Monday Night Raw Review - June 23, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Seth Rollins Addressed the Audience

While I appreciate Rollins not wearing any wacky outfits in recent weeks, he really hasn't done anything different as a heel that he wasn't doing previously. Sure, he called out the fans for being hypocrites here, but he's still using some of the same lines in his promos and the theme song has yet to change. I want to dig this group and I think the potential is there, but it needs to be fleshed out more.

Bron Breakker def. Penta

I assumed this would end in a non-finish here with Triple H wanting to protect both guys, but I'm glad that wasn't the case. WWE definitely needs more clean finishes. This was a really enjoyable opener and the Spear that put Penta away was sick. Breakker was the right call, but I hope Penta finds direction soon that allows him to win more consistently. I don't think he'll have a lot of success feuding with Rollins and his crew.

Michael Cole Hosted a Sit-Down Interview with Goldberg

Goldberg's promos are like his matches: They're best kept short and sweet. Plus, this was pre-taped, so that helped, too. He addressed why this match was happening, promised to give him a beating and that was about it. Honestly, that was all this needed to be. I hope their Saturday Night's Main Event match is also kept relatively brief because it could lose its luster if it's longer than a few minutes.

Jade Cargill def. Roxanne Perez in a Queen of the Ring Semifinal Match

I was looking forward to see how well these two would match up, and it turned out they didn't have great chemistry at all. They clearly weren't on the same page throughout, leading to a few rough spots. Cargill has had better bouts this year, so I wouldn't automatically blame it on her not being to hold her own (though Perez is obviously better). We'll see what she and Asuka can do in their match on Saturday.

World Heavyweight Champion Gunther Addressed Goldberg

Despite Goldberg doing the pre-taped interview earlier in the episode, I still expected him to make his presence felt here since I assumed he'd be appearing in person on most Raw shows heading into Saturday Night's Main Event. Well, apparently not, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Instead, Gunther cut a strong, straightforward promo and came across much more confident than he did when Goldberg confronted him last week.

Women's Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch def. Bayley by Disqualification

It was smart to relegate this to Raw instead of saving it for Night of Champions if this was going to be the finish they went with. That said, I had no issue with Lyra Valkyria getting involved and inadvertently costing Bayley the win because building to a Triple Threat was always the logical endgame. The match Lynch and Bayley were having prior to that point was well wrestled as you'd expect.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez Attacked Rhea Ripley

Rodriguez and Ripley interfered in each other's tournament matches in the last two weeks, so it made sense for them to further their feud here. My question is, why are they feuding again after already feuding in NXT years ago, last year and the year before that? There isn't anything interesting about them running it back right now. This segment was decent, but I'm not sure what it was supposed to set up. There was no update on the status of the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship and what will be done with it now that Liv Morgan is injured.

Cody Rhodes def. Jey Uso in a King of the Ring Semifinal Match

This was carried completely by their history as friends and them just being super over with the audience. The in-ring stuff was solid but hardly above average. Rhodes winning was pretty predictable, but at least they made Uso look credible in defeat. Meanwhile, I'm all set on Uso main event matches for a while. I'm surprised Randy Orton didn't appear at the end to face off with Rhodes, but I'm sure they'll interact in some form or fashion on Friday's SmackDown.

Overall Show

For those curious, no, there was zero update regarding Night of Champions possibly being moved out of Saudi Arabia. I wasn't expecting it anyway, and it becomes less likely with the event coming up in mere days. Nonetheless, this was a perfectly fine edition of Raw. The two semifinal matches were newsworthy, but there was little doubt who was going over in each of them. The rest of the show featured effective hype for Night of Champions and Saturday Night's Main Event. It's a shame Evolution (happening the day after Saturday Night's Main Event) feels like such an afterthought.

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