WWE SummerSlam is almost here, and with only two weeks to go, tonight’s Monday Night Raw looked to sure up the card and make some key additions in terms of stipulations and rivalries. There’s a lot to highlight from tonight’s Raw, as well as a few things that left us puzzled and confused, but luckily we’re breaking all of it down in one handy place. Welcome to Hits and Misses, a new regular feature where we will break down the biggest moments of the night and whether or not they were a hit or a miss. You never know what to expect on any given Monday, and tonight’s Raw was no exception, so let’s get started.
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Hit: The LWO
Tonight’s Monday Night Raw was a welcome spotlight for The LWO, who hadn’t been pushed in any sort of meaningful way in some time. While the jury is out on what this push will actually entail, it was wonderful to not only see Dragon Lee featured on TV multiple times, but also see Joaquin Wilde and Cruz Del Toro have the ability to showcase how great they are in the ring. Making this even better was that the LWO actually got a clean win against The New Day and The Creed Brothers, and they will now move on to battle The Judgement Day for the World Tag Team Championships. Whether they win or not remains to be seen, but frankly, it’s just nice to see them allowed to shine and utilized in a division that has more than enough room to showcase them more often.
Miss: New Day
Speaking of Raw’s Tag Team Division, while I’m incredibly excited to see LWO utilized, this move does leave me perplexed as to what the plan is for New Day. Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston have managed to transform their beloved faction into a true heel act, which is no easy feat. That said, they are a bit of an odd fit right now within Raw’s Tag Team division, as the division already has two other full heel teams in American Made and Seth Rollins’ yet unnamed faction featuring Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed, and that’s on top of the sort of lovable heel team of Judgement Day.
LWO is one of the only real faces in the division (with the vanishing of Alpha Academy at least), and so with a loss tonight, it’s unclear where New Day goes from here and where they really can go given the current makeup of the roster. A face turn doesn’t seem to be happening anytime soon, so unless they get a switch to SmackDown in the upcoming WWE Draft, they just seem rather aimless, and tonight’s loss doesn’t exactly help that either.
Hit: The Entirety of the Women’s Tag Team Championships Match
We’ll stay in the Tag Team division for one more spot, though this was more than just a spotlight for the Tag Team side of things. Not only did we get a thrilling (and unexpected) Tag Team match featuring Bayley and Lyra Valkyria against Judgement Day’s Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez, but we also pushed the feud for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship forward at the same time. Raquel and Roxanne are turning into a truly fun duo to watch, which will only make Liv Morgan’s return that much more compelling, and Becky Lynch vs Lyra Valkyria has turned into a Championship-defining feud, all while also moving Valkyria into true superstar status.
Miss: Bayley
This miss comes with a caveat, but I’ll get to that in a minute. While Bayley was the instrumental factor in making this match a reality (she requested Valkyria as her partner after all), it’s rather cloudy as to why that actually happened. If Bayley had turned on Valkyria at some point during the match or used the match to somehow get a win over Lynch, this would have made more sense, but coupled with her genuiness in teaming with Valkyria throughout the match, Bayley’s role in this remains odd, and the end of the match didn’t exactly provide any answers.
That said, here’s the caveat. If this is part of a story to get Bayley to a breaking point where she turns heel, this could work, and I’d frankly forgive the oddity of certain moves given the eventual end goal. I’m never against having a great match for the sake of it, but story-wise, this element of it doesn’t quite seem fully formed.
Hit: AJ Styles
If you’ve been watching Raw the past few weeks, one of the consistently entertaining superstars night in and night out is AJ Styles, who has been constantly watching and staking out Dominik Mysterio so he can get his shot at the Intercontinental Championship. Tonight Styles took that concept into Mission Impossible territory, showing up in various disguises like a valet, a janitor, and eventually a WWE official as he chased Mysterio and goaded him throughout the night. They’ll finally have their match at SummerSlam, but the road to that Title match has been unexpectedly comedy gold, and I’ll actually be sad to see it go.
Hit: Karrion Kross
One of the more organic stories over the past few months has been the rise of Karrion Kross, who has been consistently over with the crowd and has been doing some of the best promo work of his WWE career. That’s led to an entertaining feud with Sami Zayn, but the problem was that Kross lacked the actual wins to continue his rise, at least until tonight. Tonight’s win against Zayn was a much-needed boost for Kross and allows his words and promos to carry even more weight, whether that is against Zayn as this feud continues or someone else in whatever feud awaits him next.
Hit: Stephanie Vaquer and Iyo Sky
How do you follow up a first-time match-up classic between Stephanie Vaquer and Iyo Sky? Tonight’s Raw managed to make that happen and even more impressively keep it a surprise, suddenly revealing that the two superstars were going to have a rematch and finally figure out who would have won the first time if it wasn’t interrupted. While that last part didn’t end up happening, the match that played out beforehand was excellent, and showcased each star’s unique skillset in a number of creative spots and reversals. Seriously, fans win every single time they get in the ring together, though hopefully one of these days they will actually get to finish a match.
Miss: Chelsea Green and the Secret Hervice
Let me be clear, Chelsea Green and the Secret Hervice are delightful and I adore them for any number of reasons. One reason is that they are entertaining in every and any role or spot in a match, and that was certainly the case tonight when they attacked Vaquer. Much like Kross, though, a heel or heel faction is limited in their effectiveness when they don’t have big wins to back them up, and it feels like ever since Green lost the Women’s United States Championship, they have entertained but done so in a losing effort. Tonight was no different, as they attacked Vaquer and yet all three ended up getting taken down with ease by Rhea Ripley, Vaquer, and Sky. For this team to stay together, it’s time to net a few wins and forward progress, and right now that doesn’t seem to be in the cards.
Hit: Roman Reigns
The Tribal Chief made his grand return to WWE Raw last week, and tonight he came out to confront the man who betrayed him at WrestleMania 41. Reigns ended up face to face with Heyman’s new crew of Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed, and after an eviscerating of Heyman and his role in Reigns’ ascension, Reigns also addressed Breakker and completely big-leagued him. What was promising about this confrontation, however, was that Breakker would step up and deliver a promising promo that shows this feud will have some legs, even if Rollins is out of the mix for some time.
Miss: Paul Heyman
Heyman never misses on the microphone, and he didn’t miss here either, as my issue isn’t with how he said things but what he said. Heyman is known for being ever the opportunist, so when he placated Reigns with throwing the one up or calling him the tribal chief, that wasn’t out of character. What did strike me as odd was Heyman just abandoning Rollins now that he’s out with an injury, especially as he’s still flanked by two of the deadliest men in WWE. Not only that, but when Heyman offered Reigns a deal to team-up once again, Breakker or Reed balked at the offer, which again seems odd with what we’ve seen from them in their time on screen with Rollins. This just broke kayfabe reality for me a bit in multiple ways, and while it did get us some great reactions from Reigns, I never bought it as an idea, and nothing Heyman said sold it for me either.
Alright, that’s our hits and misses for Monday Night Raw, but what stood out most to you? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things wrestling with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!
