Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show where apparently sometimes the World Heavyweight Championship changes hands! Been a while since that happened! The WINC stuff has thoughts on that, naturally, as well as plenty of other things from this week's episode, including Roxanne Perez continuing her run of main roster success, the returns of Nikki Bella and Ron "The Truth" Killings, and CM Punk apparently wrestling in Saudia Arabia at Night of Champions, which surely will make no one upset whatsoever.
If you missed the show, you might want to rectify that, because it was an eventful one. Barring that though, our "Raw" results page has you covered if all you need are the ins and outs of everything that went down.If you want to know what we thought of the program, however, that's what this column is for! Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 6/9/25 episode of "WWE Raw."
Let's preface this immediately; it would have been a crying shame if CM Punk versus John Cena hadn't happened by the time the reigning WWE Champion called it a day.Outside of maybe Randy Orton, Punk is the most storied rival of Cena's currently wrestling and there is a natural story for them to pick things back up with the face/heel dynamics flipped on their head.
But going from Money in the Bank to Monday's "WWE Raw" felt like reading the next page of a book but it's suddenly four chapters ahead. On Saturday night, the artist formerly known as R-Truth returned to hand Cody Rhodes a pinfall victory over the man who dethroned him for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. Cena's partner was Logan Paul, and his other opponent in the tag match was at-the-time World Heavyweight Champion Jey Uso. Punk was last seen receiving a beatdown from Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker at the behest of Seth Rollins, having previously failed to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match, losing a tag match alongside Sami Zayn against Rollins and Breakker, and losing alongside Roman Reigns in the triple threat main event of WrestleMania 41 to Rollins.
In fact, Punk has not won a match since he had defeated Zayn to qualify for the Elimination Chamber match. Rhodes, who pinned Cena, is now in the King of the Ring tournament set to culminate at Night of Champions the winner of which will get a World title shot at SummerSlam with no guarantee that he will be in the final. And Punk, who has not won a match since February, will be facing Cena for the WWE Championship at Night of Champions.
As if that wasn't enough of a direction shift, Rollins as the new Mr. Money in the Bank followed Punk to stake his interest in the WWE Championship, raising his briefcase at them like it was going to eat them or something. That was accompanied by Rollins completely disregarding the World Heavyweight Championship he has been pursuing for the past few weeks, despite that Jey Uso was defending that title against Gunther later in the night which one might say would be the optimal time to cash-in. Again, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the direction although the direction is hilariously hypocritical considering Punk has been so steadfast against taking "Saudi blood money" before except for the fact it's such a sharp departure from what was already building. It's giving unorganized and jumping the shark.
Written byMax Everett
I can't recall someone from "WWE NXT" having such a successful call-up their first few months officially on the main roster as Roxanne Perez. She furthered that success story tonight with a first-round victory in the Queen of the Ring tournament. While it was only the first round, she bested the likes of Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan, and Kairi Sane to score the victory just two days after competing in her first Money in the Bank ladder match. "The Prodigy" is seriously impressive.
Perez is the record-holder for longest time spent in the women's Royal Rumble after first appearance this year. She also entered the Elimination Chamber. She even was pulling double-duty back down on "NXT" for awhile as their women's roster was settling down following title changes an call-ups. As someone who's been a huge fan of hers since her time in "NXT," and who is also aware of how successful she was at such a young age on the independent scene, I don't think I can write about how much I just love her enough. She's putting in the hard work and it's paying off.
After tonight, I'm not sure where she stands with Judgment Day, but I'm sure that storyline will continue with Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez being even more angry at her. I thought that Morgan and Perez would start feuding, but now, it seems like the Women's Tag Team Champion is moving into a program with Nikki Bella before Evolution. I'm not entirely certain where that leaves Perez, but she's now going up against the winner ofJade Cargill, Michin, Piper Niven, and Nia Jax over on "WWE SmackDown." Whoever wins the bout on the blue brand is going to be no slouch for "The Prodigy," but Ican picture her having an excellent match with any of those women.
