WWE Monday Night Raw 6/30/2025

WWE Monday Night Raw 6/30/2025

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/06/wwe-monday-night-raw-6232025.html

Next week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/07/wwe-monday-night-raw-772025.html

We are in Pittsburgh, PA. Michael Cole and Corey Graves are on commentary.

We see various wrestlers arrive.

Rhea Ripley comes out to talk. She gets interrupted by Iyo Sky before she can say antyhing of note. Iyo says you can't have Evolution without her. She says Rhea is not on top, not without the title. She says Adam Pearce told her she can choose who to defend her title against at Evolution. She says she wants to defend against the best and that's Rhea Ripley.

Rhea says she will stop at nothing to get the title back if that's what Iyo wants. She says what happens at Evolution is what Iyo wanted. She says Iyo is on.

The Judgment Day pound fists in the back. AJ Styles goes up to Dominik Mysterio. Dom shows his doctor's note and says he's injured. He says Adam Pearce verified that if AJ lays a finger on him, he will never get a title match. AJ puts glasses on, grabs the doctor's note and says the doc says he's a punk @ss. He says he will take the IC Title from him and beat him so bad that he needs more than a note from the doctor. 

World Tag Titles - The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) vs The Judgment Day (Finn Balor and JD McDonaugh)

Kofi ducks Finn's lariat. Kofi hits forearms in the corner. Finn boots him in the gut. Kofi sunset flips him but Finn rolls through and basement dropkicks him. JD boots Kofi in the corner. Kofi is thrown out and JD kicks him from the apron. JD goes to springboard and ends up stuck over the top rope. Woods top rope double stomps JD.

We go to break and return. Kofi hits mounted shots on JD.  JD and Woods trade chops. Woods drops JD with various strikes. JD facebusters Woods off a powerbomb attempt. Finn comes in and double stomps Kofi then stomps Woods' gut. Finn elbow slices Kofi for 2. Finn sling blades Kofi. Kofi jumping knee presses Finn.

JD back body drops Woods over the top then asai moonsaults him. JD top rope moonsaults and Woods gets his feet up. Finn hits a top rope double stomp on JD on accident. Woods gets a 2 count on Finn. Finn takes a midnight hour for 2.

Finn rolls up Kofi for 2. Woods hits Finn with the title belt from behind and it's only worth 2. Woods is crotched on top when Kofi is sent into the ropes. JD top rope spanish flies Woods. Finn sling blades Kofi on the floor. JD top rope moonsaults Woods. Finn top rope double stomps Woods and wins.

Thoughts: I wasn't that into it. It was rough early with neither team being faces. JD did a bunch of flying here. The New Day haven't been great champs so them losing isn't a loss but I'm not sure where they go from here.

Bayley is interviewed. She says she wishes she was champ but Lyra got involved in her business. She says she wants to get her hands on Becky though. Lyra comes in and says Bay won't respond to her texts. Lyra says she was going to apologize and says she wasn't trying to sabotage Bay. She says it's personal with her and Becky and Bay says the same. Adam Pearce breaks up the argument and says they will face each other tonight in a #1 contender's match for the Women's IC Title. 

We get a Gunther vs Goldberg package.

We see Adam Pearce talking to American Made earlier. Adam says he's sorry about Chad's injury and wishes him luck. Chad says he makes his own luck. Adam says that means we won't see El Grande Americano for a while. Chad says he's the world's greatest luchador and keeps a busy schedule, but you never know. Chad tells his crew to win titles. Brutus says he's lost without Chad and asks what they will do. Chad says to listen to Ivy.

Nick Aldis and Pearce talk. Finn and JD come up to them. Finn says he thinks they are trying to figure out what to do with the women's tag titles. Finn says he has an idea. Finn says Raquel worked hard to get those and says they should find her a new tag partner. Finn recommends Roxanne Perez. Finn says it works for everyone. Nick and Adam agree but say they will defend the titles in 2 weeks at Evolution in a 4 way with teams from Raw, SD and NXT. Nick says we are finally on the same page and Adam says for now.

Sheamus vs Rusev

They lock up. Sheamus side headlocks him then shoulderblocks him. They trade shots. Sheamus hits punches in the corner and Rusev lariats him. Sheamus lariats him. Sheamus pulls on Rusev's mouth. Rusev hits kicks in the corner. Sheamus then hits punches in the corner. Rusev powerbombs him.

