowd booed this, of course. 

— The booing didn’t last long, because Sheamus appeared through the crowd and hit Rusev with a knee strike. Sheamus tossed a security guard over the announce desk. Sheamus and Rusev brawled through the crowd as the segment ended. 

During a break, Zayn got to his feet and went to the stage as the crowd chanted, “Olé.” 

(There was a funny, perhaps unplanned moment, where the security guard that Sheamus assaulted was in visible pain between Cole and Corey Graves at the announce desk.) 

Match result: Sami Zayn defeated Rusev via disqualification (9:49)

This was good enough while it lasted, thanks mostly to the crowd. They would’ve exploded if Zayn got a simple win here, but alas, they went with this finish instead. Cole mentioned that Zayn might’ve gotten closer to a title match with a win.  

********

After a break, Sikoa and his crew were kicked out of the arena. Pearce was pissed as he spoke with Nick Aldis on the phone. A referee interrupted to tell Pearce that they had separated Sheamus and Rusev. Pearce screamed at him to go make sure. 

The New Day and Grayson Waller approached Pearce next to complain about Penta. Pearce was steaming and put Xavier Woods in a match against Penta next week. 

*******

There was a video package for Bronson Reed, where he spoke about Reigns. He planned on adding to his shoe collection until Reigns acknowledged him as his Tribal Thief. 

Asuka and Kairi Sane offered to be at ringside for Sky’s upcoming match. Sky appreciated it, but she’s beaten Perez before, so she declined. They all embraced, but Asuka seemed put off slightly by Sky turning them down. 

IYO SKY vs. Roxanne Perez (w/Raquel Rodriguez)

Sky was in complete control and wiped out both Perez and Rodriguez with a suicide dive. It was weird because Perez just popped up and attacked Sky from behind to get the heat. Perhaps Sky was only supposed to hit Rodriguez on the dive, but she definitely got them both. I guess Perez knew they were going to break, and it was time to get heat. 

Sky made her comeback after the break, hitting strikes, a dropkick, enziguri, a missile dropkick, and bullet train (running double knee strike in the corner) for a nearfall. 

Perez knocked Sky off the top rope and brought her down with a hurricanrana. Perez clonked Sky with a knee drop (and you could hear the impact) for two. The referee was distracted by Rodriguez, so Perez poked Sky in the eyes and hit a shining wizard for two. Perez put Sky in a crossface, but Sky eventually slipped out and hit a backbreaker for two. 

Sky hit an Asai moonsault to take out both Perez and Rodriguez. Sky went for a moonsault in the ring, but Perez got her knees up. At least that was the plan. Sky didn’t land in position, so she landed knees-first on Perez anyway. They both stayed down. 

As Rodriguez distracted the ref again, Asuka and Sane ran down to go after Perez. Perez escaped, and Sky almost hit her friends by mistake. Perez shoved Sky into Asuka/Sane and rolled her up while holding the tights for the pinfall win. 

Sky was upset as she looked down at her friends at ringside. 

Match result: Roxanne Perez defeated IYO SKY (15:39)

This was a very good match until the clunky finish. The crowd was into Sky.

********

Jackie Redmond interviewed Jey Uso. He said it hurt him to miss Raw last week and hurt him to see what happened to Reigns. He missed Raw because he had family business to take care of. Jey put Rollins and the Brons on notice. 

Knight interrupted. He noted people thought Jey was conspicuous by his absence last week. (He claimed this is what people thought, but not him.) Knight told him that the line started behind him regarding the world title. Jey offered to put Knight at the back of the line. Jey welcomed him to Raw. 

********

Byron Saxton interviewed Penta during a break. He said Woods’ hat looked better on him, and New Day sucks. 

An upset Iyo Sky confronted Asuka in the back as Sane tried to settle them down. Sky blamed Asuka for the loss. Asuka shoved Sky and took off. Sky was shocked. Sane was upset, but she followed Asuka. 

******** 

Women’s Intercontinental Championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Maxxine Dupri (w/Natalya & Akira Tozawa)

Lynch mocked Dupri and told her to get out of her ring. Dupri acted like she might, but gave Lynch an arm drag. Lynch took over anyway and hit multiple suplexes, but Dupri countered a Man-handle slam into a stunner. 

Dupri applied an ankle lock, but Lynch rolled out of it. That led to Dupri doing an oddly timed cartwheel before booting Lynch in the corner. Dupri hit a flying crossbody for two. Dupri hit a spin kick, although it didn’t look good. 

They traded cradles, and Lynch tried stealing a win by grabbing the bottom rope, but the referee caught her. Lynch applied a Disarmer moments later, and Dupri quickly tapped out. 

— Lynch booted Natalya as she checked on Dupri after the match. 

Match result: Becky Lynch defeated Maxxine Dupri to retain the Women’s Intercontinental Championship (5:38)

Dupri has improved, but this was nothing. 

*******

Seth Rollins met with his crew backstage. He was in a good mood because he thought he’d have to deal with Punk and Knight tonight, but they had to deal with the Brons instead. (Not sure why they can’t go after Rollins, too. People run into each other backstage all the time.) 

Rollins figured his job was done, so he left for his personal jet. (He doesn’t hang with the Brons outside of this show because he said he would see them next week, but would see Heyman on the jet.) 

********

New Day cut a promo with Waller on the stage. Kofi Kingston claimed Quebec wasn’t really Canada, and Woods (wearing a tiny hat this week) said he would beat Penta next week. 

Bayley segment 

There was a video feature on Bayley, who seems to be having an existential crisis. I thought this was really good until the very end. 

She said she’s been doing this a long time. She wanted more but felt less. She felt nothing. She was called a role model before she ever called herself one. She wanted to be that person people looked up to. But now she was here—by herself. Everything that led up to now has gotten her nowhere. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt proud of herself. It was her own fault. 

The camera went out of focus, and she acted like she had a headache. The screen went black, and you could hear her heel cackle. 

(I think they should have aired this same feature without the last part. They want to tease a heel turn, but laid on it on too thick with that bit.) 

— Redmond interviewed Lyra Valkyria about the video. Valkyria hoped Bayley was ok. She had no idea what was going on with Bayley and said she wouldn’t have known because Bayley shut her out. Valkyria was struggling with how to react to this, but she said Bayley was the reason she couldn’t challenge for the IC title anymore. Valkyria said this wasn’t her fault, and Bayley was on her own. 

********

Stephanie Vaquer approached Sky backstage. She said, “You’re not the only one who was promised a title match.” She left. 

Rhea Ripley approached Sky next. Ripley got a huge pop. Ripley tried reasoning with Sky and asked if she could trust Asuka and Sane. Sky didn’t want to hear that and told her to stay out of it. (Ripley was being sincere and seemed upset that Sky was upset.) 

********

CM Punk & LA Knight vs. Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed (w/Paul Heyman) 

The babyfaces were in control until the Brons used a distraction to take over during a break. Knight came back after the break, but Breakker knocked him over the announce desk with a leaping clothesline off the apron to lead to the second break nine minutes into the match. (I refer to this pattern dismissively every week, but the match has been enjoyable so far with the teams doing simple heel and babyface stuff to work the crowd.) 

Knight began crawling for a hot tag as Breakker stalked around the ring to go after Punk. Punk saw it coming, so Breakker backed off, but that meant Knight couldn’t make a tag. The Brons gave Knight a Steinerizer, but Punk broke up the cover. 

Punk made the hot tag and hit Breakker with a boot, clothesline, leg lariat, vertical suplex, and lifting knee strikes. Reed was about to go after Punk, but Knight intercepted him with a baseball slide. 

Punk hit Breakker with a flying (falling) elbow drop as the crowd got to their feet. Punk called for GTS, but of course, Rollins attacked him for the DQ.  

— The heels attacked until Jey Uso entered to his music. He attacked Breakker in the aisle with a chair. Rollins bailed before Reed swatted the chair away from Jey. Jey fought him off anyway and knocked him out of the ring with the chair. Jey stood tall with Punk and Knight in the ring. 

Pearce entered. He told Rollins he would have to defend the world title at Clash in Paris against Jey Uso, Knight and Punk in a fatal four-way. Rollins was not happy. 

Punk was so happy he celebrated by shaking the ropes like Ultimate Warrior. Knight was less enthused and argued with Punk. Knight shoved Punk, so Punk tackled him. They brawled until Jey pulled Knight off Punk, so Knight gave Jey a back elbow. (Jey did not try to retaliate.) 

Punk set up Knight for GTS, but was speared by Breakker. Rollins and his crew beat up the stupid babyfaces. Breakker ran around the ring and speared Knight. Reed gave Jey a DVD and Tsunami. Rollins stomped Knight as he re-entered the ring, and stomped Jey. 

The Brons held down Punk as Rollins taunted him. Rollins stomped Punk and held his title belt up high. 

Match result: CM Punk & LA Knight defeated Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed via disqualification (16:22) 

This was the fourth Raw show in a row where the main event ended in a DQ or no contest. The last Raw show to end with a decisive winner was July 14th, when Punk won the gauntlet match. 

The babyfaces looked like idiots getting beaten up by Rollins and friends.

WWE Raw live results: The aftermath from SummerSlam

Posted on by Jeff Moss

After a newsworthy weekend at WWE SummerSlam that included the return of Brock Lesnar, WWE returns with the fallout edition of Raw from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

New WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins will appear after cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase and defeating CM Punk who had just defeated Gunther to win the title. Raw GW Adam Pearce isn’t thrilled with Rollins faking his injury and will have a “stiff conversation” with the new champion.

After defeating rival Lyra Valkyria to retain the WWE Women’s Intercontinental title, Becky Lynch will be in Brooklyn to address her adoring fans.

The next chapter in the hard-hitting rivalry between Sheamus and Rusev will unfold with another match.

New WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss will be on hand after their title win this past Saturday over Roxanne Perez & Raquel Rodriguez.

Our live coverage begins at 8 PM Eastern.

**********

Here we are, friends. After a… complicated, SummerSlam, WWE is back on the air with Monday Night Raw.

Let me address the diverticulitis-riddled elephant in the room right away. This is a recap column, so I’ll be sticking to the show. There are aspects and opinions of SummerSlam that I’m sure you’ve read a whole bunch about and ones that I feel very conflicted about. But, we’re gonna leave that to the pundits tonight and try to have some fun and focus on the show and the storylines coming out of Metlife Stadium. The rest will still be there Tuesday morning.

So with that said, it’s Monday and like my sushi dinner, it’s RAW!

-The show kicked off with a SummerSlam highlight reel, bringing everyone up to speed with the all the winners and losers of the event along with the headlines the show made. Then, the traditional Wrestlers Arriving To Work montage aired, showing Alexa Bliss, Charlotte and Naomi arriving to the venue.

-Then we were kindly asked to BURN IT DOWN as the newly crowned World Heavyweight Champion, and Talking Heads-style suit enthusiast Seth Rollins his way to the ring, entourage in tow. The Oracle, Paul Heyman (at least I think that’s what he said his name was) addressed the crowd first.

Heyman bigged up Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed before slagging Roman Reigns and CM Punk as has-beens. He then introduced the reigning, defending, undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World, Seth “Freakin'” Rollins!

Seth took the mic and said “Shame on you, Brooklyn.” He said shame on everyone who didn’t believe in him and taunted him with chants of “OTC.” He told the crowd to never doubt him again. He told the locker room, shame on them for trying to stop his cash-in and hold him back.

Rollins reminded everyone that he always has a Plan B and the only ones who knew about this one (presumably his faked injury) were his wife and his Oracle. Rollins now has “absolute power” and this is the beginning of his Vision.

Suddenly, LA Knight appeared and made his way to the ring, mic in hand. Knight congratulated Rollins on his title win and said he wasn’t looking for a fight. He just had some questions. Knight pointed out that Rollins already had the MITB briefcase, so he didn’t need to fake an injury. Knight said that the only reason Rollins faked an injury was to get out of taking a beating by him at Saturday Night’s Main Event.

So, Knight said that since he was the last one to beat Rollins, so he should be the next one to beat him. Right here, right now. Rollins declined the challenge and went to leave the ring, but suddenly it was Adam Pierce’s turn to talk.

Pierce was pretty mad that Rollins had lied to everyone about his injury, so he made the match. Tonight, on RAW, in Brooklyn, Seth Rollins will defend his World Heavyweight Title against LA Knight. The icing on the cake was that Pierce also banned Breakker and Reed from ringside.

-Backstage, the Judgement Day was walking around and ran into the LWO. Domminck Mysterio claimed that he is the king of the Lucha Libres. Dragon Lee took exception to that and challenged him to a match. Dom accepted and the LWO left, clearing the way for AJ Styles to show up. He told Dom he didn’t appreciate the tricks at SummerSlam and he’s still coming for the Intercontinental Title.

Rusev vs Sheamus

With all that out of the way, Rusev stomped his way to the ring to take on Sheamus in the latest of their series of bangers. This was a very exciting development for the former League of Nations members and the crowd alike.

Also, the cast of the Netflix show Wednesday were shown in the crowd. SYNERGY. Joe Budden was also there.

Sheamus ran straight to the ring and into the flying fists of Rusev as the match began. The two traded punches until Sheamus laid out Rusev with a big lariat. Sheamus sent Rusev over the top rope, but when he followed Rusev got the drop on him and sent him into the barrier.

Back in the ring, Rusev hit a big suplex and drove Sheamus into the mat. The two went back to punch-based strategies and hammered on each other from the mat to the top turnbuckle. Sheamus got Rusev up on his shoulders and hit a White Noise from the top turnbuckle.

During the commercial break, Rusev fought back and took control of the match, setting a sleeper on Sheamus. He followed that up with some kicks to the chest. Sheamus asked for more, seemingly nourished by Rusev’s hatred. He leapt up and hit an Irish Curse backbreaker on Rusev.

Sheamus went for a Brogue Kick, but Rusev ducked it and Sheamus kicked the ropes. Rusev bonked his head off the ringpost, sending him to the outside. Rusev went after Sheamus, but Sheamus caught him and slammed him on the announce table. Rusev responded by sending Sheamus into the steel steps. Rusev then dragged him onto the barricade, chopping Sheamus. The crowd didn’t like it, but Sheamus reversed it, and began pounding on Rusev.

Then, the referee remembered that he was supposed to be doing something and counted both men out.

Match Result: Rusev vs Sheamus went to a no-contest double countout.

After the match, the two continued brawling at ringside. Security flooded the area but as always were woefully bad at their jobs and Sheamus and Rusev continued fighting as the scene switched to pre-taped footage of the New Day back stage in some truly ridiculous hats. I mean, who wants to watch the brawl, right? Hats!!!

Any way, Grayson Waller joined them, promising to get New Day a rematch for their lost titles. He stomped over to Adam Pierce who was chatting with Penta. Pierce, in a foul mood after Waller called him “baldy”, made a match: Penta vs Grayson Waller and since that was all taped earlier, that match happened now!

Penta vs Grayson Waller

The match kicked off with Waller reluctant to engage with Penta. When they did get things going, Waller shimmied out of a waistlock and the two traded headlocks. Penta deked out Waller by slowing things down and then bursting into a headscissor that sent Waller out of the ring.

Suddenly, the Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, The New Day, came out complete with hats. That caused enough of a distraction for Waller to take over, sending Penta onto the announce table. Corey Graves invited the New Day to join the commentary team and Kingston called out Micheal Cole for talking trash about them.

In the ring, a match was happening, and Penta got a two-count off of a rollup. Kingston said that the New Day were taking Waller under their wing. Penta took Waller under his open hand and chopped him in the corner. The New Day discussed their grieving process while Waller held Penta in a modified headlock.

Back from commercial, Waller delivered some high knees to Penta, but Penta fought back with a bulldog and backbreaker. He then stomped Waller in the corner, until Waller delivered a hard left to the face resulting in a two-count. Waller climbed the second rope to drop an elbow, but Penta dodged it and delivered a superkick. Waller came back with a high knee and the two wrapped each other up in a double lariat.

