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WWE RAW REPORT
AUGUST 4, 2025
BROOKLYN, N.Y. AT BARCLAYS CENTER
AIRED LIVE ON NETFLIX (WORLDWIDE)
REPORT BY WADE KELLER, PWTORCH EDITOR
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves
Ring Announcer: Alicia Taylor
Attendance: WrestleTix reported earlier that 8,254 tickets had been distributed so far; arena set up for 9,958. The arena has a capacity of 19,000 spectators when configured for concerts.
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PWTorch editor Wade Keller is joined by PWTorch contributor Kelly Wells to review WWE Raw LIVE tonight right after the show ends. Join us and let us know your thoughts on Raw during the show.
Email our post-show at wadekellerpodcast@gmail.com with your comments and questions about Raw. We’ll read your emails live during the post-show.
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[HOUR ONE]
-They opened with a four minute video package on Summerslam.
-They showed the exterior of the arena and then the arrival of wrestlers including Charlotte & Alexa Bliss and Naomi.
-Seth Rollins made his entrance along with Paul Heyman, Bron Breakker, and Bronson Reed as fans sang Seth’s song. Heyman declared that he is the GOAT “and your humble oracle.” He said he stands there in the presence of the future of WWE, “the big dog who patrols our yard, Bron Breakker.” He said he’s humbled by the fact that he stands in the same ring as “the Tribal Thief,” Bronson Reed, who had Roman Reigns’s shoes hanging over his neck. He said in the past he’d be standing there in the presence of Reigns. Fans chanted “OTC!” He said Reigns hasn’t been champion for a year-and-a-half. He said he also would be standing next to the Best in the World C.M. Punk, but Punk wasn’t champion long enough for them to put his side plates on the title belt. He said Punk had one of the greatest title matches ever against Gunther, and after winning, he thought he’d be married to the title forever. He said Seth crashed the honeymoon “and she was good.”
Fans began singing Seth’s song again. “Brooklyn, shame on you!” Seth began. “Shame on every single one of you who turned your back on me after I won the main event of WrestleMania.” He complained about them chanting “C.M. Punk” and “OTC.” He also shamed every person in the locker room who made it their mission to stop him from successfully cashing in his Money in the Bank contract.
He said he had a B-plan that was top secret. He said he told two people – his wife Becky Lynch and his oracle, Paul Heyman. “Together, we achieved what we set out to achieve. We have absolute power!” He held up his title belt. He said there is nobody who can stop them. He said it is the past, present, and future. “This is the way forward,” he said. “This is the vision.”
L.A. Knight’s music played and he made his way to the ring. Knight said people are thinking that he had the MITB briefcase, so why would he have to fake an injury. “I’ll tell you why,” he said. “You weren’t faking the injury to get that, you were faking the injury to get out of this.” He said going into Saturday Night’s Main Event, he said he wanted to take his dignity and hurt him. He said he didn’t get the chance to hurt him the way he wanted to. He said he did make him eat a BFT and scored a three count. He said Seth pulled the wool so far over everyone’s eyes, he fooled himself. He said even his Oracle didn’t see it coming. He said he tuned into Summerslam and he realized he had to get to Brooklyn to remind him he was the last one to beat him and he’ll be the next one. He said last time he wanted to hurt him real bad, but now he can hurt him worse by taking his World Title from him. He said there’s no better place here and no better time than now.
Seth told Knight he has some guts. He told him if he wants to fight him live on Raw, the answer is “no.” He left the ring as his crew laughed.
Raw G.M. Adam Pearce walked out and said normally he would not make a World Title match with zero promotion. He said normally, though, he wouldn’t have his World Champion lying about his medical condition to him, his medical team, and the fans. “To hell with normal,” he said. He booked a World Title match for tonight. He said since he stole a great moment from fans at Summerslam, he wanted to steal something from him. He banned Breakker and Reed from ringside.
(Keller’s Analysis: The premise of the fake injury still makes no sense since it didn’t give Seth any tangible advantage unless you believe a beaten and battered Punk would have been better able to absorb the beating and the Stomp from from Seth. This segment addressed it without actually touting an advantage that it was supposed to have given him. The whole thing was silly and a needless distraction. Having Knight be the first on TV to call out Seth worked fine since he pivoted to using it against Seth since he was the one who last beat him, even if Seth fed himself to him before the loss. It’s telling that neither Seth nor Heyman even tried to explain how faking the knee injury gave Seth any actual advantage. No, “element of surprise” doesn’t count for anything in that scenario. Had Seth entered the ring on crutches and confronted Punk after a match where Punk wasn’t so clearly battered and beaten and exhausted and then attacked Punk only after Punk felt turning his back on a man with crutches was safe, then maybe. But since nothing even close to that happened, it didn’t have a payoff that actually looks like an advantage was gained. I’m just glad to get past this fake injury nonsense, and I hope WWE’s creative forces realize the misguided motivations for conjuring up the idea and deciding to go with it and stick with things that make sense rather than desperate illogical tactics to try to simply “surprise fans” or “fool people.”)
