Review: WWE Raw (6-23-2025)
Live from the butthole of America1.
Matches
Penta vs Bron Breakker: This Penta, a real thorn in the side of SethCo, and now Seth’s Dog has to take up arms against him. Penta starts his entrance, then there’s a commercial, then they almost start the match, then there’s a commercial — this is such a good, watchable program, and you know the Storytelling is the most important thing. Dig the match once it actually gets going. Breakker’s upside remains terrific and there’s a good argument that stepping back a smidge as a featured lone wolf will be good for him in the long run, working alongside Heyman and Rollins and rubbing elbows with the true main event without being relied upon as a chief participant just yet. Penta in WWE has been rock solid. There’s a bit of clunk early but it doesn’t last, and the match winds up about 70/30 in Breakker’s favor, with Penta valiantly hanging in and trying to find his openings to pick up the win. I really like the vibe Breakker brings to his matches, the confidence that often becomes arrogance, the arrogance being what gets him into trouble more often than not. He’s so capable of physical domination that he’s vulnerable to losing focus, aspects of how he works both superhuman and human. Penta is a natural at NXT Face, he was supposed to have been making it for years and he tried his best everywhere. Killer finish as Penta tries the Fear Factor but meets only spear. ***½
Post-match, Rollins tells Penta to stay out of their way, then Breakker barks. For the record, going “woof!” once is acceptable, but that chattering pomeranian thing he did last week is not.
Roxanne Perez vs Jade Cargill: Winner faces Asuka in the Queen of the Ring final on Saturday. Perez does her absolute best here but Cargill just is not very good, and leaving her alone out there for this long, she’s bound to run out of stuff that looks good.
I’m constantly caught in the middle of how I see her. I do think she’s trying hard, I do think she’s worked to get better, and now it’s more a question of whether she can get much better than this. She does not have a natural feel for the in-ring part, but she has gotten better about that. Her timing just won’t ever be top class, and neither will most of her work. As an “actor” or however you want to put it, she’s not as naturally good at that as I think she thought she was, but she has also gotten better about that; I mean, you can go back even six weeks or whatever and she’s sounding less like a bad anime dub when she talks.
The match is OK, Perez deserves a lot of credit, and Cargill is trying to be better with selling and stuff. Has to be if she wants to be a true headline talent in WWE or AEW or really anywhere anymore. Not sure she’ll make it all the way there, really, and I think there’s a serious chance for her match with Asuka to be lousy on Saturday, but also a good chance Asuka’s veteran qualities will rein it all in and make it solid. **½
Becky Lynch vs Bayley: For Becky’s IC title. “Bayley is wearing her WrestleMania gear! The gear she meant to wear at WrestleMania!” Well hot dog! Becky is wearing … gear. LOVE the start to this match, real intensity from Bayley that Lynch has to try to fend off or counter, either way she has to get her head in the game real fast or risk getting run over by a very capable, very fired up opponent. Really good action, hot pace, Becky gets into it but Bayley fires her way back into the advantage, Becky shouting spots like she’s Jean Cena. Kinda fun to me that the two wrestlers who have employed a mediocre belly-to-belly as a finish in the last, like, 30 years are Shane Douglas and Bayley, who otherwise couldn’t be more different. Well, they could be, but they’re very different, is my point. A nomad who refuses to get along with anybody very long and an all-time Brand Defender.
Cole does his “WHADDAYA DOIN?” act when Lynch buries Bayley under some chairs by commentary. Lyra Valkyria appears to help Bayley, so Becky goads Lyra into hitting her, but Lyra doesn’t quite fall for it. The end result is some three-way physicality where Bayley basically has it won, but Lyra — moments after being dropkicked by Lynch — costs Bayley the match and the belt by hitting Lynch and causing a DQ. Bayley and Lyra have A VERY VOCAL ARGUMENT IN THE RING WHERE BAYLEY EXPLAINS WHAT HAS HAPPENED. Thankfully in case you didn’t catch it all, Michael Cole also explains The Story. Good match, though, and happy to see a three-way with this trio at Evolution 2: Still Evoluting. ***½
Cody Rhodes vs Jey Uso: For a spot against Randy Orton in the KotR final. These two are real good friends so they observe the Code of Honor, and then it’s right to business. Now I’ve made my thoughts clear, but if you watch this match and still can’t see that Jey Uso has made significant strides this year as a singles wrestler, I don’t know, man. I mean, look, I like Cody OK, but Cody’s not Gunther. Gunther gets the best out of everyone. Cody is not that type worker. Of course it’s also possible you just think both these guys suck and so does their match. I suppose that’s another way to think of it.
