WWE Monday Night Raw Review – 07.14.25

Welcome to another Monday night and Raw! We’re hot off the heels of both Saturday Night’s Main Event. Thanks to those of you that rode with me for the Evolution review. I appreciate you more than you know! I’m exhausted and don’t know how some of you watched even MORE wrestling. How did I do this when I was a college kid?

The previous week in WWE, brought to you by the Blog of Doom team: Raw / NXT / EVOLVE / SmackDown / Great American Bash / Saturday Night’s Main Event / LFG / Evolution

Then, Now, Forever, TOGETHER. Dun dun DUN.

We start with a look at our weekend in Atlanta with news headlines from organizations like Sports Illustrated and Forbes touting what a weekend it was. Goldberg! Jelly Roll! Women! It was a happening!

We’re in Birmingham and people are arriving! Gunther is smug, waiting for his next opponent. Main Event Jey Uso and a coffee-slurping CM Punk arrive. Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed and Paul Heyman walk in, notably without an injured Seth Rollins. The drone zooms us into the Legacy Arena to a full crowd – over 10,000 WWE fans – live on Netflix and presented by Snickers.

In something I didn’t think I’d be typing this time last week, we start with Naomi! Naomi struts out with her caution tape and her new Women’s World Championship to the announcement of the great Alicia Taylor. The crowd cheers for Naomi, chanting her name and “you deserve it.” She does. She’s had a hell of a year. She tells the crowd nah, she doesn’t want to hear it now because they weren’t feeling the glow but they’re feeling her now. She says she’s done with the foolishness on SmackDown and shouts out Bianca Belair, telling her, “I didn’t betray you, I outgrew you.”

She says that while Jade might have gotten her lick back at Evolution, but she made history and tells the “raggedy heifers in the locker room” to proceed with caution. Enter Mami. Rhea Ripley comes out looking pissed and to the usual wild chorus of cheers, but not pissed enough to skip her stomp. Michael Cole notes that it was one of the greatest matches he’s ever called last night. Rhea joins Naomi in the ring, who displays the caution tape on her arms to Rhea. Rhea: “One thing you should know about me: I’m not cautious. I’m reckless and I am pissed.” She congratulates Naomi on making it onto her list.

“Tokyo Shock” hits and Iyo Sky smiles her way out, slapping hands and doing the wild finger pointing with fans. After the fans chant for Iyo, she tells Rhea to respectfully get in line because she walked into Evolution as champion and she wants her title back. Naomi tells Iyo she doesn’t know what she just said, but they can both get their entitled asses to the back of the line. “The backety back back back!” As the ladies bicker, Raw General Manager Adam Pearce comes out to make an announcement. He welcomes Naomi to Raw and tells her she DOES deserve the moment she had last night. He tells Rhea and Iyo their match was absolute magic. SummerSlam is in three weeks and will be two nights, so the attractions have to be bigger than ever. It will be Iyo Sky vs Rhea Ripley vs Naomi for the belt at SummerSlam – it is official.

Michael Cole and Corey Graves greet us from ringside. Tonight, for the first time in almost seven years Nikki Bella is in action on Raw, taking on Chelsea Green. Lyra Valkyria and Bayley face off in a 2 out of 3 falls match with the winner facing Becky Lunch at SummerSlam.

It’s time for our weekly trip to the Judgment Day clubhouse. Dominik Mysterio knows AJ Styles is stalking him, but Finn Balor reminds him that he is untouchable with his doctor’s note. Finn congratulates Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez on their Women’s Tag Title defense. Finn asks Dom to accompany the women to ringside for their match tonight to show how united the Judgment Day are. “For Liv,” they agree.

WWE Fact of the Night, brought to you by Minute Maid: WWE amassed over 277 million views across WWE’s social channels this past weekend.

Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane) vs Judgment Day (Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez, with Dominik Mysterio)

Non-title. The fans chant for Asuka early as Raquel and Rox work quick tags, keeping her at bay. Rox slaps Asuka which is probably not smart. Asuka batters her and drops her with quick kicks. Cole questions what Liv Morgan would think about Dom hanging at ringside with Roxanne. Kairi catches Raquel into a beautiful armbar, Asuka grabs Roxanne and does the same. Raquel is able to powerbomb Kairi on top of Asuka and then tosses her into the ropes.

