Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show that gave us a new stipulation for Danhausen vs. Dominik Mysterio at SummerSlam, not to mention a new women's Intercontinental Champion! The WINC staff have thoughts on that last part here in the column, and we certainly have some thoughts on Danhausen and his musical collaboration with Joe Hendry.If you missed the show and need to catch up, please feel free to do so via our "WWE Raw" 7/27/26 results page, where you can read about matches like The Vision vs. Alpha Academy and Rey Mysterio vs.Ethan Page. We're not covering those matches here, because they didn't stand out to us in any sort of positive or negative way, which is what this column is all about. If you want to know what parts of the show did stand out to the WINC crew, and our opinions about those matches and segments, you've come to the right place! Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 7/27/26 episode of "WWE Raw!"
There are some segments where I truly don't even know where to begin with them because of how wearisome I found them to sit through them from start to end. The opening weigh-in segment between Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar from this edition of "Raw" is a perfect example of one of those segments.There are two things that I will give WWE credit for doing with this weigh-in. First, as commentary pointed out, they did try to give Lesnar's character some depth by leaving it up for debate whether or not he locked Femi in the cage out of fear or to mess with Femi's head. It did add a little something to this, and left room for each fan to interpret Lesnar's actions as they wish to do so. Second, I also appreciate that this segment felt big enough as a means of kicking off the go-home episode of "Raw" before SummerSlam. With all that said, my positive thoughts on all of this end about there.Lesnar didn't even bother to step on the scale at any point in this match and Paul Heyman instead had to reveal his weight to the fans citing that Lesnar had already weighed himself backstage. It rendered the entire point of the segment useless, and just felt like a complete waste of time since only one of the men actually weighed in inside the ring itself. I would've rather this just have been advertised as one last meeting between the two men ahead of SummerSlam given that Paul Heyman spent most of this hyping up Lesnar, calling Femi an underdog (even though he has definitely not proven to be that at all both in and outside the context of this storyline), and emphasizing that Lesnar has never lost a Hell in a Cell match.I also didn't really understand the point of having this take place inside the Hell in the Cell cage. WWE has already pushed the stipulation for Femi and Lesnar's SummerSlam match super hard already; there was no need to have it there as a sort of last minute reminder. It also made it a little hard to see what was happening inside at the same time with so many bodies inside the ring, especially when combined with how many camera cuts were going on at the same time.Here's what I think this all ended up boiling down to: WWE tried to cram too much into the short amount of time this segment was allotted. Not much of it really ended up working for me, and it just was not something that I enjoyed sitting through.Written by Olivia Quinlan
Je'Von Evans continues to be a big hit on "WWE Raw," despite not having much to do at the moment. He's currently just having banger matches while seemingly waiting to get back in the Intercontinental Championship scene after SummerSlam. Despite pretty much needing to tread water between now and then, Evans is still doing a fantastic job. He's still getting booked on the show consistently, because he's so darn good and exciting in the ring, and fans absolutely adore him.Tonight, he faced off against Rusev, who commentary noted he's faced three times in recent memory. While I'm not a huge fan of Rusev's latest run in WWE, he's been a solid opponent for Evans, and I don't think it's a bad thing for a younger star to work the same opponent a few times in a row especially when that young star gets his win back, like Evans did here. Rusev made him pass out in the Accolade two weeks ago during the number one contender's gauntlet to determine who would be the next challenger for Penta's IC title.One of my favorite things about Evans right now is the subtle work he's doing on his character, despite not being in a larger overall story. He'll start off the match as his usual, fun, goofy, bouncy self, making his energetic entrance, and even throwing to commercial break via camera at ringside, which is always cute. Then, recently, there's a point of the match where his switch flips, and he becomes more intense and locked in, while still working as a high-flyer.It happened tonight after the show came back from break. Rusev kept taking him down with right hands, and Evans kept getting up, the intense look on his face noticeable. He was back to his feet and hitting Rusev with rights of his own, and backed him into the corner. Evans nailed his opponent with a wicked Red Dot, sending him out of the ring. He fought off the Accolade twice, and won the match with a great Stunner, followed by the OG Cutter.Evans may not be doing much storyline-wise on the red brand right now, but his ability to stay relevant with his high-flying abilities and in-ring work, and by all accounts, his willingness to take advice and learn, is serving him well so far. WWE may hate making big stars out of younger guys, but Evans is going to be more than ready whenever those in creative change their minds.Written by DaisyRuth
