WWE Monday Night Raw Review: 30/06

Rhea Ripley Starts the Show, The New Day VS The Judgment Day: World Tag Team Championships

Rhea Ripley came out to start this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw as she wanted to talk about the fallout from Night of Champions! Rhea said that her win over Raquel Rodriguez means she can finally move past The Judgment Day (hopefully for good) and focus on what’s next for her! This brought out Iyo Sky who said she gets to choose her opponent for Evolution, and she wants to face the absolute best! Because of this, Sky challenged Ripley to a match, which The Eradicator accepted! As long as Iyo retains, this should be great!

Grade: C+

Credit: AIPT

Dominik Mysterio handed AJ Styles a doctor's note confirming he couldn’t wrestle at the moment before his Judgment Day buddies Finn Balor and JD McDonagh looked to dethrone The New Day for the World Tag Team Championships! This was a good match, the crowd were into it, and they cheered for Finn and JD a lot which was nice to see! It also shows how much The New Day are disliked, which is great, and to my surprise, The Judgment Day actually won here! Yes, that’s right, Finn Balor delivered a Coup de Grace to get the wi,n meaning the Tag Team Titles are once again going back to the Clubhouse!

Credit: WWE

Grade: B-

Rusev VS Sheamus, Gunther Gets Interrupted, Bayley VS Lyra Valkyria

Bayley and Lyra Valkyria were once again arguing backstage, so Adam Pearce booked a match between the two of them, before Chad Gable told American Made to listen to Ivy Nile while he’s gone! Finn Balor then pitched to both Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis that Roxanne Perez should take Liv Morgan’s spot alongside Raquel Rodriguez as the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, and amazingly, Aldis and Pearce accepted! It was then time for a big, hard-hitting contest as Sheamus clashed with Rusev! This was proper hard-hitting, both men went at it, they looked completely exhausted by the end, but it was fun to watch! Some of the strikes midway through this contest were insane, and Sheamus’ Brogue Kick on the outside was lethal! However, Rusev then delivered a nasty spot, sending The Celtic Warrior neck-first into exposed steel, opening the door for The Bulgarian Brute to deliver a Matcha Kick to get the win! Strong!

Grade: B

Nick Aldis and Adam Pearce revealed a Battle Royal for Evolution 2, with the winner earning a World Championship opportunity at Clash in Paris! El Grande Americano then showed up to the shock of American Made (he’s grown!) before Sami Zayn was attacked by Karrion Kross! Kross was amazing here, as where the crowd who were cheering for Kross to beat up Sami! Gunther was then out next to talk about Goldberg, and The Ring General made it very clear that he could easily defeat Bill in under 3 minutes! However, that’s not Gunther’s intention, see he wants to embarrass Goldberg, and this for some reason brought out Seth “Freakin” Rollins who talked all about his plan! Seth also has a new Money in the Bank Briefcase; it’s very cool, but it was CM Punk who made the biggest difference, showing up and trying to start a brawl with Rollins before he eventually pushed Gunther over! Let’s just say that the World Heavyweight Champion wasn’t impressed!

Grade: B-

The Judgment Day “unanimously” agreed that Roxanne Perez is now officially a member of the group (Finn Balor was so excited) before Bayley was set to go one-on-one with Lyra Valkyria! This was another good match on this show, Bayley and Lyra have really good chemistry, and they did a good job here! Bayley is amazing, one of the absolute greats, but Lyra Valkyria is also really talented; she will go very far in this business! This was sort of labelled as a Number 1 Contender’s match, with the winner facing Becky Lynch for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship, but ultimately, neither of them won as all four shoulders were down, resulting in a draw! This angered both women as they brawled through the crowd, eventually being separated by referees and security!

Grade: B-

Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed VS Sami Zayn and Penta

Credit: Wrestling Headlines

After LA Knight told CM Punk to wait in line when it came to getting revenge on Seth “Freakin” Rollins, it was Main Event time as Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed teamed up to take on the duo of Penta and Sami Zayn! This was a solid match, it had some good moments in it, I really like Bron and Bronson, they’re great together, but it also wasn’t anything special! Before the match had started, Paul Heyman had talked about having a Plan B, and I’d say that’s definitely something to keep an eye on! However, in this match, Breakker and Reed proved too much for their opponents, with Bron pinning Sami following a Spear, before he delivered another one to Penta post-match! However, no more pain could be inflicted, as Jey Uso ran down to make the save!

Grade: C+