WWE Raw tonight is the go-home show for Saturday’s Clash at the Castle PLE in Glasgow, Scotland, with just three matches official for tonight from the Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio.
After defeating Ricochet last week, Bron Breakker will look to continue his four-match main roster win streak as he battles Ilja Dragunov in a clash of former NXT Champions. This was set up last week after Dragunov saved Ricochet from a post-match attack. It is also a rematch from July 2023 in NXT.
Ahead of his title defense against Chad Gable this Saturday, Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn will take on Gable’s Alpha Academy stablemate Otis in non-title action.
Former WWE Women’s Champion IYO SKY will take on Lyra Valkyria in a rematch from the recent Queen of the Ring tournament when Valkyria picked up the win. SKY attacked her last week to set this into motion.
Tonight’s live coverage kicks off at 8 PM Eastern.
**********
Following the WWE signature open, we got a live shot of the crowd in Toledo, OH, as Michael Cole and Pat McAfee welcomed us to the show. Backstage shots of Ilja Dragunov, Bron Breakker, Damage CTRL, and Lyra Valkyria walking were shown.
Drew McIntyre opens Raw
The challenger to Damian Priest’s World Heavyweight Championship made his way to a great reaction from the crowd as commentary recapped the end of Raw last week that featured McIntyre getting laid out by Priest and a South of Heaven chokeslam through the announcer table.
As the crowd chanted “CM Punk” at McIntyre, the man himself said that he was not focused on anything else other than being the new World Champion in five days at Clash of the Castle. He said that wherever Priest went, Judgment Day was scurrying right behind him. Before he could continue, the music of Damian Priest interrupted McIntyre. “Say his name and he appears,” said Pat McAfee of Priest’s arrival.
Priest walked down the ramp, flanked by Finn Balor and JD McDonagh. He started by saying that McIntyre was still making excuses and that he made things personal right now. Priest said that the title he was holding was not the Judgment Day’s world title. He declared that he was going to put McIntyre down at Clash, and that he didn’t need any help from Judgment Day to remain champion. “I’m Champion, because I’m Damian Priest,” said the World Champion.
McIntyre fired back by claiming that the only reason Priest has a chance of retaining was because of Balor and McDonagh’s intervention. This prompted Priest to issue the challenge: McIntyre versus Finn Balor tonight on Raw, with the stipulation being that if McIntyre beat Balor, the Judgment Day would be barred on Saturday.
McIntyre seemed to accept the challenge, telling Priest that he had better be ready to shake his hand next Monday after McIntyre humiliates him at Clash at the Castle. McIntyre walked off to his music as we went to the commentators.
**********
Cole and McAfee recapped the happenings with Liv Morgan and Dominik Mysterio’s apparent romance on Raw last week as we went to the Judgment Day’s corner of the arena, where Morgan was seen being confronted by Dominik.
Morgan said that maybe Dominik needed a girl who wasn’t afraid to call him “daddy” as she walked away and left a card with her hotel room number for Dominik.
IYO SKY (w/ Dakota Kai & Kairi Sane) defeated Lyra Valkyria
Valkyria opened the match by battering SKY in the corner before the referee broke it up. This allowed SKY to take advantage as she went on the offensive with repeated stomps and punches.
SKY’s running charge was avoided by a somersault from Valkyria, as she followed that up with a dropkick and a bridging suplex. SKY had a somersault dodge of her own, but Valkyria caught her in a modified pretzel clutch submission in the middle of the ring. She went for a bridge pin and the two-count. SKY rolled outside, and stopped a dropkick from Valkyria before soaring with a moonsault that took us to the commercial break spot.
We returned to Raw with Valkyria taking SKY down with a springboard crossbody. With the advantage on her side, Valkyria floored SKY with a nice top-rope missile dropkick for the near-fall.
SKY regained momentum when she sent Valkyria into the middle turnbuckle, as she then hit a backbreaker. Moonsault attempt by SKY avoided by Valkyria, who went for a flash rollup for another near-fall. Valkyria hit SKY with the Nightwing, but Dakota Kai broke up the count behind the referee’s back.
Valkyria took out Kai and Sane. This allowed SKY to hit the corner meteora and put Valkyria in position for the moonsault. Valkyria blocked that with her knees as she tried again for the Nightwing, but SKY pulled at Valkyria’s hair as she then rolled her up for the one, two, three.