As we return from the commercial, Kairi makes a hot tag to Asuka. Asuka dodges a run-in from Raquel and knees Rox, dropping her with the Shining Wizard for a two. Kairi is tagged in and flies into Kairi, getting a two before Raquel breaks it up. Kairi lands a flying elbow as Dom distracts the ref, cancelling out the cover attempt. Raquel is smacked into the ring post by Asuka, who is tagged in and flies into Rox with a dropkick. “Let’s go Asuka” chant. Dom is up on the apron again and is nailed by Asuka by a backhand, giving Roxanne the chance to roll up Asuka for a three count.

Roxanne Perez pins Asuka, Judgment Day defeats Kabuki Warriors. A fun match which is what’d you’d expect from these four, though a lot of it was to advance the Dominik story.

Jackie Redmond is with Paul Heyman, Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed. She notes that Seth Rollins is in Birmingham getting evaluated. Paul tells her it is too soon and Seth has until next June to cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase. “Until he’s crashing into that deadline, Seth Rollins’ health is not a relevant issue.” Tonight, Bron runs the gauntlet and punches his ticket to SummerSlam – or so Paul hopes.

Michael hypes up a boxing match with presale tickets on WWE dot com. Then we check out a clip of Miz teaming up with George Kittle at the American Century Championship golf tournament, Kittle taking Miz down with a superkick. Miz has a golf YouTube channel, if that’s your thing. It’s probably entertaining, that’s right up Miz’s alley.

Jackie is back with Lyra Valkyria, asking how much of this with Bayley is about the title and how much is personal. Lyra tells us this match will put the Bayley talk to bed and put it back how it should be, her against Becky. Up walks Bayley, who tells Lyra the loser goes to the back of the line. Lyra says she’ll see her out there and Bayley tells her to stay the hell out of her way.

2 Out of 3 Falls for a SummerSlam Title Shot: Bayley vs Lyra Valkyria

Tonight, Raw is brought to you by Minute Maid – bring the juice! Fall one as Lyra’s smoke from the entrance continues to surround the ring. They tussle and Bayley slides outside, the fans trading dueling Lyra and Bayley “let’s go” chants. Bayley smacks Lyra and rolls up Lyra, getting a surprise first fall win. Bayley is up 1-0 as we go to commercials.

Lyra is fired up as we return to the second fall in progress. Lyra rolls Bayley into a tornado DDT, keeps the grip for a fisherman’s suplex and a two count. Bayley slings Lyra into the turnbuckle with a hard hit, Lyra rolling around in pain. Bayley shows a little concern, but smells blood and attacks. Bayley continues the attack in the corner, working the back of Lyra. Lyra fires up and tries to drop Bayley in the apron, but Bayley suplexes her onto it instead – the hardest part of the ring! Bayley taunts Lyra in right – “you want it so bad!” Bayley rolls through for an armbar but Lyra counters, rolling Bayley into a rollup for a three count. We’re tied 1-1. Bayley yells at Lyra to get up as we go to break again.

Bayley is trying for the Bayley-to-Belly when we return, but Lyra fights out. Lyra leaps into that very move, but is able to kick out at 2.5. “This is awesome” chant. Lyra grabs Bayley on the top rope and pulls her down into a Nightwing, rolling her up for a near fall again. These two are going wild. They battle to the apron again, Lyra working Bayley’s knee and wrenching it across the rope before dropping her with a suplex on the apron of her own. Cole says we are in overtime, which is not how a 2 out of 3 falls match works when it’s 1-1. Dueling chants for the women again as they trade rollups, a trademark of Bayley and Lyra being in the ring together. Battling to the outside, Bayley flips Lyra into the stairs and rolls her in quickly. Bayley goes up and drops an elbow on Lyra’s back. One, two… still no. Bayley hooks a Crossface and Lyra is trying to fight you. Lyra rolls through, hits the Nightwing and gets the pin.

Lyra pins Bayley to win the third fall, advancing to face WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch at SummerSlam. These two can have a good match in their sleep, but they were both very awake and put on a clinic. Becky Lynch comes out, wearing red and yellow to mock the “Becky Hogan” hype, raising her title and going face-to-face with Lyra.

