WWE Raw takeaways: Cody Rhodes, Jade Cargill advance to tournament finals

USA Today

4 days ago

WWE Monday Night Raw on June 23 took place at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, and featured the last semifinal matches in the Queen and King of the Ring tournament.
On this week's show, The New Day finally got a tag title match scheduled, Sami Zayn got fed up with Karrion Kross, Raquel Rodriguez put Rhea Ripley through a sponsored table, and Bron Breakker got a nice win over Penta.
Check out the top takeaways from this episode:
Seth Rollins is the "the finish line"
Opening this week's show was Seth Rollins on the mic along with his crew of Paul Heyman, Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker. Rollins referred to everyone in the ring as "the future," which not the first time the group has been labeled as such. However, they still have not yet been given an official name.
After taking credit for everything good in WWE, Rollins went off about CM Punk being a thorn in his side. He also made mention of Jey Uso, Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton, who were all still active in the King of the Ring tournament, but Rollins warned they were all fighting for second place.
As long as Rollins holds the Money in the Bank briefcase, he holds "the finish line" and "the endgame."
There really wasn't anything new here in this promo, but Rollins delivered it well. WWE really, really should slap an official name on this group. Just go with "The Future" and print the t-shirts.
Jade Cargill advances to Queen of the Ring final
The last spot in the Queen of the Ring final was determined between Jade Cargill vs. Roxanne Perez.
It was speed vs. power, and early in the match, Perez frustrated Cargill by running all around the ring, inside and out in a game of cat and mouse. Well, eventually the cat outsmarted the mouse and licked her face.
Once Cargill got a hold of Perez, the power game was on display. However, Perez found a way to damage Cargill's leg, which then became her focus. Cargill sold the leg damage well as she struggled to complete moves and showed affects until the end of the match. That end came after a sequence of a powerbomb followed by Jaded for the three count.
After the match, while Cargill posed next to the display crown at the entrance, Asuka joined her for a photo-op face-off for their match taking place at Night of Champions on Saturday.
We've seen Cargill take on opponents much bigger like Nia Jax and much smaller like with Perez, and she's been performing well with everyone. The match vs. Asuka will be interesting. Will it be Queen Asuka or Queen Jade? Both are deserving, but it's arguable that Asuka needs the win more here.
Goldberg, Gunther trade intense promos
A pre-taped interview with Goldberg and Michael Cole was shown during the show to hype up the match against Gunther. Goldberg, looking every bit of 58 while sitting in the chair, said in so many words that he couldn't allow Gunther to get away with talking trash.
Goldberg said he didn't know who his retirement match was going to be against, but Gunther kind of volunteered himself for it by opening his mouth.
"I am gonna beat the f*** out of Gunther!" Goldberg said.
Later in the show, Gunther marched to the ring to offer his rebuttal.
Gunther was intense as ever. He said Goldberg was the man in his day, but it's no longer 1999. He then got up close to the camera and offered an apology to Goldberg's wife and son for what he's going to do to him.
"It's my personal responsibility to make sure that the legacy and the myth of Bill Goldberg forever dies!" Gunther said.
This was the absolute best thing WWE could have done with these promos. Allowing Goldberg to be in a controlled environment to speak his piece, and then having Gunther come out like a terrifying killer was excellent promo work. Gunther also directly saying we're not in the late '90s anymore was perfect too, because he's not shying away from the ridiculousness of this matchup.
The match is dumb, but this was about as good as it gets for what they have to work with here.
Becky Lynch retains IC title
The Women's Intercontinental Championship was on the line in a singles match between the champ Becky Lynch and challenger Bayley, who was rocking the gear she intended to wear before getting pulled off WrestleMania 41.
As expected, Bayley and Lynch put on a fantastic back-and-forth match. Both had big moments and kept the crowd into it. Things eventually spilled to the outside of the ring, where Lynch attempted to bury Bayley underneath the commentary desk by covering her with chairs for a count out win.
Lyra Valkyria appeared from the crowd to assist Bayley back into the ring. Valkyria got up on the ring apron, refusing to his Lynch as she pointed at her chin, attempting to draw the DQ. Lynch ended up kicking Valkyria a moment later, which prompted her to enter the ring and attack, just as Bayley had went to the top rope looking to put her finishing touches on the match.
Lynch escaped with the DQ win as Lynch and Valkyria argued in the ring.
Welp, Bayley gets screwed again. Even though Bayley and Valkyria made peace in a backstage segment before the match, all of that went out the window. It's always good to get title matches on weekly television, but more often than not, you can expect shenanigans, and that's what happened here.
Cody Rhodes advances to King of the Ring final
The main event of this week's episode was none other than "Main Event" Jey Uso against his good friend Cody Rhodes for the last spot in the King of the Ring final. The babyface vs. babyface clash started with respect from both before getting down to business.
Rhodes pulled out a kimura submission as a counter to an Uso Splash, and then Uso reversed into what has become a useful hold for him, the sleeper. A few moments later, Rhodes met Uso on the top rope for a superplex.
After regaining some momentum, Uso went for a Cross Rhodes. Instead, he got hit with a Cody Cutter. Rhodes would go for a Disaster Kick, but got hit with a spear as the back-and-forth continued.
After Rhodes hit a top rope Cody Cutter, Uso would connect with a Cross Rhodes. Then Uso unloaded with a series of kicks and a spear, but it wasn't enough. Rhodes hulked up for a top rope neckbreaker followed by a Cross Rhodes for the win.
After the match, Rhodes and Uso embraced, showing no hard feelings after a hard-fought competition between friends.
Rhodes advances to the final, where he will meet Randy Orton at Night of Champions for the King of the Ring crown. It makes sense Rhodes won here because he needed to get back to singles success.