Post-match, Kai and Sane attacked Valkyria in the ring as SKY got to her feet and continued the assault. Before Damage CTRL could continue their attack, Katana Chance and Kayden Carter ran in to even the odds. Damage CTRL backed off, with the odds now even.
Fantastic opening bout from Valkyria and SKY. I enjoyed the chemistry the two showed and we should be in for an interesting feud with Damage CTRL vs. Valkyria and Carter & Chance that will likely lead to a six-woman tag match in the near future.
**********
– Back again at the Judgment Day corner, Dominik was met by Finn Balor, Carlito, and JD McDonagh. Dominik showed the trio the hotel room card that Liv Morgan left him. “That’s cool,” remarked Carlito. A poster of Rhea Ripley was seen behind Dominik during this segment for some nice symbolism.
– We were shown Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair walking backstage as the commentators switched gears to recapping the ongoing saga between Sami Zayn, Chad Gable, and the Alpha Academy.
– The Miz was looking for R-Truth backstage and asked Sami Zayn where he was. As Miz left, Zayn walked around and met with Maxxine and Akira Tozawa. Zayn apologized for what happened last week to Maxxine. Otis walked in and tried to apologize for his actions last week, saying as he “lost it”. As Zayn said that he understood Otis’s plight, Otis talked about how he lost everything: his “peach” (Mandy Rose), his “Tucky”, (Tucker from Heavy Machinery) and his Money in the Bank briefcase. Otis said that without them, he was nothing, and that Chad Gable and Alpha Academy brought him new meaning. Zayn answered by saying that Otis didn’t have to keep taking Gable’s abuse and to think about it hard as he then left Otis and Alpha Academy to their thoughts.
– We once again returned to the Judgment Day as Damian Priest entered the scene. Priest wondered about the hotel card that Liv left for Dominik. The card in question was gone as Priest wondered where it disappeared to. Dominik acted sheepish about the card’s disappearance.
– Ludwig Kaiser talked about how he beat Sheamus last week on Raw, as he boasted that he deserved to be to the top and that anyone who dared to oppose him would be “illuminated”. He officially staked his claim for the Money in the Bank ladder match at the end.
Rey Mysterio & Dragon Lee & Braun Strowman defeated The Judgment Day (Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh) and Carlito
As the LWO made their entrance, another Uncle Howdy QR code flashed on the screen, which the commentators made note of.
Carlito tried to attack Strowman, but got a Biel throw for his troubles. Carlito tagged in Dominik, but McDonagh got tagged in after his dad Rey entered the match.
Mysterio worked over McDonagh as he tagged Dragon Lee into the match. Lee had the momentum, but Dominik dropped him on his head behind the referee’s back before getting tagged in himself. Blind tag by Mysterio allowed for him and Lee to send Dominik to the outside. McDonagh also got sent out of the ring. Mysterio caught by Judgment Day on the outside, as he’s used as a battering ram to clothesline Lee when he tried to go for a dive. This sent us to a commercial break.
Back in the ring with Mysterio and Carlito the legal men. Both men down and out as they attempted to reach their respective corners. Carlito managed to make it to tag McDonagh in, which allowed for him to stop Mysterio at the pass and take control for his team.
Mysterio tried to mount a comeback on Carlito, but that got snuffed out quickly. Carlito punched out Lee in the corner as Mysterio again created separation by removing McDonagh and Dominik from the equation, which finally allowed to try and tag Strowman in. But, McDonagh and Dominik took down Strowman from the apron and rammed him into the corner.
Judgment Day took over in the match with Mysterio completely isolated form his partners for the time being. That advantage was stopped cold as Mysterio hit a DDT on McDonagh, which gave him time to tag in Dragon Lee into the match.
Lee utilized his high-flying offense to briefly keep Carlito on his toes. Lee had Carlito trapped in a tree of woe position and stomped right on him. McDonagh broke up the two-count. Dominik dropkicked his father to the outside and his attention was caught by Liv Morgan, who was on the apron.
Dominik tried to shoo away Morgan, but she got sent into him after Zelina Vega shoved her off the apron. While Morgan was on top of Dominik, she looked at him lustfully. As things broke down, Braun Strowman finally got tagged in and he ran through Judgment Day like a freight train at ringside.
Running powerslam by Strowman was then followed by Dragon Lee leaping off of Strowman’s shoulders for a splash on Carlito, which gave his team the victory.
Pretty standard six-man tag match, but the continuing situation between Dominik and Liv Morgan got a bit more intriguing near the end, so the aftermath on that will be one to watch.