It might not be Perez's time to be Queen of the Ring, but it also wasn't her time to win the Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber, or even Money in the Bank. And, for some reason, that seems okay. It's probably because she's so young and has so much of her career in front of her, but just seeing her in these matches right off the bat is so impressive. I wouldn't be shocked if next year really is THE year for Perez, but for now, getting the audience acquainted with what she can do seems to be working well enough for everyone.
Written byDaisyRuth
There's nothing quite as great in wrestling as thetrue chickens*** heel, and Becky Lynch is suddenly one of the best going right now. Her feud with Lyra Valkyria is among the most compelling American wrestling has to offer at the moment, and that continued this weekentirely on the basis of Lynch's top shelf heel work.
To be fair, she had me pretty early (technically she had me when she arrived wearing a Ms.Rachel shirt, but that's beside the point).Starting off by asking where the "You deserve it" chants are was good enough, but Becky's promo had my heart forever when she described Valkyria as a "disingenuous, integrity-less, shame to my hometownbird lady."What an incredible escalation. She's disingenuous, she has no integrity, she's the shame of my entire hometown,and she wears bird wings to the ring, what's the deal with that?" Absolutely incredible.She used "bird lady" again later in the promo so I'm pretty sure Becky liked it too.
The chickens*** stuff was the meat of the promo, though, and that really started when Lynch began giving her own interpretation of the events of Saturday night. In case you missed it Lynch grabbed Lyra's tights to win, then demanded Valkyria raise her hand as per the stipulation, "acknowledging the better woman" even though Lynch cheated. Valkyria, like a good babyface, took her medicine and raised Lynch's hand, but that wasn't enough.Lynch demanded Valkyria also strap the belt around her waist, which Valkyria also reluctantly did before her anger got the better of her and she delivered a suplex before leaving the ring.
Lynch had an explanation for everything, though.ApparentlyValkyria actually raised Becky's armtoo hard,injuring her shoulder. And with an injured shoulder, how could Lynch be expected to buckle the title belt around her waist herself? She was out here trying to mend fences, but Valkyria wouldn't let that happen. "She tried to kill me!" Lynch insisted to the crowd, of taking a single very normal suplex. And then she demands Valkyria come out and apologize.To Becky Lynch. For wronging her.Amazing.10/10.
I honestly have mixed feelings about Bayley getting involved here, partially because I'm not sure the feud needs her at this point I'm much more interested now in Lynch vs.Lyra again, and I really want them to get a third match to conclude this trilogy that very clearly is not over but mostly because her Rose Plant finisher is such unbelievable garbage that I honestly couldn't tell if she was meant to have hit it or not on Lynch during her return Monday night. Still, the important thing, and the thing I hope everyone takes away from this, is that BeckyLynchis seriously the most pathetic loser in the world and I want her to get her ass kicked so bad. And that's what wrestling is all about, man.
Written byMiles Schneiderman
Anyone who says they had Ron Killings cutting an impassioned promo on "WWE Raw" on their 2025 bingo card would be stretching the Truth just a little bit. But that's part of why Ron Killing cutting an impassioned promo, then cutting his hair, and putting the R-Truth comedy character to rest was so compelling when it did happen. Truth's 2025 had been a tenuous one to say the very least before tonight, leveraging the long-running bit that John Cena was his "childhood hero" into a shot at the "Last Real World Champion" at Saturday Night's Main Event, losing in four minutes, then news broke that he was being let go prompting immediate and sustained backlash, and he made his return to cost Cena a match against Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso at Money in the Bank. Paul Levesque said it was a part of the show, his son said that was cap, and it only added levity to the moment Killings got back on the microphone to address his future.
Killings started off with the formalities, thanking the fans not only for fighting for him to remain but winning that battle. But then he cut to the emotion of it, thanking them more for seeing beyond R-Truth and finding him, Ron Killings. He proceeded to give a eulogy for his comedy character, saying that he could be too funny, too trusting, and too forgiving. It was so refreshing to see Killings present himself as the legitimate veteran he is, breaking the ceiling on the Truth character and literally stripping himself of the hallmarks that made the character that had very clearly run his course. One only needs to look at Cody Rhodes for the potential that comes with killing a cursed gimmick, and while it would be a steep ask for Killings to become World Champion at the tail-end of his career, stranger things have happened. At the very least, he has laid the foundation for a rejuvenated run as a legitimate contender. And I love that for him.
