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If WWE's SummerSlam build was a car, then it'd be one meandering along at 10mph but somehow still failing to avoid potholes on the road. The latest edition of flagship show Raw definitely struggled to get started. Then, just like that, it was over. No Roman Reigns, no proper hype for the World Heavyweight Title bout he has vs. Seth Rollins, but a heck of a lot of content that was just sort of...there.
This wasn't a banner night for team red, to be blunt.
A hot opening tag-team match and stirring main event did sandwich things nicely, but everything else? Oh boy. You know it's a poor night at the office when even Paul Heyman waxing lyrical and getting all poetic to sell a Hell In A Cell match between Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi can't get the blood pumping.
WWE's power players need to sit down and have a chat about where they're heading with things, because this just isn't it. The Bloodline stranglehold continues, and Triple H should be worried about how frankly all over the place that group is whether Roman is in the building or not. Again being blunt, they're listless when the 'OTC' is absent.
Fans shouldn't be able to skip the crown jewel weekly this close to a major PLE like SummerSlam, but most would get by with highlights from Raw. That speaks volumes about the phoned-in effort Detroit's crowd got, and it isn't exactly a compliment to the way creative has handled things lately. No wonder ticket sales are starting to sag.
Here's some good and far too much bad from WWE's latest.
Downs...
6. Just Can’t Buy Alphas As A Threat
It’s such a trippy vibe to see Otis and Akira Tozawa taking the fight to The Vision. Austin Theory is one thing, but Tozawa taking out Bron Breakker? Come on now. What happened to this guy? He's gone from working World Title matches and being discussed as a surefire WrestleMania main-eventer to bouncing around the place for midcard comedy relics in a heartbeat.
Alpha Academy has had its day as an act, so it’s pretty difficult to view them as a true threat to the tag belts. Breakker and Theory better mow these dudes down quickly or it’ll actually hurt them more than help them in the long run. That's assuming Hunter and cronies have a long term plan for The Vision and they won't become a walking parody of themselves like Judgment Day on the same show.
The whole 'Otis fell in love with Maxxine Dupri' plot is too out of the blue as well. WWE didn't hint a whole hell of a lot at that when Maxxine and Otis were on the same side, but suddenly fans are expected to believe that there was simmering romance between the pair? Nah, not having that. If anything, Dupri's prior sympathy for big O was born from exactly that: Sympathy.
It'll be a tough sell to package Otis and Tozawa as the kind of team capable of stripping the tag belts from Theory and Breakker. Be very careful with all of this, WWE. It could do more harm to Bron than you'd care to admit.
5. Draw A Line Under This Money Stuff
Judgment Day tried to get their “human monies” back from Danhausen, but eventually found out that the case they nabbed back from him was full of fake cash. JD McDonagh threw the bag away and it hit Oba Femi, which led to Oba squashing JD in less than a minute, and Adam Pearce also lined up a match between Dominik Mysterio and Joe Hendry. All of that pre-amble felt like wasted TV time, to be honest.
Sure, most can appreciate WWE seeking reasons to make matches, but the money stuff between Danhausen and Judgment Day just isn’t very interesting. Even Femi trashed the “human monies” plot line to the camera after beating McDonagh by saying: “The real money’s at Hell In A Cell”. Fair point, man mountain. Fair point.
Dom vs. Hendry was so-so, then they lined up Mysterio vs. Danhausen for SummerSlam. Yeah, that eh…doesn’t feel worthy of being on a PLE like this. A lot of folks were critical of Triple H streamlining PLEs and boiling things down to 4-5 matches per night. So, he's responding by beefing that number up to 6-7, but the extras still have to be compelling. You can't just shove any old match on there and expect fans to be delighted by it, and that's what WWE has been doing.
Danhausen brings in the merch money and does comedy well, but what in the wide, wide world of sports are they even thinking by booking him vs. 'Dirty Dom' in a straight up singles effort at SummerSlam?! That doesn't belong.
