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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.)
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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.
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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.
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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)
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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.
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Penta checked with Zayn to see if he still wanted to wrestle. Zayn, who was tapped up, was ready to go.
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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)