Penta hit a superkick and a big Mexican Destroyer and pinned Waller getting the victory and giving New Day one more thing to mourn.

Match Result: Penta defeated Grayson Waller

New Day climbed into the ring and Kingston got in the face of Penta. Penta sent Kingston and Woods packing, then threw Woods comically large hat at them before flying over the top rope and taking both men out.

-Next, Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair were shown taking a walk in the back, but they were interrupted by Sheamus and Rusev who were apparently still fighting. The Security team chased after them as Sheamus through Rusev into a stack of clanky pipes. Again, no one really wanted to see them brawl, so a clip from Flair’s episode of Unreal on Netflix aired instead.

-Back out front, WWE Women’s World Champion Naomi came out to address the crowd. She ran down New Jersey, saying that she assumed Brooklyn would be better. But, in fact, it’s worse. Too much trash and construction in Brooklyn for Naomi. She said the crowd deserved to move to Florida, which frankly is a pretty mean thing to say.

Naomi said that next on her list was “Stephanie Velcro” but the show then came back from commercial, cutting Naomi off entirely for a recap of the aftermath of the John Cena vs Cody Rhodes match. So we can assume that Naomi was talking about Stephanie Vaquer and I guess she wants to fight her?

-As if none of that ever happened, the show came back and Micheal Cole said that he asked Triple H and Nick Khan about when they decided to bring back Brock Lesnar. They also said that John Cena would be on Smackdown to address Lesnar’s return. Then they tee’d up the Rollins vs Knight match later to come.

Is someone asleep at the switch tonight? The last 15 minutes were complete gibberish. And I’m a man who enjoys a good amount of gibberish.

-WWE Women’s World Tag Team Champions Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss came down to the ring next to address the crowd. Flair thanked the crowd for her first “you deserve it” chant and admitted that it felt good to do something as a “we.” Bliss urged her to admit they were friends, but Flair stopped short. The two debated how many times each has bean a champion until Judgement Day’s music hit.

Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez stomped down to the ring and said no one cares about friendship because the only thing that matters is bringing gold back to Judgement Day. Roxanne said “we know we don’t get a rematch but we didn’t come down here to not take those titles back.” Flair responded by saying they could have a rematch right here, right now.

Suddenly, Ol’ Baldy, Adam Pierce came out and said that the match would start right here, right now. Which was what Flair just said, but glad to have confirmation.

WWE Women’s World Tag Team Champions Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss vs Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez

Now, according to my little countdown in the corner of the Netflix screen, the introductions were done and the match started during a commercial break. The bell rang with a minute left in the countdown, with Bliss and Rodriguez facing off to get things started.

Back from commercial, Bliss was on Rodriguez’ back and was quickly thrown off. She dragged Bliss to the corner and tagged in Perez. A much more even match, Bliss and Perez fought in and out of the corners with Bliss delivering a headscissors to Perez before tagging in Flair.

Flair knocked Perez back to her corner where Rodriguez tagged in. She sent Flair to the mat with a shoulder and bounced her head off the top turnbuckle. Rodriguez isolated Flair in the corner and tagged in Perez. Flair dodged her and Rodriguez held Flair’s ankle so Perez could dive between the ropes and send her to the outside.

Back in the ring, Perez stomped a proverbial mudhole in Flair before tagging in Rodriguez. Flair fought back, tagging in Bliss. The two delivered stereo bulldogs and Bliss and Rodriguez fought with Bliss sending the taller woman to the floor. She tried a cannonball, but Rodriguez caught her and slammed Bliss on the barricade.

Into commercial, in a Diva’s Era throwback, Rodriguez held Bliss’ hair and forced Flair to watch as she beat her up. Perez tagged in and choked Bliss with the ring rope. Bliss tried to get a tag to Flair, but Perez cut her off. Rodriguez and Perez took turns throwing Bliss around and Rodriguez snuck an elbow to Flair’s head in the corner.

Back from commercial, Bliss tried again to get the hot tag to Flair, but Rodriguez cut her off. Bliss hit a DDT and finally got the Tag, bringing Flair in off the top rope to take out Perez and Rodriguez. Flair hit a lariat on Rodriguez and used Perez as a weapon, throwing her at her prone partner.

Flair went up for a moonsault and landed it on both, but only got a two count on Rodriguez. Perez caused a distraction so Rodriguez could deliver a big boot to Flair. Perez charged Flair in the corner, but Flair was able to dodge and send Perez into the turnbuckle. They both climbed to the top rope and Perez hit a hurricanrana. Rodriguez tagged in for a hurricane elbow but Bliss broke up the count.

Flair sent Perez out and hit a big boot to send Rodriguez out of the ring too. Bliss tagged in and intercepted Perez for a Sister Abigail. Perez went down and Bliss got the pin, retaining the titles for her and Flair.

Match Result: Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair defeated Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez

-Backstage, IYO SKY and the Kabuki Warriors were hanging out, doing stuff they do, when IYO was approached by Rhea Ripley. Ripley said that she knows IYO asked for a one-on-one rematch against Naomi. Rhea said that she wants IYO to win so that she can beat her for the title. IYO grabbed her arm and lovingly said that she was never going to beat her. The two smiled and that was it.

WWE Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio vs Dragon Lee

Mysterio came down to the ring and the show went to commercial.

Back from break, Micheal Cole said that next year’s SummerSlam in Minneapolis is sure to be “fire” which aged me about 7 years.

Then, Backstage, Bayley went looking for Lyra Valkyria. Bayley tried to apologize for costing her the Intercontinental title at SummerSlam. Valkyria said that Bayle should just stay the hell ouf her life.

Then, the bell rang and the match was on. Lee wasted no time in sending Mysterio to the outside, dragging him back in and pummeling him in the corner. Lee chopped him in the corner, but Mysterio racked Lee’s throat on the ropes, sending him outside.

Mysterio chopped Lee against the ring apron (the choppiest part of the ring!) and sent him back in. Mysterio called for a 619, but Lee dropped out and laid some quick kicks into Mysterio’s face. Mysterio then hit a DDT on the ring apron (the DDT-est part of the ring) as the show went to commercial.

During the break, Mysterio mugged for the crowd and threw punches at Lee on the mat. He then tried to tie the ribbons from Lee’s mask to the bottom rope. His real father never taught him how to tie knots though, so Mysterio abandoned the effort for a headlock instead. Lee fought back, but Mysterio hit a Michinoku Driver as the break ended.

Lee fought back, hitting a dragon kick in the corner. Lee removed his elbow pad to try for a cover, but only got a two-count. Mysterio tried walking the ropes, but Lee countered with a sit-out powerbomb. Mysterio set Lee on the top rope, but slipped, giving Lee the chance to stomp him.

Suddenly, Grande Americano appeared. Then, ANOTHER Grande Americano appeared. Then a THIRD Grande Americano. That was enough of a distraction for Mysterio to get a shot from behind in on Lee and pick up the pin and victory.

Match Result: Dominik Mysterio defeated Dragon Lee

After the match, AJ Styles came out to beat up Mysterio, but Mysterio bolted and Lee and Styles shook hands in the ring, exchanging “can you believe that guy?” looks.

-Backstage, Sami Zayn was interviewed about his match against Karrion Cross at SummerSlam. Zayn rejected a steel pipe in the match, but admitted wanting to use it. In the end though, it’s just not who he is. Zayn wants to be a world champion and he wants to do it right.

Suddenly, Sheamus and Rusev appeared, still brawling and still not being stopped by security. Zayn got caught up in the middle, but WWE said who cares? and switched to footage of Becky Lynch entering the building.

I know that this is supposed to be a funny running bit with Sheamus and Rusev, but really all it’s doing is showing that WWE has terrible security. Also, wouldn’t we, the viewers, be interested in the never ending brawl? Just sayin’.

-Back from break and an inconsequential interview by Byron Saxon of the Judgement Day, Method Man was shown in the audience. This was by far the high part of the episode for me. Dave East was also there along with Da’Vinchii and Adam Blackstone. I am not cool enough to know who the last two are, but they looked nice.

-Becky Lynch’s music hit and the Women’s Intercontinental Champion made her way to the ring in the track suit version of her husband’s suit. Lynch grabbed a mic and said that she plans on being champion for a very long time, much to Lyra Valkyria’s dismay. Suddenly, the music of one Nikki Bella hit and the Hall of Famer made her way to the ring.

Bella said that she was able to take a step away from WWE because stars like Lynch could hold things together. But Lynch became a disappointment to Bella. She’s not the leader she had hoped Lynch would grow into. The two traded jabs about their IMDB listings, with Lynch mocking Bella for having her role cut from Happy Gilmore 2. Now streaming on Netflix. SYNERGY.

Bella called Lynch a liar just like her husband and said she sees right through her. Lynch turned that around into a shot about Bella and John Cena’s failed relationship, which was quite clever if I do say so. Bella said that this isn’t Lynch’s era, so she should put the Intercontinental title on the line in a match against her.

Lynch said that the reason she and Bella never went one on one was– and then she sucker punched her in the face and ran for the ring.

-Backstage, Byron Saxon interviewed Women’s World Champion, Naomi. He asked her how she feels about her SummerSlam win, and she said “great.” She also mentioned that next week on RAW, she would defend against IYO SKY. Stephanie Vaquer wandered by and said that she would beat Naomi or SKY in Paris. Even though no one asked her.

-Next in BREAKING NEWS, Cole announced that GUNTHER would be out of action indefinitely because of a nose injury suffered at SummerSlam.

Also, that Cody Rhodes would be on Smackdown this Friday. Which is good, because that’s kinda his job.

Also, Also, as a result of the never ending brawl, Rusev and Sami Zayn will go one-on-one. I guess Zayn blamed Rusev more than Sheamus.

-Back from break, Backy Lynch was confronted backstage by Natalya. She was real mad about the way Lynch treated Bella and challenged her to a match. Lynch accepted, but not to face Natalya. She said that Maxxine Dupri, who was also there, could have the match and then walked away.

WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins vs LA Knight

Alicia Taylor gave everyone their official intros and the Main Event of the evening was on. Knight laid out Rollins with a right hand off the bell and stomped him into the corner. Rollins swung back and Knight caught him with a suplex followed by a neckbreaker.

Rollins charged Knight who sent him over the top rope to the outside. Rollins staggered away, using Heyman as a human shield to lure Knight outside. Knight slid through the ring and bounced Rollins head off the announce table. Rollins responded by sending Knight into the barricade, hitting a big stomp to the back of Knights head.

Off to commercial, and in the ring Rollins stomped Knight and called for Heyman to hand him the belt. Rollins posed with it and then whipped Knight into the turnbuckles. Knight tried to climb out, but Rollins caught him and sent his face back into the turnbuckle. Rollins hung up Knight with the second rope as the show ticked back out of break.

Rollins chopped Knight in the corner, but that seemed to ignite his second wind and Knight fought back and backdropped Rollins in the middle of the ring. Rollins tried going up top,but Knight raced up there too and hit a superplex for a two count.

The two got to their feet and traded punches until Knight laid out Rollins with a lariat followed by a side Russian leg sweep and a neckbreaker. It wasn’t enough to put Rollins down though and he hit a jawbreaker. Knight didn’t get phased though and hit a powerslam and an elbow.

Rollins tried a buckle bomb, but Knight reversed it into a Death Valley Driver. The two men lay in the ring, exhausted. Knight got to his feet first, looking to put Rollins away. Rollins played possum and tried. a curb stomp and a pedigree, but missed both allowing Knight to hit a DDT.

Knight hit his top rope elbow and Rollins bailed out of the ring. Knight sent him into the announce table with a baseball slide. He bounced Rollins’ head off the table and went to pick him up, but Rollins headbutted Knight right in the junk with a low blow. He then tossed Knight into the post and punched him repeatedly before tearing up some of the ringside padding.

Rollins sent Knight into the ringpost again for good measure then dragged him over to the exposed concrete, setting him up for a stomp. But out of the crowd came a wild CM Punk who jumped Rollins and started pounding on him. The ref signalled a DQ and Rollins tried to leave, but Punk followed until Bron Breakker showed up and speared him. Bronson Reed arrived and took out Knight in the ring.

Match Result: LA Knight defeated Seth Rollins via DQ

Breakker speared Knight for good measure and Rollins hit a stomp on Punk, leaving them lying. Reed, Breakker and Rollins exited the ring while Paul Heyman jawed at ringside. The credits appeared and the show seemed over when suddenly…

Roman Reigns’ music hit and the OTC came down and cleaned house, taking out Breakker and Reed. Rollins stood in the ring as Reigns stalked towards him, but bailed as soon as he hit the ring. Breakker tried to get Reigns from behind, but he was intercepted, leaving Reigns open to attack from Reed and a stomp from Rollins.

The three men gave the same treatment to Reigns that they did Knight and Punk, ending with a definitive spear from Breakker and Tsunami from Reed from TWO corners. Adam Pierce hit the ring with various producers (presumably because security was still chasing Rusev and Sheamus around) to break up the beatdown.

The show ended with Rollins and crew standing tall.

Well, that was weird. Not necessarily bad, but definitely a weird show. Maybe I’m just not used to the way WWE produces weekly TV any more, but it felt so fractured. Interviews in the middle of match intros in the middle of commercials. Recaps in the middle of promos in the middle of recaps. It felt like a lot. That said, the action in the ring was fun and most of the stories continued logically from SummerSlam. We’ll get the rest on Friday on Smackdown, so look forward to that.

Thanks for hanging out!

WWE Raw live results: SummerSlam go-home show

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: July 28, 2025
Location: Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, MI 

The Big Takeaway —

Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed laid out Roman Reigns and Jey Uso in the final segment. 

**********

Show Recap — 

Raw started as SmackDown did, with a tribute to Hulk Hogan. Wrestlers and others were on the stage as the fans cheered for Hogan. Nick Hogan and Eric Bischoff were among those on stage. Paul “Triple H” Levesque said a few words, and they aired a Hogan video package after a ten-bell salute.

Oddly, Triple H was not actually there. More strange than that, they just re-aired what he said on SmackDown as a voiceover as everyone else stood on stage. 

Fans cheered the video. Only a few wrestlers applauded along with them. 

********

Hulk Hogan career highlights aired during a commercial break. 

Opening segment 

Jey Uso entered to his customary reaction. He was about to run it back and play his music again, but Paul Heyman interrupted. 

Heyman said he was not out there to disrespect “Main Event” Jey Uso, who was, in fact, in tonight’s main event. Heyman wanted to talk about family. Heyman was about to enter the ring, but after seeing the look on Jey’s face, he scampered back to the aisle. 

Heyman couldn’t believe Jey accepted Roman Reigns’ invite to be his partner against Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker. Heyman knew Jey loved his family, but he told him that family would always let him down and get him in trouble. That wasn’t a prediction, that was a prophecy. (The crowd chanted, “OTC.”) 

Heyman informed Jey that Santa Claus wasn’t the one who left presents. His mother lied. The crowd booed, so Heyman said their mothers all lied, too—except for the Jewish ones. (“My tribe knows better,” he said.) 

Rikishi may have told Jey that he wanted him to be more iconic than him. But his father lied, too. When Reigns named the next in line for Tribal Chief, he picked Solo Sikoa, not Jey Uso. That didn’t work out so well. Now, Reigns might tell Jey he wants Jey to be as big as him, but Reigns was lying too. 

Heyman was simply telling this to Jey because he loved him. He loved Jey just like family. Heyman yelled, “Yeet,” and dropped the mic. 

Jey responded: family was the reason he was out there. Jey would pull up for his family every single time. The bloodline still ran deep in his veins. Heyman was being disrespectful by talking about the things Jey could do without Reigns. Jey already did those things. He went out on his own and won the world title to prove to himself that he could. Jey wondered where Heyman’s family even was. 

Jey said Heyman screwed Reigns at WrestleMania, while his boys screwed him out of a world title shot. Whatever happened to them at SummerSlam was on Heyman’s ass.

Since he wasn’t able to earlier, Jey had them play his music again so the crowd could Yeet.

