By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE Raw Hits
Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair vs. Lyra Valkyria and Bayley for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles: A quality television main event with good work from everyone involved. It was nice to see a clean finish before the Kabuki Warriors attacked. On a side note, Bayley seemed to tone down her personality disorder antics for this match. Is she moving away from that or will this loss will trigger and awaken Bad Bayley?
CM Punk and Jey Uso: They set the table for their showdown match for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. As I mentioned in my live review, they spent so much time spotlighting Jey’s recent behavior that it left me open to the possibility that it was a misdirection move intended to make viewers focus on Jey, when it’s actually Punk who will come out of this as a heel. Punk defended Jey eliminating Jimmy Uso from the battle royal by pointing out that it was every man for himself. Could Punk use the same logic for stealing the match from Jey? Either way, the segment served as effective final hype for Saturday Night’s Main Event.
Bron Breakker vs. LA Knight: It was encouraging to see Breakker go over with minimal help from Paul Heyman and Bronson Reed. Knight was competitive and looked good in defeat despite the creative team not resorting to their usual overprotection tactics.
JD McDonagh vs. Sheamus: McDonagh pinning Sheamus was unexpected, even if it wasn’t a clean finish. And this wasn’t a case of Sheamus dominating McDonagh, only to lose because of outside interference. The match was laid out in a way that made McDonagh look competitive. McDonagh is a hell of a wrestler, who typically makes other wrestlers shine. Hopefully, this match is a sign that the goal is to give him enough in-ring credibility that the outcome of his matches won’t feel so predictable going forward.
Roxanne Perez vs. Nikki Bella: A soft Hit for a decent match. It started rough with Perez appearing to be legitimately dazed by a Nikki slap. They recovered nicely, and while there were a couple of clunky moments, there was more good than bad. The post-match angle set up an eventual Nikki and Stephanie Vaquer vs. Perez and Raquel Rodriguez tag team match. All signs seem to point to Nikki eventually turning on Vaquer. If Nikki turns, could she join forces with Perez and Rodriguez?
WWE Raw Misses
Penta vs. Rusev for a shot at the Intercontinental Title: The match was Hit-worthy until the lousy finish with the Americanos interfering on behalf of Dominik Mysterio. The idea was that if Dom had El Grande Americano and his minions stop the match before there was a winner, Dom wouldn’t have to defend his championship. Apparently, Dom and the broadcast team were among the last people on Earth who didn’t know that this would actually lead to Dom being forced to defend his title in a Triple Threat match. This is one of those booking tropes that needs to be retired from every company. It’s bad enough that it makes the heel look stupid, but it also damages the credibility of the announcers, who have to act oblivious to something the fans see coming a mile away.
ICYMI, check out last week’s WWE Raw Hit List.
(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.)
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