Powell’s WWE Raw Hit List: Cody Rhodes vs. Jey Uso in a KOTR semifinal match, Jade Cargill vs. Roxanne Perez in a QOTR semifinal match, Becky Lynch vs. Bayley for the Women’s IC Title

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

WWE Raw Hits

Cody Rhodes vs. Jey Uso in a King of the Ring semifinal match: A strong match that concluded with a rare clean finish to a big television main event. This was a fun 50/50 style match with some good near falls. Perhaps the only knock is that I never bought into the possibility of Jey winning, but that’s mostly because the Cody vs. Randy Orton tournament final jumped out way more than the alternative of Jey vs. Orton. I’m curious to see what comes next for Jey and whether he will remain in the main event mix or move a bit down the card.

Bron Breakker vs. Penta: The show got off to a nice start with Breakker getting a surprisingly clean win over Penta. WWE officials love their distraction finishes, but they actually put over Breakker in no-nonsense fashion. Penta will be just fine. In fact, Penta saying no when Seth Rollins told him to stay out of his business seems to indicate that Penta will be positioned as a thorn in the side of the company’s top heel faction.

Gunther and Goldberg: Michael Cole’s sit-down interview with Goldberg, and the Gunther in-ring promo were both brief and effective. Goldberg did a nice job of explaining that Gunther insulting him in front of friends and family in Atlanta made Gunther the obvious opponent for Goldberg’s final match. Meanwhile, Gunther was all business during his promo and came off like an in-ring killer rather than the smug, athletically arrogant character that he also plays to perfection. There’s no telling what type of match these two will produce on Saturday Night’s Main Event, but the build is on track after the strangeness of the initial angle failing to include any mention of Goldberg’s retirement.

Becky Lynch vs. Bayley for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship: More of an in the middle than a Hit or a Miss. The veterans always work well together, but I can only work up so much excitement over seeing these multi-time world champions fight for a secondary championship. Bayley’s recent squabbles with Lyra Valkyria made it pretty obvious that this match would somehow set the table for a Triple Threat match. Valkyria attacking Lynch for the DQ just before Bayley could hit a top rope elbow drop made Valkyria look heelish, which seemed unintentional.

WWE Raw Misses

Jade Cargill vs. Roxanne Perez in a Queen of the Ring semifinal match: It appears to be difficult to have a bad match with Perez, but Cargill pulled it off. Hopefully, Asuka can get a better match out of Cargill in the tournament final at Night of Champions.

Seth Rollins promo: A minor Miss. This was a well-delivered promo that simply felt too similar to other Rollins’ promos in recent years. Rollins toned down his attire and pulled back on the cackle, but he’s not saying anything that feels fresh. If Rollins isn’t going to reinvent, then it’s time to give Paul Heyman more mic time and work in more lines for Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed.

Sheamus with Alpha Academy and Natalya: The weekly pep talks that Sheamus has been giving this crew feel forced and unnecessary. If there’s a storyline reason that hasn’t played out yet, then so be it, but it comes off as being little more than a way to give the undercard faction and Natalya some television time. I am looking forward to the Sheamus vs. Rusev feud, but here’s hoping that it’s not marred by bad finishes involving Alpha Academy.