(It was good to give Jey his own talking segment here with Heyman so he doesn’t feel so secondary to Reigns in this program.) 

******** 

Six-person mixed tag team match: AJ Styles, Asuka & Kairi Sane vs. Women’s Tag Team Champions Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez & Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio 

The babyfaces were in control until Dom pulled Perez to safety, causing Sane to collide with the bottom turnbuckle, in full view of the referee. The ref turned her attention to a pissed-off Styles, and that distraction allowed Rodriguez to boot Sane while outside the ring. (This happened in the ref’s peripheral vision.) 

There were duelling chants of “AJ Styles” and “Dirty Dom” during a break. Sane speared Perez, but she couldn’t make a tag because Rodriguez yanked Asuka off the apron. (It was meant to be a surprise, but you could see Rodriguez run over.) Sane couldn’t tag Styles either, because Dom blatantly entered the ring and decked Styles. This all happened in front of the ref. 

Styles finally got the hot tag, and he ran wild on Dom to the crowd’s delight. Styles set up for a Phenomenal forearm, but Perez stepped in front of Dom to stop it. Asuka and Sane assisted in taking out Perez. Styles assisted Sane in hitting a big dive to wipe out Rodriguez. 

Styles finished off Dom with a Phenomenal forearm for the pinfall win. 

Match result: AJ Styles, Asuka & Kairi Sane defeated Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio and Women’s Tag Team Champions Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez (10:42)

This match was really all about the last minute or so. The crowd was into Styles, so it came across well enough despite not being much of a match. 

********

Jackie Redmond congratulated Sheamus on his win over Rusev. He quoted Big E by saying it was an example of big, meaty men slapping meat. That got a laugh out of the crowd. Speaking of Big E, Sheamus’ interview was interrupted by Grayson Waller, flanked by The New Day. 

Waller talked tough and said the greatest tag team of all-time had his back. An argument between the two led to a match being made. Waller turned around to realize that New Day had vanished and suddenly did not have his back. 

********

Detroit Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs and UFC fighter Jamahal Hill were in the crowd. 

Sheamus vs. Grayson Waller

Sheamus had it won and set up for a Brogue Kick, but had to stop upon seeing Rusev hit the apron. Sheamus knocked him down, but Waller caught him in a schoolboy for two. Sheamus popped up and hit a Brogue Kick for the easy win. 

— Rusev attacked Sheamus with a shillelagh and applied an Accolade as some fans chanted, “We want Lana.” Rusev held the submission for a while until officials finally got him to let go. 

Match result: Sheamus defeated Grayson Waller (4:09) 

*******

Redmond interviewed Naomi about her upcoming title defence against Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky. Naomi said she could bring the brutality like Ripley, and fly like Iyo Sky. Everyone in the division was passive-aggressive, but she was aggressive-aggressive, and tonight’s tag match would be a cautionary tale. She did her goofy evil laugh and warned everyone to proceed with caution. 

Byron Saxton interviewed New Day during a break. 

******** 

They aired some words on Hulk Hogan from Logan Paul, AJ Styles, Jim Duggan, Jimmy Hart, Natalya, Jey Uso, The Miz, and Cody Rhodes. Rhodes said Hogan was the first ‘superstar,’ and the wrestling business no longer has its Babe Ruth. 

Michael Cole announced that net proceeds from Hogan’s merchandise sales would be donated to his family. 

********

Heyman told Bronson Reed that Jey Uso thinks they’re just a group without a leader. Bron Breakker stepped in and said they have a leader now. Breakker told Reed to take out Jey with a Tsunami, and they could take control of WWE starting tonight. Reed was on board. After Reed left, Breakker told Heyman that he had a plan. 

Lyra Valkyria segment

Valkyria entered. She did a little twirl to show off her shoes, which she called “Becky stompers.” This got no reaction. She then misspoke and said she would be standing there in two weeks—then corrected herself to say one week—as Women’s Intercontinental Champion. 

She acknowledged that maybe she would fail and wouldn’t be standing there at all, because Lynch would have to beat her into the ground to walk out as champion. Valkyria knew Lynch didn’t like to play by the rules, which was the reason she won the title in the first place. 

Valkyria was happy to play it Lynch’s way. Valkyria was not playing into Lynch’s hand, because she knew exactly what Lynch was capable of. But Lynch didn’t know what Valkyria was capable of. Valkyria was prepared to go to a place she had never gone before. 

Lynch’s music hit, and Valkyria turned her attention to the stage. Nobody entered, so Valkyria quickly realized what was going on (Lynch was behind her, outside the ring). Valkyria ran and hit a baseball slide to Lynch. Lynch had a kendo stick, but Valkyria fought her off with it until Lynch bailed.

******** 

Sami Zayn and Karrion Kross segment 

Sami Zayn did a sit-down interview with Corey Graves. Zayn wanted to be done with Karrion Kross. Kross was getting in the way of achieving his goal, which was to be the world champion. 

Kross and Scarlett interrupted, and Kross took Graves’ seat. Kross said he had every intention of attacking Zayn with a steel rod, but he realized Zayn wouldn’t make it to SummerSlam if he did. Everybody Kross has dealt with so far has wound up showing their true colours, except for Zayn, and that was starting to piss him off. When Kross beat him at SummerSlam, he wanted to hear Zayn say, “Kross told the truth.” Then they could go their separate ways. Kross said Zayn was no better than him. 

Zayn said he wasn’t sure what Kross wanted. If Kross did win, Zayn was willing to say whatever he wanted. But Zayn wanted Kross to know he was wrong about him—and maybe Kross was wrong about himself. Zayn said he would beat Kross at SummerSlam, and wanted to hear Kross say he was wrong. 

********

Bayley interview

Redmond interviewed a downtrodden Bayley. She said she lost her chance at the IC title and tag titles, did not wrestle at WrestleMania, and wouldn’t have a match at SummerSlam. She was at a loss for words. She left. 

******** 

SummerSlam will begin each day at 6 pm ET/3 pm ET. The countdown show is 3 hours long. 

Cole announced a sold-out crowd tonight of 14,703. 

Eight-woman tag team match: Women’s World Champion Naomi, Chelsea Green, Piper Niven & Alba Fyre vs. Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY, Stephanie Vaquer & Nikki Bella 

It’s been 30 minutes since the Sheamus match ended, and that match went 4 minutes. 

Nikki was in control until Fyre made a blind tag and hit her with a superkick. This led to a break and, of course, Nikki made a hot tag to Sky moments after they returned. 

Sky was cut off after a distraction from Naomi, and the heels took over again. Niven and Green took turns hitting moves on Sky, so Vaquer and Nikki broke up a pinfall attempt. Ripley tried to get involved, but Naomi shoved her into the steel steps. 

Vaquer got a hot tag, and she laid out all four opponents. With all four laid out against each turnbuckle, Vaquer handed out running knee strikes to everyone except Naomi. Naomi managed to block it, but Vaquer caught her with a dragon screw instead. The crowd got louder when Vaquer hit Green with Devil’s Kiss. 

Nikki gave Fyre a Bella Buster. She stared down Naomi, who was about to enter the ring. Naomi had enough, so she grabbed her belt and began leaving, but Sky intercepted her and chucked her in the ring. Nikki and Sky laid out Naomi. Nikki and Sky did Sky’s pose. Niven laid out Nikki and Sky with a double clothesline, and did Sky’s pose too. That got a pop. 

Ripley gave Niven a Rip-tide. Green slapped Ripley, so Ripley got in her face until Green backed into Vaquer, who hit an SVB for the pinfall win. 

Match result: Stephanie Vaquer, Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY & Nikki Bella defeated Chelsea Green, Piper Niven, Alba Fyre & Women’s World Champion Naomi (14:36)

This was ok. Ripley did give Niven her finisher, but she otherwise did surprisingly little in the match. Perhaps saving her for the weekend. 

********

Judgment Day were not in a good mood backstage after the earlier loss, but Finn Bálor cheered them up by pointing out all their gold despite Liv Morgan not being there. Dom asked him if he wanted them at ringside, but Bálor told them to chill backstage. 

Perez handed Dom a new Nintendo Switch and suggested he play WWE 2K25 (they already have it playing on the big TV and PS5 behind them). Rodriguez was annoyed and reminded Dom that Morgan also liked to play that game. 

******** 

Backstage, Sky told Ripley that she has never beaten her and never will. Ripley said, ‘we’ll see.’ 

World Tag Team Championship match: Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh vs. Joaquin Wilde & Cruz Del Toro

Wilde hit a big dive before a break, but Judgment Day took control during the break. Del Toro made a lukewarm tag and woke up the crowd by hitting McDonagh with an impressive coast-to-coast missile dropkick. Wilde and Del Toro followed with suicide dives.

Wilde hit Bálor with a moonsault, and Del Toro followed with a Phoenix splash, but McDonagh broke up the cover. 

El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser) ran out and hit the apron to distract Del Toro, but Dragon Lee ran out and they brawled to the back. Bálor used the distraction to put Del Toro in a small package for two. Del Toro superkicked Bálor and kicked McDonagh off the apron. Wilde took out McDonagh with a crazy flip dive off the top. 

Del Toro went to the top, but was tripped by a different masked man (dressed like Chad Gable). I have no idea how the ref didn’t see this. 

The masked man ran off, and Bálor hit Del Toro with a Coup de Grâce for the pinfall win. Judgment Day retain. 

Match result: Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh defeated Joaquin Wilde & Cruz Del Toro to retain the World Tag Team Championships (10:55)

Credit to LWO for getting the crowd into this even though nobody would’ve thought they could win. The fans were also into the shenanigans at the end. 

********

Gunther and CM Punk segment 

Gunther entered wearing an all-black suit, black t-shirt and his gold title belt. The crowd chanted for Punk. 

Gunther called last week a clean victory for him because he went toe-to-toe on the microphone with supposedly the best talker in the world, CM Punk. Gunther told him to his face what would happen at SummerSlam and left the ‘voice of the voiceless’ speechless. He made Punk understand that he does not deserve to call himself the best in the world and will never be a world champion. Most of all, he made Punk shut the hell up. 

Punk entered to a big reaction. Punk said he wasn’t speechless last week, he was dumbfounded. Not by what Gunther said, however. While standing across the ring from someone as great as Gunther, it dawned on him that he doesn’t want to be World Heavyweight Champion: “I need to be World Heavyweight Champion.” 

Punk fired up and said he needed to be champion like he needed air in his lungs, and like he needed a heart to pump blood through his veins. He needed to be a champion like the Red Wings needed a 12th Stanley Cup. 

He didn’t smoke or drink or do drugs, but he understood addiction. This place was his addition. He needed to raise the title over his head as a ‘thank you’ to the fans who chanted his name for over ten years (while he was gone). 

Punk said he doesn’t ‘deserve’ to call himself the best in the world; he earned that right. He also earned the right to be arrogant about it. Gunther was as arrogant as him, but he couldn’t back it up. Punk left a pile of bodies behind him, including Hall of Famers and legends that Gunther could only dream of. 

Gunther tried to tell him to shut up, but Punk cut him off. Punk responded, “There’s levels to this, kid.” Punk would teach him at SummerSlam that he was not on his level. Punk planned on leaving Saturday as the champion. At least Gunther would know what it was like to share the ring with the one and only, best in the world, CM Punk.

(It was a little cliché, but this was a strong promo by Punk.) 

******* 

The announcers ran down the SummerSlam card. Sunday is overloaded with gimmick matches: a cage match, a TLC match, a street fight and a no-DQ match. (Plus a triple threat, which is technically no-DQ.)

Jey Uso vs. Bronson Reed (w/Paul Heyman) 

Reed fended off some early offence and had complete control. Literally the moment they returned from a break, Jey avoided a senton and came back with right hands, a superkick, and a suicide dive. 

Bron Breakker sprinted out down the aisle and speared Jey for the DQ. The crowd chanted, “OTC.” 

— The heels attacked Jey until Roman Reigns entered to his music. Reigns knocked Breakker out of the ring but couldn’t get Reed up for a Samoan drop. Reigns avoided his charge, and Reed went shoulder-first into the ring post. Reigns helped Jey to his feet. Jey superkicked Breakker off the apron, and Reigns gave Reed a Superman punch. 

Reigns and Jey stepped out of the ring and went for running spears, but Breakker cut Reigns down with a spear while Reed knocked down Jey with a body block. (Because both things were happening simultaneously, it was easy to miss Breakker cutting down Reigns with a spear.) 

Breakker speared Jey in the ring, and Reed followed with a Tsunami. Breakker noticed Reigns getting to his feet, so he flew off the apron and clotheslined Reigns over the announce desk. Breakker tossed Reigns into the ring, and Reed hit him with a Tsunami. 

Breakker stood above a fallen Reigns and told him everything around here was his now. The ring, the ropes, the cameraman, the fatasses in the arena—they were all his. 

Reigns and Jey found themselves near the part of the barricade that always breaks, so Breakker ran around the ring and speared them both through it. (This was followed by a funny bit where Reed removed Reigns’ sneakers and happily announced, “These belong to me now!”) 

Breakker and Reed (holding Reigns’ shoes) stood tall with Heyman in the ring as the show ended. 

Match result: Jey Uso defeated Bronson Reed via disqualification (7:09)

The match was an obvious waste of time, but the go-home angle was what they needed to do with this team, with the emphasis on Bron Breakker. 

WWE Raw live results: Roman Reigns addresses Paul Heyman

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: July 21, 2025
Location: Toyota Center in Houston, TX 

The Big Takeaway —

Roman Reigns addressed Paul Heyman in the main event segment with a long promo where he did not say much of note. Reigns wanted everyone to know that it was Heyman who ruined the Bloodline. The focus shifted to Bron Breakker, who had enough of Reigns. A brawl ended with Jey Uso saving Reigns, and the two men standing tall.

**********

Show Recap — 

There was a video package of last week’s gauntlet, focusing on Bron Breakker’s lengthy run, CM Punk’s win, and Roman Reigns’ return. 

Sami Zayn (still being referred to by Michael Cole as the ‘underdog of the underground’), Becky Lynch, and Judgment Day were shown arriving. 

Dominik handed the keys to their SUV to a valet—who happened to be AJ Styles (in full valet attire). Styles hoped Dom got cleared today. Dom left, and Styles chucked the car keys away. 

CM Punk and Gunther segment 

Punk entered, and the crowd chanted his name as he stood atop the Slim Jim logo in the ring. Punk told Houston he had two goals when he returned: main event WrestleMania and become world champion. He was still working on the latter because he kept getting sidetracked by people who took things a little personally. 

Punk looked forward to facing Gunther, whom he called one of the best wrestlers in the world. He couldn’t promise a win, but with the help of the fans, he could promise that he would give everything he had. 

Gunther was the Intercontinental champion for 666 days and was now on his second run with the world title. Punk only had two weeks to train for this “beast.” But Punk remembered he’s been training for this his whole life. Punk wasn’t just any challenger—he was the best in the world. 

Gunther interrupted. Punk got in his face, but Gunther stepped back. The crowd chanted, “You tapped out,” and chanted for Punk. Gunther stalled for a while before addressing Punk. 

Gunther said he did not want to create any drama. He said they were both there for the same reasons. Not to make friends, but to make money and win championships. 

They each considered themselves the best in the world. They both had massive egos. But Gunther’s ego was justified, unlike Punk’s. Punk’s ego was based on what the fans thought. Gunther’s ego was based on his accolades. The best was the one who held the world title. 

Gunther only focused on what happened in the ring, and when the bell rang at SummerSlam, he would make Punk regret that he ever stepped in a wrestling ring. 

Gunther would drop him like a wet towel, and Punk would realize he was right: Punk would never be champion and would never be best in the world. The only thing Punk would have was the degenerate fans chanting his name for the rest of his life. 

Gunther’s music played, and he left as Punk watched. (I guess the production team knew Punk wouldn’t have a response to this.) 

********

Byron Saxton tried interviewing Stephanie Vaquer, but they were interrupted by Naomi. They had never met, so Naomi introduced herself as the world champion. Vaquer knew who she was. 

