Welcome toWrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show that saw Roman Reigns get a new challenger for the World Heavyweight Championship, as well as the returns of Becky Lynch, Stephanie Vaquer, andBig Cass! We have thoughts about all of that here in the column this week, as well as street fight main event and more!If you missed the show, you can catch up via our "WWE Raw" 8/3/2026 results page, which can give you every bit of the fallout from SummerSlam in objective and chronological fashion. This column can't give you that, because that's not what this column is for here, we give you the WINC staff's opinions about the matches and segments that stood out to us the most, either in a positive or a negative way. So without further ado, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 8/3/26 episode of "WWE Raw!"
Objectively speaking, I didn't mind the verbal confrontation between Roman Reigns and LA Knight that kicked off this edition of "Raw" seeing as there was nothing really wrong with the content of what was said. Although Knight has been calling out Reigns for weeks on end which gives him some grounds for being next in line for a World Heavyweight Championship, I'm not sure that this was the move that WWE should've made after SummerSlam.When boiled down, there are two glaring issues that I had with this entire segment. First off, WWE is acting like Reigns and Seth Rollins haven't spent basically the entire last month having tons of bad blood with one another. Whether you liked the storyline or not, there's no denying that it was billed by WWE as being this intense matter between two men who have a long history with one another. For that reason, it doesn't really make sense or sit right with me that Reigns and Rollins are all of the sudden cool with one another after their post-match SummerSlam Sunday handshake and Reigns noting they've both found peace before leading the Des Moines crowd in singing Rollins' song. There needs to be a little more of a cool off period in my opinion before WWE can acknowledge their relationship status instead of brushing it off like it was nothing at all.Second, I appreciate that WWE is trying to add some fresh blood into their World Heavyweight Championship picture by throwing Knight into the mix. I'm sure there's plenty of fans out there excited to see him in such a high profile position on the card, but the issue I have with Knight being Reigns' next challenger is that I just have a hard time believing that he will actually be the one to get the job done and dethrone Reigns as World Heavyweight Champion. I personally see that being a very unlikely scenario when you compare the recent booking of both men, and feel like this entire storyline is going to be rendered pointless for that very reason.Written by Olivia Quinlan
However you feel about Big Cass returning via a post-match attack on Je'Von Evans, you at least have to admit that the match that preceded it Evans vs. longtime rival Ethan Page was pretty damn good.I had a lot of fun with this one, which was largely a showcase for the always-exciting Evans. He pulled out pretty much the full gamut of his creative offense here, and I love the way he even moves around the ring differently from other wrestlers, using his speed and his rangy limbs to dance and swerve from rope to rope. He got the big spots, but let it never be said that Page didn't get his stuff in I particularly enjoyed the bit where Page disrupted the bottom rope as Evans was leaping onto it, causing Evans to crash to the mat, then followed up with an innovative cradle suplex. Honestly, the nice thing about this match was that it got time to breathe, with both wrestlers pulling out impressive moves but not spamming finishers. A few times I was expecting the match to end, or at least noticed a point where it could have ended, but instead one of the competitors kicked out and the match continued. That enabled things to get out of second gear and build to a creative finish that saw Evans leap all the way over the referee to hit the OG Cutter and score the clean victory.I don't know how he's going to fare against Big Cass, but it's nice seeing Evans stack some wins and finally break free from feuding with Page and Rusev. And while some people might prefer the street fight that closed the show, for my money, this was the match of the night.Written by Miles Schneiderman
I believe I may have missed one vignette for Big Cass leading up to his return, but from everything I had seen prior to tonight, I didn't think he would be returning as a heel. With all the talk of clawing his way back up from rock bottom, I thought we were going to get a nice story of redemption. I was confused that Enzo Amore didn't appear to be returning alongside him, from what the promos showed, but now, I guess that makes a little more sense.His return had been announced for tonight, and we knew it from back when the first promo aired, but it was still a surprise to see him jump Je'Von Evans following the young star's victory over Ethan Page. He didn't appear to any fanfare, or even much reaction from the crowd, really, and nailed "The Young OG" with the East River Crossing. I'm assuming WWE debuted him against a major babyface in Evans to attempt to get some heat, but the crowd barely noticed. Cass looks fantastic, and every bit the kind of guy WWE loves to bring in, but the crowd could not have cared less, even if he did take out the beloved Evans.I'm a big fan of a good redemption story, especially the story of Big Cass and what he's been through, so this is disappointing. Debuting him as a heel isn't going to tell the story of the demons he overcame, and won't make him relatable, which isn't going to be helpful if they want to turn him face alongside Amore, if he returns. I'm also confused there, as I read reports that WWE was waiting to bring Amore in until Cass signed. I'm interested to learn what happened there.I wasn't the only one confused, as the words "no Enzo" were trending on my sidebar on X, and when I clicked through the posts, nobody seemed thrilled about it. I'm not trying to push aside Amore's past accusations or behaviors or anything like that, but I just don't think Cass in WWE without Amore is worth much, and it doesn't feel like it's going to bode well for him. WWE fumbled him as a heel already.His backstage promo after the attack on Evans wasn't anything special. He mentioned being left for dead in the dirt eight years ago, and it took him that long to get back to WWE from rock bottom. He told Evans it wasn't anything personal, but Evans "got in the way." Which ... he didn't, and that was a pretty lame thing to say. Here's hoping things look up for him in the coming weeks, because his return was anything but thrilling.Written byDaisyRuth
