By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE Raw Hits
Finn Balor and JD McDonagh vs. AJ Styles and Dragon Lee for the World Tag Team Titles: This match was great, which makes it all the more baffling that Balor and McDonagh defended the tag titles just one other time since they won them back in late June. Ideally, a story would have been told with Styles and Lee chasing and eventually winning the belts, rather than just having them win on the first try with no buildup. But the wrestlers did a hell of a job during the match, which included two excellent pin breakups at the very last moment. Here’s hoping that Styles and Lee will defend the titles frequently and that Raw’s creative forces will make the tag team division more of a priority.
Adam Pearce, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, and Paul Heyman: Crowning a new champion by having a battle royal winner face a wrestler who earned No. 1 contender status is not ideal. WWE has a lot of weekly television time, and they could have filled some of it with high stakes matches had they opted to hold a tournament to crown the new champion. That said, Pearce explained the situation well and had strong verbal exchanges with Breakker in the ring, and Heyman backstage. I love that Pearce pulled Breakker and Reed from the battle royal. They would have made the match more compelling, but it would have been absurd from a storytelling standpoint to reward them for taking out Rollins.
The battle royal for a spot in the match for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship: There weren’t many strong contenders, but the Jey Uso, LA Knight, AJ Styles, and Dominik Mysterio felt like believable candidates to face CM Punk for the vacant championship. I viewed Knight as the favorite due to his recent involvement in the title picture and his storyline friction with Punk. Styles was the sentimental favorite as he heads into the final year of his career, but it felt like the odds of him winning this match declined when he won the World Tag Team Titles earlier in the show. The story of Jimmy saving his brother twice, only for Jey to eliminate him from the match, was well done. Jey’s defense may come down to Jimmy telling him earlier in the night that he would be coming for everyone in the battle royal, including Jey. It was interesting that Punk defended Jey’s actions on commentary after Wade Barrett said Jey stabbed Jimmy in the back. I’m not sure how good of a match Punk and Jey will produce, but there are some intriguing storytelling possibilities.
Dominik Mysterio vs. Rusev for the Intercontinental Title: The live crowds continue to take delight in watching Dom cheat to win his matches. Dom has beaten Rusev and Penta in singles matches, but Penta’s involvement in this match seems to suggest that a Triple Threat is coming soon. Will Dom and Roxanne Perez get a little more flirtatious as we get closer to Liv Morgan’s return date?
Becky Lynch vs. Maxxine Dupri for the Women’s Intercontinental Title: A soft Hit for a decent match that had strong support from Dupri’s hometown crowd. The finish with Lynch taking the intentional disqualification was clearly meant to set up another match between the two. Dupri has definitely improved, but there were times during the match where it was obvious that she needs more reps. On a side note, the Lynch and Paul Heyman backstage confrontation was a gem. Heyman offered the best wormy explanation he could for turning on Seth Rollins, and Lynch responded with a sharp-tongued speech that made it clear she wasn’t falling for Heyman’s manipulations, and that her husband will be coming for The Vision once he’s healthy.
WWE Raw Misses
Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer vs. Roxanne Perez in a non-title match: A minor Miss. It’s fair to say this match was better than the Women’s Intercontinental Title match. The difference is that I had high expectations for Vaquer vs. Perez and modest expectations for Lynch vs. Dupri. Vaquer had a rough night by her high standards, including the spot where she slipped on the top rope while attempting a springboard move. She was limping after the match, and one can only hope it was just soreness from landing on her knees and not something more serious. Nikki Bella saying that Vaquer has a target on her back and that anyone could take her out came off as potential foreshadowing of a Nikki heel turn.
(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time dating back to 1997. He hosts a weekly podcast, Pro Wrestling Boom, and also appears regularly on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast. Reach him via email at dotnetjason@gmail.com and on social media via @prowrestlingnet.bsky.social or x.com/prowrestlingnet. For his full bio and information on this website, click here.)
I get what you’re saying but I actually kind of liked the battle royal. Admittedly, I’m a sucker for old school wrestling and battle royals just have that 80s/early 90s vibe I love. Guilty as charged.
With that said, Jey vs Punk isn’t doing much for me. But like you said, storylines can go in a lot of different directions so hopefully it goes somewhere good.