Naomi said they would see each other at Clash in Paris, but Vaquer said that would only happen if she survived at SummerSlam. Naomi was offended by the comment and was confident she would see her in Paris. She did her evil laugh and left. 

******** 

Sheamus vs. Rusev

Cole yelled, “It’s fight night, baby!” in the most annoying manner during Sheamus’  entrance, but you were lucky enough to miss it if you aren’t able to watch the show during commercials. 

A few minutes in, Sheamus went to the top for a dive to the outside, but he lost his balance and returned to the ring. Rusev had to pretend he was still hurt and went back to a knee as Sheamus simply returned to the top. The fans got behind Sheamus as he hit the flying clothesline to the outside. 

It didn’t matter because Rusev grabbed him seconds later and hit a fallaway slam over the announce table to take over during a break. 

Sheamus came back as soon as they returned, but when he went for the Brogue, Rusev caught him and hit a powerbomb for two. Rusev went for a thrust kick, but Sheamus nailed him with a great-looking knee strike for a nearfall. Sheamus came off the top, but Rusev hit him with a thrust kick (which didn’t look great) for a nearfall. 

Rusev applied the Accolade, but Sheamus got a rope break. As in their previous match, Rusev booted Sheamus while Sheamus asked for more. Rusev ripped the padding of the metal turnbuckle rod, but Sheamus bounced Rusev off it instead. 

As the referee fixed the padding (which seems low-priority), Rusev grabbed Sheamus’ shillelagh. Before he was able to use it, Sheamus nailed him with the Brogue Kick for the pinfall win. 

Match result: Sheamus defeated Rusev (14:50) 

I thought for sure Rusev would kick out, because the ref was still distracted when Sheamus made the cover. Rusev was down for 3-4 seconds already before the ref ran over to count the fall. 

They’re 1-1 now, and I suppose Rusev can demand a rematch after Sheamus technically cheated. 

********

Saxton interviewed El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser). Kaiser spoke a few words in Spanish before being interrupted by Dragon Lee. Dragon Lee called him a fake who didn’t have the fire. Kaiser pie-faced him, so they brawled until officials quickly broke it up. 

They aired a “sneak peek” of WWE Unreal. It was just a backstage clip of IShowSpeed being rushed out to replace Akira Tozawa in the Royal Rumble. The footage provided no insight whatsoever. It was the same sort of clip they would have aired on the next Raw show.

Lyra Valkyria confronted Bayley about getting Adam Pearce to put them in a tag title match. Valkyria was bewildered, but Bayley said they were finally getting the match they were supposed to at WrestleMania. Valkyria said she beat Bayley’s ass last week and was focused on SummerSlam. Valkyria wondered what game she was playing. Bayley acted like everything was cool and said she would see her in the ring. 

******** 

Triple threat tag team number one contender’s match: The New Day vs. Joaquin Wilde & Cruz Del Toro (w/Dragon Lee) vs. The Creed Brothers (w/Ivy Nile)

New Day had control during a break. Wilde made a hot tag after the break, and the crowd barely reacted, but they got into his offence. However, Ivy Nile knocked him off the top rope. Dragon Lee tried to help by going after the Creeds, but he was attacked by El Grande Americano. The Creeds got in Kaiser’s face until Del Toro wiped them all out with a great-looking corkscrew plancha. 

Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods set up Wilde for their finisher, but Wilde chucked Woods out of the ring and caught Kingston in a schoolboy for the pinfall win. 

The crowd popped for the win. LWO are now the number one contenders for Judgment Day’s tag titles. 

Match result:  Joaquin Wilde & Cruz Del Toro defeated The New Day and The Creed Brothers (9:19) 

********

After a replay aired of the Kabuki Warriors losing last week, Iyo Sky told them that they would soon be tag champs. Kairi Sane said Sky would soon be world champion again, and Asuka wished her luck at SummerSlam. 

Vaquer confronted Sky. Sky recalled that she had Vaquer beat the last time they wrestled (until it was interrupted). Sky challenged her to a match tonight, and Vaquer accepted. The crowd popped big for that. 

********

Vic Joseph interviewed TNA Champion Trick Williams during a break. He was booed. This was meant to plug Undertaker’s appearance on tomorrow’s NXT (also in Houston). Williams said he didn’t have a problem with Taker, but they could talk if he wanted. Taker acted like his knees didn’t have an expiration date, and Williams needed to knock him out and knock his eyes to the back of his head. 

********

Pearce tried convincing Dom to go get checked out by medical (and said it only takes five minutes). Dom kept making excuses, but Pearce told him to go get it done. Dom bumped into Styles, now acting as a custodian. Dom ran off. 

New Day were baffled by the sight of Styles working as a custodian (he was mopping the floors). They complained about recent events on Raw and said they needed something to restore things to normal. 

Grayon Waller popped in to inform them that Austin Theory was injured and was finally off his back, because A-Town Down Under was no more. Waller offered them his services. New Day were confused by this, but did not dismiss him. Waller left to get their car. 

So after all this time, Theory and Waller are done, and it happened in a backstage New Day segment without Theory. 

********

Becky Lynch and Lyra Valkyria segment 

Lynch entered. She wanted the fans to show her some appreciation. She shouldn’t even be here. She should be on the red carpet plugging her new movie, Happy Gilmore 2. Instead, she was in Houston. She did things she didn’t want to do because that’s what leaders did. She put over her slick victory at Evolution. 

People accused her of keeping others down, but Valkyria was the one bogarting everyone else’s opportunities. Valkyria was already getting an IC title shot, and now was getting a tag title shot. She wondered who would even need two belts. She said it was different when she was Becky Two Belts, because Valkyria was just being selfish. 

Lynch called out Valkyria, and she entered. Lynch said she made Valkyria a star, but that free ride ended at SummerSlam. Lynch said that if Valkyria lost at SummerSlam, she could never challenge for the belt again. 

Valkyria said she learned that whenever she thought she had dealt with a problem, it came back to haunt her. Maybe she didn’t take things far enough. She accepted Lynch’s terms but had terms of her own: no countouts and no disqualifications. 

Lynch accepted. Lynch said this was the most important match involving this title because it would dictate the future of the title. 

Lynch wanted to be the bigger person and told Valkyria to shake her hand. Valkyria went to shake her hand, and Lynch tried a cheap shot, but Valkyria saw it coming and laid her out with a Man-handle slam.

******** 

Women’s Tag Team Championships: Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez (c) (w/Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio) vs. Lyra Valkyria & Bayley

Valkyria became distracted by Bayley as she urged the crowd to “woo” (as they do during Valkyria’s entrance). Rodriguez necked Valkyria over the top rope and distracted the referee so Perez could hit a cheap shot. 

Bayley made a hot tag after a break, and the crowd booed her offence. Even though they weren’t getting along early, Bayley and Valkyria started working together. Valkyria hit Perez with a sit-out powerbomb, but instead of making the cover, she tagged in Bayley to hit her flying elbow drop on Perez. She did, but Rodriguez broke up the cover. 

Valkyria confronted Dom outside the ring. Rodriguez tried to boot Valkyria, but she ducked, so Rodriguez booted Dom by mistake. Rodriguez called for medical to check on Dom. The medic was Styles, who aggressively gave Dom chest compressions until Dom managed to escape. 

This distraction allowed Lynch to chuck Valkyria into the ring steps. Perez used that distraction to roll up Bayley, but Bayley kicked out and applied a cradle for two. Rodriguez made a blind tag, which Bayley didn’t see. 

Bayley hit Perez with a Bayley-to-belly, but Rodriguez planted Bayley with a Tejana Bomb for the pinfall win. 

Rodriguez and Perez will defend the tag titles at SummerSlam against Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss. 

Match result: Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez defeated Bayley & Lyra Valkyria to retain the Women’s Tag Team Championships (15:18) 

********

Jackie Redmond interviewed Sami Zayn, who she thought was out indefinitely. Zayn admitted he wasn’t 100% and should probably take more time off, but he was sick of Karrion Kross. Kross was the reason he wasn’t on Raw last week, and if he was on the show, he would’ve won the gauntlet. Zayn didn’t want to wait any longer to get his hands on Kross. 

******** 

Finn Bálor and JD McDonagh met with Dom. A pissed-off Pearce told Dom to go to medical now and threatened to take the IC title. Dom was upset, and he left. Bálor looked concerned, but asked Dom to get them some lollipops. 

Sami Zayn vs. Karrion Kross (w/Scarlett)

Zayn wrestled with his ribs taped. There were duelling chants early in the match, and Kross stopped his mounted punches so he could hear the fans chanting for him. 

Zayn hit an Arabian press, but Scarlett kicked Zayn in his injured ribs as the referee checked on Kross. Kross had control through a break, and Zayn made his comeback after the break. 

Zayn gave Kross an exploder in the corner. (They were really close to the ropes, and Kross landed awkwardly. I think his face hit the rope or buckle, because his nose was bleeding after this.) Scarlett handed Kross a pipe.

Zayn set up for a Helluva Kick, but Scarlett grabbed his leg. The ref argued with Scarlett instead of sending her to the back or calling for a DQ. As she distracted the ref, Kross hit Zayn in the ribs with the pipe for the pinfall win. 

(After the match, Kross rubbed the blood from his nose over his face for effect. He then kissed Scarlett, who wound up with blood on her face, and she used her finger to make a streak of blood down her cheek. I’m guessing they’ll be told not to play up blood again like this again.) 

Match result: Karrion Kross defeated Sami Zayn (10:04)

This was a very dull match, and the crowd was appropriately quiet throughout. 

********

Pearce and Styles met the medic, who said he needed more time to finish his paperwork (before he could clear Dom). Pearce and Styles were eager for the results. Dom suddenly decked Styles from behind and confidently accepted the match at SummerSlam. 

(This was a weak payoff. Dom avoided accepting the match all this time just so he could push Styles down from behind? It’s not like Styles is actually hurt. SummerSlam is less than two weeks away, so I guess they had to make it official.) 

********

Cole announced a sold-out crowd of over 13,000. 

Texas rapper That Mexican OT and Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale were shown in the crowd. Some fans chanted for Mattress Mack. (He runs a furniture store.) 

IYO SKY vs. Stephanie Vaquer

As they did a few weeks ago, they had a very good match until the finish. 

They had an excellent back-and-forth exchange, but Vaquer got the better of Sky during a break. At one point, the crowd cheered because they thought she was going for Devil’s Kiss, but she wasn’t. 

Sky applied a crossface, but Vaquer got a rope break. Vaquer rolled outside, so Sky hit an Asai moonsault, followed by a missile dropkick and double footstomp. Vaquer responded with a German suplex, but Sky hit one, too. 

Sky tried to kill Vaquer with a sunset flip powerbomb to the outside, but Vaquer blocked it. Vaquer instead hit a knee drop across Sky’s chest while on the apron. Vaquer followed with Devil’s Kiss on the apron and in the ring, to the delight of the crowd. 

Vaquer went for SVB, but Sky countered it into a similar move (double underhook backbreaker) for two. The crowd chanted, “This is awesome.” Sky went up for a moonsault, but Vaquer hit an avalanche reverse vertical suplex (off the middle rope), which looked awesome.  

The Secret Hervice marched out to ruin the match. Vaquer knocked Piper Niven and Alba Fyre off the apron, but Chelsea Green decked Vaquer from behind for the DQ. 

— The heels beat up Vaquer until Sky wiped out Green with a missile dropkick. Vaquer and Sky double dropkicked Niven out of the ring. 

Sky and Vaquer stood tall together until Naomi decked Sky from behind (knocking Vaquer out of the ring). Niven and Fyre put the boots to Vaquer while Naomi attacked Sky. 

Rhea Ripley ran out to an absolutely monster pop. She laid out Niven, Fyre, and Naomi. Sky and Vaquer attacked Green, and Ripley laid her out with Rip-tide. The three babyfaces stood tall. 

Match result: IYO SKY defeated Stephanie Vaquer via disqualification (15:04)

******** 

The announcers ran down the SummerSlam card. 

Roman Reigns segment

Paul Heyman entered first, with Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed. Heyman had a lot to say, but was quickly interrupted. 

Reigns entered to a huge pop and “OTC” chants. (Heyman stopped speaking, but he probably could have said everything he needed in the time it took Reigns to get to the ring.)

Heyman told Reigns that Seth Rollins would be out of action for a long time. That opened up a leadership opportunity. That meant they could fix this. They could get back together because Reigns knew they were better together than opposing each other. Heyman told Reigns, “I love you, my Tribal Chief,” as the crowd chanted, “You sold out.” 

Reigns told H-Town to acknowledge him. They did. (Breakker was visibly bored by this.) Heyman raised his finger in the air. 

Reigns said Heyman wasn’t a Wise Man anymore, he was just a dumbass. Breakker was pissed by this comment, and was held back by Heyman and Reed. Reigns called him “junior” and told him to settle down. 

Reigns advised Breakker to sit under the learning tree and listen, because Heyman would do the same thing to Breakker as he did to him. When Breakker was the man on top in a few years, Heyman would take all the credit. 

Reigns has heard a lot of people trying to take credit for creating the Tribal Chief. He could say firmly it wasn’t because of Heyman. He was still the Tribal Chief because the fans still acknowledged him. 

Reigns was the greatest champion to step foot in this ring, and he admitted Heyman had a part in that. But Heyman didn’t help him keep that title. The Usos did. Solo Sikoa did. (The crowd Yeeted.) Even Sami Zayn helped out. 

Reigns finally lost the title after four years. He didn’t tuck his tail and go home. He went home and raised the future Bloodline. Bloodline was family. The dumbass Heyman thought they were just another faction or wrestling group. But you couldn’t create the Bloodline—that was God’s work. (They held back Breakker again, and Reigns again told him to back down.) 

Reigns said Heyman was always a friend and business partner to the Bloodline, but Reigns was the one who accepted him in. Heyman threw it all away for his “best friend,” whom he hadn’t even talked to in ten years. Reigns didn’t ever want to hear anyone say he ruined the Bloodline. Heyman ruined the Bloodline. 

Breakker stepped in front of Heyman. He told Reigns nobody wanted him here anymore. Reigns was yesterday’s news. His prime was five years ago, and now he was taking up Bron’s time in the ring. Heyman wouldn’t stab him in the back because he had value, while Reigns was worthless. He was the top dog now. He told Reigns to leave. 

Reigns acted like he didn’t hear Breakker, so he offered him his microphone instead. As Reigns chucked his mic to Breakker, Reigns gave him a Superman punch. He attacked Reed, but turned around and was speared by Breakker. 

Breakker held down Reigns as Reed set up for a Tsunami, but Jey Uso ran out to make the save. Jey speared Breakker while Reigns simultaneously speared Reed. 

Jey helped Reigns to his feet. Jey’s music played as the two men stood tall.

(The fans love Reigns, so it doesn’t really matter what he said, but there was a lot of revisionist history here. There was also a line where he said Heyman killed the Bloodline because of his best friend, whom he hadn’t spoken to in ten years. I assume he meant Punk. Heyman did accompany Punk to the ring at WrestleMania, but he turned on both of them to join Rollins. Reigns didn’t address Rollins at all. Perhaps Reigns missed a line because he was too busy telling Bron to settle down.) 

WWE Raw live results: Number one contender’s gauntlet

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: July 14, 2025
Location: Legacy Arena in Birmingham, AL 

The Big Takeaway —

CM Punk won a gauntlet match to earn a world title match against Gunther at SummerSlam. Bron Breakker ran the full gauntlet—beating Penta, LA Knight and Jey Uso—for 42 minutes before ultimately losing to Punk. 

Roman Reigns returned following the main event to take out Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed, and it appears he may have a date with Breakker at SummerSlam. It was clear they’ve decided to start pushing Breakker following Seth Rollins’ apparent injury. (There was no update on Rollins tonight.) 

