WWE Monday Night Raw Review – 7.21.25

Wasn’t it just Monday? Well, it’s Monday again which means we have another 2+ hour edition of Monday Night Raw ahead of us. SummerSlam is already basically here, so I’m looking forward to another night of quickly building this two-night extravaganza.

The previous week in WWE: Raw / NXT / EVOLVE / SmackDown / LFG

Then, Now, Forever, Together. Dun dun dun.

Previously on Raw: Bron Breakker tries to run the gauntlet for a SummerSlam title shot but is foiled by CM Punk with a side of Jey Uso interference. OTC1 Roman Reigns saves Punk and Uso from a post-match attack by Breakker and Bronson Reed. I undersold how loud the crowd was for Roman last week because it was the very end of the show and I was at peak wrestling exhaustion, but they were LOUD for our Tribal Chief.

We are twelve days away from SummerSlam at MetLife Stadium, but tonight we’re live from Houston and the Toyota Center with 13,000 fans live on Netflix and presented by Snickers. Sami Zayn and his Oasis jersey arrive, he’ll face Karrion Kross tonight. Women’s Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch is here. Judgment Day pulls up with their gold. Dom hands off the keys to the valet, who turns out to be AJ Styles. “I hope you get cleared today!”

Living Colour plays as we start our show with the #1 contender to Gunther’s World Heavyweight Title, CM Punk. He is introduced by the great Alicia Taylor. After the standard “CM Punk” chant, Punk tells Houston he is happy to be here, and he came back with a few goals – main event WrestleMania and becoming World Heavyweight Champion. He’s done one of those and with distractions on the backburner, he’s focusing on the second. He acknowledges Gunther as one of the best wrestlers in the world and can’t promise a win, but he can promise that he will leave it all in the ring. He tells Gunther he is not just any other wrestler, he is the best in the world.

Here comes World Heavyweight Champion Gunther, fresh off retiring a grumpy old bald guy. After the fans chant for Punk and boo for Gunther and give him the “you tapped out” chant, Gunther tells Punk he didn’t come out to throw insults or create drama. He wants to point out similarities – they’re both here to make money and win championships, both consider themselves best in the world, and both have massive egos. Gunther says the difference is that his ego is justified. “The best in the world is the man that holds the World Heavyweight Championship.” When the bell rings, he will make Punk regret that he ever stepped foot into a wrestling ring. He tells Punk that at least he will have the fans chanting for him for the rest of his life and leaves.

Byron Saxton is backstage with Stephanie Vaquer. Stephanie is interrupted immediately by Naomi, who tells Stephanie she will see her at Clash in Paris. She tells Stephanie that Iyo was walking her like a dog before the match was interrupted and personally she wouldn’t let that slide, then walks off laughing manically.

Rusev vs Sheamus

I just about died the first time this match happened a few weeks ago, so you can understand my excitement for the rematch. Tonight, Raw is brought to you by Minute Maid – bring the juice! We have Michael Cole and Corey Graves on commentary, though I’m sure we will meet them properly on camera later. Sheamus starts trying for a Brogue Kick, but Rusev rolls out and they brawl on the outside. In the ring, Rusev gets the early advantage and works the bag of Sheamus. Sheamus clotheslines Rusev to the mat and tosses him to the outside, going up and slipping down. He goes up a second time and flies onto Rusev, asking “are you not entertained.” Rusev grabs up Sheamus and tosses him over the announce table with a fallaway slam, giving us a convenient spot for a commercial.

The drone zooms us back in from the break, the men trading clubbing blows. Come promises Roman Reigns will be here later as the crowd chants for Sheamus. Sheamus lands his ten beats on the apron and feels the energy of the crowd, signaling for the Brogue. Signaling for the Brogue gives it away though as Rusev catches him with a powerbomb, covering for two. One day, Sheamus will learn to not tell his opponents what he is planning to do to them. Rusev sets up himself and runs into a knee, Sheamus covering for a two. Rusev chops Sheamus on the top rope, climbing up with him. Sheamus strikes Rusev off and jumps, jumping right into a kick. Rusev locks on the Accolade, Sheamus breaks with the rope. “You stupid Irish bastard,” yells Rusev. Rusev removes the turnbuckle pad, Sheamus bounces him off of it. Sheamus runs into a Brogue Kick as Rusev attempts to use a weapon, getting the pin.

