This Week In WWE Review (6/4/25 – 12/4/25)

triple threat finally confirmed

The show opened with Adam Pearce bringing out Iyo Sky, Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley. He has had enough of their BS and he officially signs the triple threat for Wrestlemania. Bianca and Rhea continue to be more focused on each other and Iyo takes them both out, demanding respect and recognition as the champion.

The segment was nothing special but I am glad the match is finally confirmed. It should be a banger. Iyo Sky surely has to win. Also, Adam Pearce incorrectly said that Mami represented the Judgement Day which was funny. That hasn’t been a thing for nearly a year now.

A Rookie Upset

The opening match of Raw sees Lyra Valkyria score a huge victory over Bayley to retain her IC championship. This was a great match, it started with Bayley using her veteran experience to outwrestle and outmanoeuvre Lyra but the champion stuck with it. By the end, Bayley was getting frustrated struggling to beat the champion. After a Liontamer did not work, she tried to transition into the Roseplant but she is caught in a pinfall and loses.

Afterwards, Bayley is frustrated and initially rejects the handshake but changes her mind and shows sportsmanship. That was a nice touch. Wrestlers should not be happy to lose. This was a great opening contest.

karrion kross finally gets a match

for months now we have seen Karrion Kross lurking around backstage at Raw, like a homeless man at Manchester Airport scrounging for cigarettes. He hasn’t really done much except playing the devil on people’s shoulder. Whilst his character is kinda cool, it has went absolutely no where. His booking has been pretty stagnant since Wrestlemania 40.

He has since been playing the devil with AJ Styles and it has now resulted in Styles challenging him to a match next week. Bloody hell, Kross is finally getting something to do! I’m not a huge Kross fan, but I would like him to be utilised rather than loitering around like a stink bomb.

classic loaded mask finish

The Creed Brothers teamed up with WWE’s newest sensation, El Grande Americano, to take on LWO’s Dragon Lee, Joaquin Wilde & Cruz Del Toro. This was another awesome match, these 2 teams have great chemistry together. The Creeds show off their wrestling ability and freak level of athleticism whilst the new luchador who definitely is not Chad Gable seems to be a natural at wrestling.

Wilde & Del Toro competed in having the best high-flying move in this match. Wilde hit a huge step-up tope off the backs of his teammates. Del Toro landed a sensational tornillo dive out onto one of the Creeds.

Amongst the chaos, Gable- I mean Americano, loaded his mask with steel and hit a diving headbutt to Dragon Lee to win the match. A great match with a classic finish that I haven’t seen WWE use in decades.

Jey Fears No General

First of all, I think it was a great touch that Jey Uso came out in all black and all serious, not yeeting along with the fans after the assault on his brother last week. He interrupts Gunther and does not allow him to even speak. Jey cuts a passionate promo about how he had to explain to his mom what happened to Jimmy. But now he is not scared of Gunther and at Wrestlemania he is coming for blood.

This was a great promo from Jey, made even better by Gunther’s fantastic face expressions and body language. He looked taken aback by the whole thing and dare I say even slightly remorseful? Or he is worried about what he has turned Jey into. I’m glad this feud has improved.

The Favours Continue

Paul Heyman reaffirms he is loyal to both Roman Reigns and CM Punk, that does not make him disloyal to either of them.

Seth Rollins questions which side Heyman is on and goes on a history lesson of how Roman and Punk are not good to him. Rollins then suggests that he takes him out of the equation for his own good. He shoves him around until CM Punk makes the save and a brawl ensues. Rollins comes out on top with a stomp. He goes to stomp Heyman but pulls away at the last second. “Now, you owe me a favour Paul.” Heyman puts his head in his hands as the show ends.

A great closing segment and a very intriguing one at that. Seth Rollins has been showing flashes of being a heel recently but this is the most he has ever looked. He even got a few boos for his treatment of Heyman. Will Heyman somehow do a 180 and help Seth Rollins? The Wrestlemania match somehow got even more dramatic.

save it for your comedy show

So, Tony Hinchcliffe was a guest commentator for the War Raiders vs New Day match and, well, it was not good. He is hosting the Roast of Wrestlemania over Wrestlemania weekend and he has got a special on Netflix which explains his presence here tonight.

Look, comedy is a pretty subjective thing so I am not gonna say whether Tony is a funny guy or not. I thought his David vs Goliath joke was quite funny, but nothing much else landed for me. I think that a lot of it was a distraction from the match we got. However, the Big E joke was a bit much. He said “the only thing stiffer than Michael Cole’s commentary is Big E’s neck.” Yikes. I’m a fan of a good dark joke, but this felt wildly inappropriate to hear on Raw. I just don’t really want to hear that said on live television.

Tony went out here and praised the new version of the New Day and mocked Big E’s neck injury, absolutely ruining the chances of picking up any new fans here tonight. Not a smart move.