Rusev kicks Sheamus from the apron. Sheamus catches Rusev from the apron and powerslams him on the floor. We go to break and return. Rusev chinlocks Sheamus. Sheamus drives him into the corner then Rusev facekicks him. Rusev kicks him in the back.

Rusev stomps on him in the corner and Sheamus says to come on. Sheamus hits a corner lariat then uranage backbreakers him.
Sheamus hits a top rope diving knee drop on Rusev for 1. Rusev spinning heel kicks him and fallaway slams him for 2. Sheamus double boots him out of the corner. Rusev superplexes him.

We go to break and return. They bolo punch and lariat each other. Rusev boots him in the gut and the head. Sheamus powerslams him. Sheamus clubs Rusev's chest on the ropes. Sheamus goes for a brogue kick and is tossed over. Rusev hits high kicks.

Sheamus hits 2 pumping knees for 2. Rusev uranages him then does a jumping superkick. Rusev camel clutches him. Sheamus gets up and they both fall out of the ring. Sheamus brogue kicks him outside.

They fight on the buckles. Rusev eye pokes him. Sheamus is pulled chest first into the metal rope connector. Rusev pump kicks him and wins.

Thoughts: The ending lost some steam but this was exactly what it sounded like - two big guys clubbing each other and making the sweat fly. It was entertaining but not a classic.

Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis talk in front of a WWE Evolution logo. They say there will be a battle royal there for a title shot at Clash in Paris.

American Made is interviewed minus Chad. Ivy says they have work to do. El Grande Americano then comes in and is suddenly much taller. American Made are shocked and are asked what that was. They say "no comment".

Thoughts: Now this is the way to do it. There's no reason to kill the Grande gimmick, just stick someone else in there and have some fun with it.

Sami Zayn is interviewed. Karrion Kross nails him before he can say anything. He throws him into boxes and pounds on him. Kross hits him in the gut with a pipe. 

Gunther comes out to talk. He says he came out to talk about Goldberg. He says what he did was impressive but like his matches, he will sum it up in 3 minutes. He says he's not afraid of what is left of Goldberg. He says he's a 58 year old man that wants to ride his career out on his coat tails. He says it won't happen. He says Goldberg is not capable of taking the title from him. He says he knows he is capable of beating him in 3 minutes.

He says he plans to embarrass him and outclass him. He says Goldberg doesn't like bullies but he bumped into the biggest bully around here. He says he will bully him, push him around and treat him like a piece of crap. He says Bill wonders if he still got it but he will expose that he never had it. He says he will be the one who is asking who's next after.

Seth Rollins comes out with Paul Heyman. Gunther says Seth traveled far and achieved nothing this weekend. Seth says Gun hadn't been paying attention. Seth says they came to congratulate him for winning the title. Seth says they didn't go to Night of Champions to cash the MITB contract in. Seth said Gun wasn't paying attention as he said for 2 years Punk wouldn't be world champ again. Seth said they flew across the world to stand on that business.

Seth said he told the world that his MITB contract was going to be an assault on both world titles. He then says congratulations champ.

CM Punk comes out and fights with Seth. Punk hits a bunch of punches and has his eye raked. Punk back elbows Seth and Seth runs out through the crowd. 

Gun grabs Punk as he tries to leave. Punk pushes Gun over. Seth is posing on the steps and LA Knight comes up behind him. LA hits him with popcorn and beats him up. They go into the concourse and fight. Seth is sent into a snack stand then he throws a drink in LA's eyes. Seth then runs for it.

The Judgment Day talk. Finn says the women's tag titles look great on Perez. Raquel comes in. She asks if we are replacing Liv just like that. Finn says it'll be a long road for Liv to rehab and he wants Raquel to stay champ. Perez asks if it means what she thinks. Finn says they should have a vote to see if Perez is the newest member. Finn and JD say yes. Dom says he needs to talk to Liv. Finn tells him to make a decision and he says yes. Raquel tells her to hold up her end of the deal. Perez is the newest member of Judgment Day. They bang their titles together. Perez says she will get revenge on the person who took out Liv in Kairi Sane. Finn says Liv will love this.

We get a promo with Kairi Sane on a priate ship. She syas she fights for honor. She says she's been the NXT Women's Champ and the WWE Women's Tag Champ twice. She says she will have all the champions' gold and says she's not araid of anything. She says she doesn't run from the storm, she runs into it. She says The Pirate Princess is here.

