Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s live coverage for "WWE Raw" on July 21, 2025, coming to you live from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas!
Seconds after CM Punk emerged victorious in a Number One Gauntlet Match to secure the right to challenge GUNTHER for the World Heavyweight Championship at WWE SummerSlam during last week's edition of "Raw", Roman Reigns made his highly anticipated return for the first time since Paul Heyman betrayed him at WWE WrestleMania 41 when he took out Rollins and Heyman's allies Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed. Following such, Reigns will be appearing on tonight's show with something on his mind to share as will Punk when he addresses GUNTHER.
Becky Lynch found out who she would be defending her Women's Intercontineal Championship against at SummerSlam would be last week when Lyra Valkyria after the latter defeated Bayley in a 2-Out-Of-3 Falls Number One Contenders Match. Not only does Lynch have an offer to make to Valkyria ahead of SummerSlam, but Valkyria and Bayley also have the change to capture the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship when they challenge titleholders Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez.
The first challengers for World Tag Team Champions Finn Balor and JD McDonagh of Judgment Day will be revealed since they became titleholders on the June 30 episode of "Raw", as Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods of New Day take on LWO's Joaquin Wilde and Cruz Del Toro and American Made's Brutus Creed and Julius Creed.
Additionally, Sheamus will be colliding with Rusev after the latter defeated the former on June 30. Sami Zayn also looks to put his issues to bed with Karrion Kross once and for all tonight after being blindsided by him with an attack backstage a couple weeks ago as they go head-to-head with one another.
We are live! The show kicks off with a video recapping the closing moments of last Monday's episode of "Raw".
Michael Cole and Corey Graves then greet audiences at home as CM Punk makes his way to the ring.
Punk says it's great to be alive on a Monday night in Houston, then says he's happy to be there and says he had a couple of goals when he came back to WWE: main event WrestleMania and become World Heavyweight Champion. He says he's accomplished one of those goals, and with everything else on the backburner, he can now focus on achieving the second one. He says as the fans keep cheering him on both live and at home, he promises to leave it all in the ring and give them everything he has.
Punk says he sees one of the best wrestlers in the world when looking at GUNTHER, then says he's been training for his World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam for his whole life despite only having two weeks before the match takes place. He then reminds fans that he's "The Best In The World".
GUNTHER's music hits, and he makes his way out. He stares down Punk and says he didn't come to the ring to insult Punk, but points out that neither of them are in WWE to make friends. He says they both want to make money and win titles, then says they both have massive egos. He says his ego is justified because it's based on results, while Punk's is not because his is based on what the fans think. He says he only focuses on what happens after the bell rings, and says he will make Punk regret that he ever stepped foot into a wrestling ring. He says that Punk will always have the "degenerate" fans chanting for him and heads to the back.
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