The State of Raw’s Tag Division

New Day vs War Raiders was not a great match. Not only was the commentary distracting, but the match itself was a bit bland. They appeared to go through the motions of hitting moves until the crappy DQ finish.

Xavier Woods tries to use a chair, Ivar confiscates it off him and uses it, but the referee saw it and called for the DQ. The New Day viciously assaulted the champions after the match.

It is so weird because the Smackdown Tag Division has been popping off for months and the booking has been great. Over on Raw a different story. The War Raiders reign has sucked, it looks like they have no direction for them to go. The division feels like it has 3 teams total. It needs a serious revamp if there is a draft upcoming.

One more time

The show opened with Jaida Parker vs Jordynne Grace and I want to see this run again. I see the potential for a great match between these 2 powerhouses. It was a god match, although it was rough around the edges. Grace in particular was a little botchy but nothing too damaging other than the botched suicide dive. I’m glad she is okay.

The match ended in a No Contest after the women collided with NXT Women’s Champion Stephanie Vaquer at ringside. They get into a scrap and the match is called off. We also saw the return of Giulia who attacked her supposed best friend Vaquer and challenged her to a rematch. Later in the show, the champ would declare she wants to face all of them at Stand & Deliver.

Promising New Team

NXT Tag Champions Fraxiom defeated Swipe Right, who are young team making a name for themselves on WWE’s new developmental show, Evolve. The revived indie promotion is harbouring plenty of young talent WWE have in their Performance Center. Swipe Right come out and made a name for themselves against the top team in NXT.

This was a very good tag match, Brad Baylor & Ricky Smokes are incredibly easy to hate. They’re a bunch of young, arrogant tinder boys who think they’re gods gift. They need some polishing, but I think they have a bright future ahead of them.

Great 5 min match

There was a lot of matches this week so a bunch of them ran less than 5 minutes. Usually that is a detriment but for this match it was beneficial. Wes Lee and Yoshiki Inamura went at a blistering pace for 4 minutes and wrestled a competitive, short match.

Inamura has been growing on me every week and I hope that he isn’t set to return to Pro Wrestling NOAH anytime soon. He lost this match after his partner Josh Briggs tried to take out one of Lee’s interfering allies, but it impacted Inamura’s top rope splash attempt. Are they planning a break up angle already for these 2?

Darkstate Start (kinda) Strong

I haven’t got a negative rant about Darkstate this week. Although I have been very unhappy with their booking and presentation up until this point, I thought their main event win over Oba Femi, Trick Williams and Je’Von Evans was a beneficial result for the rookie team.

This was a solid main event, I was very impressed by Dion Lennox and Saquon Shugars’ in-ring ability. Less so about Cutler James, he has work to do still.

I do wish that Darkstate’s victory was more about their cohesive strength rather than the old “can they co-exist” trope. For most of the match the 3 rivals were on top and they had the match won, but Trick and Oba could not work together long enough to secure the win. Darkstate’s Super Bomb finisher is awesome though. I love it.

Too Many Matches

7 matches on this show. That is silly. A lot of short matches and a lot of them not very good. A lot of matches barely had time to breathe so they were fine at best but largely mediocre.

Sol Ruce vs Jazyn Nyx was passable. Nyx is still incredibly green as a wrestler, she did okay but a lot of this match was pretty under average. The Sol Snatcher still amazes me when I see it. The Culling vs Hank & Tank was another nothing tag match that I did not care about. I have negative interest in Hank and Tank no matter how many main roster tag teams endorse them.

Izzie Dame vs Wren Sinclair was the weakest of the bunch unfortunately, but I’ll talk more about that seperately.

Too many matches, not enough storyline progressing segments. I don’t like wrestling just for the sake of it.

Multi-Man Fatigue

I am left with the same question as last week, why is WWE so obsessed with multi-man’s this year? Wrestlemania is already littered with multi-man action but now NXT seems to be cursed with it too. All 3 of them confirmed matches for Stand & Deliver are multi-person matches. Next week on NXT we have a pair of multi-man matches to determine number 1 contenders for championships.

I get it and I think when used correctly, multi-man matches are a great addition to a wrestling card. This year though, it is excessive. It feels like lazy booking.

Botched Finish

Izzi Dame vs Wren Sinclair. I don’t really want to go in too hard because they’re both young ladies with plenty of time to perfect their craft. However, this match wasn’t very good at all was it. Sloppy, awkward action and unnaturally set up spots and sequences. The worst part is the finish which was absolutely botched and I am not sure who by.

Izzi Dame hits a sit-out powerbomb and goes for the pin. Referee gets to two, Dame lets go of the pin but Wren does not kick out and she is counted for the 3. Did Dame forget this was the finish? Did Wren forget to kick out? I’m unsure but it was awkward as hell and unfortunately, a bit rubbish. Better luck next time.