-Backstage Dominik Mysterio gloated about beating A.J. Styles with his crew. He then threw some insults at the LWO. Dragon Lee challenged him to a match later. Dom said, “You’re on.” Styles then walked up to Dom and said what he did last night was clever. He said he’s coming after him. He warned him that move for move, he’s still one of the best and his time is running out. Dom quipped, “Time is running out because you’re getting old.”
(Keller’s Analysis: So the story is Dom intentionally had a loose boot that Styles happened to pull off of him so he could then utilize it? That’s a stretch to try to frame that as some predetermined strategy on Dom’s part. He’d have had to forecast so much for that to play out the way it did.)
-Rusev made his entrance. [c]
(1) RUSEV vs. SHEAMUS
The bell rang 32 minute into the hour. They cut to an early break after Sheamus landed White Noise from the second rope. [c]
They fought at ringside. Eventually both men were counted out as Sheamus battered Rusev with forearms to the chest.
WINNER: Double countout at 10:00.
-Afterward, as officials tried to pull Sheamus away from Rusev, Rusev picked up the ringside steps and bashed Sheamus with them. He then held up the shillelagh, but Sheamus got up and delivered a Brogue Kick. They were separated. They broke free and fought again before being separated again. Cole talked about Rusev’s crazed eyes.
-A clip aired from earlier of New Day dressed for a ridiculous funeral. Grayson Waller tried to talk them out of their funk. Xavier Woods said they’re still not in the state of mind to fight until they regain their tag team titles. Waller walked over to Pearce and said he wanted to talk to him. Pearce said he was in the middle of a conversation with Penta. Waller told him to stop worrying about “this little luchador.” Pearce said New Day can get a rematch when they earn it. He said Waller has earned a match, though, against Penta later. [c]
(2) GRAYSON WALLER vs. PENTA
Early in the match, New Day made their entrance. Cole asked about Xavier’s giant hat. Waller took control at ringside as they cut to a break. [c]
New Day joined in on commentary. Penta caught Waller with a superkick as he went for his finisher. Penta finished Waller with his Mexican Destroyer, although the Waller bump was sideways and awkward.
New Day congratulated Waller on his win. As Kofi Kingston gloated, Penta knocked him out of the ring. He then stole Xavier’s big hat and strutted, then did a flip dive onto an awaiting New Day at ringside.
WINNER: Penta in 8:00.
[HOUR TWO]
-They showed Charlotte and Bliss backstage. Rusev and Sheamus brawled into the arena right in front of them.
-A clip aired of “WWE Unreal” with Charlotte Flair walking around an empty stadium without make-up and talking about her return from her injury. [c]
-A video recap aired of Brock Lesnar’s return last night.
-A graphic touted that the return of Brock Lesnar reached 75 million social media views. (They didn’t tout the ratio of negative-to-positive comments.)
-They went to Cole and Graves at ringside who said they’re still buzzing from the shocking return of Lesnar. He said he spoke with Paul Levesque and Nick Khan after Summerslam. He said they reached out several weeks ago to Lesnar and told him they felt “it was time for him to come home.” He plugged that Cena would address the situation on Smackdown on Friday.
-Charlotte and Bliss came to the ring with their newly won tag titles. Graves said friendship isn’t essential to tag team success and said many tag teams over the years have had success but weren’t close friends. Charlotte took note of a (soft) “You deserve it chant” and said it might be the first time she received that chant. She smiled and said it felt good. She told bliss it feels good to champions, but if she stops hitting her in the head, maybe they can be… “I don’t want to put a label on it.” Bliss told her to say it. Charlotte denied it. Bliss said she was going to say “the F-word.” Charlotte said, “You’re such a pain in the A-word.”