A night after Evolution, women dominated Raw up until the gauntlet match. Naomi will defend her world title in a triple-threat match at SummerSlam against Iyo Sky and Rhea Ripley. Lyra Valkyria beat Bayley in a 2-out-of-3 falls match and will face Becky Lynch for the Women’s Intercontinental title at SummerSlam. 

**********

Show Recap — 

A big video package highlighted Saturday Night’s Main Event and Evolution. Gunther, Jey Uso, CM Punk (wearing a Bret Hart hat), Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, and Paul Heyman arrived at the arena. 

Michael Cole and Corey Graves are tonight’s announcers. (Pat McAfee is at the Home Run Derby, which is on right now.)

Naomi segment

Naomi entered with her new Women’s World Championship belt. The crowd, of course, chanted, “You deserve it.” Naomi cut them off because she didn’t want to hear that now. They weren’t feeling the glow before, but they were feeling her now. They all thought she would cash in on Tiffany Stratton, but she warned them that nobody knew her next move, and that’s why she stood there as the champion. The crowd cheered. 

Naomi was done with the foolishness of SmackDown. She didn’t betray Bianca Belair—she outgrew her. She said Belair and Jade Cargill didn’t really want her to succeed. She was their flunky as long as it was convenient for them. She cut off some “What” chants and said she had the upper hand now, bitches. 

Cargill got a win at Evolution, but Naomi is the one who made history. Naomi was new on Raw again, but she advised the raggedy women in the back to proceed with caution. 

Rhea Ripley interrupted to a big reaction. Ripley informed Naomi that she wasn’t cautious. She was relentless and pissed. She had two goals at Evolution: to finally beat Iyo Sky and regain the title, but because of Naomi, she still had those goals. Now Naomi was on her list. 

Iyo Sky interrupted next, also to a good reaction. She told Ripley, with respect, to get in line because she planned on taking her title back. 

Naomi, making fun of Sky’s English, responded, “I don’t know what you just said,” and people laughed. Naomi called them entitled and told them to get to the back of the line. 

They began arguing until Adam Pearce interrupted. Pearce officially welcomed Naomi to Raw and told her she did deserve to be champion. Pearce understood why Ripley and Sky were pissed. He said their match was magic. 

SummerSlam was soon, and he wanted to blow the roof off MetLife Stadium. (There is no roof at that stadium.) He announced a triple-threat match for the title. All three women were content with this, and the fans cheered. 

********

Judgment Day met backstage. Dominik said he couldn’t relax with AJ Styles stalking him. Finn Bálor said he had nothing to worry about as long as he had his doctor’s note. 

Bálor put over Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez for their big win last night. Bálor suggested Dom accompany them to ringside for their match tonight, but Dom wasn’t sure about that. Bálor said Liv Morgan loved those titles, so they should do it for her. Everyone left, and Bálor was pleased. 

********

They posted some stat claiming that all three events this past weekend drew 277 million views across all social platforms. They could have said 500 million, and it would’ve been just as meaningful. 

******** 

Asuka and Kairi Sane entered ahead of a commercial break. Since moving to Netflix, they’ll often cut away during break to a backstage interview or something, but they didn’t do that here, so the two women just danced to their music for two straight minutes. 

Non-title match: Women’s Tag Team Champions Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez (w/Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio) vs. Asuka & Kairi Sane 

Like last night, Asuka and Sane were all over Perez until Rodriguez came in to get the momentum on their side. Asuka made a hot tag after a break, but the crowd seemed more focused on telling Dom that he sucked. 

Dom tried to distract the referee, but it made no difference. Asuka posted Rodriguez and hit Perez with a missile dropkick, strikes, and a German suplex. 

Dom got on the apron again, so Asuka knocked him off with a back fist. Perez used the distraction to put her in a schoolboy for the pinfall win (Rodriguez used her boot to assist Perez). 

Match result: Roxanne Perez & Raquel Rodriguez defeated Asuka & Kairi Sane (10:24)

This was pretty much a nothing match. It felt like they just wanted to get the champs a cheap win with Dom’s help, and Asuka and Sane were on the wrong side of it. 

********

Jackie Redmond asked Heyman for an update on Seth Rollins. Heyman didn’t have that information, but reminded her that Rollins had until next June to cash in his MITB briefcase (which Heyman held). Heyman said it was Bron Breakker’s night to go through everyone in the gauntlet, punch his ticket at SummerSlam, and beat Gunther for the world title. 

********

Byron Saxton interviewed LA Knight during a break. Knight said he came out of SNME with a win. It was unfortunate Rollins was injured, and Knight wished him a speedy recovery. Knight wanted Rollins to recover because he wanted to hurt him. Rollins hurt himself before he had a chance. Knight wanted Rollins to return so he could hurt him the right way. Knight admitted he wasn’t 100%, but he planned on running the gauntlet with a world title shot on the line. 

They aired a clip of George Kittle laying out The Miz (Mike Mizanin, not Jacob Misiorowski) at a celebrity golf event over the weekend. 

********

Redmond interviewed Lyra Valkyria about her 2-out-of-3 falls match against Bayley tonight (with a title shot on the line). Valkyria didn’t like the question. She didn’t want to talk about Bayley. It was all about her and Becky Lynch. After she won tonight, Redmond could ask her about her title match against Lynch at SummerSlam. 

Bayley interrupted. Bayley told Valkyria she needed this more than she did and told her to stay out of her way. 

2-out-of-3 falls match: Bayley vs. Lyra Valkyria

Valkyria got the better of an early exchange and dismissively patted Bayley on the head. Bayley slapped Valkyria in the face and rolled her up for the first pinfall, just 1 minute and 25 seconds into the match. It was good timing by Bayley because they went to break moments later. 

After the break, Valkyria went hard into the turnbuckle, and Bayley noticed she might be hurt. Bayley hesitated for a moment but began targeting her back. Bayley hit a back suplex onto the apron, followed by a spinning back suplex in the ring for two. Bayley tried a la magistral cradle, but Valkyria caught her in a rollup for a pinfall at 9:32. It’s tied at one. 

Bayley responded quickly with a running knee strike ahead of another break. Valkyria drove Bayley’s leg against the post and began working over her knee. Bayley fought back after the break after dropping Valkyria over the middle rope. Valkyria fought back and went for a diving leg drop, but Bayley caught her and hit a Bayley-to-belly for a nearfall. 

Valkyria suplexed Bayley out of the corner and hit a gutwrench sit-out powerbomb for a nearfall. (Cole thought it was Valkyria’s finisher.) Valkyria followed later with a fisherman’s suplex on the apron. They traded cradles as Bayley sold her leg. 

They found their way to the outside, and Bayley gave Valkyria a sunset flip powerbomb into the steel steps. Bayley shoved her in the ring and hit a flying elbow drop onto Valkyria’s back for a nearfall. 

Bayley immediately applied a crossface. Valkyria crawled to the ropes, but Bayley pushed off. Valkyria used the momentum to get to her feet while hoisting Bayley on her shoulders, and she hit Nightwing for the pinfall win. 

— Lynch marched out to the ring and held her belt up high as she faced off with Valkyria. 

(Cole made some comment about Bayley’s losing streak continuing. She has now lost two in a row, but isn’t on some significant losing streak.) 

Match result: Lyra Valkyria defeated Bayley to earn a Women’s Intercontinental Championship match (19:57) 

This was a good match, and the crowd got into it more as it went. It felt like a big win for Valkyria. 

********

Redmond interviewed Stephanie Vaquer backstage. Vaquer said she came to WWE to be champion, and after Clash in Paris, she will be. Chelsea Green and the Secret Hervice interrupted. Green thought she would represent them better in Paris than Vaquer. Vaquer dared her to take a shot. Green hid behind her cronies and said she was busy with Nikki Bella tonight. 

There was a pre-taped promo by Karrion Kross and Scarlett. Kross basically accused Sami Zayn of ducking him and didn’t think he was injured. Kross told Zayn to stay home until he was ready to tell the world that Kross told the truth. 

******** 

Nikki Bella vs. Chelsea Green (w/Piper Niven & Alba Fyre)

Bella was all over Green, so Green bailed outside and hid behind Niven and Fyre. When they returned to the ring, Bella went to the ropes, but Green kicked her leg out of her leg and hit a backstabber to take over. 

There were duelling chants, and this may have been the most definitive example of the men chanting for one wrestler (Green), and the women chanting for the other (Bella). 

Nikki came back with clotheslines and a springboard kick for two. Green followed with a neckbreaker for two. Green went for an Unprettier, but Nikki hit a “Bella Buster” (X-factor). Niven distracted the referee while Fyre tried to attack Bella, but Bella posted her. 

This led to the finish, which was a struggle. After a lengthy attempt, Bella eventually got Green on her shoulders and hit a “Rack Attack 2.0” (which didn’t look good at all) for the pinfall win. 

— Niven and Fyre attacked Bella after the match, but Vaquer ran out to make the save. She cleared the ring and posed with Bella. 

Match result: Nikki Bella defeated Chelsea Green (6:23) 

This was no good at all. 

********

(It should be noted that Raw started with a women’s talking segment and three consecutive women’s matches, the night after an all-women’s PPV.) 

Backstage, New Day were dressed in all-black, mourning their tag title loss. They had a gift for Pearce, presented by Grayon Waller. He offered Pearce a wig on a silver platter. Kofi Kingston figured this gift was enough to get a title rematch. Pearce said they don’t just “get” a rematch, but they would get a chance to earn one next week. He told them not to flip their wig and flipped the plate over. 

Pearce left upon seeing Judgment Day nearby. He didn’t buy Dom’s injury after seeing him get involved earlier. He said he spoke to WWE medical, who would reevaluate Dom next week. If cleared, he would defend the title against AJ Styles at SummerSlam. 

Styles was nearby, literally praying to God that Dom get cleared. Dom didn’t like this, so he pleaded with God, too. 

********

Gunther got in Penta’s face as he walked through the back. Gunther is up next. 

Saxton interviewed American Made backstage. He asked about El Grande Americano. They said it was clearly Ludwig Kaiser. Saxton asked about the earlier Chad Gable rumours, but Ivy Nile ignored him. Nile said everyone was on notice. 

********

Redmond asked Rusev what he planned on doing next after beating Sheamus. Rusev said people called him a God, but maybe he was a saint fending off Irish snakes. Now the world knew what he always knew, that he was better than Sheamus. 

Sheamus interrupted. He said he spoke to Pearce, who agreed that Rusev was a dirty, cheating bastard, so he issued a rematch. (This didn’t get much of a reaction.) Rusev said he was here to dominate gold, not gingers. He left. 

********

Gunther segment 

Gunther entered, and he was in a good mood after retiring Goldberg. Some fans chanted for Goldberg. Gunther said the fans weren’t very bright because Goldberg obviously wasn’t there. (The fans chanted, “You tapped out,” instead, and for some reason, they began censoring it, maybe thinking it was something else.) 

Gunther said he fulfilled every promise. He bullied, humiliated, blew up, and choked out Goldberg—and ended his myth. There was only one question to ask: “Who’s next?” 

He knew the answer would come soon. He would watch from a suite as five of the finest competitors would compete for his amusement—and to identify his SummerSlam challenger. He didn’t care who it was. Before he could finish his thought, Breakker and Heyman interrupted. 

Heyman shook Gunther’s hand. He began introducing himself as usual, but Gunther cut him off. Gunther simply wasn’t interested, so he began leaving the ring—until Breakker cut him off. Breakker faced off with Gunther as Heyman cut a promo. 

Heyman said Breakker would run the gauntlet and beat Gunther for the title. Heyman knew that was no easy task. He saw how Gunther beat Goldberg. But you haven’t been speared until you’ve been speared by Bron Breakker. 

Breakker was “the next big thing” and “the big dog.” This was his “yard,” and he was a Steiner. He would break through the glass ceiling and break Gunther’s ass at SummerSlam. There’s going to be a new World Heavyweight Champion at SummerSlam, and his name is Bron Breakker. 

Bron stepped aside, and Gunther left.

******** 

World Heavyweight Championship number one contender’s gauntlet match

– Bron Breakker vs. Penta 

Bron had control for a while (and through a break), and the crowd seemed to be getting restless until Penta made his comeback. Penta tried a springboard move, but Bron speared him out of the air for the pinfall win. That got a good reaction. (This went just under 10 minutes.) 

Penta has lost five matches in a row. His last singles win was against Chad Gable in May.

– Bron Breakker vs. LA Knight

Knight was in complete control early on, but they needed to go to another break, so Bron dropped him over the announce table to take over. A double clothesline spot led to a double-down, so the previously quiet crowd chanted, “This is awesome.” They did get into it from here. 

Knight fought back with jabs, a neckbreaker, DDT and a step-up flying elbow drop for two. Knight went for a BFT (Cole thought he was going for a neckbreaker), but Bron pushed him off. Bron tried a dropkick, but Knight hit a powerbomb. 

Knight tried the BFT again, but Bron raked his eyes and hit a lung blower. Bron followed with a spear for the pinfall win. (This also went about 10 minutes, and it was more entertaining than the previous match.) 

– Bron Breakker vs. Jey Uso

Jey immediately wiped out Bron with a suicide dive. They were headed to break, so Jey had them play his music again, and he Yeeted while Bron sold outside the ring. 

Jey was in control after the break and hit a running hip attack for two. Bron came back later with a Frankensteiner for two. Jey responded with superkicks and a spear for a nearfall. 

Jey went to the top, but Bronson Reed yanked him off the top. Cole said there were no DQs in a gauntlet match. I have no idea why that would be. No DQs meant the match continued, so Bron followed with a spear for the pinfall win. (This only went about 7 minutes.) 

– Bron Breakker vs. CM Punk 

Knowing Bron was exhausted, Punk immediately attacked him with his jacket still on. Punk sent Bron out of the ring and removed his jacket during a break. Punk held control through a break, but Bron caught him off the ropes and hit an overhead suplex. Bron stood over Punk and mocked his “It’s clobbering time” catchphrase. 

After Bron hit a vertical suplex, it sounded like Punk told him to take it easy, but I could be wrong. (Bron’s been in the ring for 35 minutes at this point.) 

Bron tried a Frankensteiner, but Punk countered into a cradle for a nearfall. Punk made his usual comeback and fended off some potential Reed interference before hitting a flying elbow drop for two. 

Punk applied an Anaconda Vice, so Reed attacked Punk. Again, no DQs. (That feels like such a cheat.) Jey Uso ran back out (to his music) to take out Reed. 

Bron went for a spear, but Punk booted him and hit GTS for the pinfall win. 

CM Punk will face Gunther at SummerSlam for the title. 

(This went about 10 minutes. Bron wrestled the full gauntlet match for about 42 minutes.)

— Reed attacked Punk as he celebrated. Jey tried to make the save, but Bron speared him. Bron speared Punk, too. They stacked up Punk and Jey so Reed could go for a double Tsunami, but Roman Reigns entered to a monster pop. 

Reigns hoisted Reed on his shoulders and hit a big Samoan drop. He gave Bron a Superman punch, and he speared Reed. 

Reigns helped Jey to his feet. Punk put his hands up for Reigns to help him up, too, likely knowing Reigns would never actually do that. Punk got to his feet, and they gave each other a knowing look before Reigns turned his attention to the heels on the stage. 

The crowd loudly chanted “OTC” and sang Roman’s name. Reigns stared at the heels as Punk embraced Jey, and the show ended. 

Match result: CM Punk won a gauntlet match to become the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship (42:18)

**********

Official for SummerSlam so far: 

  • John Cena (c) vs. Cody Rhodes for the WWE Championship 
  • Naomi (c) vs. Iyo Sky vs. Rhea Ripley for the Women’s World Championship 
  • Becky Lynch (c) vs. Lyra Valkyria for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship 
  • Tiffany Stratton (c) vs. Jade Cargill for the WWE Women’s Championship 
  • Randy Orton & Jelly Roll vs. Drew McIntyre & Logan Paul 
  • Gunther (c) vs. CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship

WWE Raw live results: Seth Rollins vs. Penta

Posted on by Marc Quill

Tonight’s WWE Raw from the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, Rhode Island, kicks off a big week of pro wrestling including one WWE PLE, Saturday Night’s Main Event, and an NXT PLE.