**********
– The commentators talked about Bron Breakker vs. Ilja Dragunov as they threw it to a promo from Dragunov. The Mad Dragon talked about how he was going to make Breakker suffer and that he wasn’t going to stop until he was done breaking him.
– Backstage, Ricochet appeared to give Dragunov a bit of a pep talk. Dragunov said that he was going to slay the beast tonight, then promising to go another round with Ricochet once he was done with Breakker.
– A promo for SmackDown this Friday hyped a confrontation between Cody Rhodes & AJ Styles ahead of their I Quit match at Clash at the Castle, as well as Kevin Owens vs. Solo Sikoa.
**********
– Damage CTRL were backstage as it appeared that IYO SKY was once again completely frustrated after what went on following her match against Lyra Valkyria. She stormed off screaming in anger while Dakota Kai and Kairi Sane looked on in concern.
Sami Zayn addresses the Chad Gable problem
Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn walked to the ring and grabbed a mic. He talked about how the past couple of weeks have been a “messed up couple of weeks” ahead of his Clash at the Castle IC Title defense against Chad Gable.
Zayn said that something so personal got turned into something he can’t quite describe after all of Gable’s machinations and manipulations of Alpha Academy. He said that on Saturday, he was going to defeat Gable and put an end to all this.
Before Zayn could continue his piece, Chad Gable and Alpha Academy interrupted him . Gable got strong “you suck” chants as he entered.
Gable said that this was “typical Sami Zayn” by trying to interjecting himself into everyone’s business without asking. Gable spoke for Alpha Academy’s behalf by claiming that they were happy, and that by winning the Intercontinental title on Saturday, that would make them even happier.
Zayn incredulously asked if Otis, Akira Tozawa, and Maxxine if they were happy with Gable’s claims. He bluntly said that Gable didn’t care about the three of them, and that the fans cared about them the most. Zayn told the Alpha Academy that they would be happiest once they left Gable once and for all.
Gable angrily replied that he was going to unleash the version of Otis that didn’t care about showing any remorse for anything right at this moment, or rather, after the commercial break.
Sami Zayn defeated Otis (w/ Chad Gable)
The match started from the break with Otis battering Zayn in the corner as Gable barked out orders at ringside. Otis went for a running splash on Zayn, as he then repeated the move on Gable’s orders.
Gable got on the apron and shouted at Otis to listen to him, but that opened him up to a Helluva Kick by Zayn for the quick victory.
Post-match, Gable attacked Zayn and held him up for Otis to hit him. Otis hesitated as Gable shouted and slapped Otis some more for refusing to listen to him. Otis hyped himself up and ran into Zayn in the corner before he dropped him with the World’s Strongest Slam.
Gable tried to stand side-by-side with Otis, but he quickly turned to him as Gable began cower in fear. Otis raised a fist and stopped himself before he left, conflicted.
Surprisingly short match, but it did the job well in building up the Gable vs. Zayn title match on Saturday and the prospect of Alpha Academy finally turning against their oppressive headmaster. The uncertainty with Gable’s contract status adds another element of intrigue to the proceedings.
**********
– The Miz finally found R-Truth, who told his championship partner that they were supposedly defending their Tag Titles against the “APA” tonight on Raw. It turned out, that they were set to take on the Authors of Pain tonight as Scarlett gave the Awesome Truth the “Death” tarot card.
– They showed a tweet from Cody Rhodes regarding the NXT Battleground main event, as we found out that Rhodes will be on NXT tomorrow night. The commentators then congratulated Kelani Jordan for being the first ever NXT Women’s North American Champion.
– A recap of Jey Uso’s declaration for the Money in the Bank ladder match was shown.
Zoey Stark & Shayna Baszler defeated Unholy Union (Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn)
Women’s Tag Team Champions Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill were ringside for this match.
Before Dawn & Fyre’s entrance, they were interviewed at the Gorilla position by Cathy Kelley.
Dawn started the match by dropkicking Baszler right in her injured knee from last night’s NXT Underground match. Dawn & Fyre had the upper hand on Stark early on.
Stark fought back and flattened Dawn with a clothesline and tried to go for a tag to Baszler, but she was down and out for the moment. Fyre & Dawn hit a double team move on Stark as Baszler finally returned to the match and got tagged in.
Roll-up by Fyre got kicked out by Baszler as she stomped on Fyre’s shoulder. Fyre kicked at the injured knee of Baszler, but to no avail. Ultimately, it was the Kirafuda Clutch by Baszler on Fyre that put an end to this match via referee stoppage.
