Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show that saw CM Punk win the Undisputed WWE Championship in his hometown of Chicago! Yeah, the Wrestling Inc. staff has some thoughts about that though it must be said that not all of our crew agree about the match and its outcome. We'll spend some time on that here in the column, while also hitting Maxxine Dupri officially joining The Vision, Sol Ruca's latest Intercontinental title defense, and much more!As always, if you missed the show, you can catch up via our "WWE Raw" 7/6/26 results page. That's where you'll find the full breakdown of everything that went down on the show, in fully objective fashion. This column, on the other hand, is the place where we share our opinions on the parts of the show that stood out to us the most, either in a positive or a negative sense. Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 7/6/26 episode of "WWE Raw!"
"I will rise because I must rise."I'm not even kidding when I say that this banger of a line from LA Knight was the best part of this entire segment for me due to the little chuckle it gave me. That was about the only part of this opening segment between Seth Rollins and Knight that I actually enjoyed, as it just didn't quite land for me otherwise.Let's start from the top: I was a little confused as to why WWE decided to have Rollins come out to the ring and talk about how Reigns was the chosen one during their days in The Shield. I get that part of the storyline between Reigns and Rollins has to do with their long history, but at the same time, there's more recent history that WWE can use to further things between the two men if they insist on going that same route. Reigns and Rollins were in The Shield well over ten years ago at this point, and it feels like it's beyond time to stop using The Shield as a plot device. Beyond that, it didn't make much sense for me for Rollins to be talking extensively about his dreams as a five year old kid and how they were taken from him by Reigns, as Rollins has won many titles throughout his time in WWE, is a multi-time former world champion, and is a Royal Rumble winner among many other accomplishments. He was talking as though he hasn't done much of anything when in reality, he's already achieved his dreams and made a big name for himself in his own right.I also can't help but feel like WWE hasn't quite solidified where they're taking the World Heavyweight Championship picture heading into SummerSlam. LA Knight didn't really say much of anything in his portion of the promo, and his inclusion didn't really feel necessary to this segment apart from potentially adding him into the World Heavyweight Championship match at SummerSlam to make it a triple threat.Written byOlivia Quinlan
Tonight's episode of "Raw" wasn't the greatest, and it felt like there was a lot of talking, specifically to further the red brand's SummerSlam feuds, as the title on "WWE SmackDown" was the highlight of tonight's episode. There was hardly any physicality between any of the opponents in the matches that are already set up on the "Raw" side of things, and it made for a slightly boring show outside of one matchup, that is.There was one feud that thankfully didn't revolve around a talking segment tonight and both competitors were actually in the building. Women's World Champion Liv Morgan attempted to get involved in Judgment Day stablemate Raquel Rodriguez's Women's Intercontinental Championship match against Sol Ruca, and that brought out IYO SKY.While I never mind hearing SKY on the microphone, hearing Morgan yap week in and week out gets pretty old, so I appreciated having a break from that this week. Morgan was on the apron trying to distract the referee so Rodriguez could get the upper hand on Ruca, which brought out SKY to help even the odds a little. That led to Ruca retaining over Rodriguez, which could lead to further dissension between the women of the Judgment Day, and now Roxanne Perez has a match against SKY next week.While this may seem extremely simple, I was just glad to not have another promo segment on the show. Seth Rollins opened things up to talk about his history with World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns, who wasn't at the show tonight, so that brought out LA Knight, of all people, presumably just because he hates the Bloodline. Brock Lesnar also wasn't there, so Paul Heyman had to speak in his place against Oba Femi in attempts to further that angle.With SKY and Perez now set to go one-on-one next week, I'm hopeful that this trend for them continues ahead of their SummerSlam match. I appreciate things happening, not just two people yapping at each other constantly, which is of course what we're going to get between Reigns and Rollins for weeks. If SKY can somehow help with the "will they, won't they" break up angle for the Judgment Day, as well, that's just an added bonus at this point.Written byDaisyRuth
I really thought when Austin Theory seemingly dumped Maxxine Dupri in a backstage segment last week that the storyline was over before it began, despite the teases of Dupri's involvement starting before WrestleMania this year. That would be how WWE books things, and it did make me roll my eyes, but at least it was over, or so it seemed. This week, things got even worse.It seems like the World Tag Team Championships were only put on the Street Profits as a way to get the Dupri-Vision storyline actually underway, and that really sucks for Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins. The pair didn't have a single title defense in between winning them off Bron Breakker and Austin Theory, then losing them right back to the team, as it only took two weeks.The match itself was fine, up until the end when Dupri came out from underneath the ring to low blow Dawkins as he was setting up to use Logan Paul's brass knuckles on Theory. It feels like WWE just put the titles on the Profits just so she could help Breakker and Theory win them back, finally