Danhausen and Joe Hendry banded together during this week's show to present the latest earworm in "I believe that you are cursed" targeted at the Judgment Day a segment which answered the question, "What forms of torture have the Geneva Conventions overlooked?"The first herald of doom came in the form of a guitar strum from Hendry while the lights were out, leading one for the briefest moment to wonder what Elijah was doing back on WWE TV. He followed that up with a few words before Danhausen was spotlighted to deliver some slam poetry with a bunch of Minihausens entering the ring to dance.They had an entire backing troupe participating in this humiliation ritual as the out-of-tune Hendry and Danhausen hammered the words "I believe that you are cursed" into the part of the brain that a sleep paralysis demon normally occupies. WBC Welterweight Champion boxer Ryan Garcia joined the troupe in their cursed conga line, because Zuffa Boxing had to have presence and Conor Benn takes himself too seriously. And then he entered the ring to beat up HendryHausen and was joined by the Judgment Day.There's a bit to unpack there. Firstly, someone actually got paid to come up with the idea of Hendry and Danhausen performing that song. One could respect the hustle if they didn't have to sit through it.It was terrible and befitting of a "The Fall of *insert wrestling promotion here*" documentary. Then there's Garcia's involvement feeding into the whole "Please dial down the celebrity s***" sentiment. Legitimately no one in the crowd knew he was any different from the backing dancers they had until he entered the ring. Even then, there is much doubt that anyone actually knew who he was and felt the need to buy into the new boxing monopoly. If, if, he had to be on the show, then surely there was some way that would have communicated who he was, why he was here, and what he was doing. That is coming from a boxing fan who actively knows who he is.Meanwhile, the Judgment Day-Danhausen stuff had run its course the week it started. Is there really nothing better to be done?Written by Max Everett
The highlight of "WWE Raw" came from a promo segment from a man in cream suit. A man's voice made mocking "pew pew" sounds after Jey Uso announced his warning shot. The camera found the voice and there stood Solo Sikoa in the crowd on the steps. He mocked the Usos for going back to Roman Reigns. When they threatened him with "or else?", Sikoa laughed at them. He hit them with some zingers and said he loved where he was at.Sikoa is a natural babyface. He oozes charisma. He's always been good on the mic, but has taken it to another level now that he's left the heel life behind. Even when he was a heel, it was easy to see by his delivery and from fan videos of him in the arena during commercial breaks that he's a funny dude. I've long said he was a comedy wrestler forced to lock in. Honestly, Sikoa should never be a heel again. Let him keep doing what he's doing.He's freshened up the rerun for the Bloodline story and made it more tolerable. After SummerSlam, I'd leave LA Knight out of this story. Or at least keep him away from Sikoa because his tired schtick brought the segment down. I hope WWE continues to let Sikoa go down this path and tap into this version of his character because he is one of the few highlights during very bleak times.Written by Samantha Schipman
I'll be the first to admit that I haven't been a fan at all of the World Heavyweight Championship storyline between Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins heading into SummerSlam with how many times WWE has already run it throughout the years. I was still willing to give their meeting from this edition of "Raw" a chance, but I had immediate regrets about doing so from the moment that the two men started talking to one another and it only continued to go downhill from there.I can't help but get the feeling that WWE may not even know themselves what Reigns and Rollins are even feuding over this time. The two men touched on everything possible in this one single segment, from Rollins reiterating his feeling that Reigns gets everything handed to him to the infamous WWE WrestleMania 31 cash-in to Rollins insisting he was the better professional wrestler and player of mind games to Rollins wanting to watch Reigns' family cry. It made this verbal confrontation feel like it was really discoordinated and all over the place, with no running thread to anchor what either man was telling the other in order to connect everything. I also found it really boring to watch and didn't really feel any kind of fire in their words to one another. The physical confrontation that this all led to was fine, but it also gave what I would consider to be a dead giveaway to the winner of the SummerSlam match with Rollins being the one to (literally) stand tall over Reigns by leaving him laid out in the ring with a Stomp using the chair. Considering that this is the last time that Reigns and Rollins will be meeting before SummerSlam, I came out of this "Raw" feeling rather deflated when this closer should've done the exact opposite by inciting an excited feeling in me for SummerSlam.Written byOlivia Quinlan
While I absolutely adore Sol Ruca, the more I thought about it, the more I love the fact Raquel Rodriguez beat her for the Women's Intercontinental Championship tonight. While I do feel bad for Ruca, it seemed like creative just wasn't putting as much trust into her as they started off with when she was first called up from "WWE NXT," probably from the botched Sol Snatchers. This was only her third defense of the title since she won it from Becky Lynch back at Clash in Italy in May.Rodriguez has been working hard and has only gotten better in the ring over the last few months, something I've "loved" her for before. She also got the win after seemingly breaking, or at least busting open her nose. Respect to her for getting through that, as it was bad enough the referee had to wipe the blood off her face a few times during the match.While I didn't necessarily love that she had Judgment Day interference to help her win her first singles championship in WWE, that was to be expected. As Ruca was going for the Sol Snatcher, Roxanne Perez jumped up on the ring apron and pulled her down, smacking her face off the ring post, allowing for Rodriguez to hit her with Tejana Bomb for the surprise victory.Now that Rodriguez is champion, the Women's IC title is much more likely to get some TV time. I hate that it wasn't Ruca who was able to do more for the gold, but the Judgment Day is always all over the red brand, and the title is also going to more than likely be the subject of more infighting between the women. I don't see Liv Morgan, who was also at ringside tonight, walking out of SummerSlam still Women's World Champion, and she's going to be furious that Rodriguez is the only one of the three women with a title, and she may try to turn Perez against her friend, as well.The "Raw" women's division isn't the strongest, and hopefully Ruca gets back in the swing of things here soon. Lyra Valkyria was also seen watching the match intensely backstage, and even though she's a heel, I think she could be a super interesting challenger for Rodriguez. She may not have too many women to face-off against just yet, but even just getting the title shown on TV in various segments, with some acknowledgement, is a step up at this point.Written by DaisyRuth
