Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw, the show that saw this weekend's Money in the Bank matches receive their final participants and as it turns out, they're both doing double duty at Worlds Collide earlier in the day! While the WINC staff, oddly, doesn't have a ton to say this week about the main event storyline involving CM Punk, Jey Uso, and Sami Zayn battling Seth Rollins, BronBreakker, and Bronson Reed, we do have thoughts about first Stephanie Vaquer and then El Grande Americano qualifying for MITB, as well as the vast majority of the rest of the show!
As always, if you missed the show and just need information about what happened, check out our "Raw" results page.If you want to know our opinions on Monday's red brand MITB go-home show, from Judgment Day shenanigans to yet another BeckyLynch vs.Lyra Valkyria promo segment to more Judgment Day shenanigans, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 6/2/25 episode of "WWE Raw."
Monday night saw the arrival of "La Primera" Stephanie Vaquer on a full-time basis, picking up a win in her first match as a part of the "Raw" brand to secure the final spot in the Women's Money in the Bank ladder match.
I'm not going to pretend the triple threat to get there was anything above ordinary, a very clunky bout between Vaquer, Ivy Nile, and Liv Morgan that just never felt like it could start going. It was a match, and sometimes that is all a match can be. But the result is what truly counted here, and after weeks of somewhat iffy booking around the post-WrestleMania 41 batch of call-ups. It feels right that the three previous NXT Women's Champions are all present for a match that will serve to do one or two things; first, three of the freshest and best wrestlers in a match also including Rhea Ripley, Naomi, and Alexa Bliss is bound to deliver second, puts any three of them in the position for a real break-out run.
Truthfully, any three of the names here would have done the ladder match justice. But it would take the wind out of the sails of legitimately one of the hottest talents on the roster at a time when it makes sense to capitalize on her rising star. Morgan has a title, and Vaquer is objectively better in every aspect of wrestling than Nile. It really was a case of the best wrestler winning at the right moment, and considering this was a triple threat which, as would later unfold, carries the built-in trope of outside interference being legal, there was more than enough of a window for WWE to pull a WWE and look to subvert expectations for the fun of it. But they held true and the reward is a well-balanced and potentially star-making bout on the marquee this weekend.
Written by Max Everett
We had a lot to say last week about Roxanne Perez officially entering the orbit of The Judgment Day, a stable that's been operating as a shadow of its former self for nearly a year now. This week, the storyline continued in unsubtle fashion first, Perez helped Finn Balor and JD McDonagh pick up the win in a (seemingly interminable) tag team match against the War Raiders, and then Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriquez both lost singles matches after spurning Perez' assistance and relying on each other. It's not hard to see where this is eventually leading: yet another Judgment Day split, likely with Morgan and Dominik Mysterio turning babyface and feuding with and, presumably, defeating Balor and Perez (maybe Rodriguez can powerbomb McDonagh through a table or something).
The problem is that even after adding Perez, there isn't enough left of The Judgment Day to make another civil war storyline interesting and that was true before WWE released Carlito, who didn't appear at all on Monday's episode. I understand the instinct to turn Dom and Liv face considering the apparent size of their fan bases and the reactions Mysterio has been getting at WrestleMania and elsewhere, but sometimes I wish WWE would do the thing AEW does sometimes where stables just agree to stop hanging out together for a little while, just to save us the hassle of watching a story in which the ending feels inevitable and the presumed villain, Balor, hasn't felt like a threat to anyone in years. Or, if we have to do another Judgment Day betrayal storyline, can we at least get it over with instead of dragging it out?
Regardless of how the specifics play out, this feels like the curtain call for The Judgment Day. The group has been around in one form or another since 2022, but I'm not sure it can survive a Balor/McDonagh/Perez lineup, and I would hope WWE would be smart enough to rebrand the Morgan/Mysterio combination. When your latest intrafactional feud has as little juice as this one, it might be time to just pull the plug on the faction. It hasn't been the same since the R-Truth days, anyway.
Written by Miles Schneiderman
One day removed from the shocking news that WWE was moving on from the long-tenured R-Truth, fans had a lot to say. They spontaneously chanted "We Want Truth" from the opening segment to the main event. Some fans carried signs with the same sentiments. On X (formerly known as Twitter), fans used the hashtag #WeWantTruth and got it trending. Fans weren't the only ones taking the news hard. Many superstars took to social media to post about the former 48/7, 24/7, 7/11, I-95 South European Champion. They expressed their love for him and some shared stories.
On Sunday afternoon, Carlito also posted on social media that his contract is up in two weeks and he would not have his contract renewed. He was on TV weekly in the Judgment Day's clubhouse area. He frequently accompanied his fellow stablemates to the ring in their matches, often getting involved. Although his contract is still in effect, Carlito was not on "Raw."
Several superstars quietly shared tributes to their friends. Backstage, Rhea Ripley sported an R-Truth t-shirt. During the final women's qualifying match for the MITB ladder match, Judgment Day's Liv Morgan had Carlito's name written on her boots. "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio wore a Carlito t-shirt. It was nice to see the talent supporting their friends. There have been rumors that some of the talent released last month were released due to age. Releasing R-Truth and Carlito seems to confirm that belief. The moves make WWE and TKO seem soulless. The solidarity from their friends is nice to see at a time when it's easy to be cynical. It also seems like a bit of an F.U. to the people making the decisions. You love to see it.