I liked it, though. Uso continues to prove himself in these high-stakes singles matches and Cody has that flair for the dramatic, too, a real one and a real thing that I do buy into, despite how much I also love Timothy Thatcher. This is because I’m so sensible, you guys. And so eclectic. What a ~mind~ I have.
But yes, I dug this match. I think the tournament has been booked quite well, really; I mean, I don’t really want to watch that many four-way matches over a week or so of TV, but the semifinal matchups for KotR were sensible and had four guys who all could, conceivably, have won it. Uso to go after a feud-ender with Gunter at SummerSlam, Orton to get another shot at Cena, Cody to get his belt back from Cena, Zayn as the wild card maybe getting his Big Show Shot after all these years. With Orton advanced, you can still see either of these guys going to Night of Champions, though I’d push the odds Cody’s way by a little bit, just because Cody vs Orton seems more like a match the Saudis would want than Orton vs Uso.
Cody’s super Cody Cutter hits, CrossRhodes hits, Cody just outlasts Uso in a war, both guys coming off like main eventers who will matter going forward, but someone had to win and someone had to lose. This time, it was Cody by a little. Thought this was “low-end” great, but great is great. This was pretty great. A strong example of WWE’s house-epic style. ****
Other Stuff
Notable thing up top: Gunther comes out to talk that shit on Goldberg, and says while Goldberg was the most destructive wrestler of his generation, it’s not 1999 anymore. This gets some scattered applause. “My perception is that I see a 58-year-old, one-trick pony that can’t lace my boots.” More scattered applause. Gunther “officially apologizes” to Goldberg’s wife and son, “for everything I’m going to do to the man who used to be Goldberg.” Gunther is outstanding here, great intensity. “It is my personal responsibility to make sure that the legacy and the myth of Bill Goldberg forever dies.” Fuck yeah.
That’s exactly what should happen, by the way. And it would, if being good at Stories was actually a concern in WWE, and not just keeping things forever flexible like some sort of cartoon magazine universe.
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Show opens with Seth Rollins and his group. He’s the most popular heel since the last heel everyone chanted and cheered for :) this is good Storytelling, to me :)
This goes on a while with Seth saying his usual nothing and buying time with audience participation. Then he “you peoples” their reactions. This Business. Best for business. So on and so forth. Gives some credit to Bronson Reed for taking care of LA Knight last week on Smackdown, and intros the Bron Breakker match discussed above, basically.
I’m not sure Paul Heyman has much value at all just standing out there while Rollins blabbers, but I am sort of interested in the dynamic still, and he is a real help if/when Breakker or Reed are the focus of a promo.
Liv Morgan confirmed to be out “several months.”
Adam Pearce tells AJ Styles that unfortunately, Dominik Mysterio is also injured. AJ doesn’t buy it, but Pearce says he’s seen the paperwork and it’s legit. AJ leaves, New Day and Grayson Waller arrive. Pearce suggests they defend the titles and they react like cartoon bad guys. Feel so bad for these guys, they are trying anything but it’s just not there. Whole heel turn got bungled.
Michael Cole had a sitdown with Goldberg. This guy likes his family. He does not like when his family gets talked about. Goldberg is far better at talking than he ever was in his prime. “I am gonna beat the fuck out of Gunther.” Probably not, old man, but we’ll see! Paul Creative and the TKO lads are pretty wiener-assed about that. Cole teases that Goldberg may keep wrestling if he beats Gunther for the title, despite them selling this as Goldberg’s last match. Maybe they simply realized they were fully giving away the result otherwise.