The "WWE Raw" women's division got a healthy injection in the aftermath of SummerSlam, with Liv Morgan celebrating her first Women's World title defense in over 100 days against IYO SKY this past weekend, followed by the returns of Becky Lynch and Stephanie Vaquer to stake their claims to the title.Without even getting into the content of the promo exchange between Lynch and Morgan, because that was terrible, it was just good to see Lynch back. Even better was that she was returning as a babyface rather than her Trumpian delusional heel character, and that for the first time in months there was someone other than SKY actively interested in the world title.Morgan opted to leave before swearing into any defense of her title against Lynch, but that allowed Vaquer to make her return and double up on the champion, marking another welcome reinsertion into the Women's World title picture. It didn't stop there either, with Vaquer and Lynch clearing the ring of their rivals before coming face-to-face themselves. Vaquer clearly told Lynch to stay out of her way, to which Lynch responded: "Or what?"Now there are two more top tier challengers for the title from a segment that began with Morgan boasting that she had no challengers. If anything else, it's just good to have them back. Vaquer vs. Lynch sounds like a great time, as does a rematch with Morgan from either or both of them, on top of whatever work they get to do with Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez in the lead-in to that.Written byMax Everett
WWE was this close to pulling off a really great and much needed women's segment. Yet, they had to get in their own way. Becky Lynch made her return after two months. It appears she has shed her Donald Trump-esque persona and is returning to her babyface roots. She called Liv Morgan out with some truths about only defending her title once in 100 days and called her a "glorified valet." Morgan's only response? Telling Lynch to be a stay-at-home mom. It's such a tired trope, especially when Lynch has been balancing being a mom and a wrestler, as a champion no less. Many wrestlers have balanced being a mom with their career as a wrestler. But of course, Lynch had to get in her own sexist line as well. She told Morgan that she wasn't the greatest champion in her group or the greatest one to sleep with Dominik Mysterio. This segment was naturally followed by a video package glorifying Brock Lesnar.These lines come on the heels of Maxxine Dupri being turned from a wrestler into a valet for her onscreen boyfriend, Austin Theory. She is a former champion and now is arm candy. Lash Legend defeated Giulia in two minutes in a qualifying match. Jordynne Grace and Blake Monroe can't even find their way into a match. Women's segments are getting shorter or limited to just one per show. Sometimes, there's no women's matches at all. Women keep getting reduced to tropes reminiscent of the Divas Era. On the other end of the spectrum, AJ Lee has revealed she gets paid on par with her husband.WWE have been floundering with their overall product, but the women's division can't afford to wait until 2028 for major changes to be made. Simple changes could be made to improve the division, but WWE isn't going to make them. They're fine with playing up tropes they've always had for women. God forbid women have other things that drive them besides being catty, s*** shaming other women, or fighting over a man.Written bySamantha Schipman
After weeks of miserable SummerSlam build, with promo segments for the top titles ending every single show, I was thrilled to have a surprise street fight between Royce Keys and Jacob Fatu as the main event tonight. I did think that it would end in shenanigans, with Roman Reigns, LA Knight and the Usos running out to get involved. That wasn't the case, thankfully, and Fatu beat Keys clean well, as clean as one can in a street fight then brutalized him further to end the show.I loved the way they set it up earlier in the night, with Reigns asking Fatu why he kept hearing that he was friends with Keys. Reigns guilted Fatu, telling him Keys was just one of the boys, he isn't family, something Fatu repeated to Keys in a backstage segment later on in the night when he challenged him to the match.I thought the match was pretty great, as someone who loves a good stipulation bout. Fatu seems like he's really been working on his selling, and he looks fantastic. Keys sent him tumbling over the steps toward the beginning of the match, and he made the relatively simple bump look dramatic, but in a good way. They spent a lot of time fighting outside of the ring in the first half, as they should, and I loved how Fatu was yelling at his former friend all throughout the match, telling him that he has to do this.They had a bunch of chairs inside of the ring, which looked wild, and both men were taking moves on top of them like crazy. The first pinfall attempt of the match didn't happen until late, at which point I thought to myself that they were getting plenty of time, more than I thought without any interference.In the end, it was Fatu who hit the mighty moonsault after sending Keys through a table, then he locked in the Tongan Death Grip to make Keys pass out. He wouldn't let go of the hold, which was brutal, and looked even more so thanks to a blood capsule in Keys' mouth. Fatu continued the brutal attack and nailed Keys, who had a chair around his neck, with a hip attack in the corner.It all brought out Reigns, who acknowledged Fatu, and Fatu didn't look remorseful about anything he did to his former friend. I remain interested in the "Samoan Werewolf's" story arc, and if Oba Femi wasn't lurking around the picture, I'd be hoping he would be the man to dethrone Reigns. With Femi, I'm not sure where Fatu fits in, but he's still doing a hell of a job at standing out.Written byDaisyRuth
