WWE Monday Night Raw Review: 08/06
- Linus O'Howell
- Jun 9
- 6 min read
Oba Femi Starts the Show, Liv Morgan VS Alexa Bliss VS Becky Lynch VS Chelsea Green: Queen of the Ring Tournament (Round 1)
This week’s edition of Monday Night Raw, live from Paris, France, kicked off with Oba Femi as The Ruler wanted to send a warning shot to everyone who thinks that they have a shot at winning this year’s King of the Ring Tournament! Oba decided to channel his inner Paul Heyman by announcing his victory as a “spoiler”, before Dominik Mysterio came out to explain why Femi should be scared of The King of the Luchadores! Dom had a great line about being a 20-year veteran, whilst JD McDonagh’s attempt at an ambush failed miserably, as his chair shot had zero effect on Oba Femi! Femi then went crazy, wrecking both McDonagh and Mysterio as The Judgment Day were forced to retreat! A great opening segment!
Grade: B
After Seth “Freakin” Rollins brought up the fact that winning the King of the Ring Tournament would give himself an opportunity at Roman Reigns and the World Heavyweight Championship at Summerslam, we got the opening match of the night as Liv Morgan, Alexa Bliss, Becky Lynch, and Chelsea Green all clashed in a First Round matchup in this year’s Queen of the Ring Tournament! This was quite the stacked field, with 3-former multi-time World Champions and a fan favourite in Chelsea Green! It was also Liv Morgan’s Birthday, with the Paris crowd having a lovely banner for her, but it’s still very silly that Liv is even in this tournament given the fact that she’s the current Women’s World Champion! Anyway, this was a decent match, I thought, with all four women coming close to winning! I actually thought that Chelsea was going to win once she dropped Becky Lynch with an Unprettiher, but a smart Morgan was able to roll Green up to advance in the tournament! Could we be getting Liv VS Raquel at Night of Champions?!
Grade: C+
Women’s Intercontinental Championship: Sol Ruca VS Lyra Valkyria, LA Knight Speaks, Penta VS Rey Mysterio: Intercontinental Championship
After hyping up a video package for tonight’s Intercontinental Championship Match, Chad Gable came up to Penta to apologise for the way he’s acted over the past year, stating that he didn’t take his loss to Penta (on his debut) very well at all! Penta explained that they’re cool, but that there’s somebody else that he needs to speak to, before Montez Ford wished Seth Rollins good luck in the King of the Ring Tournament! The Bloodline then walked in, with Jey Uso warning Seth not to talk about the family, so Rollins decided to instead tell The Usos that he’s disappointed in them for once again being Roman Reigns’ lackies! Jey then ordered Jacob Fatu to drop The Visionary, but Fatu decided to just leave instead! After a pep talk from Bayley (in what looked like some sort of luggage room), Lyra Valkyria looked to finally become a Champion again when she challenged Sol Ruca for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship! This was the first time that Lyra has challenged for the Women’s IC Title since Summerslam last year, due to her not being allowed to challenge Becky Lynch for the Title anymore, and let’s be honest, Valkyria’s position in the company has never been the same since that match! Thankfully, this match was given a good amount of time, allowing Lyra and Sol to put on a pretty decent match! I rate both women; I think they have the ability to both become World Champions one day, so this was a cool matchup to see! It also helped that this was taking place in Paris, with the French crowd always electric, particularly when Ruca nailed Valkyria with the Sol Snatcher to score her first successful Title defence!
Grade: B-
Jey Uso was furious with Jacob Fatu for not “running the play” on Seth Rollins earlier, but Fatu made it clear that whilst he acknowledges Roman Reigns as his Tribal Chief, he doesn’t have to do anything that The Usos tell him to do! This then transitioned nicely into the next segment as LA Knight came out to cut a scathing promo on The Bloodline, stating that whilst he has his eyes set on winning King of the Ring and moving on to Summerslam, he knows it’s going to be a lot harder than that due to The Bloodline always interfering in matches! Unlike The Usos, LA Knight doesn’t take orders from Roman Reigns, and he clearly hasn’t forgotten how bad things were the last time that The Bloodline had so much power! This brought out Jey Uso, whose attempts to do multiple “Yeet sessions” were quickly stopped by Knight (thank goodness), as Jey then explained that he’s still “Main Event” Jey Uso! Because of this, Uso’s going to be the one to go on and win the 2026 King of the Ring Tournament, which LA wished him luck for! However, the segment then ended with a killer line, as The Megastar said “screw your family” to Jey Uso, resulting in Jimmy Uso having to run down to pull his brother back! LA Knight was fantastic here!
Grade: B+
Both Rey Mysterio and Dragon Lee have no issues with Chad Gable anymore now that Chad understands the history of Lucha Libre, although Rey did tell Gable that there’s another person from his past that he really needs to speak to! Otis?! Anyway, the (men’s) Intercontinental Championship was next to be defended as Penta went one-on-one with Rey Mysterio in what was a dream match for both men! This was a pretty good match, with Penta once again showing out as one of the best in-ring-workers in the entire company! I’m not sure how many times we need to see Rey Mysterio wrestle; I feel like he’ll be the next one to retire sooner rather than later, but to be fair, he looked good here! As always in a Penta match, the last couple of minutes are excellent, with a number of great moments leading up to a fantastic Mexican Destroyer, gifting Penta a victory over his hero! After the match was over, Rusev and Ethan Page attacked the Babyfaces from behind, with Dragon Lee’s attempt at a save failing massively! In fact, Rusev even ripped Rye Mysterio’s mask off at one point, which was too far for one Chad Gable, as the former American Alpha ran down to actually make the save (that’s how it’s done, Dragon)! WWE cannot afford to mess around with Chad Gable; he’s over right now!
Grade: B
King of the Ring Tournament (Round 1): Seth Rollins VS Je’Von Evans VS Ricky Saints VS Talla Tonga
After video promos for both Raquel Rodriguez and Iyo Sky, plus a Judgment Day segment, it was Main Event time as Seth “Freakin” Rollins entered the King of the Ring Tournament as the heavy favourite when he faced Je’Von Evans, Ricky Saints, and Talla Tonga in a Fatal 4-Way! This was a great match, the match of the night for me, and I have to admit that I am a big enjoyer of Fatal 4-Ways! There’s just something about them; it really works for me, and I thought this was great! Seth Rollins is clearly out to prove to everyone that he is the best in the world; just look at his performances since he returned before WrestleMania, and this match was also boosted by having up-and-coming guys involved! Je’Von Evans is fantastic; can’t get enough of that guy, whilst Ricky Saints has a massive upside, even if the crowd doesn’t exactly seem to understand that right now (at least in America, anyway)! Also, I’m a little bit impressed by Talla Tonga too; he’s improved a lot since his first appearance last year, and he plays the commanding presence role well! Eventually, as expected, Rollins would hit a Stomp onto Saints, but unbelievably, that wasn’t the end of the match as Austin Theory pulled the referee out of the ring! Bron Breakker then arrived, wrecking Seth with a Spear to take The Visionary out of the equation, opening the door for Je’Von Evans to nail Ricky Saints with an O.G. Cutter to get the upset victory! I genuinely didn’t see this coming; a win for Seth Rollins felt like a forgone conclusion, so this was a nice surprise that blows this tournament wide open!
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