Monday Night Raw Review - July 28, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Paul Heyman Interrupted Jey Uso

The crowd was behind Uso for the entire segment, but he didn't really say anything out of the ordinary. Heyman spoke for a majority of it, but nothing he said got me more excited for the tag team match at SummerSlam, either. In short, it was a segment that happened. I'm not sure this needed to exist before Uso vs. Bronson Reed in the night's main event seeing as how it served no purpose.

AJ Styles and The Kabuki Warriors def. The Judgment Day (Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio and WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez)

I feel like it's not often WWE does intergender matches with this level of star power, so it was cool to see Styles and Kabuki Warriors on the same team. This was a fun, well-worked match with everyone working well together and Styles pinning Mysterio for a momentum boost. That said, I assume that all but confirms Styles isn't winning the Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam.

Sheamus def. Grayson Waller

I'm all for Waller wrestling more singles matches, especially now that his team with Austin Theory is apparently over (without the breakup ever being televised, by the way). The last singles match I remember Waller having was also against Sheamus, and this ended the exact same way. This was just a slight step above a squash with the focus being on Rusev attacking Sheamus afterward to further that feud.

Lyra Valkyria Attacked Women's Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch

It's clear Valkyria has gotten more and more comfortable on the mic throughout this feud and this was another example of that. She didn't say much, but she kept her portion of the promo short and sweet. I loved how she outsmarted Lynch because babyfaces are typically made to look foolish. With Valkyria standing tall here, does that foreshadow Bayley interfering at SummerSlam and costing Valkyria the title?

Karrion Kross and Scarlett Interrupted Corey Graves' Sit-Down Interview with Sami Zayn

This was a really effective way to hype the rubber match between these two at SummerSlam. It's interesting because their matches have been rather basic so far, yet the promos and character work have been excellent. Both guys were great in their respective roles, but especially Kross. I'm hoping he can have a standout performance this weekend. Otherwise, this push for him might be short-lived.

Stephanie Vaquer, Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY and Nikki Bella def. Chelsea Green, The Secret Hervice and Women's World Champion Naomi

Take notes, Tony Khan: This was a true "all-star" tag team match. Okay, so this wasn't all stars, but the babyface team in particular was stacked. It also managed to progress multiple feuds at once. As long as WWE doesn't do these every single week, they'll feel special when they do. The heels never stood a chance, but the crowd seemed to enjoy the action as much as I did watching from home.

World Tag Team Champions The Judgment Day (Finn Balor and JD McDonagh) def. The LWO (Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde)

It would've been nice if WWE waited a week or two to deliver this match instead of doing it so soon after The LWO became number one contenders, if only so the crowd could be given more of a reason to rally behind The LWO and buy into the idea that they could win. Nonetheless, this was a good match with The LWO looking impressive per usual while on offense. El Grande Americano's interference was thwarted by Dragon Lee, but another masked dude (who I assume was Dominik) cost The LWO instead.

CM Punk Confronted World Heavyweight Champion Gunther

This was more like it. Their verbal "exchange" last week was disappointing, but Punk brought his A-game here. It was easily his strongest mic work in months and I appreciated his intensity. A rebuttal from Gunther would've made the segment even better, but I can't complain about what we got. The build for this bout has undoubtedly been rushed, but they've done their best to make the most of it.

Jey Uso def. Bronson Reed by Disqualification

Michael Cole mentioning on commentary that Uso has never lost to Reed gave me hope Reed might actually beat him for a change. Sadly, that was not the case, as their latest encounter ended in yet another disqualification. It was solid while it lasted, but with Reigns already advertised for this episode, everyone was waiting for the post-match chaos. Breakker putting both Reigns and Uso through the barricade with a Spear was a sweet visual.

Overall Show

WWE has done all it can do to hype SummerSlam on such short notice, yet they only have themselves to blame for booking so many damn shows. Despite that, this was a thumbs-up episode. The crowd was lively all night, nothing felt wasted and they closed on a high note. Personally, I'm sold on SummerSlam, but even if you're not, I do think both nights have the potential to be very entertaining.

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