SummerSlam is presented by Chase, Minute Maid and Wingstop. Graves and Cole talk about how much they love women’s wrestling as we’re at 9:09 and have spent the entire show on the women. They cover the Evolution battle royal, Nikki Bella spearing Chelsea Green out of the ring and Stephanie Vaquer last eliminating Lash Legend.

Jackie is with Stephanie Vaquer. Stephanie came to WWE to be champion and she will be. Chelsea Green and the Secret Hervice show up. Chelsea says she should represent WWE in Paris because she is “La Chelsea Green,” which in Canadian means “winner.” I need Scott Keith to verify this. Alba Fyre and Piper Niven block Stephanie from getting in Chelsea’s face. Chelsea: “You can look but you can’t touch.”

Friday on SmackDown, John Cena and Cody Rhodes will be under ONE ROOF. Well, that’s how arenas work.

Karrion Kross and Scarlett have a backstage vignette, talking about Sami Zayn being nowhere to be found. Kross tells Sami to stay home and not come back until he’s ready to come back and say that Kross told the truth.

Nikki Bella vs Chelsea Green (with Alba Fyre and Piper Niven)

I know this is a dream of all dreams for Chelsea. Chelsea slaps Nikki, Nikki charges and chases Chelsea to the corner. Nikki catches Chelsea in a spinning headscissors and her own slap, mocking Chelsea’s salute. Chelsea hits a Backstabber on Nikki and they roll outside, Chelsea driving Nikki into the barricade near the timekeeper’s area. Chelsea works Nikki’s back as the male voices chant “let’s go Chelsea” and the female voices chant “let’s go Nikki.” Graves notes the competition now that Nikki is back is much harder than it was when Nikki left, no disrespect to the women of that time period. Nikki lifts up Chelsea on her shoulder, but Chelsea fights out and into a neckbreaker. Two count for Chelsea.

Alba Fyre pops up to attack Nikki, who knocks her down. Nikki rolls through and struggles to muscle up Chelsea, but gets her up for the Rack Attack 2.0 and a three count.

Nikki Bella pins Chelsea Green. Piper and Alba run in and attack Nikki afterwards, Stephanie Vaquer runs out for the save. Stephanie offers a hand to Nikki, hugging her. Nikki has a good bit of ring rust and it shows here, but we’ll see if she shakes it off and catches up to the women of today as she sticks around.

Adam Pearce is joined by New Day, still grieving, and Grayson Waller. They offer Pearce toupees in exchange for a rematch. Pearce tells them they’ll have an opportunity to earn a rematch next week, then sees Judgment Day walking by. Pearce talks about how spy Dom looked, so Dom pulls out his note. Pearce called WWE medical and Dom is being re-evaluated next week, so he hopes Dom is cleared so he can defend his Intercontinental Title against AJ Styles at SummerSlam. We cut to AJ Styles across the room, pointing up to the sky praying to God mockingly and pointing fingers at Dom again.

Gunther walks across Penta and exchanges a glance before continuing his way to the ring.

Breaking news: Logan Paul’s impaulsive podcast joins the WWE Fanatics Network. Yay.

Jackie is back with Rusev. Rusev says he is just a saint and the world knows that he is better than Sheamus. Sheamus walks in, of course, and tells Rusev that Pearce has set up a rematch. Yay.

Two weeks from Saturday, SummerSlam weekend begins. We run down what we have so far: Cena/Rhodes, Naomi/Ripley/Sky, Lynch/Valkyria, Stratton/Cargill, and Orton/Roll vs McIntyre/Paul. This zips us back to footage from Saturday Night’s Main Event, with Drew McIntyre taking down Jelly Roll with a Claymore. Cole lets us know that Jelly Roll and Randy Orton will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live, this Wednesday on ABC.

World Heavyweight Champion Gunther strolls out with a smile for a chat. He’s all smiles as he gloats about retiring Bill Goldberg. The fans chant for Goldberg. Gunther tells them they’re not the brightest and that Goldberg is not here tonight because he bullied, blew up, choked out Goldberg and ended his myth. “Who’s next,” asks Gunther. He tells us not to worry because he’s taking a seat in a suite as five of WWE’s finest compete for his amusement and to identify his official SummerSlam challenger. Bron Breakker’s music and the fans barking interrupts as he walks out. He nods at Gunther, sharing glances in the ring.