4. IC Title Build Gets Weak Before SummerSlam
Chad Gable and Penta beat Rusev and Ethan Page in a decent scrap, but the big story is that nothing of note really happened other than their win. Penta hit a Mexican Destroyer on Page as Gable tapped Rusev out in his ankle lock. Then, Chad just handed Penta the Intercontinental Title and they celebrated. OK then? Where’s the intrigue for this IC Title bout?
This was house show-esque, which doesn’t cut it on Raw when we’re so close to a major PLE.
Listen, it's clear to anyone who has been paying attention that Gable is trying to atone for past sins as El Grande Americano, but where's the gusto to this tale? It doesn't feel impactful enough thus far to fit snugly on a top show like SummerSlam, and therein lies the problem. Sure, Chad vs. Penta will be a banger match on either night in early August, but a little more thought should be put into layering these stories so they land with a thump when it counts.
Right now, Gable and Penta are just plain ol' buddies who are about to have a glorified exhibition match for the latter's hard-won title. That's pretty weak, man. Even Chad atoning for the Americano transgressions has cooled off in recent weeks when that was the entire point of his Raw comeback in the first place. Hmm, some of the storytelling emphasis in this company has vanished, eh?
Top PLEs like SummerSlam need hot issues begging to be settled. That sells tickets. Instead, the IC Title situation is a friendly between 2 pals. Things better heat up during next week's 'go home'.
3. Even Paul Heyman Has Become Skippable
We've reached this point.
WWE leans on Paul Heyman hard to sell stories and do Brock Lesnar’s heavy lifting in promos. That’s cool, and it has worked for a long time, but Paul’s own aura has been dinged by The Vision debacle post-Roman Reigns, and he's started to repeat himself over and over again without a shred of irony. Here, he had nothing fresh to say.
It’s just the same old, same old. Plus, calling Oba Femi “Oba-rated” might’ve sounded cute during creative meetings, but they shouldn’t have gone there. Even heels should avoid ridiculing Oba as much as possible, especially when it's clear that Triple H wants to strap a rocket to the guy in time for next year's WrestleMania 43. Getting cutesy about the impact he's made? Nah, not a fab idea.
There was a time when any Heyman promo was appointment television. He typically had something big time to talk about, and his skilled way with words meant you were in for a masterclass regardless of content. Those days are close to being over. Here's one fan's opinion on the matter. You might disagree with it, but it comes from a good place (one that yearns for 'The Advocate' of old).
Paul E hasn't actually been a fascinating character since Solo Sikoa and pals thumped him through the announce table in June 2024. Yes, Heyman turning on Roman and CM Punk to join Seth Rollins got a reaction, but he became background noise in The Vision shortly thereafter.
Can we stop over-relying on him to narrate everything in drawn out, grandiose fashion?
2. Solo Sikoa Offers To Help Seth Rollins
This also has to be said: Solo Sikoa’s narrative, including that whole MFTs spin off stuff to prove he could run his own Bloodline and him offering to watch Seth Rollins back vs. Roman Reigns, isn’t the best. Then, as if that wasn't enough, Rollins had to go and treat Jacob Fatu like a jobber. 'The Architect' even called him a “bag boy” later during a backstage promo. What are we even doing here?!
Nobody else involved in this story feels on the same level as Roman or Seth, and now we potentially have a swerve story coming up with Sikoa rejoining The Bloodline anyway? WWE’s announcers have to try and sell of this as must-see television, but it’s falling flat big time. Solo just isn’t going to cut it this high up the card. Anyone who tunes into SmackDown regularly could tell you that.
He even kicked off his interruption on Monday with a jokey tone, which is all wrong. Look, if Sikoa is good at comedy then let him do comedy, but let's cut the pretence that he's some domineering mob boss who could ascend to Roman Reigns-ish level. Those days are very much over. Meanwhile, all of this 'will he/won't he' with Solo rejoining The Bloodline? It isn't over, at least not to the level WWE likes to think it is.
Why would Rollins even consider trusting Solo when he's been watching how this family operates for years? Further, what's up with Seth flitting between heelish and babyface depending on the week? Speaking of which...