#1 Contenders to the Women's IC Title - Bayley vs Lyra Valkyria

Bay shoulders her over then hiptosses her. Lyra gets a 2 count on her. Lyra throws her over by the legs. Lyra armdrags her off the casadora. Bay back elbows her out of the corner and 2nd rope diving armdrags her. Bay sliding lariats her. 

Lyra rolls over her back and backslides her. Lyra cartwheels out of a monkey flip. Bay crabs her. Lyra tries a pin attempt then they crossbody each other at the same time. We go to break and return.

They fight on the buckles. Bay superplexes her but Lyra tries a pin off of it. Bay hits lariats and backdrops her. Bay elbow drops her off the steps. Lyra armdrags Bay then she swinging neckbreakers her for 2. Bay sunset bombs her into the buckles for 2.

Lyra does a high angle sitout doctor bomb for 2. They trade shots then they try pin attempts. Lyra lays ontop of her but both kind of have their shoulders up. The ref says it's a draw.

Thoughts: I didn't love the ending here. Double pin spots are always a bit tough and the one they went with wasn't the best. The match was alright with them going even with each other and doing a lot of reversals.

Bay grabs Lyra after and they fight. Lyra is swept on the apron then Bay is pushed into the rail. They go over the time keepers rail then fight in the crowd. They fight on the boxes and it gets broken up.  

CM Punk is interviewed. He says Seth's knees haven't worked that well in years and said he ran away from him. Punk spots LA Knight. He tells him to get to the back of the line with Seth. LA says he's fighting Seth at SNME so he is the line.

Penta and Sami Zayn talk in the back and Sami does Penta's taunt. Sami's ribs are taped up and they head to the ring.

Bronson Reed asks Paul Heyman where Seth is. Paul says Seth is on a jet perfecting Plan B. Reed asks what Plan B is. Bron says the plan is for him to smash anyone who gets in his way and it starts with Sami and Penta.

Sami Zayn and Penta vs Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed

Penta and Bron go at it. Bron takes him down. Bron hits punches then corner spears. Penta flying headscissors him. Penta facekicks him then flying headscissors him. Sami elbows Bron's arm. Bron knees Sami in his injured ribs.

Bron running lariats Sami. Reed corner splashes Sami. Sami 2nd rope double axe handles Reed. Reed is clubbed on by his opponents. Bron is superkicked. Sami does Penta's walk with him then they both hit tope con hilos.

We go to break and return. Reed cranks on Penta's head. Penta dropkicks him and tags out. Sami hits punches on Reed then hits mounted forearms. Sami running lariats Reed. Sami blind leapfrogs over him and lariats him over the top. Sami seated moonsaults both opponents outside. Sami goes up top and Reed hits him.

Sami sunset bombs Reed off the 2nd rope. Sami fights off a possible doomsday device. Reed bodyblocks Sami. Bron apron diving lariats Sami on the commentary table. We go to break and return. Reed waistlocks Sami's injured ribs. Bron is back body dropped over the top. Reed misses a senton on Sami. Penta top rope crossbodies Bron. Penta facebusters Bron then superkicks Reed. Penta pendulum double boots Bron then cranks his arm back. Penta ddt's Bron for 2. Penta gets stuck up top. Bron runs up the buckles and enzugiri's him. Reed sitout powerbombs Penta for 2.

Reed misses a top rope splash on Penta. Sami exploders Bron into the corner. Bron flying lariats Sami. Bron runs into Sami's facekick for 2. Reed misses a corner splash and Sami suplexes Reed. Bron flying spears Sami for the win.

Thoughts: They tried and it was okay. It got a lot of time but it wasn't the best possible match they could have had. I thought it was a weak main as none of these guys are full-time main eventers at this point.

Bron spears Penta after. Reed goes for a top rope splash and Jey Uso comes out. Jey chairs Bron hard. Jey hits punches on Reed then superkicks him. Jey throws a chair at Reed's head, which is not something you see much of these days.

Overall thoughts: It was an alright Raw and it was much more wrestling focused than it has been on average lately. Nothing was great here but nothing was awful either. There weren't any new big storyline changes here but they are quickly filling out the rest of the SNME coming up and WWE Evolution. The one downfall of this show was that the stars were not in action here. Sami was the biggest star wrestling here. I'd give it a 6 out of 10 as it was a decent Raw but nothing great.