Gunther shakes Paul Heyman’s hand. Gunther interrupts Heyman’s introduction. “I’m very aware of what your name is.” Gunther drops the mic to leave but trades a few words with Bron. Paul tells him to stick around a minute, because tonight Bron runs the gauntlet, becomes #1 contender and will beat Gunther for the title at SummerSlam. He tells Gunther that Bron is a Steiner and is going to break through the glass ceiling and break Gunther’s ass at SummerSlam.

Gauntlet Match for a SummerSlam Title Shot

Superstars are eliminated by pinfall or submission; entrances were chosen in a random draw earlier today. We start with Bron of course. Penta is second as we start our 38th gauntlet match in Raw history. They tussle early, Penta leaping into Bron with a nice crossbody. Penta smacks Bron with a chop, which angers the big man. Bron gets the speed going and clotheslines Penta down. Penta flies out at Bron and takes him down, a perfect spot for a replay and a commercial break.

Back from said break, Bron press slams Penta onto the steel steps as Heyman laughs. Bron manhandles Penta around the ring and slows the pace, but runs into a kick. Gunther is looking bored as Penta runs into a knee then a killer spear. Penta has been eliminated.

L.A. Knight is our third entrant. Knight tries to work down Bron’s arm and it pays off as Breakker can’t lift Knight. Knight clotheslines Bron out and dropkicks him right into the announce table, the fans chanting “yeah” every time Knight rams Bron’s head into it. After we take another break, Bron is back in control. The fans chant “this is awesome” as they trade blows and I try to hang in for another twenty minutes. LA takes Breakker down with a DDT, Knight drops a top-rope elbow for a two. Bron catches a gutbuster and spears Knight, the referee counting to three. L.A. Knight has been eliminated.

Main Event Jey Uso is now in your city! Jey enters from the ramp this week instead of the crowd, the yeeting in full force. He passes his glasses to a kid who has a sign saying it is his birthday. Bron takes a drink of water as Jey leaps in, running to him and clotheslining him outside of the ring. Jey yeets and leaps out with a suicide dive, then rolls back in and asks to run it back. They oblige, hitting his music and lighting treatment as we have another commercial break.

Bron has control again as we return, but that changes as Jey leaps into a crossbody for a two count. Jey is able to kick out of a Breakkensteiner. Bron drops the straps, speeds up and runs into a series of superkicks, Jey landing a spear of his own. Bron kicks out at 2.9. Jey goes up for the splash and Bronson Reed appears, knocking him down. This is no DQ, which makes you wonder why Bronson hasn’t just been attacking people the entire time. Bron hits a spear and gets the pin. Jey Uso has been eliminated.

One man is left, and that’s CM Punk. Punk clotheslines Breakker to the outside and rips off his jacket as we take one more break. Back from our sea of commercials, Punk whips Bron hard into the turnbuckle. The fans chant about the awesomeness of the match again, Punk leaping off the top into a suplex by Bron. Bron takes advantage and powers out of a GTS attempt as both men’s tanks are starting to empty. Bron trash talks Punk, telling him he’s not going to win. Bron leaps up for a Frankensteiner, but Punk rolls through for a near fall.

Punk fights off Bronson as he climbs, then drops his big elbow right onto the Slim Jim logo. Bron kicks out and Punk locks the Anaconda Vice, Bronson running in and dropping an elbow. There are no DQs of course, so this is fair game. Jey’s music hits again and he’s back, superkicking Bronson out and diving onto him. Bron runs into a kick, the GTS, and Punk leaps onto him for the three count. Bron Breakker is eliminated, CM Punk advances to face Walter at SummerSlam.

Bronson ambushes Punk in his celebration, Jey comes to Punk’s aid, and Bron pops up for a spear. The fans chant for “OTC” as Bron spears Punk. Bronson stacks Punk and Jey and heads up to the top rope and the fans get what they want, as the OTC’s music plays. Roman Reigns delivers a round of Superman punches and spears, offers a hand to Jey and helps him up. Roman and Punk exchange looks, Punk stumbles up to his feet as the crowd sings for Roman. Roman’s shirt now acknowledges him as OTC1, as Roman had to change his password and just added a number to the end.

This was a VERY well-paced episode. The women controlled a large chunk of it, the men’s gauntlet was fun, and there wasn’t really a slow moment. We’re running hard on the road to SummerSlam, which is already right around the corner.