By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE Raw Hits
Brock Lesnar attacks Oba Femi: A truly unexpected surprise. I didn’t buy into the Lesnar retirement tease at WrestleMania 42, because it was hard to imagine him not sticking around to work SummerSlam in Minneapolis a few months later. But it was still a hell of a surprise to see him pop up out of nowhere and attack Oba during his entrance. I hope there’s a better explanation for Lesnar’s retirement tease than Paul Heyman telling Adam Pearce that Lesnar is retired, only to hand him a contract for a match at Clash in Italy with Lesnar’s name on it.
Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu: So Reigns and the Usos are heels, right? First, Reigns was an absolute narcissist last week when he told Adam Pearce not to fire Fatu because his cousin had yet to acknowledge him. This week, Reigns and the Usos beat up Fatu in a three-on-one attack, which is anything but a babyface move. Still, it came off like Michael Cole was trying to portray Reigns and the Usos as the babyfaces, while painting Fatu as the heel. This type of awkward storytelling would normally land in the Miss section, but the dynamic between the four wrestlers and the mystery of where this is headed are too good for this to be anything but a Hit. That said, I hope things fall into place in a way that firmly establishes the babyface and heel dynamic, rather than the company leaning into a shades of gray approach.
Michael Cole interviews Ethan Page: Page referring to Cole as “Mike” and handing him a card with questions to ask during the interview was great. Page is off to a great start on the main roster. I’d love to see the company keep Page’s momentum going by having him steal the Intercontinental Title on Saturday.
Becky Lynch and Sol Ruca: A solid segment that set up what should be a fun match for the Saturday Night’s Main Event card.
El Grande Americano, Bravo, and Rayo vs. Original El Grande Americano, Bluto, and Julio in a tornado rules match: I’m beyond over the Americano gag, but this was the best match of the night with good work from everyone involved.
WWE Raw Misses
Seth Rollins vs. Austin Theory: Whatever Theory has gained since joining The Vision faction wasn’t enough to make him feel like he belonged in a Raw singles match main event. Logan Paul’s involvement wasn’t enough to change that. On the bright side, the post-match angle with Angelo Dawkins coming out to help Rollins was interesting. Montez Ford made it clear during a talking segment that he had no interest in helping Rollins, so I assume his character was there to save Dawkins, which he did by shoving him out of harm’s way and taking a spear from Breakker. It’s hard to say where the Rollins and Profits alliance is heading, and to predict what LA Knight’s involvement is leading to, but it’s all intriguing.
Paige and Brie Bella vs. Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles: Paige and Brie are cooling off quickly. There’s not much chemistry between the characters, nor in the ring. Hopefully, Nikki will return soon so that the Bellas can do their thing, while Paige moves on to working singles matches.
Finn Balor vs. JD McDonagh in a Street Fight: A minor Miss. This would be a Hit if the only concern were match quality, but I wasn’t a fan of how weak McDonagh looked. The match essentially turned into a handicap match once Dominik Mysterio got involved, yet Balor still pinned McDonagh clean. I don’t expect WWE to push McDonagh aggressively, but surely they could be getting more out of a story involving a teacher and his student with over two decades of shared history. At the very least, McDonagh should be positioned to have some credibility so that the wrestlers who beat him actually gain something in the process.
No Je’Von Evans: The closest that Raw viewers got to seeing Evans was a graphic stating that he was born and raises in the show’s host city of Greensboro. Really? That’s it? Not even a promo segment in front of his hometown fans? Evans worked a match on WWE Main Event last night, so it’s not like he was sidelined by an injury. Strange.
(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 wrote it in your review of Wrestlemania, but I want to say again they shouldn’t have done the taking off the boots thing etc if Lesnar wasn’t retiring. The next wrestler doing that for real has had their moment damaged in advance.
It’s tough because if you only do the boots thing for real retirements, then people will figure it out and won’t fall for fake retirements. This isn’t a first. One example is Taker doing it after facing Reigns at WrestleMania, only to return. I know what you’re saying, but I think the bigger issue is that every pro wrestling retirement comes with an asterisk because so few wrestlers actually stay retired.