1. We Need To Talk About The Bloodline
The group stood tall to end Monday’s show. Well, The Usos and Jacob Fatu did. Roman Reigns wasn’t there, and the faction means next to nothing when he’s absent. To that point, it’s a faded concept overall. Haven’t we seen everything The Bloodline has to offer by now? Not only that, but it’s unclear whether they’re supposed to be babyfaces or heels.
Sometimes, they play to the crowd. Then, at other times, they act heelish in matches. Their opponents at SummerSlam are mainly faces too, and Roman is definitely baby, so it’s confusing and isn’t working. As the intro stated, things are "all over the place" when it comes to Bloodline business. Just wrap it up, for christ sake! We're nearly at nWo 'B' squad levels with this. Not quite nWo 2000 though.
Never nWo 2000. Everyone just collectively shuddered when remembering that tripe.
Too many factions on WWE's watch feel a bit rubbish these days. The Bloodline are mediocre, Judgment Day has been reduced to shaking down Danhausen for cash in comedy bits, Jade Cargill and her Baddies don't offer nearly enough on Fridays, and even Fatal Influence has been up and down (Jacy Jayne losing to Tiffany Stratton then her stablemates winning tag gold 24 hours later reflects that).
Bloodline could be considered the head of the snake in 2026. Things looked more promising when Fatu was warring with Roman a few months back, but now he's a "bag boy" (WWE's words) at best. Many viewers are over this concept now, including this one.
Ups...
2. Main Event Duo Work Their Socks Off
Finally, some good. Honestly, finding it was like wading through a pool of crap to find some valuable Pokémon cards.
LA Knight vs. Jacob Fatu was a fine slow-burner in the main event slot. Yes, this writer has limited interest in what’s coming up at SummerSlam, but the match itself was more akin to old Fatu and that’s welcome. The pair didn’t rush anything here, and things built logically. On commentary, Michael Cole and Corey Graves even mentioned how surprised they were by the slow start, but it did help spotlight how intense things eventually got from the midway point onwards.
Again, all of The Bloodline stuff is boring at this stage, but Knight and Fatu deserve praise for the shift they put in to try and give those underwhelmed fans in Detroit something to be chirpy about. If nothing else, at least folks had a match like this to talk about on the ride home, and Jacob's match-winning moonsault looked spectacular. It'll always be impressive that a man with his build can move like he can - it's Bam Bam Bigelow-esque, even though Fatu has shifted some weight lately.
It would've been real easy for LA and Jacob to phone it in and rely on that mass brawl breaking out near the end to get by, but they didn't. There was an obvious amount of pride in their respective work, and that was great to see. Hard work goes a long, long way, especially on a show as lame duck as this week's Raw.
1. That Hot Tag-Team Opener
Bron Breakker and Austin Theory beat Je’Von Evans and Dragon Lee in a fast-paced, all-energy opener that set the tone for the show nicely. Or, to be more accurate, it should've set the tone. Nobody can point any fingers of blame at this quartet for what came next though. They were on fire throughout, and Detroit's faithful must've thought they were in one for heck of an episode.
Evans nailed his neat hot tag sequence too, and Michael Cole made sure to mention how aggressive Je’Von has been lately. He and Lee won’t be a long-term team, but they mesh well together due to similar styles and Dragon’s willingness to take a kicking then build heat for that aforementioned tag in from Evans. It was also nice to see Breakker getting the pin.
He’s cooled off significantly, of course, but he and Theory also gel well as a unit. That's worth saying despite all of the negativity surrounding Bron's de-push and what the future holds for him.
At ringside, Maxxine Dupri and Logan Paul even found ways to get involved in the action without making the segment all about them. Good on the pair for managing that, because having so many heel bodies around the place makes that challenging. Je'Von and Lee were outnumbered here, but the bout didn't turn into some elongated handicap scenario, and the match was better for that restraint.
So, to recap, both the opener and main event clicked in-ring. Everything else? Ouch. Raw needed a redraft if it had any hopes to succeed.
What did you think of this week's WWE Raw? For more like this, check out 3 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (17 July - Results & Review) and 4 Ups & 2 Downs From WWE Saturday Night's Main Event (18 July - Results & Review)!