Charlotte and Bliss began comparing how many times each has been champion when Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez interrupted. (Just in time, as that was getting awkward.) Raquel said nobody wants to be friends with Charlotte. Perez said they just want to bring gold back to The Judgment Day. As things heated up, Pearce came out and said normally a title match takes some time to put together. He added, “What the hell, tonight is not normal.” He booked the match to start right now. Cole asked what was going on with Pearce tonight. [c]
(3) CHARLOTTE FLAIR & ALEXA BLISS vs. ROXANNE PEREZ & RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ – Women’s Tag Team Title match
The match was joined in progress after the break. They cut to a break after Raquel slammed Bliss into the ringside barricade. [c]
After back and forth action, Bliss landed Sister Abigail on Perez for the win.
WINNERS: Charlotte & Alexa in around 14:00.
-Backstage, Iyo Sky, Asuka, and Kairi Sane were chatting when Rhea Ripley interrupted. She said she heard Sky talked to Pearce earlier. Sky said she wasn’t pinned in their match at Summerslam. Sky said she is determined to regain the title. Sky said she’ll never beat her.
-Dom made his entrance. [c]
-Cole plugged next year’s Summerslam as they showed an aerial view of Downtown Minneapolis.
-Images from Summerslam were shown with various headlines from corporate media along with statistics.
-They went to Cole and Graves at ringside. Graves joked about Cardi B’s security having to keep Cole away from her. Cole laughed that he wasn’t stalking her. Clips aired of the Becky Lynch vs. Lyra Valkyria match.
-They showed Bayley walking backstage for no apparent reason and then Lyra appeared and said she wanted to talk to her. She told Bayley that she can never challenge Becky again for that title. She said they each screwed things up for each other. She said she’s not her friend or her enemy, “but stay the hell out of my life.” She stormed off.
-Graves hyped AAA TripleMania XXXIII.
(4) DRAGON LEE vs. DOMINIK MYSTERIO
The bell rang 41 minutes into the hour. Lee got in the initial offensive flurry at ringside. Dom took over after he snapped Lee’s head over the top rope. [c]
Dom set up a top rope move, but Lee knocked him off balance. He then landed a leaping double stomp off the top rope. As Dom hung upside down, Lee had a perfect chance to hit the move in a believable way with actual urgency, but instead he made Dom hang there voluntarily for several seconds as he played to the crowd. Three El Grande Americanos came to the ring and created a distraction. Dom swung his boot and hit Lee and then scored the win. Cole said it’s been a long week, but he seems to be seeing triple.
WINNER: Dom in 9:00.
-Styles ran to the ring. Styles took the boot and swung, but Dom ducked and retreated to ringside. Styles threw the boot at him. Styles helped Lee to his feet.
-Jackie Redmond interviewed Sami Zayn conspicuously in the parking garage. She asked how it felt to prove Karrion Kross wrong. Sami said that Kross and Scarlett would have liked if he used the pipe. He said it would have felt good to hit him and pay him back, but that’s not who he wants to be. He said he wants to be a world champion. He said he will some day, but he wants to do it right. Sheamus and Rusev bumped into him as they continued to brawl.
(Keller’s Analysis: They decided to make the suddenness of this more important than the realism, as it was clear Sami should have both seen and heard the Rusev-Sheamus brawl and the crowd of people trying to break it up at least several before they entered the picture. It’s just so easy to tweak this stuff to make it feel more authentic and less sloppily staged.)
-They showed Becky Lynch backstage. [c]
-They showed Dave East, Da’Vinchi, and Adam Blackstone in the crowd.
-Becky made her entrance to her new theme. Graves touted her new theme. A gleeful Becky said “Ding dong, Lyra is gone.” She said it’s time to move on to new challengers. She said everyone is saying she is the greatest female competitor ever.
[HOUR THREE]
Nikki Bella interrupted and said she said she stepped away because she knew when Becky arrived, the Women’s Division was in great hands. Nikki said since then, she’s disappointed her. She said Becky isn’t giving a boost to a generation but is “literally hand-cuffing them.” She asked why Becky came back. She asked if she was driven by jealously of Ripley’s success or was Hollywood not demanding her as much she thought. Becky pushed back by bringing up that she’s in “Happy Gilmore 2.” She taunted Nikki about her role being cut. “I got you cut,” she said. “Because there is only room for one of us.” Nikki said, “You are a liar, just like your husband.”
Nikki said everyone bought Seth’s lie (uhhh…) but not Becky’s. Becky said, “Do not talk about my hot husband.” She said they are the greatest wrestling couple of all time. She said at one point that would have been Nikki and her boyfriend. “Oh wait, you can’t see him anymore!” Fans popped for that as she waved her hand in front of her face. A “Holy shit!” chant broke out. She said when she came up through the ranks, it was to combat her era, “so don’t talk to me about how we handle my era.”
