SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Opening Segment – HIT: Raw got off to an intriguing start with C.M. Punk talking about winning the World Championship and all the potential challengers who might step up to try to win the World Title from him. With the story surrounding The Vision the last few weeks, one of them was expected to be the first to challenge Punk, so Logan Paul was a surprise. Punk’s reaction to Paul was great. Both of them played their parts here very well. The ultimate interruption by Paul Heyman, Bron Breakker, and Bronson Reed was good. The tease of a Logan babyface turn was interesting. That would not be a good idea, so luckily it was just a tease. This would ultimately lead to the set up of the big main event tag match once Jey Uso talked to Punk about teaming with him against The Vision.
El Grande Americano – MISS: The match between El Grande Americano and Penta was fine, but the gimmick has run its course. Here, Penta not only successfully dodged all of the interference and cheating tactics from the Americanos, but he was able to beat up all three after the match. So, they were totally ineffective. WWE needs something for Penta, but I’m hoping that he will move on to something better after this.
The Mysterios – HIT: WWE has an issue with Dominik Mysterio being very popular, but still being a heel. If anything, WWE tries to position the rest of Judgment Day as the faces in their growing tension with Dominik, but the fans don’t care. Rey Mysterio coming back was a nice moment and he was able to actually get the fans to boo his son, which was impressive. It was smart of him to specifically question Dominik’s claim to being the greatest luchador of all time, particularly when he compared him to Eddie Guerrero. Dominik referring to Eddie as his father was great. The fans popped big for the physicality at the end. Their presumed match at Survivor Series in San Diego should be huge.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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Becky Lynch – HIT: I got a kick out of Becky Lynch’s surprise interruption on the show when she unexpectedly got on the announce table to talk in a very unhinged way about Maxinne Dupri. While I don’t have any interest in actually seeing another match between these two, and really hope to see a better opponent to feud with Lynch over the Intercontinental Title soon, I am at least enjoying Lynch’s performance. And I’m not the only one saying that. Sports Illustrated is also saying it.
Kabuki Warriors vs. Bayley & Valkyria – HIT: This was a very good tag team match with The Kabuki Warriors getting the win over Bayley & Lyra Valkyria. WWE continues to do a nice job with the videos for the Kabuki Warriors, allowing them to show their personality while continuing to define the relationship between Asuka and Kairi Sane. They also continue to do a nice job of developing the relationship between Bayley and Valkyria. The idea that Bayley might be working with Asuka is a bit of a stretch, but the story was okay. The wrestling in the match was very strong which isn’t surprising given the talent of these four women. The Kabuki Warriors needed the win to continue to build to their eventual World Tag Team Title match.
A.J. Styles & Dragon Lee vs. J.D. McDonagh & Finn Balor – HIT: This was a lot of fun. There was a bit too much craziness on the outside with Dominik and Sheamus. It makes sense to continue their program from the last few weeks. However, with Rey’s return, and the tension between Dom and the rest of Judgment Day, there is a lot going on with Dirty Dom. The interference did distract a little from the match, but the match was still easily good enough to get a Hit. Styles & Dragon Lee are growing on me as a team. It seems that the goal is to get Lee over as a star, which seems to be working so far.
Main Event – HIT: This Hit is really for the story surrounding the main event more than the match itself. The match was fine, with a disappointing double countout finish. The fans were right to boo it, but the action before that was good. They did a very good job of building to the main event starting with the opening segment. Jey Uso and C.M. Punk had a nice moment backstage when Jey told him he wanted to have his back. I was also intrigued by the later scene when Jey and Paul Heyman talked about Jey’s state of mind. Where are they going with Jey? Nothing was really advanced in the main event, but the follow up with Logan Paul worked very well to cement him as a top heel which is the right way to go. Paul is a good choice for Punk’s first World Title challenger. It will be interesting to see how he and Heyman work together, and how Breakker and Reed respond to what seems to be a new member of The Vision.
(Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Raw Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com. Follow him on BlueSky @jonmezzera.bsky.social.)
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