After the events of last Monday, the Paul Heyman stable will be in full effect over three singles matches as former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins takes on Penta in one, Bronson Reed battles former champion Jey Uso in another, and Sami Zayn takes on Bron Breakker to round them out.

After her three-way Women’s Intercontinental title defense against Bayley and Lyra Valkyria was announced Sunday, reigning champion Becky Lynch will give her thoughts.

One half of the new Women’s Tag Team Champions Roxanne Perez will take on Kairi Sane.

The mysterious El Grande Americano will also be in action.

*********

– After a live drone flyby through the Amica Mutual Pavilion, we got shots of Sami Zayn, Jey Uso, Penta, and the Judgment Day entering the arena.

Seth Rollins and his faction open Raw

“BURN IT DOWN!” signaled the arrival of Seth Rollins and his still-nameless entourage of Paul Heyman, Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker. The commentators discussed Rollins’ upcoming bout with LA Knight on this Saturday’s edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event while the group walked down to the ring.

As Rollins and his faction stood inside the ring, the crowd serenaded them with a singalong of Rollins’ theme music for a bit. When Rollins asked for a microphone, Bron Breakker took it from him and said that he stood in the ring because Rollins and Heyman had a vision for Breakker which has him as the face of WWE for the next two decades. Breakker said that he also had a vision for a WWE without Sami Zayn because he doesn’t like him, his “stupid” beaard or his entrance music.

Breakker couldn’t understand why the fans rooted for someone that has the athleticism of a dead fish and hangs on for dear life for the last five years, because he was going to put an end to Zayn tonight. That is because Breakker was going to “maul” Zayn and ensure he’d be looking up at the lights when all is said and done. Heyman then took the microphone and gave it to Rollins so he could start speaking… but Bronson Reed now asked for his turn.

Reed said that Breakker was a tough act to follow, but so was he. He boasted about nailing Rollins with six consecutive Tsunamis last year, an act which made Rollins respect Reed enough to bring him into his faction. Reed said that Jey Uso didn’t respect him, and that would change tonight because he’d Tsunami the respect into Uso, just like he did with Rollins.

Rollins grabbed the microphone, but he refused to speak due to the fans chanting for CM Punk. So, it was time for Paul Heyman to speak. Heyman said that the Empire would strike first tonight. He said that tonight, Breakker would strike first. Heyman said that Roman Reigns didn’t have the “balls” to come back and step against the Rollins faction. There’s also the “big news” that we haven’t heard, that being Seth Rollins donning the tights against Penta tonight. Heyman mocked Penta’s “stupid freakin’ hand signals”, and said that Rollins would leave him unable to do them ever again because he’d be stomped so hard later on tonight.

When it came time for Rollins to speak, the fans continued to chant for CM Punk. Rollins concluded the promo by welcoming everyone to “Monday Night Rollins”.

Standard opening segment for the Rollins faction to set the stage for their matches later tonight, and the strange divide of presenting this group as heels, but still having Rollins and Heyman urge the crowd on to say their catchphrases is still odd, to say the least.

*********

– At the Judgment Day’s clubhouse, the men were admiring their championship gold, as Raquel Rodriguez spotted Roxanne Perez putting a photo of Liv Morgan, much to the former’s dismay. Rodriguez and Perez discussed how to best deal with Kairi Sane, who was facing Perez in a match up next. Dominik Mysterio thanked JD McDonagh and Finn Balor for the ‘Get Well Soon’ cake, but it turns out, they didn’t gift it to him. Mysterio had a closer look and saw that it was from AJ Styles, as he turned to see Styles watching him from behind a wall.

Roxanne Perez vs. Kairi Sane

The match got under way with Perez and Sane sizing each other up as the former started hammering away at the latter with fists. Perez threw Sane in the corner and tried to maintain the momentum as she applied a headlock. An attempted spear by Perez got turned into a unique pin attempt that wasn’t enough. We got a series of dueling pin attempts from Perez and Sane, as the newest member of the judgment Day hit Sane with an elbow to the face.

Sane battled back with a backfist to the face of Perez, followed by a flying forearm and a dive to the outside. With the advantage in her midst, Raquel Rodriguez got on the apron and allowed Perez to capitalize on a distraction with a stomp to the arm across the bottom ropes, as the U.S. feed of Raw headed to a commercial break.

During the break, Sane got momentum back with the Interceptor, and we returned from break with Sane continuing the attack, as she blasted Perez with the Sliding D in the corner. Perez avoided the Insane Elbow and kicked Sane in the face. Perez headed up to the top with a springboard moonsault from the second rope for a near-fall.

Perez dragged Sane and continued to target the injured arm, but missed on a corner charge and got hit with a boot from Sane. Perez blocked an Alabama Slam attempt from Sane and once again slammed her foe’s injured arm on the mat. Perez set Sane up on the top rope, but got knocked down to the mat. Sane connected with a diving forearm strike, followed by the Alabama Slam. Sane headed up top and looked to finish things off with the Insane Elbow, but Raquel Rodriguez dragged Perez out of the ring. Sane took Rodriguez out with a dive to the outside.

Back in the ring, Perez’s attempt at Pop Rox was countered into a pin by Sane for the one, two, three.

Post-match, the Women’s Tag Team Champions attacked Sane in a two-on-one beatdown until Asuka ran in for the save. Rodriguez clotheslined Asuka and had her set up for her powerbomb, but Sane made the save. Sane and Asuka took Rodriguez out of the ring before they turned their attention to Perez with an Insane Elbow.

Kairi Sane def. Roxanne Perez

A good enough match to open up Raw, but it’s nice to see Asuka and Kairi Sane joining forces once more. The next step is likely the Kabuki Warriors being the Raw representatives for the four-way tag match at Evolution II on Sunday.

*********

– Jackie Redmond interviewed Sami Zayn about everything he’s been going through as of late. Zayn said that he has too much on his plate, and that he couldn’t focus on his ribs or Karrion Kross because he has Bron Breakker to deal with later tonight. Scarlett walked into frame and looked on as Zayn walked off.

Commercial Break Exclusive Promo

The New Day appeared during the commercial dressed in black clothing. They talked about how the Raw tag team division died last week because they lost the WWE Tag Team Championships against the Judgment Day. The two said that the wrong will be righted when they find Adam Pearce later tonight and demand the rematch for their tag titles that they so deserved.

*********

– Adam Pearce spoke with American Made regarding El Grande Americano competing tonight. Julius Creed said this was impossible because Chad Gable was still out injured, but got shouted down as by Brutus Creed and Ivy Nile. Pearce then put Nile in the women’s battle royal at Evolution. Asuka and Kairi Sane soon talked with Pearce and got included in the fatal four-way tag match for the Women’s Tag Team Championships.

– Nikki Bella announced that she’d be in the women’s battle royal at Evolution for a championship opportunity at Clash in Paris next month.

– As Sami Zayn was making his entrance for his match, Karrion Kross attacked him from behind and smashed the lead pipe across the injured ribs of Zayn. Referees led by Adam Pearce got Kross to back off from the fight. During the break, Zayn refused to back out of his upcoming match against Bron Breakker, despite Pearce’s protestations.

Sami Zayn vs. Bron Breakker

With Zayn very much not in any condition to fight, Breakker seemed to relish what appeared to be an easy match ahead of him. Breakker backed Zayn into the corner and targeted his injured ribs with shoulder thrusts that crumpled him to the mat. He ripped away the tape around Zayn’s ribs and drove both knees into the exposed ribs.

Breakker lifted Zayn up and threw him across the ring with a suplex, as he targeted him for a Spear. Zayn intercepted Breakker’s attempt with a clothesline, which created some needed separation for him. Zayn, with adrenaline running in his veins, headed up top for a high-risk maneuver, but got met by a particularly vicious Spear from Breakker.

As Zayn rolled to the outside, Breakker saw red in his eyes and headed out to hit his super Spear on the badly-injured Zayn. Breakker rolled his foe back into the ring and pulled down the straps. Breakker ran the ropes and put an end to this with his super Spear for the victory.

Bron Breakker def. Sami Zayn

More of an angle than an actual competitive match, it did the job in establishing Breakker as a dangerous threat and selling the dire situation of Zayn at the hands of Kross and the Rollins band.

*********

– As Adam Pearce chatted with the War Raiders, he was confronted by the New Day, who accused Pearce of helping “kill” the tag division. Becky Lynch walked past the scene and told New Day that getting rid of Big E was a “good idea”.

Becky Lynch addresses her Evolution triple threat match

Lynch wanted an explanation on how two “losers” got a title match in a scenario where her chances of losing the Women’s Intercontinental Championship were far greater. She said that she got why Adam Pearce put her in this match, but not why she had to face Bayley or Lyra Valkyria again. Lynch claimed that Bayley and Valkyria were working together to get this shot, but before she could elaborate further, Bayley interrupted and walked down to the ring. Bayley, however, found herself interrupted by Lyra Valkyria, who marched down to the ring with a purpose.

In the ring, Valkyria said that her title was wrapped around a “bucket full of crazy” and it was about time to take it back. Bayley entered the ring and said she could’ve been the Women’s Intercontinental Champion if it wasn’t for Valkyria’s intervention.

Bayley said that if she learned anything from WrestleMania, it’s that she didn’t need friendships or heartbreak, but she did need the Women’s Intercontinental Championship.

Valkyria said that Bayley was just as bad as Lynch because of what she just admitted, and she was out to rescue the Women’s Intercontinental Championship from “two massive disappointments” at Evolution II.

Bayley talked about how she watched Valkyria from all her moments of glory, and that seeing her raise Lynch’s hand made Bayley see her as a “little bitch”. Valkyria took exception and tried to punch at Bayley, but she ended up hitting Lynch instead. A brawl ensued, which ended with Valkyria nailing both Bayley and Lynch with the Night Wing. Valkyria walked over to the fallen Lynch and mockingly raised her hand, stating that it would be the last time her hand would be raised.

Just a nice segment between these three women ahead of a big match at Evolution II on Sunday. I enjoyed it a lot.

*********

– Backstage, Seth Rollins and his band strategized their next move, as Paul Heyman revealed that Sami Zayn would be out of action indefinitely. Rollins told Bronson Reed to deal with Jey Uso next.

Jey Uso vs. Bronson Reed

Uso was on the offensive to start as he rocked Reed in the corner with a kick. An attempted Irish Whip was countered as Reed crushed Uso with a thump, which gave the big man an advantage early on. Uso dodged a senton from Reed and kept up the attack with punches and a kick that sent Reed to the outside.

With a Yeet, Uso hit a suicide dive that send Reed over the announce table. Uso cleared the commentary table, but got met by a recovering Reed. A superkick by Uso caused Reed to be seated onto one of the chairs, long enough for another Jey Uso superkick. Inside the ring, Uso looked for another suicide dive, but got the chair thrown at him, to cause the disqualification.

Post-match, Reed went on a Tsunami rampage, hitting two fierce dives onto Uso before Adam Pearce and his personnel stopped.

Jey Uso def. Bronson Reed

Again, not so much an actual match, but more storytelling to sell the nameless Rollins band’s threat. I suppose it did the job in the regard.

*********

– LA Knight spoke about his upcoming match with Seth Rollins at Saturday Night’s Main Event in five days time on NBC.

– Michael Cole and Corey Graves tossed over to a video package for the Rhea Ripley vs. Iyo Sky Women’s World Championship match at Evolution II on Sunday, with the underlying theme of Ripley’s inability to defeat Sky in past encounters.

El Grande Americano vs. Dragon Lee

As the match started, Cole pointed out how this El Grande Americano was a foot taller than the “other one”. We got some back and forth lucha libre action between Lee and El Grande to start, but things turned to Lee’s advantage with a diving crossbody for an early near-fall.

El Grande got Lee with a nice arm drag, as he showed off after landing on his feet off a Lee monkey flip. This opened him up for a kick from Lee, who attempted to take flight. El Grande intercepted with a kick to the face, as he continued the attack by throwing Lee over the timekeeper’s area, which took Raw to a commercial break on the U.S. feed.

The action resumed with El Grande and Lee fighting on the top rope. Lee caught El Grande with a sitdown powerbomb that got a near-fall. As El Grande was down and out, Lee tried to rip away at the mask, but to no avail. Lee took advantage with a vaulting kick over the top rope, which rocked El Grande. Lee followed that with a running dropkick, but couldn’t get the win from that.

El Grande chopped Lee and connected with a springboard Blockbuster for a near-fall of his own. Lee fought out of El Grande’s grasp and trapped him in a Tree of Woe position, as he then came down with a double stomp on El Grande. Lee then took flight with a dive to the outside that connected. As El Grande got hack into the ring, he appeared to slip something in his mask, as he hit Lee with a steel-plate assisted headbutt for the win.

El Grande Americano def. Dragon Lee

A fine little match, even though I’m not high on the El Grande Americano character like others. The in-ring action was at least enjoyable to watch.

*********

– As Penta was preparing for his match with Seth Rollins later, he was confronted by Paul Heyman and Bron Breakker. Penta remained fearless and told the two “Cero Miedo” before he walked off.

Commercial Break Exclusive Promo

Karrion Kross was interviewed and got a huge reaction from the Providence crowd, who chanted “We Want Kross”. Kross aid that every time Sami Zayn shows up every week, he was going to blast him with a steel pipe. All he wanted for Zayn to say was “Kross Told The Truth”, and if he didn’t do so, he’d continue to make Zayn suffer.

*********

Gunther addresses Goldberg

The World Heavyweight Champion took the mic and started by saying that he was going to defend his title this Saturday at Goldberg, and for the last two weeks, he had been verbally abusing Goldberg in the ring, and he has not done anything about it. That meant, Gunther can only assume that Goldberg was afraid of him and the pressure, but he was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a car arriving to the arena.

On the Titantron, we saw the car park as Goldberg stepped out of it and immediately made a beeline to the ring. The soon-to-be-retiring WCW legend marched to the ring and met Gunther face to face, in a mood for a fight. Goldberg dared Gunther to hit him, as he blocked a punch and knocked the champ down. Goldberg had Gunther in position for a Spear, but Gunther rolled out of the ring and avoided a potentially grisly fate.

Given how Goldberg looked a bit blown up in just the little bit of work he did tonight, Gunther will have to do a lot of the heavy lifting on Saturday to ensure that this match is at the very least presentable.

Saturday Night’s Main Event Card

  • LA Knight vs. Seth Rollins
  • Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton
  • World Heavyweight Championship: Gunther (c) vs. Goldberg

Evolution II Card

  • WWE Women’s Championship: Tiffany Stratton (c) vs. Trish Stratus
  • NXT Women’s Championship: Jacy Jayne (c) vs. Jordynne Grace
  • Women’s Intercontinental Championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Bayley vs. Lyra Valkyria
  • Women’s World Championship: Iyo Sky (c) vs. Rhea Ripley
  • Women’s Tag Team Championship Fatal Four-Way: Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez (c) vs. Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka & Kairi Sane vs. Zaria & Sol Ruca
  • Naomi vs. Jade Cargill
  • Evolution Battle Royal (Winner gets a Championship Match at Clash in Paris)

*********

Penta vs. Seth Rollins

Penta surprised Rollins with a superkick just as the bell rang, which sent him just outside of the ring. At ringside, Penta chopped away at Rollins and maintained an attack by bouncing his head over the announce table. Another attempt at a chop by Penta, was dodged by Rollins, which caused Penta to hit the LED ringpost covering instead. Penta roared back with a diving hurricanrana on Rollins.

As Penta got back in the ring, Rollins took advantage with stomps, but couldn’t maintain a clear advantage for long as Penta fought back. Rollins attempted a Pedigree, but Penta countered and sent Rollins to the outside with a clothesline. Penta followed that up with a tope con hilo that felled Rollins just as Raw went to one final commercial break on the U.S. feed.