Written byMax Everett
In just five short weeks, Evolution 2will take place in Atlanta. As if putting it on at the exact time as Beyonc's concert (and during MLB's All Star weekend) didn't make it seem enough like an afterthought, no matches have yet been announced, but Nikki Bella returned to "WWE Raw" this week to set up something for the all women's PLE. After teasing a potential match with Women's World Champion IYO SKY, she came to the ring to reminisce about main eventing the first Evolution in 2018. She also put over the current women's locker room. Liv Morgan took offense to not being named directly and began angrily yelling into the mic about deserving respect from Bella. She quickly resorted to personal digs when told Bella she has everything she doesn't: respect, a title, and a man.
There are multiple reasons why this line sucked. For one, when Nikki Bella was in WWE, several of her storylines revolved around her man. In fact, John Cena proposed to her in the ring. Much of Bella's time on "Total Divas" revolved around her relationship with Cena. It basically became her identity. Cena opened the show, so to take this shot on this night in particular made me groan.
Another reason I hated this line is because WWE is once again stripping successful women down to whether or not they have a man. This played out trope was central to many women's storylines in the Divas Era. The women were also fighting for TV time, let alone time in the ring. So much so that fans started the hashtag #GiveDivasAChance. Morgan's own current storyline has revolved around a man since she was the Women's World Champion. They used the guise of taking everything Rhea Ripley had, but spent the majority of her title reign focused on her relationship with Dominik Mysterio instead of defending the title and elevating it. She's now one half of the women's tag team champions and is still constantly with "Dirty Dom." They've added a new woman to the mix, which Bella pointed to after Morgan's line about having a man. This rebuttal from Bella was tired too and it perpetuates a clich storyline.
The most egregious reason of all about why this line sucked is because of the reason Bella "doesn't have a man." It is well known that Bella divorced her husband following a domestic violence situation last year. The situation played out publicly, as did her divorce. You can't say, "oh, well it was in character" when Bella's public life has been intertwined with her wrestling career. She is a survivor of domestic violence and to use that as fodder to attempt to set up a match for an all women's PLE is bottom of the barrel stuff. This is also coming from a company currently named in a lawsuit where the former owner is accused of sex trafficking a former employee (and Bella's former father-in-law is now working with that employee's team in her lawsuit). Let's not forget that Morgan also spent an entire episode of "Raw" mirroring some of the things in said lawsuit.
Morgan is not at fault here. The blame lies on creative and the people who approved it. Morgan deserves better than being put in this situation twice, and Bella deserves better too. She is trying to move on and put her life back together after a traumatic event. Using it in any form for a TV show is not only reprehensible, but unbelievably lazy.
Written bySamantha Schipman
From Jacy Jayne dethroning Stephanie Vaquer as NXT Women's Champion to the return of R-Truth at Money In The Bank, WWE has proven as of late that they are willing to take the road less traveled and provide fans with some moments that they truly did not expect to see. GUNTHER regaining the World Heavyweight Championship from Jey Uso is one of those moments playing out in real time as we speak, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it was a choice that will ultimately end up being well received or have good payoff.
Now don't get me wrong: WWE has definitely created quite the cliffhanger and there are plenty of directions that they can choose to take GUNTHER's reign (especially with Seth Rollins holding the Men's Money In The Bank briefcase and the rumors of Goldberg's return). That being said, Jey had held onto the World Heavyweight Championship for just a little over a month. Given how over he currently is with the WWE Universe, it feels like it wasn't the best time or decision to take the World Heavyweight Championship off of him as it only cement's GUNTHER's point about Jey being a fluke. Until this point, WWE has kept Jey's booking fairly strong and had beat major names in his only two defenses against Rollins and Logan Paul (although we may not all want to admit that Paul is a big name, myself included). It felt like a decision that was made purely for the shock value above anything else, and not one that I personally was a fan of at all.
Written byOlivia Quinlan