Nikki said during her era, Becky was too scared to take her on one-on-one. She challenged her to a match. Nikki led a “Yes!” chant. Becky said they never went on one-on-one, then she gave Nikki a cheapshot mid-sentence. Becky retreated up the aisle, trash-talking the whole way.
-Byron Saxton interviewed Naomi backstage about retaining her title at Summerslam. Naomi said she feels great, but she warned everyone not be shocked. She said now the doubters look stupid “and that’s not my fault.” She said she will be facing Iyo Sky next week. Stephanie Vaquer said one day the belt will belong to her after the Clash. Naomi said she’ll be leaving Paris with a limp, then walked off cackling.
-They went to Cole and Graves at ringside. They talked about Gunther’s cut. They said he suffered a orbital blowout fracture and will be out of action indefinitely as a result. Graves plugged that Cody Rhodes would be on Smackdown this Friday.
-They showed Knight walking backstage. [c]
-Natalya confronted Becky with Maxxine Dupri and Akira Tozawa. Natalya said what she did to Nikki was wrong. Becky accepted a match, but with Maxxine, not Natalya.
(5) SETH ROLLINS (w/Paul Heyman) vs. L.A. KNIGHT – WWE Title match
Knight’s entrance took place. Cole said despite Seth’s “injury ruse,” he did pin Seth. Cole noted Reed and Breakker were banned from ringside. The bell rang 18 minute into the hour. Knight took early control. They fought at ringside at 2:00. Heyman blocked Knight’s pursuit of Seth briefly. Knight rammed Seth into the announce desk, but Knight oddly paused to smile and admire his work. Seth then recovered and took over. Graves said he “got lost in the admiration of the crowd.” Seth stomped the back of Knight’s neck as he was hanging over the ringside barricade. Fans chanted, “Holy shit!” They cut to a break at 3:00. [c]
Some fans were chanting “C.M. Punk!” afterward. A few minutes later Knight rallied and landed a top rope elbowdrop. He went for a BFT, but Seth blocked it and rolled to ringside. Knight slidekicked Seth into the announce desk, sending Cole scurrying. Knight went after Seth behind the announce desk.
Seth made a comeback at ringside. He set up a stomp, but Punk intervened, leaping over the barricade. There was a buzz in the crowd leading up to Punk appearing on camera. The ref called for the bell.
WINNER: No contest in 13:00 so Seth retained the WWE Title.
-Knight took issue with Punk. Breakker then showed up at ringside and speared Punk. Breakker and Reed attacked Punk and Knight. Seth stomped Knight in the ring. Then he stomped Punk. Seth and his crew posed in the ring as the show’s credits appeared. There were scattered boos, but it felt like a flat finish. Roman’s music then played and he attacked Breakker and Reed as fans cheered. Seth stood opposite him in the ring and yelled, “Come on!” Seth bailed out. Breakker went after Reigns, but Reigns countered and took him down. Reed went after Reigns, but Reigns mounted him and punched him. Seth then landed a stomp on Reigns. They all swarmed Reigns, then Reed and Seth held up Reigns for a sprinting spear. Reed then leaped off the top rope with a Tsunami three times. Pearce and other officials ran out to yell at the heels. The heels stood proud in the ring and Cole said “Never doubt Seth Rollins again” as the show ended.
(Keller’s Analysis: That was the predictable finish of the match, and yet again an unsatisfying finish to a WWE TV main event where everything that happened before the finish was rendered pointless. The crowd was dead for the post-match beatdown, but of course were happy to see Reigns.)
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO OUR POST-SHOW PODCAST
JOIN US LIVE ON YOUTUBE TONIGHT FOR THE VIDEO-FORMAT OF OUR LIVE POST-SHOWS…
PWTorch editor Wade Keller is joined by PWTorch contributor Kelly Wells to review WWE Raw LIVE tonight right after the show ends. Join us and let us know your thoughts on Raw during the show.
Email our post-show at wadekellerpodcast@gmail.com with your comments and questions about Raw. We’ll read your emails live during the post-show.
VIP MEMBER EXCLUSIVE VIDEO CALLER CODE: CLICK HERE
https://streamyard.com/dezqwqvikm
Click that link during the post-show to enter the waiting room as “live video caller” (or just audio if you turn off your cam, which is fine). This is a private link, so don’t share. It’s just for VIP members at this time.
If you can’t join us live on YouTube, stream the show on demand later at YouTube or listen or stream later on a podcast app. Subscribe to all of our free podcasts by searching “wade keller” and “pwtorch” in your podcast app of choice including Spotify and Apple Podcasts and most other iOS and Android apps.
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