-John Cena and CM Punk are pretty great dance partners aren’t they? Their promo segment this week was a fun watch and didn’t feel like just a nostalgia match or rivalry. This interaction felt like rivals not trying to live in their past glory, but actually trying to settle an issue in the present. That’s a nice touch for a feud that could easily get too heavy on history.
Punk eats crow
-CM Punk is going to have to eat a lot of crow for doing a match in Saudi Arabia. That’s what happens when you spout off on social media about the WWE’s business dealings with the country. He wasn’t wrong with what he said, but now here he is doing business with them too. Punk and Cena absolutely built this Punk/Saudi issue into the meat of the promo. If you knew, you knew. If you didn’t, it didn’t matter. Sneaky.
-Chad Gable had a pretty big Money in the Bank weekend, so it was odd seeing him job out clean to AJ Styles. A good match and clean finishes are always welcome, so I’ll take it, but bizarre nonetheless.
-Very strong action in the opening match of the Queen of the Ring tournament this week. If this is the type of match that will occupy spots on television for the next couple weeks, sign me up.
-Roxanne Perez getting the win is a smart move. It doesn’t feel like this is her year to actually win the tournament, but a W over Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan is something she can talk about as a heel for weeks and weeks.
Oh, we see you WWE
-Regarding both the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments, I see you WWE. The company gets props for loading up the field in both with top stars — that helps the perception of the tournament as a whole. BUT. The fatal four-way first round allows for all of those top stars to be in matches, lose, but not have to really lose. Again … sneaky. Now, that call out aside, I’d rather this be the avenue they travel down instead of leaving top stars out all together.
-Thumbs up to the Becky Lynch heel, “I won the championship” promo this week, but she’s still working overtime to get the audience to boo her. It’s like the crowd wants to play along, but Becky is so damn likable that it’s hard to. Bayley returning and attacking Lynch was always in the cards, but if Bayley vs. Becky is the program now, what happens to Lyra Valkyria? WWE needs to keep her front and center in order to keep her from losing the momentum she earned during the feud with Lynch.
Ron Killings is back
-THAT was the exact promo Ron Killings needed to cut. Perfection. Look, the fans are invested in Ron Killings now. Not R-Truth. As soon as you work and get someone’s job back, the relationship intensifies and that’s what happened with the WWE fans and Truth. Killings coming back more serious is a fresh approach for him and more becoming anyway. Glad to see he'll have this era of his career.
-Just like the women’s Queen of the Ring match, the King of the Ring fatal four-way was excellent as well. Sure, there was interference and it conveniently impacted the guy that was the other favorite in the match, but the strong action made up for that booking crutch, which is becoming an obnoxious part of Triple H creative.
-Sami Zayn getting the victory was a nice surprise and moving on in the King of the Ring tournament makes perfect sense for him. If Cody Rhodes doesn’t win this entire thing, Zayn really should be next in line.
-Did Nikki Bella actually make an announcement? She didn’t, but we’re on the road to Bella vs. Liv Morgan at Evolution and that works well enough for me.
New champ
-Gunther is the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion and earned the belt back by defeating Jey Uso clean in the middle of the ring. Goodness. That shouldn’t be as surprising as it is, but Triple H made that bed. This was the best match yet between Gunther and Jey. It cultivated drama well and the finish with the exchanging chokeholds was symbolic of their rivalry and feud. Smart psychology.
What did you think of this week’s episode of WWE Raw? Let us know in the comments?
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