Rollins sustained a cut above his right eye during the break, but he had the upper hand as Raw returned from commercial in the United States. Penta fought out of Rollins’ grip successfully and hit him with a modified Slingblade. He then followed that up with his dropkick in the corner on Rollins.

Penta looked for the Penta Driver, but Rollins countered and escaped. The former architect of the Shield, however, couldn’t escape the Backstabber from Penta that soon followed. As both men recovered, Rollins showed impressive strength and lifted Penta on his shoulders before he dropped him with a gutbuster. Rollins headed up top and mocked Penta’s signature taunt before hitting the frog splash. One, two… this one’s not done yet.

Rollins had Penta in position for the Stomp, but couldn’t connect. Rollins was placed on the top rope by Penta as the two began to duke it out up top. Penta landed on the apron and connected with the hurricanrana. In the ring, Penta managed to hit the Penta Driver on Rollins. One, two… Rollins just managed to kick out at 2.999999999.

Penta placed Rollins in position for the Sacrifice, but Mr. Money in the Bank escaped and hit the Buckle Bomb. Penta recovered right away and hit the Mexican Destroyer. He went for the cover, but Rollins grabbed the bottom rope at the last possible second. Penta dragged Rollins’ lifeless body in the middle of the ring, but Rollins recovered and went low with a headbutt. This gave Rollins the opening for the Stomp and the win.

After the match, Paul Heyman called for Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker to continue the punishment on Penta, but LA Knight snuck into the ring and blindsided Rollins with the B.F.T. Breakker and Reed made a run for it, but couldn’t catch up to Knight, who made his getaway in the crowd to end Raw for tonight.

Seth Rollins def. Penta

A solid main event on Raw tonight. Just some tremendous stuff between Rollins and Penta. The Knight appearance at the end was a decent way to set up the Saturday Night’s Main Event match in five days.

All in all, an okay edition of Raw that did as best as it could to sell viewers on the big WWE weekend of action coming in a few days. Whether it was successful or not is up remains to be seen. The throughline of the Rollins band’s dominance was at least a good angle to go with all night long, I will say.

WWE Raw live results: Night of Champions fallout

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: June 30, 2025
Location: PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, PA 

The Big Takeaway —

WWE began announcing matches for Evolution, but it wasn’t exactly a hard push, as they also plugged matches for Saturday Night’s Main Event, in addition to plugging event details for SummerSlam and Clash in Paris. 

At Evolution, Iyo Sky will defend her title against Rhea Ripley, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez will defend the tag titles against teams from Raw, SmackDown and NXT in a four-way, and there will be a battle royal to determine a new number one contender for either brand’s belt. Perez is officially one-half of the Women’s Tag Team Champions and officially a member of Judgment Day. 

Judgment Day is now also in possession of the World Tag Team titles after Finn Bálor and JD McDonagh beat New Day. 

CM Punk attacked Seth Rollins but will have to wait to get his hands on him in the ring, as Rollins will first fight LA Knight at SNME. 

Rusev beat Sheamus, and Ludwig Kaiser may be the new El Grande Americano. 

Read more below. 

**********

Show Recap — 

There was a recap of Night of Champions from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It began with them talking about how great the city and the country are. The recap included ‘headlines’ from various news/sports outlets, one of which claimed that Sam Zayn pulled off a “miracle win” over Karrion Kross. That was from CBS, where someone just repeated what Michael Cole said in the commentary. 

Sami Zayn (impressed by a picture of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin hoisting the Stanley Cup), Penta, New Day, and Sheamus were shown arriving at the arena in Pittsburgh. 

Corey Graves is once again on commentary with Cole, in place of Pat McAfee. 

Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY segment 

Ripley entered to a big reaction and welcomed us to “Monday Night Mami.” (Must everyone do this?) Ripley said Judgment Day was finally behind her, and she wanted to get her priorities straight ahead of Evolution. 

Iyo Sky quickly interrupted. Sky said you could not have Evolution without her, but Ripley was wrong about one thing. Ripley was not on top—not without the title. Adam Pearce told Sky that she could defend her title against the opponent of her choice at Evolution. Sky wanted to defend against the best, and that meant defending against Ripley. 

Ripley said she had nothing but respect for Sky, but warned her that she would stop at nothing to get the title back. Ripley accepted the match at Evolution.

******** 

Backstage, Dominik Mysterio wished luck to Finn Bálor and JD McDonagh in their title match. After they left, Dom was confronted by AJ Styles. 

Dom presented a doctor’s note proving he was not medically cleared. Dom wondered if Styles needed glasses to read the note. Styles, in fact, put glasses on to read the note—and the note said Dom was a punk ass. That got a good laugh from the crowd. Styles warned Dom he would do a lot worse to him once he got his hands on him. 

******** 

This is only the second time Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods have wrestled since winning the tag titles at WrestleMania over two months ago.

World Tag Team Championships: The New Day vs. Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh 

The match started with Kingston offering Bálor a piece of bread so he could have some carbs, but Bálor pushed it away. 

New Day worked over McDonagh throughout a commercial break. Bálor made a hot tag, which got a nice pop, and he ran wild on New Day. Bálor hit a slingblade and went for a dropkick, but Kingston cut him off with a leaping double foot stomp. 

They tagged out, and McDonagh hit Woods with an Asai moonsault, but Woods got his boots up on a moonsault in the ring. Bálor made a blind tag and went for a Coup de Grâce on Woods, but Woods moved, and Bálor hit McDonagh by mistake. 

Woods rolled up Bálor for a nearfall. New Day hit Bálor with Midnight Hour next for a close nearfall.  Each team took turns cheating behind the referee’s back, leading to Woods hitting Bálor with a title belt from behind, but Bálor kicked out yet again. McDonagh got back in and hit Woods with an avalanche Spanish Fly, but Kingston broke up the cover. 

Bálor gave Kingston a slingblade outside the ring, McDonagh hit Woods with a moonsault, and Bálor hit Woods with a Coup de Grâce for the pinfall win. Judgment Day are the new tag champs.

Dom joined Bálor and McDonagh in the aisle to celebrate as fireworks went off. 

The notoriously quiet Pittsburgh crowd was really into this, and they popped huge for Judgment Day winning.

Match result: Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh defeated The New Day to win the World Tag Team Championships (12:24)

This was really good on all fronts. The match was fun, and the crowd was into the heel team that happened to be playing babyfaces tonight. 

It may be premature to take the titles off New Day, but they’ve done next to nothing since turning heel, and even less since winning the titles. That’s not all their fault, but that’s where we are. 

********

Jackie Redmond interviewed Bayley. Bayley said she should be the current IC champion, but Lyra Valkyria got in her way. Bayley’s goal has not changed. 

Valkyria interrupted. Valkyria was offended because Bayley wouldn’t return her messages, but would talk about her behind her back. They had a heated argument, basically over who hated Becky Lynch more. 

They screamed at each other until Pearce interrupted and screamed even louder for them to stop. He made a match between the two tonight, and the winner would face Lynch for the title. 

********

Maxxine Dupri, Natalya, and Akira Tozawa greeted Sheamus as he warmed up backstage. 

There was a Grayson Waller interview during a break. He was inspired by New Day cutting the dead weight and turning on Big E, and thought he could learn something. (That was seven months ago.) 

There was a Goldberg video package set to “Dominate” by Three Days Grace. 

********

Chad Gable spoke to American Made backstage. Pearce joined to say he was sorry to hear about Gable’s injury and wished him luck. Gable said he made his own luck. Pearce figured we wouldn’t be seeing El Grande Americano for a while. Gable said he was a busy man, “but you never know.” 

After Pearce left, Gable gave his teammates their marching orders. Brutus Creed said they would be lost without him. Gable told them to listen to Ivy Nile. Gable left. (Ludwig Kaiser was eavesdropping in the background.) 

********

Bálor and McDonagh approached Pearce and Nick Aldis backstage. Bálor said Raquel Rodriguez has worked very hard to be the tag champ, and it would be mean to strip her of the titles (because of Liv Morgan’s injury). Bálor suggested they give her a new partner: Roxanne Perez. 

Pearce and Aldis huddled over the idea and agreed to it. However, they wanted Rodriguez and Perez to prove themselves as a team, so they would have to defend the belts at Evolution against a team from Raw, SmackDown and NXT. Bálor and McDonagh were initially caught off guard by this but agreed. 

******** 

Rusev entered and waited in the ring for almost ten minutes before the match began (thanks to a break and the above segment). 

Cole screeched, “It’s fight niiiight, baby!” as Sheamus entered. He should not do that again. 

Rusev vs. Sheamus 

They’ve been in multi-man matches since, but this was their first singles match since 2014. 

They clobbered each other until Sheamus brought Rusev off the apron with a powerslam to the outside. Rusev took over during a break after Sheamus went shoulder-first into the ring post. 

Sheamus began no-selling Rusev’s kicks and kept inviting him to do more. Sheamus got to his feet and fired up. He hit a backbreaker, followed by a diving knee drop, but Rusev kicked out at one. Rusev came back with a spinning heel kick for two, and a fallaway slam for two. Rusev hit a superplex ahead of another break. 

Rusev held control during the break, and not much happened until Sheamus hit a White Noise right on time for them to return from break. They took turns clobbering each other some more until Sheamus hit a powerslam. Sheamus hit ten fifteen beats of the Bodhrán and went for a Brogue, but Rusev ducked it (sort of). Sheamus fought him off again and hit consecutive running knee strikes for a nearfall. 

Rusev responded with a uranage and a jumping kick. He applied the Accolade, but Sheamus managed to get to his feet while hoisting Rusev on his back. They spilled out of the ring, and Sheamus hit Rusev with a Brogue Kick, and Rusev just barely avoided a count-out. 

They battled on the apron until Rusev thumbed Sheamus in the eye. He exposed the inanimate metal rod (off the top turnbuckle) and rammed Sheamus into it. Both of these things happened right in front of the referee. Rusev followed with a  Machka Kick for the pinfall win. 

Match result: Rusev defeated Sheamus (20:22)

This was pretty good until the finish. However, it did drag at times, particularly during the commercials, and the finish was stupid. Graves tried to claim that the referee didn’t see Rusev poke Sheamus in the eye, but you could hear the ref screaming at him for doing that. 

********

Pearce and Aldis announced a battle royal at Evolution, and the winner would earn a title match at Clash in Paris. (This was not the most inspiring announcement.) 

Redmond interviewed American Made. Nile spoke about the battle royal until El Grande Americano suddenly appeared. He nodded at them and left. (It was Ludwig Kaiser.) Redmond asked them for comment. An excited Brutus was about to say something, but Nile cut him off. They left. 

Redmond was about to interview Sami Zayn nearby, but he was attacked by Karrion Kross. Kross attacked Zayn with a pipe until officials broke it up.

********

Byron Saxton interviewed Stephanie Vaquer during a break. Vaquer was excited for the battle royal. (It sounds like whoever wins will get to pick which champion they face.) She didn’t come to Raw to be second place, and if she won the battle royal. She planned on facing the Raw champion. Vaquer has traveled the world and would not stop until she was the world champion. 

(Perhaps she’ll win, but a battle royal doesn’t seem to be the best use of Vaquer on an all-women PPV.) 

********

Members of the Pittsburgh Steelers, including Cam Heyward, were shown at ringside. 

Gunther segment (Seth Rollins, CM Punk, LA Knight get involved) 

Gunther spoke about the impressive Goldberg video package. Goldberg was violent, brutal and destructive. But just like his matches, all of his highlights were summed up in three minutes. 

Gunther was not afraid of what was left of Goldberg. He was a 58-year-old man, riding out his career at Gunther’s expense. That was not going to happen because Goldberg was not capable of taking the title from him. Gunther knew he could beat Goldberg in three minutes, but that was not his goal. 

Gunther would take his time, blow him up, and embarrass him in front of everyone who loved him. Goldberg said he didn’t like bullies, “but too bad you bumped into the biggest bully around here.” Gunther planned on bullying him and treating him like trash, and there was nothing he could do about it. 

Goldberg wanted to prove he still had it, but Gunther would prove he never had it. Once it was over, it would be Gunther’s turn to ask, “Who’s next?” 

Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman entered. Gunther made fun of Rollins for travelling very far (NOC) to accomplish nothing. Rollins laughed at the statement. Rollins informed him they did not go to NOC to cash in on John Cena. 

Rollins made it clear that as long as he was alive, CM Punk would not be a champion in WWE. They flew across the world to stand on that business. (Fans chanted for Punk.) Rollins told Gunther that winning MITB meant an all-out assault on both championships. 

Punk’s music hit, and he sprinted to the ring to attack Rollins. Rollins bailed through the crowd as Punk called him a coward. (The crowd chanted for Punk again.) 

Punk was about to leave until Gunther grabbed him by the arm. Punk shoved Gunther, and Gunther actually fell to the mat. (Gunther looked nonplussed about being shoved down by Punk.) A pissed-off Punk marched to the back. 

Rollins was amused as he stood in the stands, but was attacked from behind by LA Knight. They fought into the concourse (which was conveniently blocked off from the fans). Rollins tossed a drink in Knight’s face and ran away. 

********

Judgment Day celebrated backstage. Perez happily held her new tag title belt. Rodriguez was upset that they were replacing Morgan so quickly and said she’s been rehabbing hard. Bálor knew from experience how hard it was to come back from a shoulder injury, and he just wanted to see Rodriguez stay champion. Rodriguez reluctantly agreed. 

Bálor called for a vote to declare Perez an official member of Judgment Day. They all voted ‘yes’ (Dom and Rodriguez were reluctant). Bálor was very happy. 

******** 

There was a Kairi Sane video package.

Bayley vs. Lyra Valkyria

Bayley targeted Valkyria’s back and applied a Boston Crab until Valkyria got a rope break. They collided with a dueling crossbody attempts ahead of a break. Valkyria took over, but you would’ve missed all her offence because it happened entirely within a commercial break. 

Bayley fought back when they returned and hit a superplex. They tried dueling cradles, but both kicked out. Valkyria spilled out of the ring after a Bayley back suplex, and Bayley followed with a leaping elbow drop off the steps. Valkyria responded with a swinging neckbreaker, but Bayley hit a sunset flip powerbomb into the corner for two. Valkyria hit a gutwrench sit-out powerbomb for two. 

They traded cradles, which led to a double pinfall spot with both women’s shoulders down. The referee called the match a draw. 

You knew we would get a finish like this as soon as the match was announced. (Or a DQ.) The match itself was pretty good until the flat finish. 

— Bayley grabbed Valkyria, but Valkyria turned around and hit a clothesline. They wound up brawling into the crowd until officials broke it up. 

Match result: Bayley and Lyra Valkyria wrestled to a draw (10:19) 

********

Seth Rollins will face LA Knight at SNME. 

Redmond caught up to Punk backstage. Punk said he had receipts for Rollins, Heyman, Bron-Bron, Gunther and anyone else who got in his way. 

Punk confronted Knight nearby. He told Knight that Rollins belonged to him and to get to the back of the line. Knight said he has Rollins at SNME, so he was the line. Knight yelled, “Yeah!” in Punk’s face and left. 

********

Penta checked with Zayn to see if he still wanted to wrestle. Zayn, who was tapped up, was ready to go. 

******** 

Heyman was on the phone with Rollins, and Bronson Reed asked him, “Where’s the Visionary?” (A normal question.) Heyman said Rollins was already on a jet, perfecting plan B. Reed wanted to know what that was. Before Heyman could answer, Bron Breakker interrupted and said the plan was for him to smash whoever got in their way. Heyman wasn’t sure that was the plan, but Breakker didn’t care and told some guy to hit his music. (I liked this bit from Bron.) 

Sami Zayn & Penta vs. Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed (w/Paul Heyman)

Penta and Zayn did Penta’s little walk before wiping out their opponents with dives. It didn’t matter because Reed caught Penta out of mid-air during a break and hit a World’s Strongest Slam. 

