Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," here on the final Monday before the first-ever two-night SummerSlam! It wasn't the most newsworthy episode after the opening Hulk Hogan tribute, not much really happened until the final couple matches but we certainly have opinions on the end of the tag team title match, the end of the main event, and all sorts of other things that went down this week in Detroit.
Does that mean we're covering everything? Not in the slightest. You want everything covered, you've got our "Raw" results page for that. This column is strictly for our most passionate opinions, be they positive or negative. In other words, these are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 7/28/25 episode of "WWE Raw."
Typically when storytelling is done through matches in modern day WWE, it usually happens with some sort of post match angle or interference that causes a match to be ruled a no contest. In the case of the six person mixed tag team match between Judgment Day and The Kabuki Warriors and AJ Styles, the storytelling was actually done during the match itself which was incredibly refreshing to see and enhanced what was already a good match as is between several talented competitors.
Dominik Mysterio avoiding getting tagged in by Roxanne Perez or Raquel Rodriguez as a means of not having to face AJ Styles in the ring as the reigning WWE Women's Tag Team Champions did everything in their power to prevent that from happening was absolute gold. Not only did it fit in perfectly with the ongoing storyline of Dominik faking injury to avoid defending his Intercontinental Championship against Styles by any means necessary, but there was so much care and attention to detail in making it a point that Dominik was avoiding the tag. Little moments such as Perez stepping in front of Dominik after Styles had dragged him into the ring to prevent him from being hit with the Phenomenal Forearm worked so well in the context of the match, and made it really engaging to watch because of how rare it was to see similar things being done in WWE. Moreover, the action itself was fun, fast paced, and good on behalf of every single person involved in the bout, and had a good reason for being on the show in the first place despite not even being announced ahead of time. On a go-home show that felt like it dragged on, this definitely stood out as one of if not the best moments of the entire night.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
Between the bells and the ropes there is honestly not much going on for Karrion Kross, his style being sometimes so grounded in grappling and brawling that they become somewhat limbering messes when compared to the work of his colleagues. That is not so say I personally think he is a bad wrestler, far from it, but there is something about his work in the ring that works for some while others couldn't care less; and for me that is perfectly fine, because he is a fine talker and an even better storyteller who doesn't really get his flowers in that respect.
Kross and Sami Zayn is a beautiful dynamic, with Zayn at the point of his career where he is the lovable babyface underdog that really wouldn't be an unjustified heel turn in the coming future; Kross has styled himself as a manipulator and his track record does speak of having some form of influence in a turn down the line, and his domineering and menacing presence is juxtaposed really well with the every-day man that Zayn is. Theirs is a match that I am looking forward to, because it is so different in tone and feel to the rest of the card. Less has been more, with this interaction serving as the final talking point before they settle things after weeks of strategic moves on the part of Kross, as he would put it, taking advantage of the emotional Zayn.
It's set the scene well for either direction, Zayn overcoming everything and getting the win, or Kross securing vindication with a frankly significant scalp at SummerSlam. Wrestling has at its best been a story of good versus evil, and Kross and Zayn have been nuanced in their approaches to the archetype but it's there all the same. And it works in crafting something compelling, something that feels like it belongs on the card because it has been so well-built.
Written by MaxEverett
After tonight's episode of "Raw," there is no question in my mind that the women's division on the red brand is the hottest thing going in WWE right now, and the eight-woman tag team match tonight certainly proved it. This episode was a stereotypical go-home show to a premium live event, meaning I didn't find it too exciting at all, and there was way too much talking tonight, but this match was a huge bright spot for me.WWE isn't the promotion known for bigger "all-star tags," for lack of a better term, like this, but it certainly worked well tonight and I wouldn't mind seeing more of these multi-woman tag matches every so often.
Keeping Stephanie Vaquer in the conversation ahead of her match for the Women's World Championship at Clash in Paris is the right call, as was having her get the pin victory tonight. The other women on her team didn't exactly need it, with Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY going on to SummerSlam for their shot at the title this weekend, and WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Bella there to just have a good time, since her SummerSlam plans were dashed with Liv Morgan's injury.But, getting all these fan-favorites out in front of a crowd, and all together, was a really fun concept. Vaquer, Bella, Ripley, and SKY are always going to be over, and Chelsea Green and Naomi on the heel team are also big stars who the fans adore.
When Vaquer and Naomi briefly squared off at the beginning of the match, it really made me realize how much I want to see them fight, and I wouldn't be surprised (and certainly won't be upset) if that's the match we get at Clash in Paris next month.They got physical a little later in the match and it was just enough to make me want to see them fight even more, without giving away too much.
There was just so much to like in this match, including Green getting a chance to mix it up with Bella, which is honestly the match we should have gotten to replace Bella versus Morgan at SummerSlam. The Secret Hervice is also excellent in the ring alongside Green and I really liked the way the three women worked together tonight. SKY is also always a joy to watch in the ring and I'll never be upset at getting a chance to watch her work with any other talent. This match was the best part of "Raw" on a pretty lame go-home show, and it certainly made watching tonight's episode worth it.
Written byDaisyRuth
"Raw" was the first go home show for this weekend's two-night SummerSlam and it felt like just another show. It didn't build any excitement for one of WWE's "Big 4" PLEs. You could've put this show on any other Monday and it would've had the same effect; not much.