Written by Samantha Schipman
Lyra Valkyria and Becky Lynch's feud is, for what it is, pretty good. Valkyria's personality once shy and simply babyface (that is to say, potentially bland) has really been sharpened by Lynch's cartoonishly evil but effective heel. Valkyria has finally found a backbone in her promo segments with Lynch, and while Lynch performs well as a babyface, she has had no issue issuing scathing heel promos, in which she simultaneously sinks her teeth into her heel role whilst putting Valkyria over as the babyface to root for.
Both women have been doing great with this feud, so why are we just giving them promo segments?
The only reason Valkyria and Lynch's feud is only "pretty good" and not great (which it absolutely can be) is because they are so severely limited. Valkyria and Lynch have been feuding since the "WWE Raw" after WrestleMania, and ever since then, have been doing the same thing, week in and week out. Their "feud" has been largely formulaic: Lynch gets in the ring to talk some smack, then Valkyria comes out to respond, and the two fight. Sometimes, you'll get a secret ending, where *Valkyria* talks first, and Lynch comes out to hurl an insult about Valkyria's "weird fianc." Despite everything, Valkyria and Lynch's feud has remained largely the same, and while both women definitely work well together in these mudslinging promo exchanges, it is still the same thing over and over again. It was fine during the brief build-up to Backlash, but now? It has been over two months, and we haven't received one alternative approach to their feud on live television.
I am begging you WWE, let them fight! Obviously, the actual brawling is being saved for Money in the Bank, but they could have done literally anything else. I would've even taken a contract signing while that is, in essence, a promo exchange dressed up as something different, it's at least different! Lynch and Valkyria are both talented performers. We know they're talented performers, because their match at Backlash was well-received, and they have managed to keep us somewhat captivated with the same promo segments for the past two months. Why can't Valkyria put her title up against someone and Lynch attack her from behind? Why no video packages? Why no backstage brawl segments? At some point, it has to be more work to convince Lynch and Valkyria to do the same program week after week than it is to make a different program.
The Women's Intercontinental Championship was, and is, an experiment. The women's midcard titles are supposed to be forays into a new realm of WWE women's bookings, and yet they are subjecting feuds over the midcard title to the same song and dance, with seemingly no intention to change the melody or the choreography. It might be too late to change Valkyria and Lynch's feud booking, but WWE needs to seriously get its head on its shoulders. Valkyria's title can't be the newest thing in this feud.
Written by Angeline Phu
Matches don't always have to be announced ahead of time before a weekly show airs, but they still tend to be much more engaging if there's some sort of reason or motivation behind them regardless. Kairi Sane taking on Raquel Rodriguez may not have been announced ahead of this week's edition of "Raw", but the match still had a good reason for being included on the show and had a story behind it that made it a much more interesting bout.
Sane and Rodriguez may not have personally been a match that I would typically have a ton of interest in watching under most circumstances, but because Sane had defeated Liv Morgan last week, fans included myself were able to quickly make the connection as to why the match was happening without there needing to be a ton of recapping done through videos or a digital exclusive showing something that had happened off screen between the pair. Aside from being self explanatory, the match also acted as a way of further establishing that Sane hasn't lost a step in the ring by giving her another win in order to show that last week wasn't just some accidental fluke.
While Sane is being set up as the next Number One Contender along with IYO SKY for Morgan and Rodriguez's Women's Tag Team Championship rather than a contender for a singles championship, the wins she's gotten over the past couple of weeks have continued to help her being taken as a serious challenger especially given that SKY already holds the Women's World Championship. In a company where matches and storylines don't always make the most sense, the storytelling here actually works well and has a clear end goal that it's working towards.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
I believe it's well known by now how much a lot of us here at WINC don't enjoy Chad Gable's ridiculousness, to put it mildly and politely, as ElGrande Americano, especially now that WWE has acquired AAA and is putting on Worlds Collide this weekend. It's all very tacky, and it only continued to get worse when Gable had his second opportunity to get into the Money in the Bank ladder match as his Luchador alter ego. Gable was defeated last week in the qualifier as Penta moved on to the premium live event, but I guess we all as WWE fans should have seen this one coming a mile away.
Gable's advancement into the match as Americano only became more clear when I realized that Seth Rollins' baddies, Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed, were likely going to get involved to stop CM Punk from winning this week's qualifier. WWE just couldn't have gave the spot to AJ Styles and have him pin Americano to go on to the ladder match. Nope, we have Gable in this silly gimmick going on to another big milestone, which likely isn't going to age too well when we look back on Gable's career and everything he accomplished in the future. He won at WrestleMania as ElGrande Americano and now he's going on to Money in the Bank, where thankfully, at least he won't win. If Gable as El Grande Americano defeats the likes of Seth Rollins in that match, we're going to have a much bigger problem than just the gimmick itself.
Don't get me wrong, I like Gable as, well, simply just heelish Chad Gable. Things could obviously be much worse here, and it could be Americano taking on El Hijo del Vikingo for the AAA Mega Championship on Saturday. Thankfully, Gable is competing at Worlds Collide as himself and not his fake Luchador character. But, Gable gets to compete on the AAA/WWE show and Money in the Bank on the same day, when one of those spots could have gone to someone more deserving. The Americano spot in the ladder match would have been a bit more tolerable if Gable wasn't facing Vikingo earlier in the day, or if he hadn't already lost a Money in the Bank qualifier last week.
At this point, I'm not sure how WWE ends the El Grande Americano run of Gable, though I am assuming it wraps up in a mask versus mask match. Maybe that's set up during the ladder match on Saturday and it's Penta who gets to unmask Gable, as the pair have had issues in the past and Americano defeated Penta's brother at WrestleMania. If there's one extra thing the MITB match could accomplish on Saturday, setting that up would be an excellent way to go.
Written by DaisyRuth
