By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE Raw Hits
Liv Morgan vs. Becky Lynch for the Women’s World Championship: The match was too entertaining not to include in this section, but these Judgment Day interference finishes are beyond tired (more on the faction later). The live crowd really bought into the idea of Lynch winning the championship. Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez breaking up the pin to save Morgan by getting her disqualified would be a fine finish if we didn’t see so many interference finishes on WWE television. At some point, the heat moves from the heels to the company when fans see too many interference finishes. At the very least, it feels like that blatant disqualification should lead Adam Pearce to book a stipulation that bans all Judgment Day members from ringside with the threat of storyline termination if they disobey. On the positive side, the crowd gave Tiffany Stratton the biggest pop of her career when she came out holding the Money in the Bank briefcase for the attempted cash-in.
Sami Zayn vs. Je’Von Evans for the WWE Championship: An entertaining match until the overprotection started, with Penta and Bron Breakker getting involved. The fans rallied behind Evans, and Zayn is drawing good heat wherever he goes. As much as I enjoy Evans in the ring, I’m equally impressed by how he can flip the switch during his promos. He can go from playing the fun-loving character that won over the fans to becoming dead serious when the situation calls for it.
Bayley vs. Lyra Valkyria in a No DQ match: Really hard work from both wrestlers. Valkyria has to be feeling it today, as she took some big bumps, including the hellacious one on top of one of the two chairs that were set up in the ring. It’s too bad it took all of this to finally get the live crowd invested in what seemed like the blowoff match. It will be interesting to see what comes next for both wrestlers. Will they throw in the towel on Valkyria’s crazed character? Either way, I hope the hard-working Valkyria finds a way to click with the audience.
Ethan Page and Big Cass vs. Chad Gable and Dragon Lee: An entertaining tag match that turned into a nice showcase for Page. First, he took out Chad Gable with his EgoPlex finisher on the floor, and then he used the same move to beat Lee. Cass also had a nice showing, but this match felt like it was all about building up Page for an Intercontinental Title match.
Women’s Intercontinental Champion Raquel Rodriguez vs. Iyo Sky in a non-title match: A soft Hit for a solid match with a finish that felt predictable because the title wasn’t on the line. I hoped that winning the secondary title would give Rodriguez a boost, but she’s only defended the championship once on television since she won it three months ago.
WWE Raw Misses
The Judgment Day: It feels like the primary reason this once entertaining faction still exists is so the company can continue to take the easy way out with tired interference and distraction finishes. They’ve teased friction between Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez, as well as Morgan and Roxanne Perez, but nothing ever came of it. Dominik Mysterio, who was the hottest heel in the business, is comedy fodder outside AAA. JD McDonagh just finished (hopefully) a feud that featured Joe Hendry needling him about the size of his head by showing up with a person wearing a giant Funko Pop head. Stop phoning it in creatively with this faction or put it out of its misery.
Failing to advertise two world championship matches: Raw ran head-to-head with the World Series, the WNBA Finals, and two major market teams playing on Monday Night Football. WWE countered by announcing a show headlined by a No. 1 contender’s match, but with no title matches and no in-person segments involving the hot Bloodline vs. 946 feud. WWE took to social media on Monday afternoon to tease that Stephanie Vaquer may not be medically cleared to work the advertised main event. Instead of announcing Liv Morgan vs. Becky Lynch for the Women’s World Championship as the replacement match, the company said Adam Pearce would address the Vaquer rumors during Raw. Likewise, the company waited until Raw started to set up the Sami Zayn vs. Je’Von Evans match for the WWE Championship. Why book two unadvertised world championship matches without announcing either in advance, especially on a night when the show ran up against strong competition?
(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time since 1997. He hosts the weekly podcast, Pro Wrestling Boom, and 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.)