This match didn’t really last long enough for me to get a full impression, and I thought it was an odd choice for it to be this short. Hopefully the triple threat tag team match at Clash at the Castle has more time to cook, so to speak.
**********
– A hype package for Bron Breakker played just before he made his way to the ring for his match against Ilja Dragunov.
– A tweet from former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III talking about how Breakker was one to watch was shown heading out of the commercial break.
Bron Breakker defeated Ilja Dragunov
As the bell rang, Breakker and Dragunov exchanged blows in the middle of the ring as Dragunov got the better of his foe with repeated chops. Breakker bounced back and tackled Dragunov, followed by a series of hard punches to the face.
Dragunov regained the advantage and trapped Breakker into another corner of the ring with repeated chops to the chest. Dragunov paintbrushed Breakker with a running boot in the corner. Breakker stopped Dragunov’s momentum by sending him careening into the middle rope. Raw went to a break in the action with Dragunov on the outside.
Raw returned with Breakker having Dragunov trapped in a chinlock. Dragunov fought out of it but got dropped with a standing powerslam by Breakker for a two-count.
Breakker continued the attack on the back of Dragunov’s head with repeated strikes followed by another chinlock. Dragunov escaped and booted Breakker in the head. Dragunov went on the offensive with multiple clotheslines, then landing the Constantin Special on Breakker.
Dragunov dove off the top rope with a knee to the forehead of Breakker. German suplex barrage by Dragunov hits the trifecta for the near-fall. Breakker fought out of a powerbomb attempt by Dragunov with a back body drop.
Dragunov lifted Breakker up on his shoulder for a Death Valley Driver right into the bottom turnbuckle. With Breakker stunned in the corner, Dragunov went Coast to Coast with a dropkick onto him. Diving senton splash by Dragunov wasn’t enough to put Breakker away.
As Dragunov had a full head of speed, he got his head near taken off by a vicious Steinerline by Breakker. The Spear attempt got stopped by a knee from Dragunov, who then caught Breakker with the H-Bomb. The action spilled outside the ring as Dragunov kicked Breakker over the commentary table. Dragunov attempted a suplex, but Breakker blocked it and dropped Dragunov ribs-first onto the table.
Breakker lifted Dragunov on his shoulder and proceeded to target those injured ribs of Dragunov with slams onto the barricade and ring post. In the ring, Dragunov tried to fight back, but he got surprised by a Spear out of nowhere by Breakker. Dragunov rolled out of the ring, but got bulldozed by another Spear on the outside. Breakker pulled down the stripes as Dragunov pulled himself into the ring, then putting an end to this incredible match with one last Spear.
After the match, Breakker tried to hit yet another spear on Dragunov through the barricade, but Ricochet intercepted him with a diving kick out of nowhere.
Excellent, hard-hitting TV match between Breakker and Dragunov. This had my attention from start to finish. Both Breakker and Dragunov are great at a smash mouth style of wrestling and we got a great showcase of it here. I find myself enjoying this whole angle with Dragunov/Breakker/Ricochet.
**********
– The Judgment Day were huddled together again discussing Liv Morgan and the hotel card she left Dominik. Priest said that he trusted Dominik to take care of business and put his foot down as it related to Morgan. While the group were fistbumping one another, Finn Balor took Liv’s card and put it in his pocket while nobody was looking.
– Sheamus and Drew McIntyre were backstage talking about their future plans. McIntyre told Sheamus to be there for Saturday as he looks to become the World Heavyweight Champion. Sheamus talked about how Ludwig Kaiser had the “mother and father of all receipts” coming to him after last week and that he was ready to win Money in the Bank. McIntyre then said Sheamus had better warn him in advance of a cash-in should he win the briefcase. The two men agreed that it would end up being “banger after banger after banger” if they ever met with the title on the line.
WWE World Tag Team Championship: Awesome Truth (R-Truth & The Miz) defeated Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar)
Prior to the match, the Final Testament were asked about AOP’s upcoming match, as Kross talked directly to Xavier Woods, stating that maybe once AOP won the World Tag Titles, he’ll realize that he may better suited for the Final Testament, especially after how Kofi Kingston supposedly “abandoned” him.
Miz & Rezar opened the match before Akam got tagged in and the AOP had the upper hand as Raw went to an abrupt commercial break within the first minute of the match.