Judgment Day sit around sulking but Finn Balor doesn’t want them to do that, and doesn’t think Liv would want that, either. They still have the video game on in the background, but with Carlito gone, there’s no one to play it. This is an exceptionally sad, quiet visual to take in. Raquel Rodriguez tries to speak and bless her, she is not good at that at all. In character she’s a moron, easily manipulated by Finn. Roxanne Perez once again angling for Dominik Mysterio’s penis and balls.
Later, Dominik Mysterio speaks with Big Jack Redmond in the rafters. This is one of the better of these Big Jack interview bits, coming at Mysterio’s request, as he gets frustrated by the booing and the promo never really takes place. I mean a lot of the noise sounds incredibly fake but that’s STORYTELLING, baby!
Backstage, Bayley does the resistance bands to get her arms lookin’ right, and Lyra Valkyria comes over to apologize for last week. In the background — Paul Creative thinks this shit is the bee’s knees — we see Becky Lynch skulking for a moment. Bayley says when she beats Becky, Lyra will get the first shot, and assures Lyra they’re “cool.”
Backstage, Sheamus the Veteran speaks with Natalya the Veteran, and both Akira Tozawa and Maxxine Dupri are there, too. Rusev arrives and the scrubs leave so he and Sheamus can talk. This is a little erotic. Rusev accuses Sheamus of putting on a front about being so friendly and all that, and Sheamus says he remembers Rusev being “the most embarrassing and egotistical member of the League of Nations.” Come on, dog. Alberto Del Rio was in that group.
Big Jack comes back to speak with Becky Lynch backstage. I like how she calls the commentary dudes by their last names. “Cole.” “Graves.” Just one of the guys. Lynch walks weird, by the way.
Redmond has something else come up when she spots that Sami Zayn has been standing 10 feet away the entire time. How is he processing his most recent loss, she wonders? This is asked of him like it’s his first time losing a notable match and not his 4,012th, as if it’s some new development for him, a new feeling. Anyway, Karrion Kross interrupts and people cheer, which makes sense because they’re in Ohio. That’s a place that would want to see this dude. This breaks down into Zayn decking Kross after listening to him talk a while, and they’ll have a match at Night of Champions.
Neat little feature on JD McDonagh.
Chad Gable is yelling at Ivy Nile before he becomes distracted by Penta, who is still hobbling around, clutching his ribs about two hours and change past his match. Penta kicks Gable in the face and busts his arm.
Raquel Rodriguez comes out to the ring to call out Rhea Ripley. Luckily, they let her keep it short. Rhea Ripley does answer. It’s fisticuffs! It becomes a plunder brawl! Weirdly there aren’t any officials running in to stop the carnage. Instead, it’s Roxanne Perez who eventually jumps on Ripley’s back to save Raquel from being put through a Slim Jim Table, resulting in Ripley going through the Slim Jim Table courtesy Rodriguez, with Roxanne having basically sacrificed herself. Will Roxanne take Liv’s spot as Raquel’s tag title partner? The answer to this and other burning questions on next week’s episode of Who Gives a Shit.
Backstage later, Ripley talks to Mumbling Adam Pearce about making a match between her and Rodriguez Official. It is made Official.
Is this, like, a toy mock-up they sent them to approve before making the real one
Cathy Kelley is hanging out with Asuka, who almost gets her one line in before Iyo Sky arrives and Cathy disappears. Iyo says it could be Asuka vs Iyo like they always discussed in Damage CTRL, but Asuka says they are not in Damage CTRL anymore.
At some point, I must reckon with the idea that I spend so much time watching a form of entertainment that insists on promoting “Jelly Roll” to me.
Go Blue. I’m sure it’s a wonderful city, if you’re from there and give me money.
If anyone can drag Jade to something watchable it’s Asuka. I do think that WWE on some level realizes they were sold a bill of goods on Jade but, dammit, they’re going to get something out of her no matter what. If I were Paul Creative, I’d stick her back in tags with a partner that can help cover up her obvious deficiencies in the ring.