By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE Raw Hits
Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn vs. Chad Gable in a non-title match: The storyline involving Gable tormenting Otis, Maxxine Dupri, and Akira Tozawa has been one of my favorite things on Raw since it started. It’s refreshing to see a different side of Gable after he was limited to the “shoosh” routine for so long. Otis interfering on Gable’s behalf gave Gable a cheap win and also setting up the story of Otis apologizing to Zayn, who then gave the big man some advice stemming from his time in with The Bloodline. Gable indicated that Otis will be in his corner on Saturday. Here’s hoping they don’t rush to Otis breaking away from Gable this quickly. The fans clearly want to see it happen, but it will pack more of a punch if they make them wait for it.
Bron Breakker vs. Kale Dixon: It was a good night for Breakker, who looked great while destroying Dixon during and after the match. While Adam Pearce’s logic for not including Breakker in the King of the Ring tournament is questionable due to Breakker and Ilja Dragunov have similar credentials, the story of Breakker destroying people out of frustration is much better than having him enter the tournament and lose. If Breakker is a heel, the last thing he needs is Pat McAfee barking whenever he sees him, as it will only encourage the fans to do the same (and it’s beyond annoying when McAfee goes overboard with it).
Gunther vs. Jey Uso in a King of the Ring tournament semifinal match: A good high stakes main event at a time when the brand is low on star power due to Cody Rhodes moving to Smackdown and Rhea Ripley, Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, and CM Punk all being sidelined due to injuries. Speaking of which, don’t let the lopsided Hit count fool you. They are doing a good job with the talent they have, but the show is light on star power and major storylines. As hot as the live crowd was for Jey’s entrance, the wrestlers struggled to get the fans to react to key moments during the match. They worked to get a reaction for Jey showing resilience, but the fans just weren’t reacting in a major way when Jey would kick out of near falls or during his hope spots. Gunther advancing to the finals seems to suggest that he will end up facing Randy Orton in the finals.
The Miz and R-Truth vs. Finn Balor and JD McDonagh for the World Tag Team Titles: The live crowd had a lot of fun with Truth performing his usual John Cena spots, and they really came to life for Braun Strowman coming out to help the babyface champions.
Lyra Valyria vs. Iyo Sky in a Queen of the Ring tournament semifinal match: A big win for Valkyria. The match that went longer than it needed to, but it was well worked and it came off like an upset for Valkyria to beat the former WWE Women’s Champion. The jury is still out on whether Valkyria will connect with the audience. That said, the creative team is clearly behind her and the deep run in the tournament has helped her get off to a good start on the main roster. We’ll see if creative has something different in mind, but Valkyria’s win left me assuming that she will face Nia Jax in the finals.
Becky Lynch and Liv Morgan: A soft Hit for a decent verbal segment. Morgan throwing the cheap shot punch at Lyra Valkyria in the backstage area was nicely done.
WWE Raw Misses
Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark vs. Maxxine Durpri and Ivy Nile vs. Kayden Carter and Katana Chance vs. Kairi Sane and Dakota Kai in a four-way for a shot at the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles: Hey, another random four-way for a title shot. This has become one of pro wrestling’s laziest ways to set up title matches. In this case, the creative forces just refuse to put in the work to properly build up a women’s tag team by having them string together a series of wins that justify the team earning a title shot. Rather, the women’s teams have random tag team matches on television where the outcomes are trivial because the winners and the losers are eventually thrown into a four-way to determine the number one contenders. It will eventually hurt the dominant tag team champions Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill if no one takes their challengers seriously.
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