Even without the show kicking off with another 10-bell salute and a video package for Hulk Hogan, the show would've still just gone through the motions. The opening segment was two long, rambling promos from Paul Heyman and Jey Uso. Multiple matches ended or included disqualifications, which is par for the course these days. The tag title match had not one, but two El Grande Americanos.The segment between GUNTHER and CM Punk included run of the mill promos from both. The main event aftermath was nearly an instant replay of last week's, with the exception of Bronson Reed taking Roman Reigns' shoes.The highlights were the 8-woman tag match and the mixed tag match. Who would've thought we'd ever see Kabuki Warriors team up with AJ Styles? Did it add anything to Styles versus Mysterio for the IC title though? No. And with "SmackDown" still to come, I don't expect anything different on that go home show, except maybe a change to the match with Randy Orton, Logan Paul, Jelly Roll, and Drew McIntyre if McIntyre's passport situation isn't resolved.
Written bySamantha Schipman
El Grande Americano, literally translating to The Great American, has seen a relatively lengthy run for what it is. Cody Rhodes will forever bemoan his stint as Stardust, the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back and led him to eventually become WWE Champion after a fairly successful stint away from the company. But in the year of 2025, one year on from a feud with Sami Zayn for the Intercontinental title and just less than two years since he defeated Gunther by count-out, El Grande Americano was a gimmick cut from the exact same cloth or at least the same material, but in a star-spangled colorway because Chad Gable was feuding with luchadors. In its raw form, it's a borderline racist joke leveraged at lucha libre and those who enjoy that specific type of wrestling.
Let it be known that WWE has, while pushing wrestlers associated with lucha libre, never really given any care to the flamboyant cousin of proud American sports-entertainment. And it doesn't exactly strike as off-brand for WWE to make a low-brow joke of lucha libre. Either way, Grande Americano was a thing and was getting a fairly decent reaction from the crowd no different to the reaction Gable was getting anyway so it became a thing that just auto-filled a segment or two over the weeks. It's kind of annoying that such a parody has worked with the crowd in the way it has, but there are some things that will get over with a particular audience while a not insignificant number feel put-off by it.
Gable got injured, there was an opportunity to phase the character out as the overplayed joke it is. But because the company decided that Grande Americano possessed a quality not possessed by mask-less Gable, the fake luchador was crowned Speed Champion and had to be recast as Ludwig Kaiser one says had to be, there was an option just not to do it, but they proceeded with Kaiser nonetheless. Then this week on "Raw," because one and a stand-in couldn't possibly be enough, it seems as though someone who looks a lot like Pete Dunne has been straddled with the Americano-itis. To my understanding, that is an American, a German, and an English wrestler all of which align more with the Catch-as-Catch-Can discipline, while Gable is also an Olympian Greco-Roman wrestler all pretending to be a luchador because of Gable's own infatuation with luchadors. Is this what Chat GPT coughed up this week?
I just cannot for the life of me understand why there is such a conceited effort to assign people such redundant characters compared to their ability. Storytelling is one thing, and I understand that WWE has always played into the larger-than-life characters. But these gimmicks rarely do any good for the wrestlers encumbered with them, and there are now three different wrestlers who will go down in history as El Grande Americano, which will, in all honestly, probably feel like a stain in retrospect.
Written byMax Everett
You could have switched the ending of this Monday's episode of "WWE Raw" with last week's ending, and I would have not noticed.
Roman Reigns and Jey Uso's feud against Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker is one of WWE's hottest stories going into SummerSlam, but don't be fooled: it's not because of the feud's booking. If anything, this feud's booking would be its downfall if the parties involved were not the absolute stars that they are. How else are we expected to engage with a feud that is sustained on next to nothing but post-match run-ins and unsanctioned beat-downs?
Reed and Uso locked up in Monday's main event in anticipation of their New Jersey tag match, and the match itself was, in a less-than-shocking, even-more-disappointing turn of events, absolutely meaningless. The two of them looked fine in the ring, but the match was just a vessel for the post-match beat-down formula that this feud has been sustained on. It was last week's ending, verbatim: Reed and Breakker exhibit hooligan behavior, Reigns' music hits, Reigns enters the ring with the exact same expression. Reigns charges Reed and Breakker, they hit finishers, show ends. While the small details might be different whoever is left standing tall alternates like this unsanctioned violence is a barter (you scratch my back, I scratch yours; you put me over, I put you over) I just described 90% of this feud's "development." I'm telling you, you could splice every moment of this feud into one compilation, and I wouldn't be able to tell you in what order they happened in.
It's not just that this feud's beats are copy and pasted, it is that they completely lack any sort of direction. It would be one thing if there was some progression to this feud: you can have two post-match run-ins in a week, but things need to change. Things need to escalate. What you can't have happen is the same booking with no noticeable difference. That is the definition of insanity. I think I'm going insane from how stale it has already become. For a main eventer like Reigns, and up-and-coming stars like Uso, Reed, and Breakker, there should be some more variety to bring more eyes onto this feud. Relying on sheer starpower while sticking to the same tricks only does so much for the attentive viewer. Otherwise, it is nothing more than a farm for social media shortform slop.
The only redeeming quality of this main event was the shoe beat. I could not tell you why Reed found the need to take that Uncle Reigns' shoes, but seeing Reigns' curled up body, his feet *out* for everyone, with "Executive Producer: Paul Levesque" plastered over was insane. It almost saved this show ending for me, because it was different! If this feud's booking had that same level of innovation every week, this feud would have been a home run.
Unfortunately, the creativity well has run dry, just like this feud. And this show. And SummerSlam.
Written byAngeline Phu