teaming her up with The Vision.Sure, Dupri desperately needed something to do, but so do Otis and Tozawa. I guess this could lead to them challenging The Vision for the tag titles, but I highly doubt that would end with them winning the gold. So far, Alpha Academy were only seen backstage looking sad.I'm not sure if this also served to help bring Paul Heyman back into The Vision after he's done being "The Advocate" for Brock Lesnar following his SummerSlam match against Oba Femi, but it certainly seemed like things could be headed that way. Heyman was in gorilla talking to the team ahead of their match, and then addressed Dupri in another backstage segment after. I know reports are that Heyman is set to stick with Breakker, but at this point, I have no idea if those are even true, or what that means.The only good thing about this is that Dupri seems like she's going to be one heck of a heel, after the promo she cut on Chad Gable after his in-ring apology to Alpha Academy a few weeks ago. Other than that, I don't like any of this, especially it all happening at the expense of Ford and Dawkins, who really earned the opportunity to be champions, especially over the struggling, cursed Vision.Written byDaisyRuth
I am once again loving an Oba Femi promo segment because he tends to be the best part of the show. This week, he bodied Paul Heyman (in Chicago!) in front of a live audience. Heyman was going on and on about accomplishments Brock Lesnar had years ago. The crowd chanted "OBA! OBA!" so loudly, it was drowning out Heyman. He also informed Femi he wouldn't just be facing Heyman in Hell in a Cell, but in a *checks notes* Brock-togan.Femi told Heyman that he knew his words got to Lesnar and that's why he showed up. He went for Heyman when he told him he'd been reduced from "an Advocate" to "just a mouth." He said a mouth needs a head, so Heyman is preaching Lesnar's accolades because he's scared. Femi once again talked about his destiny and how this book is closing. To cap it all off, he said he would beat Lesnar in his hometown in front of his friends, family, and his wife. Femi inched closer to Heyman as he declared he has to go through hell to get to heaven and he'd see Lesnar in hell before literally dropping the mic."The Ruler" has grown more and more confident in his promo skills and it shows every week. Femi doesn't need much to convince fans that he should win at SummerSlam because he's so over. He convincingly defeated Lesnar at WrestleMania and fans want him to do it again. His dressing down of Heyman is just an exclamation point.Written by Samantha Schipman
I will be the first to admit that the main event Undisputed WWE Championship match between Sami Zayn and CM Punk from this edition of "Raw" wasn't a bad one by any means at all. The two men put on a pretty decent contest against one another and made for a solid main event on this episode of "Raw." My main problem was the choice of having Punk go over and win the Undisputed WWE Championship from Zayn.I have nothing against this happening in Chicago and think it was a smart call for WWE to choose to have this happen there if it was going to happen, but I do have a major issue with WWE choosing to put the Undisputed WWE Championship on Zayn at Night of Champions only for him to lose it a mere nine days later. Zayn has always been a wrestler that I regard in high fashion for being a hard worker, doing fantastic things between the ropes, and pretty much pulling off any character or gimmick that he's given. He deserves far better than having a nine-day reign with the first world championship he's ever won in WWE. I get that WWE perhaps didn't want Cody Rhodes to lose the Undisputed WWE Championship directly to Punk, but if that was the case, then they could've at least had Zayn win the title a little bit sooner than he did to make for a bit of a longer reign. I can at least see the loss being somewhat beneficial for Zayn's current heel character, but I wish it would've lasted a little bit longer to make Zayn come out looking better than he does right now.Written by Olivia Quinlan
Tonight saw the culmination of a whole bunch of different events to see Sami Zayn unseated, as expected, for the WWE Championship. Cody Rhodes was the man heading into the show with a shot at the title in the main event, having beaten Jey Uso on Friday to confirm his rematch for the title Zayn took from him at Night of Champions.But then he was taken out by GUNTHER at the beginning of the show, his head slammed in the door of a car and a question mark cast over the entire main event. GUNTHER and Nick Aldis continued their jawing as the "WWE SmackDown" General Manager was backstage even while being on administrative leave. And that then led Aldis and Adam Pearce to continue their back-and-forth in the GM war. Thus, when medical decided that Rhodes could not challenge Zayn for the title, Aldis secured a stand-in to save Pearce's scheduled bout.That stand-in, as it would turn out, was CM Punk. The show was in Chicago so it was a natural occurrence in that regard. The match was almost certainly better than if it was going to be Zayn and Rhodes. Punk looked good in the ring and Zayn put on an equally industrious performance, the result of which saw the bout feel like a genuine championship contest.Zayn borrowed the GTS. Punk borrowed the Helluva Kick. But it wasn't just a match of moves. Zayn wrestled with a lot more spite, oftentimes being the one on top of his challenger boasting that he is the champion now. But as he spent time doing that jawing, Punk returned with one last burst. The Helluva Kick he had borrowed was used to feed Zayn into a final GTS, getting that one-two-three and his eighth WWE World Championship.Cody Rhodes and CM Punk is an interesting proposition, as unfortunate as it is for Zayn to be relegated so quickly after winning the title at long last, and Punk winning the title in the manner he has is sure to make for some interesting TV in the meantime.Written by Max Everett