Sheamus pins Rusev. I enjoyed this more than the previous match. A good battle and shorter than the previous edition. Now let’s take a break from this match!

Byron has found El Grande Americano. He asks Americano for his goals, and Americano answers in Spanish. Dragon Lee comes up and calls him fake, telling Americano to respect him and the luchadors. Americano shoves Lee, they brawl and the goon squad shows up to break them apart. This was rude of Lee, honestly.

Michael Cole and Corey Graves join us from the announce table. Next Tuesday, step into WWE Unreal on Netflix – a look into the writer’s room behind the scenes. Here’s a sneak peak! It just focuses on Triple H throwing Speed into the Rumble, no sign of the writer’s room in sight. This footage has been widely spread by the company on YouTube since January.

Bayley tapes her wrist backstage, interrupted by Lyra Valkyria. Lyra questions why Bayley asked to team with her in a Tag Title match tonight, and Bayley is just trying to get the match she wanted at WrestleMania. Bayley calls last week water under the bridge and she’ll see her out there.

#1 Contender’s Match: New Day (Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston) vs Latino World Order (Cruz Del Toro & Joaquin Wilde with Dragon Lee) vs Brutus & Julius Creed (with Ivy Nile)

Winners get a future World Tag Team Title opportunity. The Creeds run it early, including Julius suplexing both members of New Day at once. LWO leap in but Kofi tags himself in, trying to take advantage. Kofi swivels his hips as we go to a commercial. I very briefly consider this “Leanne” show they advertise solely on Ryan Stiles appearing briefly in the ad, but nah.

Kofi is battling Del Toro as we return. Brutus and Wilde are legal, Wilde flying wild and dropping everyone. Wilde rolls both New Day members into a pin, both kick out. Lots of cool spots here. Wilde goes up and Ivy Nile pushes him off, Cole reminding us that there are no DQs in a triple threat. Graves questions if this is the same Dragon Lee as always as Lee kicks Brutus. El Grande Americano appears and assaults Lee, Del Toro jumps on Americano and the Creeds. Wilde rolls up Kofi and sticks it for a three, grabbing a surprise win for the LWO. Americano looks on in shock from the ramp.

LWO defeats New Day and The Creeds, winning a future World Tag Team Title opportunity. It’s something different, at least. A good match, which is normal for the tag division.

The Kabuki Warriors and Iyo Sky meet up backstage, giving us some Damage CTRL love. All three plan on being future champions. After the Warriors leave, Stephanie shows up and challenges Iyo. Iyo reminds her that she had her beat and suggests a match tonight. Well, that’ll be fun.

WrestleMania happened in April! We look back at Paul Heyman’s allegiances going towards Seth Rollins and his crotch shot on Roman Reigns. Roman Reigns: live tonight!

Raw General Manager Adam Pearce is with Dominik Mysterio. Adam tells Dom to quit stalling and go get his medical check. A janitor bumps into Dom and tells him that he better be cleared by the time he gets done mopping. New Day questions what the hell is going on as AJ mops past. “The simulation is broken,” yells Kofi. Woods thinks they need an advantage as Grayson Waller comes up, saying Austin Theory is injured and he’s finally rid of the dead weight. New Day is happy for Waller and mutters as he leaves. Well, that’s an anticlimactic way to break up Waller and Theory.

Women’s Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch is our next in-ring guest, wearing yellow tape on her wrist to go with her red tracksuit. Lynch yells at the crowd, telling them to put some appreciation on her name. “I shouldn’t even be here tonight, I should be in New York at the premiere of my new movie Happy Gilmore 2, streaming on Netflix July 25th.” She feels as a leader she has to address some things, including holding everybody down at Evolution (her words). She thinks Lyra Valkyria is bogarting every opportunity at title shots, questioning how greedy you have to be to need two titles.

This brings out our bird lady Lyra Valkyria. Becky tells Lyra she has made her a star but their trilogy ends at SummerSlam. She thinks Lyra should agree to never challenge for the title ever again if she loses at SummerSlam. Lyra accepts, giving her own terms – no countouts, no disqualifications, there must be a winner. Becks agrees and tells Lyra she will not disrespect how big this match is, the fans booing Becky. Becky asks for a handshake and tries to attack, Lyra hits her with a Manhandle Slam and raises the belt.

Enter our role model Bayley, laughing at the downed Becky.

WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles: Judgment Day (Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez, with Men’s Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio) vs Bayley & Lyra Valkyria

We join in progress after the break, Bayley with the advantage on Roxanne. Raquel tags in to cheers from the crowd, then we get a singalong chant for Dirty Dom. Bayley tags in Lyra aggressively, the fans booing. Raquel and Rox tag in and out, working the faces over quickly. Lyra batters Raquel with strikes, Bayley trying to do “woo” chants and distracting her. We go to our next ad break with the commentators wondering what Bayley is thinking.

Cole questions if Dom has a thing for Roxanne as we come back, noting that he called Liv – Corey: “WHY ARE YOU CALLING DIRTY DOM’S OLD LADY!” – to try to figure it out. Lyra gets the hot tag to Bayley, the crowd totally on Judgment Day’s side. Bayley sunset flips Rox into the turnbuckles and gets a two. As Rox distracts the ref, Rodriguez clotheslines Bayley. Rox springboards into Bayley’s knees as Corey has a chair malfunction on commentary. Lyra tags in and drops a leg from the top across Roxanne, the ref taking a while to count to two. Rox counters the Nightwing and lifts Lyra up top, Lyra slipping under her and powerbombing her. Bayley calls for the tag and goes up top, dropping an elbow. Raquel breaks the pin. Bayley scares Dom off the rope, Rox rolls her up for two.

Lyra threatens Dom at ringside and Raquel goes for a boot, clicking Dom down instead accidentally. Lyra rolls in and leaps out with a beautiful dropkick onto Raquel. Medical professionals come out to check on Dom, including AJ Styles who tries to offer CPR. AJ chases Dom through the ring, Becky takes the distraction to pull Lyra off the apron and throw her into the steps. Bayley goes for the tag and has no partner, Rox rolls her up into a two. Bayley doesn’t notice the tag, Roxanne hits a Tejana Bomb and gets the pin on Bayley.

Raquel Rodriguez pins Bayley, Judgment Day retains their Women’s Tag Team Titles. The Bayley/Lyra stuff didn’t totally hit and took a lot away from the match in my opinion, but the final two minutes with the chaos were a lot of fun.

Jackie Redmond is in Gorilla with Sami Zayn. Jackie is surprised to see him here due to injury. Sami says he isn’t 100% and could have used more time, but this doesn’t need to drag on any longer.

We flash back to the night after Mania, with Roman spearing Seth and Paul before being attacked by Bron. Tonight, Roman Reigns! Did you hear Roman Reigns is here tonight?

Dominik is looking for AJ backstage and finds Finn Balor and JD McDonough instead. Pearce comes up and tells Dom he is done and the day is ending with him handing the title over or walking with him to medical. Finn tells Dom to get some lollipops.

Sami Zayn vs Karrion Kross (with Scarlett)

Sami’s ribs are still taped, but I guess WWE medical is very spotty with who they clear tonight. Kross gets the commercial break intro. Kross works Sami over early as the fans trade “let’s go Sami” and “let’s go Kross” chants, Cole questioning Sami’s internal injuries. Don’t worry, WWE medical will still let him wrestle! Sami chops Kross in the corner and clotheslines Kross to the outside mat, then lands an Arabian Press on Kross and does the Sabu point. Graves puts Sami wrestling on the blame of the fans for pushing him. Scarlett hits Sami’s ribs and we go to commercials.

Kross is pounding on Sami when we come back, yelling at Sami to “say it.” Sami tries to fight out in the corner, holding his ribs. Sami is able to land a tornado DDT but only for a two. Karrion fights back, pulling up the rib tape and taking Sami to the top rope. Sami fights back in the corner, dropping Kross with a sunset flip bomb for a two. Scarlett grabs the steel pipe from under the ring and tries to hand it off to Kross, failing a bit as she doesn’t just hand it to him. Sami drops Kross with an exploder and she does hand off the pipe, Sami grabs the leg to distract and give Kross a chance to hit a home run with the pipe. He smacks Sami, wipes his blood across his own face and pins Sami.

Karrion Kross pins Sami Zayn. I liked this, particularly the second half. Cole notes that Sami still has not said what he wants him to say.

AJ pesters Pearce outside the trainer’s room as the medic comes out. He says they’re waiting as Dom attacks AJ from behind, grabbing the clipboard and saying he’ll see AJ at SummerSlam.