Penta made a comeback following the break and tagged in Zayn, who wiped out both guys with an Arabian Press. A battle in the corner led to Zayn hitting Reed with a sunset flip powerbomb for two. Reed came right back with a DVD for two. Bron knocked Zayn over the announce table with a leaping clothesline ahead of another break. The heels took over again. 

As you know, there’s a timer in the corner letting people know when the commercial break is over. Well, it’s also telling you when the babyface will make their comeback. Zayn fought back the moment they returned from break and made a hot tag to Penta. 

Penta hit Bron with a flying crossbody, kicked his leg out of his leg, and hit a slingblade. Penta hit a dropkick in the corner and snapped Bron’s arm. Arm snapping appears to do nothing, because Bron got him up next in a military press, but Penta countered into a DDT. 

Heyman distracted the ref, which allowed Reed to knock Penta down on the top rope. Bron followed with a Frankensteiner, and Reed hit a sit-out powerbomb, but Zayn broke up the cover. 

Penta avoided a Tsunami and tagged in Zayn, who hit Bron with an exploder in the corner. Zayn went for a Helluva Kick, but Bron clotheslined him. Bron went for a spear, but Zayn booted him (Cole completely undersold that spot), and Reed broke up the cover. 

Zayn tried a vertical suplex on Reed but couldn’t get him up. Penta attacked Reed from the apron, and Zayn managed to hit Reed with the suplex. The crowd popped, but it didn’t matter because Reed wasn’t the legal man. Bron speared Zayn for the pinfall win. 

— Penta checked on Zayn after the match, but Bron speared him. Reed went up for a Tsunami, but Jey Uso entered with a steel chair. Jey beat up Bron and Bronson with the chair and stood tall with Zayn and Penta. 

Match result: Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed defeated Sami Zayn & Penta (18:24)

WWE Raw live results: King & Queen of the Ring semifinals

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: June 23, 2025
Location: Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio 

The Big Takeaway —

Cody Rhodes beat Jey Uso to advance in King of the Ring, while Jade Cargill beat Roxanne Perez to advance in Queen of the Ring. The finals will take place on Saturday at Night of Champions. Rhodes faces Randy Orton, and Cargill faces Asuka. 

As the show went on tonight, they repeatedly plugged Night of Champions (and SmackDown) as happening in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (It seemed like they avoided mentioning the location when the show began, but it was business as usual as the show continued.) 

Next week’s Raw in Pittsburgh starts at 6 pm ET/3 pm PT. 

**********

Show Recap — 

Jey Uso, Cody Rhodes, Roxanne Perez and Finn Bálor, Jade Cargill, Becky Lynch, and Bayley were shown arriving as Michael Cole ran down tonight’s show. 

Corey Graves is filling in for Pat McAfee once again. 

They announced that LA Knight is out indefinitely due to a bruised sternum and separated rib cartilage, thanks to Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker. 

Seth Rollins segment

Rollins entered with Reed, Breakker, and Paul Heyman. He waited as the crowd sang his song (not loudly) and did his usual spiel. He asked what the crowd wanted because he was receiving mixed messages. They chanted for CM Punk. 

Rollins said they chanted for Punk, for Roman Reigns, for him, and they barked for Breakker. They didn’t know what they wanted, so he didn’t care. They needed people like him to tell them what was good for them. 

Even the things they thought they wanted were because of him. Reigns existed because of him. Punk claimed he was back for the fans, but it was really because the company could cash in on how much he hated Punk. There was no second coming of Cody Rhodes without Rollins to put him back on the map. 

Rollins was the first world champion and NXT Champion, and he built those things in his image. He was the prime mover. He was the past, present, and future. He and Heyman knew a thing or two about revolutions. Every revolution had opposition, but he would deal with them. 

Reed dealt with LA Knight, and Breakker was about to deal with Penta. There were a lot of people who thought they could exist at the very top: John Cena, Gunther, Punk, Goldberg, Uso, Rhodes, Randy Orton. But they all failed to understand that they were running a race for second place. He was the end game and always would be. 

Rollins was finally done speaking, so Penta entered for his match. (Rollins and Reed went to the back.) 

Bron Breakker (w/ Paul Heyman) vs. Penta

The match began during a break, but Breakker left the ring to stall so the action could start once they returned. 

Graves claimed that Breakker was still effectively a rookie, which isn’t even close to being true. 

Breakker was in control until Penta hit a dive ahead of a break. Breakker regained control after dropping Penta on top of the ring post and a flying clothesline off the apron over the announce table. They messed up a spot but recovered well enough, and Penta hit a vertical suplex into a pin for two. Breakker recovered and hit a Frankensteiner for two. Penta responded with a Canadian Destroyer for a nearfall. 

Penta went for a springboard move, but Breakker obliterated him with a mid-air spear for the pinfall win. The crowd popped big for that. 

Match result: Bron Breakker defeated Penta (15:00) 

This wasn’t exactly a smooth wrestling match, but the last few minutes were entertaining. 

— After the match, Rollins warned Penta to stay out of his way. 

********

There was a replay of Liv Morgan’s injury. Backstage, Adam Pearce informed AJ Styles that Dominik Mysterio was also injured. Styles didn’t believe it and asked if Dom strained his mustache. Pearce said it was legitimate, so their IC title match at Night of Champions was off. Pearce said Styles will get the match as soon as Dom is ready. 

New Day and Grayson Waller entered Pearce’s office after Styles left. Pearce put New Day in a tag title match against Finn Bálor and JD McDonagh next week. New Day were pissed. As they left, Kofi Kingston yelled, “You’re so bald!” at Pearce. Waller didn’t appreciate this treatment of his new friends. 

******** 

So far, they’re advertising Night of Champions as happening on Saturday, but they’re not mentioning the location. Last week, the graphics included the event’s location, but tonight, they don’t. 

Update: A few minutes later, Cole mentioned Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the special start time.

*******

Goldberg interview 

Cole sat down earlier today with Goldberg. He asked Goldberg why he targeted Gunther. Goldberg said nobody should be surprised. Gunther embarrassed him in front of his wife, his son, his fans, and in his adopted hometown of Atlanta. Goldberg didn’t know when, but knew he would go after Gunther. 

Goldberg was already thinking about his retirement match, so it was serendipitous that Gunther put himself in this position. As long as Goldberg was breathing, he was going to make Gunther pay. 

Goldberg ended with: “Michael, I am going to beat the f—k out of Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event.” 

When they returned from break, Cole confirmed that this would be Goldberg’s final match. 

********

Judgment Day met in the back. They were not in a good mood (because of Morgan’s injury), so Bálor tried to fire everybody up. He gave them all encouraging words, but Raquel Rodriguez was still worried about the status of the tag titles. 

Bálor muttered something under his breath, which pissed off Rodriguez. Bálor was glad to see her pissed off. They wanted Rodriguez to be the enforcer, and she should make Rhea Ripley pay for what she did to her last week. Rodriguez agreed. 

Dom said he missed Morgan (so they don’t speak outside of Raw). Bálor reminded him that Perez had a match, so Dom dismissively wished her luck. 

********

Lyra Valkyria met with Bayley backstage. Valkyria was trying to be friendly, but Bayley seemed offended. Bayley realized she overreacted and settled down, explaining that she’s been focused only on Lynch and the title all week. Bayley told Valkyria she would be first in line if she won tonight. (Lynch could be seen lurking in the background.) 

Queen of the Ring semi-final match: Jade Cargill vs. Roxanne Perez 

Cargill was in control and showed off by doing push-ups. Perez managed to trap Cargill’s leg between the steel steps and the ring. Perez dropkicked the steps and worked over her leg during a break. 

Cargill tried fighting back after the break, but Perez chop-blocked her. The crowd was really quiet until Cargill effortlessly caught Perez out of mid-air as she attempted a crossbody. Cargill hit a spinebuster and chokeslam for two. Perez countered a Jaded and applied a cradle for two, followed by a double knee drop for two. 

Cargill avoided Pop Rox and hit (missed) a pump kick. Cargill hit a powerbomb and, I think, tried deadlifting her up. She couldn’t do it, so she just put Perez down before picking her back up to hit Jaded for the pinfall win. 

Match result: Jade Cargill defeated Roxanne Perez to advance in Queen of the Ring (11:47)

This wasn’t particularly good. Perez did her best, but Cargill was out of place a lot toward the end, and she didn’t come across like someone who should be winning this tournament. 

— After the match, Asuka entered to face off with Cargill on the stage. 

********

They announced that Raw in Pittsburgh next week starts at 6 pm ET/3 pm PT. 

There was a video package for Jey Uso/Cody Rhodes.

******** 

There was a clip of Goldberg’s debut on WCW Nitro (with Tony Schiavone on commentary). 

Cole reiterated that this would be Goldberg’s last match at SNME, but then added, “we’ll see” what happens if he were to win the world title. 

*******

Cole announced SmackDown’s start time in Riyadh on Friday, “the night before Night of Champions. Who knows what’s going to happen on that show?” 

Jackie Redmond tried interviewing Dom during a break, but the fans kept booing. Redmond cut him off because they ran out of time. 

******* 

Sheamus again told Natalya and Maxxine Dupri that they could be tag champs one day. (It’s like they’ve been standing backstage having this same conversation for a week.) Natalya and Dupri were upset he didn’t win last week. Sheamus said he at least put Rusev in his place for a moment. 

Rusev confronted Sheamus. He said this place was full of people like Sheamus: providing smiles to the face, and knives to the back. Sheamus called Rusev the most embarrassing and most egotistical member of the League of Nations. Sheamus was tired of talking and wanted to fight. Rusev smiled and said he would make Sheamus remember this. 

********

Gunther segment 

Gunther entered. He was pissed about Goldberg interrupting what should have been his championship celebration last week. He called Goldberg the most destructive man of his generation, but it wasn’t 1999 anymore. (Some fans cheered.) It was 2025, and Gunther was the guy. He was the best professional wrestler in the company, and the title around his waist proved it. 

Gunther heard Goldberg’s intense comments, but that wouldn’t change Gunther’s perception of him. Goldberg was a 58-year-old one-trick pony who couldn’t lace his boots. Gunther apologized to Goldberg’s wife and son for everything he’s about to do. Gunther would embarrass Goldberg at SNME. 

“It’s my personal responsibility to make sure that the legacy and the myth of Bill Goldberg forever dies.” 

This was a great promo. 

********

Redmond tried interviewing Lynch backstage, but she was flustered after having just seen Valkyria and Bayley conspiring against her. She left. 

Redmond saw Sami Zayn nearby and tried interviewing him, but they were interrupted by Karrion Kross and Scarlett. (Kross did get a good pop this week.) Kross enjoyed Zayn’s fiery speech last week, but he lost to Orton anyway. Kross said Zayn would never be champion. 

Zayn calmly stepped back before knocking him to the ground with a great-looking right hand. Zayn told Kross he already spoke to Pearce and their match was official. Zayn left. Scarlett and Kross laughed. 

********

Becky Lynch (c) vs. Bayley for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship

Bayley was in control until Lynch yanked her by the arm over the top rope. Lynch targeted the arm through the break, but Bayley mounted her comeback following the break. Lynch cut her off with a back suplex, but Bayley responded with a Bayley-to-belly for a nearfall. Bayley slammed Lynch into the corner and hit a sunset flip powerbomb into the turnbuckles for two. 

Lynch hit a superplex, and they traded counters until Bayley applied a single-leg Boston crab, but Lynch got a rope break. Bayley blocked a Man-handle Slam and hit one of her own, but Lynch rolled out of the ring. 

Bayley went after Lynch, but Lynch chucked her over the announce table. Lynch buried Bayley under a bunch of chairs in an attempt to take a count-out win, but Valkyria showed up right on time to pull the chairs off. 

Lynch hit Valkyria and invited Valkyria to hit her back (to cause a DQ), but Valkyria wouldn’t do it. Lynch tried a baseball slide on Bayley, but nailed Valkyria by mistake. 

Bayley shoved Lynch into the ring post and the barricade. Bayley went to the top, but Valkyria attacked Lynch for the DQ. 

— Bayley argued with Valkyria, who somehow tried to defend herself. Lynch smirked as she backed away up the aisle with her belt. 

Match result: Becky Lynch defeated Bayley via disqualification (13:30)

This was a good match until the finish. It never felt like this would have a conclusive winner when they announced it, but the finishing sequence with Valkyria was still very annoying. She has to be turning heel at this point, because she’s becoming increasingly unlikable. 

*******

Chad Gable told Ivy Nile that she was her favourite student (and didn’t want her to tell that to the Creed Brothers). However, she should have won MITB and QOTR. Stephanie Vaquer got in her way, but she should wipe her out completely like he did to Alpha Academy and others. 

Gable saw Penta nearby and took great pleasure in seeing him lose to Bron. Penta tried being reasonable, but Gable kept yapping and threatened to take his mask off. Penta superkicked Gable and snapped his arm. Officials chased Penta away as the Creeds checked on Gable. 

(Ludwig Kaiser was randomly watching nearby.)

********

Raquel Rodriguez and Rhea Ripley segment 

A pissed-off Rodriguez was in the ring, and she called out Ripley. Ripley stormed out, and they brawled. Ripley was about to give Rodriguez a Rip-tide through a table, but Perez ran out to make the save. Ripley got rid of Perez, but Rodriguez laid out Ripley with a Tejana Bomb through the table. Rodriguez embraced Perez. 

This was a good little segment to get some heat behind Rodriguez (and align her with Perez). 

********

There were photos of the Florida Panthers celebrating with their custom WWE title belt. 

Cathy Kelley interviewed Asuka during a break. Iyo Sky joined and was excited for Asuka, because they may finally get to meet in the ring like they talked about in Damage CTRL. Asuka said they weren’t in Damage CTRL anymore, and she would see her at SummerSlam. Sky said she would be ready. 

Ripley barged into Pearce’s office. He offered a street fight against Rodriguez, and she accepted. (It was hard to hear, but it sounded like he said it would be at Night of Champions.) 

******** 

There was a big-time video package for John Cena vs. CM Punk. They’ve added the location of Night of Champions back on the graphics, and they showed exterior shots of the city as the announcers ran down the card for Saturday. 

********

King of the Ring semi-final match: Jey Uso vs. Cody Rhodes 

They both got big reactions and faced off for about 30 seconds before shaking hands. This was a first-ever singles match, and it felt like a big deal given the stakes. 

Jey blocked a Cross Rhodes just three minutes into the match and went for a superkick, but Rhodes avoided it. Jey missed a running hip attack during a break, and Rhodes applied a figure four until Jey got a rope break. They exchanged strikes until Jey hit a Samoan drop for two. 

Jey hit a running hip attack and went for an Uso Splash. Rhodes got his knees up and caught Jey in a version of the kimura lock. Jey slipped out and applied a sleeper. Rhodes began fading but got to his feet and dumped Jey over the top rope. Jey blocked Rhodes’ suicide dive and went to the top, but Rhodes scaled the ropes and hit a superplex. This led to a second commercial break. 

Jey tossed Rhodes shoulder-first into the ring post, and followed with a flying crossbody for two. They exchanged strikes as we returned from break. Rhodes hit jabs, but Jey avoided a bionic elbow. Rhodes fired up, but Jey hit a Randy Orton-esque powerslam. 

Jey set up for Cross Rhodes, but Rhodes blocked it and hit a Cody Cutter for two. Jey ducked a Disaster Kick and hit a spear for two. Rhodes hit a super Cody Cutter for two. 

Jey countered a Cross Rhodes and hit one of his own for a nearfall. People were on their feet for that. Jey superkicked Rhodes repeatedly, pulled him to his feet, and hit a spear. 

Instead of going for a cover, Jey went up for a splash. Rhodes scaled the ropes again and hit a super cutter/RKO. Rhodes followed with Cross Rhodes for the pinfall win. Rhodes advances to the KOTR finals against Orton. 

Rhodes and Jey embraced after the match. 

Match result: Cody Rhodes defeated Jey Uso to advance in King of the Ring (20:05) 

This was a very enjoyable Raw main event, and it helped that there were real stakes on the line.