We returned with Miz in trouble as Akam tried to stop him from tagging Truth in, to no avail. Truth entered the match and hit the John Cena tribute set on Akam. Rezar got thrown over the top rope as Miz and Truth tried to go for the double Five Knuckle Shuffle. Scarlett’s distraction allowed Karrion Kross to pull down Miz & Truth.
Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods ran down and attacked Kross, which gave Awesome Truth the opportunity to roll up Akam after a failed attempt to hit him with the World Tag Team Championship belt. Miz got the pin to help his team retain their Tag Team titles.
Not really much to say here, as the only development we got was the New Day attacking Karrion Kross. Final Testament’s presence honestly does not do anything for me at this point.
**********
– Backstage, Ricochet was helping Ilja Dragunov up when Breakker speared Dragunov through a production crate. Breakker and Ricochet fought their way to the parking lot, where Breakker lawndarted his foe into the side of the WWE production truck. Breakker lifted Ricochet up and hit a nasty powerslam onto the front windshield of a nearby car. As officials and referees shooed Breakker away, Ricochet was left writhing in pain.
– Following a replay of what happened before the break, returned to Ricochet being loaded onto an ambulance as fiancee Samantha Irvin looked on in tears. She joined Ricochet by his side in the ambulance as it left, apparently leaving us without a ring announcer for our main event.
Drew McIntyre versus Finn Balor (if McIntyre wins, Judgment Day is banned from ringside at Clash at the Castle)
As McIntyre entered, Pat McAfee volunteered to be the ring announcer, calling him “a big handsome bastard”. McAfee also introduced Finn Balor, announcing him as “representing the bum-ass Judgment Day”.
McIntryre tried for a slam on Balor, but he countered it into a takedown. An attempt at a bulldog was stopped by the sheer strength of McIntyre, who punched Balor out to the outside.
Balor drove McIntyre into the ringpost at ringside before smashing his taped-up arm against the post before he threw him back in the ring. Balor continued to go after McIntryre’s hurt arm before he got sent outside. Balor regained the advantage for a bit but he got dropped face-first into the apron by McIntyre. Balor unable to avoid calamity as McIntyre threw him over the announce table with a belly to belly throw as we went to our final commercial break of the evening.
Raw returned from break with McIntyre asserting himself against Balor right up until he got trapped in an armbar submission hold. McIntyre fought out of it as Balor continued the attack in the corner.
McIntyre caught Balor for an attempted powerslam, but he got reversed into a neckbreaker for the two-count. Balor once again applied the armbar, which forced McIntyre to lift him up for the powerbomb. McIntyre roared back with clotheslines and belly-to-belly throws, followed by the neckbreaker.
McIntyre kipped right back up and had Balor in his sights for the Claymore Kick. Balor countered it into a Slingblade, as he then flew over the ropes with a tope on the outside. Balor felled McIntyre with repeated dropkicks and looked to have him in position for the Coup De Grace. McIntyre stood himself back up and hit the Glasgow Kiss headbutt, followed by the superplex for the close two-count.
Future Shock DDT by McIntyre as he once again had Balor targeted. Damian Priest walked down the ramp, while Carlito & JD McDonagh tried to run interference. Balor hit his dropkicks and missed on the Coup De Grace, as McIntyre ended the match with a Claymore Kick to earn an even playing field for his World Title Match against Priest.
Raw concluded for the night with champion & challenger staring each other down.
**********
Great main event to cap off an entertaining Raw from start to finish. McIntyre winning this match was all but certain to remove Judgment Day from the equation, but, a certain Chicago native might have a chance to ruin the hometown hero’s big moment if he decides to show up on Saturday.
Raw’s midcard scene continues to be a key highlight as the Liv Morgan/Dominik Mysterio drama got some good developments this week, plus the story with Bron Breakker, Ilja Dragunov and Ricochet. With tonight apparently being Ricochet’s final appearance in WWE, look for that angle to turn into Dragunov attempting to avenge Ricochet as he goes after Breakker once again. The Chad Gable/Alpha Academy/Sami Zayn story looks like it’s going to reach a big moment on Saturday and I can’t wait for the payoff that’s been building for weeks.
Meanwhile, Uncle Howdy and the group being teased being QR codes is all but certain to make their debut next week on Raw, so it’ll be interesting to see where they fit in on the red brand in terms of story.
All in all, Clash at the Castle on paper seems to be a killer show and with WWE’s current momentum, it’s a show surely not to be missed.
