Powell’s WWE Raw Hit List: Roman Reigns and Bron Breakker, Gunther and CM Punk, Stephanie Vaquer vs. Iyo Sky, Sheamus vs. Rusev, Karrion Kross vs. Sami Zayn

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

WWE Raw Hits

Roman Reigns and Bron Breakker: Paul Heyman’s halfhearted attempt to have Reigns replace the “injured” Seth Rollins as the leader of the still unnamed faction was fun. It was also good to hear Reigns and Heyman dedicate some time to addressing their split. Breakker stepping up to Reigns set the table for an eventual showdown match. The question is whether it will happen at SummerSlam or if they are going with the tag team match, which seems more likely given the involvement of Reed and Jey Uso over the last two weeks. Whenever the singles match occurs, this segment successfully whet the appetite for what will be the biggest match of Breakker’s young career.

Iyo Sky vs. Stephanie Vaquer: A hot match with a weak finish that regular viewers had to know was coming. If a premium live event caliber match is made during the show rather than being advertised in advance, there’s a very good chance that it’s not going to end with a screwy finish. But the body match leading up to the finish was entertaining enough that it left me anxious to see an eventual Sky vs. Vaquer match with a clean finish on a future premium live event. The post-match segment with Rhea Ripley helping Sky and Vaquer clear Chelsea Green, Piper Niven, and Alba Fyre from the ring was over big with the live crowd, and set up a potential six-woman tag match.

Sheamus vs. Rusev: Another enjoyable match with Sheamus avenging his loss with a finish that played on the way Rusev beat him in their previous outing. Will there be a rubber match at SummerSlam? Are we two matches into an unannounced best of seven series?

Joaquin Wilde and Cruz Del Toro vs. Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods vs. Julius Creed and Brutus Creed in a Triple Threat for a shot at the World Tag Team Titles: An enjoyable match with a rare win for Wilde and Del Toro. They are a talented duo who have been used to make other tag teams shine, so it’s nice to see them get a moment in the spotlight by earning a tag team title match.

Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez vs. Lyra Valkyria and Bayley for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles: A credibility building win for the tag team champions, who have picked up back-to-back wins on Raw. The dynamic between Valkyria and Bayley was also interesting, with Bayley acting way too upbeat despite the recent issues between her and Valkyria. It will be interesting to see where Bayley goes from here after she failed to earn a shot at the Women’s Intercontinental Championship last week, and took the pin that ended this tag team title match.

Karrion Kross vs. Sami Zayn: Zayn beat Kross in their first match, so Kross had to win the match to make this feel like a feud rather than a brief showcase program for Zayn. Scarlett getting physical during the match added a new wrinkle to Kross’s in-ring presentation, so hopefully there’s more to come. That said, it was silly that she grabbed Zayn’s leg right in front of the referee, yet it didn’t result in a disqualification. Rather, it served as a distraction that made the referee look bad for missing Kross blasting Zayn with a pipe shot that led to Kross getting the three count.

WWE Raw Misses

Gunther and CM Punk: An underwhelming segment. Punk cut a very basic promo about how he would give it his all during the match with Gunther, but he didn’t really sell viewers on the match or his chances of winning. Gunther’s rebuttal was solid, but the Punk part of this was flat enough that I actually found myself less excited about the World Heavyweight Championship match at SummerSlam than I was going into this show. Hopefully, Punk will unleash a great go-home promo next week.

AJ Styles: What a difference 24 hours makes. Styles was rightfully featured as a legendary figure at the TNA Slammiversary event on Sunday, and then he returned to WWE and played dress-up on Monday. I get the idea that he was trying to get under the skin of Dominik Mysterio, but these corny skits were a minor Miss for this viewer. Ideally, Dom hitting Styles from behind with the title belt will lead to the final push for their Intercontinental Title match at SummerSlam having a more serious tone.