WWE Raw results, highlights (July 7): Seth Rollins, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed dominate
Monday Night Rollins, indeed
One of Seth Rollins' several catchphrases couldn't have rang more true on this "WWE Raw," as his stable was the center of focus, with all three wrestlers having matches. Before that, they opened the show with perhaps their most unique segment yet.
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Rollins looked to do his same old schtick, threatening the roster and bouncing. Instead, Bron Breakker intercepted the mic hand-off from Paul Heyman to express his hatred of Sami Zayn. Rollins and Heyman played it off like they were confused, and it felt like we were already getting a hint of dissension. They came around though, and then Rollins handed it off to Bronson Reed, and he finally (kind of) gave an explanation for how the pair mended fences. He essentially just said it came from respect, given how much he attacked Rollins. That still doesn't really make sense, but at least it was addressed.
Heyman had his turn on the mic too, and was brilliant as always, even breaking out some secret Spanish skills to cut a promo on Penta. This was a wildly refreshing promo for a stable, as it helped add value to every member and removed any semblance of Reed and Breakker being limited to purely henchman roles. Rollins is still clearly the leader, but Reed and Breakker are great talents who deserve to be highlighted. So, more mic time works for me.
Outside of a brief rally spot, Breakker effectively squashed Zayn in their match. That was the least interesting bit of this, however. Karrion Kross attacked Zayn with a pipe mid-entrance to lead this in the direction it went. So, a big stipulation rematch with Kross has to be on the horizon now, but he's been so underutilized that I doubt he'll get the much-needed win when that happens.
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I mean, the crowd chanted, "We want Kross," rooting for this violent heel. Listen to the people, WWE.
Reed's match with Uso wasn't much different. After some brief exchanges, they made their way outside and attempted a spot with the announce table chair, which ultimately led Reed to disqualify himself. The "Sethriders" made it clear at the top of the show that they just wanted to destroy their enemies, so it was what it was.
Uso took a pair of tsunamis, and the staff security saved him. That was the only part that felt off. So, Uso gets saved by the company, but everyone else can get decimated?
Thankfully, there was no squashing to be done in the main event when Rollins wrestled Penta. Who would have thought we'd ever see this match? Not me, but it delivered.
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Rollins picked up the win after a headbutt downstairs to Penta (a unique approach) into a stomp. It was a relatively anticlimactic finish to such a great match, but some of the near falls were excellent. On the negative side, the Penta losses keep on stacking up, which feels even more concerning considering his brother Rey Fenix is now paired with Andrade (and killing it) on "WWE SmackDown."
LA Knight snuck in a surprise BFT after the match when Rollins and the boys appeared to do their typical post-match attack. I want to say it feels like Knight is finally getting some real steam behind him with this treatment, but how he gets injected adequately into a world title scene feels almost impossible. There is always leeway to give when someone has the Money In the Bank briefcase, and this is the perfect moment to elevate and put over Knight with a win over Rollins at Saturday Night's Main Event. Use that as the catalyst for him to target the World Heavyweight title. Especially when we know there's unfinished business with Rollins and CM Punk — and Roman Reigns.
🤪Cheap Pop of the Night
As this "WWE Raw" neared its end, I didn't at all expect a Gunther appearance — then he made his entrance before the main event match. He got a nice reaction and said Goldberg must be afraid since he hasn't been showing up since their match was made official. That somewhat hilariously led to Goldberg drifting his way to the arena and walking out to the ring to punch Gunther. The fans were into it, but this was just an incredibly quick go-home show pop.
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There was also a "Goldberg sucks" sign. So, that's where we're at, folks.
👍MONDAY NIGHT MONEY👍
1. The Judgment Day clubhouse segment was incredible on this "WWE Raw." From the mourning of Liv Morgan to AJ Styles creeping on Dominick Mysterio, I'm suddenly changing my mind about this faction dissolving. Talk about incredible longevity.
2. Kairi Sane beat Roxanne Perez. Sane stays winning? Add this to the list of "things you love to see." Sane hit a backslide pin to get the win after an outside dive took out Raquel Rodriguez, prompting the duo to attack Sane afterward. Therefore, it brought a Kabuki Warriors reunion when Asuka made the save. All of a sudden, women's tag teams are returning tremendously, as the Kabuki Warriors are officially in the Evolution title match.
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The final move sequences between the pairs were a bit clunky, but overall, this all worked.
3. For any Up, Up, Down, Down fans out there, you surely loved this Becky Lynch barb as much as I did.
4. The video package for Iyo Sky vs. Rhea Ripley at Evolution was fantastic. WWE did a great job of stitching this all together to make it feel huge despite its piecemeal nature.
5. El Grande "Amerikaiser" returned to action with a win over Dragon Lee, utilizing that classic steel plate in the mask tactic. It's still impossible to tell where the whole Americano angle is going, especially with Ludwig Kaiser now in the role with Chad Gable injured. But the matches have been fun, and it's just goofy wrestling shenanigans at this point.
👎RAW DEAL👎
1. There was a Nikki Bella promo video teasing her in-ring return in the battle royal at Evolution. Man, respect to her, and it's great to have someone like her around, but this felt so wildly scripted and inauthentic.
👑 Uncrowned Gem of the Night 👑
In the context of Lyra Valkyria's character in recent weeks, she's looked like a complete idiot. On this "WWE Raw," she recovered some of that steam lost, standing tall and looking strong as hell to close her segment, planting Lynch and Bayley with a Nightwing. This was a great hype builder for their triple-threat match. And I've just got to say, if there's one area that WWE can't seem to miss right now, it's those "three for alls."
Lynch started this segment and is beginning to resemble her husband, Rollins, in a justified heel role. She made great points about it being nonsensical that Valkyria and Bayley are just thrown into a title match with her after wrestling to a draw. Last week's Bayley vs. Valkyria match wasn't even labeled as a title eliminator, after all. Overall, Lynch was just on fire here and called back to Bayley's history of friendships falling through.
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It's just great to see not only the Intercontinental title continually grow in value but also Valkyria's emergence as a major superstar. There has to be a path back to her Lynch trilogy match, and it should start with her winning at Evolution, leading to a match between Lynch and Bayley in the meantime. There are numerous interesting paths to explore here, and that's a good problem to have.
👑 I give this show a Crown score of: 7/10.👑
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