Celebrities: they love Raw! That Mexican OT, a Texas rapper is ringside. Jim McIngvale – “Mattress Mack” – is here as well.

Iyo Sky vs Stephanie Vaquer

This should be fun. The fans chant for Mattress Matt because they hate me. This crowd has been suspicious. They do eventually get to dual Iyo / Stephanie chants at least as Michael Cole runs over what happened last night on TNA, something I’m not sure I ever expected. Lots of back-and-forth early, trading rollups and cool bridges. Vaquer rolls Iyo through a spinning headscissors for a pin attempt, Iyo backflips across the ring to knock Stephanie out. Iyo dives and lands a suicide dive, then runs in to break the count. Iyo springboard moonsaults into air, Stephanie kicks her and leaps herself out onto Iyo as we head to break with slo-mo replays.

Back from break, Steph drops Iyo onto her knees for a two. Iyo springs into a 619 into a headscissor onto the apron, then springboards out onto her before tossing her in. Sky goes up and leaps, dropkicking Steph and kipping up and doing the pointing thing. Iyo stomps Vaquer and tries for a sunset flip to the outside, but Vaquer catches her and hits the Devil’s Kiss on the apron before rolling her mid-ring to do it properly. The fans chant “one more time” but Vaquer hits a Meteora in the corner, getting our first “this is awesome” of the night. Vaquer hooks Iyo on the top with a wild top rope move and “holy shit” chants, but the Secret Hervice – Piper Niven and Isla Dawn – appear to boos. As Stephanie fights them off, Chelsea Green attacks Stephanie from behind and tosses Iyo out. Iyo leaps onto Chelsea and saves Vaquer from the attack.

Stephanie Vaquer defeats Iyo Sky by disqualification. A hot match.

Naomi comes from behind to attack them, wiping both out. Rhea Ripley stomps out to save Iyo, kicking through Piper and Alba to get to the ring. Rhea drops Naomi, the three faces all work over Chelsea and Rhea hits her with a Riptide.

Cole & Graves run down the SummerSlam card as well as the ability to watch SummerSlam in theatres. Next, our Tribal Chief!

Paul Heyman, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed and the Money in the Bank briefcase head to the ring. Paul says he has a lot to get off his chest, but thankfully Roman’s music hits as it’s already 10:30. Roman Reigns comes out to a sizable pop and pyro, getting the OTC chant from the crowd.

After waiting out another OTC chant, Paul says he never wants to be disrespectful as the fans chant “asshole” and then sing about Roman. Paul tells us that Seth is going to be out of action for a long time, which opens up a leadership void on his side. He tells Roman that we can fix this, putting “this” back together. “You know deep in your heart we’re far better together than opposing each other.” “I love you, my Tribal Chief.” He hands the mic to Roman.

Roman says there is one thing he forgot to do and tells the crowd to acknowledge their Tribal Chief. Having been acknowledged, he tells Paul that he’s not a wise man now, “you’re just a dumbass.” Paul holds back Bron, Roman calling him junior and telling him to sit under the learning tree and that Paul is going to do the same thing he always does, take all the credit and turn on him. Roman says he went home to raise the future Bloodline and that the dumbass here – Paul – thought they were just another faction. “You can create those, but you can’t create the Bloodline – that was God’s work.” He tells Bron to back up again and tells us what really bothers him, and that’s Paul being chosen family and throwing it all away.

Bron grabs a mic and tells Roman to look around, “we don’t want you here anymore. You’re yesterday’s news, you’re the old dog, hell you were relevant five years ago.” Bron knows Paul won’t stab him in the back because he holds value while Roman is worthless. “I’m the big dog now, I’m the top dog now – I’m the future of WWE.” He tells Roman to do what he does best – turn around and leave. Roman retorts, saying he didn’t hear any of the trash Bron just heard and doesn’t think his mic was working. He tosses the mic to Bron and hits him with a Superman Punch, then works over Bronson in the corner. Bron spears Roman and they attack. Main Event Jey Uso is now in your city, coming out to save Roman. He superkicks them both, then he and Roman both spear the Brons. We end our show with the fans yeeting and Jey helping Roman up, hugging him and Paul’s crew grimacing from the ringside area.

That’s our show. A good one tonight though it felt a bit long. I recommend the tag match and Steph/Iyo as things to watch back if you missed it.