Jordynne Grace vs Jaida Parker ends in a No Contest, Giulia Attacks Stephanie Vaquer (B- Grade)

Fraxiom defeat Swipe Right (B Grade)

Sol Ruca defeats Jazmyn Nyx, North American Qualifier (C- Grade)

The Culling defeat Hank & Tank (C- Grade)

Ricky Saints is Confronted by Various Challengers (C+ Grade)

Wes Lee defeats Yoshiki Inamura (B- Grade)

Izzi Dame defeats Wren Sinclair (D Grade)

Darkstate defeat Oba Femi, Trick Williams & Je’Von Evans (B Grade)

Mystery Opponent

With Kevin Owens out injured, Randy Orton is in need of a new Wrestlemania opponent. This week he and Nick Aldis argued about it, the Viper even teased Aldis getting in the ring with him at Wrestlemania but they were interrupted by Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga.

I have no doubt that they will have Randy Orton at Wrestlemania 41. I think they might keep his opponent a mystery until the event itself which I think is a good idea. Could it be Rey Fenix? Aleister Black? I would personally like it to be Nick Aldis.

Impressive Showing

Bayley and Lyra Valkyria, opponents earlier on Raw for the IC title, teamed up together and showed off incredible unity to win the gauntlet even though they entered number 1. They first overcame Pure Fusion Collective, Zoey Starks & Shayna Baszler, which was solid. They beat Natalya and Maxxine Dupri next. Haven’t seen Natalya on TV for ages. Dupri is showing improvements in the ring as a wrestler and she is really over with the crowd. Dupri had a hot streak, but she tried to impress her partner too much going for the Sharpshooter and she was caught in a pinfall.

Bayley and Lyra knocked off Katana Chance and Kayden Carter in an entertaining fall, followed by beating Michin and B-Fab. Finally, Chelsea Green’s secret Hervice Piper Niven and Alba Fyre entered to have the best fall of the match. Piper ate a powerbomb and a diving elbow drop and kicked out at 1! They went back and forth some more until Lyra hit a diving leg drop to Alba Fyre’s skull to win. They wrestled for over 30 minutes. An enjoyable match with good booking.

Drew ‘Jewellery Thief’ McIntyre

Drew McIntyre might be the most convincing heel of all time because the way he explains his reasonings I just have no option but to believe him. He assaulted Priest before their scheduled face to face and criticises Priest for challenging him to a match when he has one eye. I mean, I agree! Is Drew secretly the face here, just getting justified revenge?

Drew McIntyre removed his eyepatch and said he is fully cleared to wrestle which is great news, but I do wish he kept it on he looked bad ass. Priest returned the favour and attacked Drew, but the Scotsman got the better on him and dropped him with a DDT on the steel steps. McIntyre then steal Priest’s meaningful necklace, shades of Drew stealing Punk’s bracelet during their feud last year.

Another One

Rey Fenix had another show-stealing performance on Smackdown, this time in a great match with Legado Del Fantasma’s Berto Garza.

There isn’t much praise that Rey hasn’t received already, but I want to give Berto his flowers here too. He was a great opponent for Fenix and he had his own fair share of excellent moves.

Interestingly, after Rey’s win Santos Escobar came down and forced Berto to shake his hand in defeat. Santos then shook Rey’s hand too. I like the idea of this developing into a bigger story.

Top Notch Package

WWE are notoriously great at piecing together video packages but DAMN the one this week for CM Punk and Paul Heyman weas especially fantastic. This was a great recap of their history together throughout WWE in the ring and behind the scenes.

It was very heavy on the idea of loyalty, which casts doubt in my mind of Heyman being the most ideal manager for Punk at Wrestlemania, especially after the events on Raw.

All The Gold

Cody Rhodes cuts a promo on John Cena, surrounded by 7 different versions of the WWE championship, including his own. That was an awesome visual. He references various holders of the different versions including Bruno Sammartino, The Undertaker and Eddie Guerrero.

He cuts a passionate promo on Cena about being the WWE champion and how it belongs to “us”, referencing the WWE universe. It is nothing too ground-breaking but the delivery is as awesome as always from WWE’s top guy.

Blurring The Lines

It was announced during the show that both Charlotte Flair and Tiffany Stratton were facing disciplinary action after a fight broke out in the car park. Shades of the Kevin Owens vs Cody Rhodes feud here, as the footage has not been caught by WWE cameras, but spotted by fans and shared relentlessly online.

After Stratton’s victory over Roxanne Perez, the Queen appeared in a rare t-shirt and jeans fit to brutally assault the champion. I think it was a great idea to continue to lean into the reality of this feud after the bombshell of a promo last week.

They Deserve Better

After MONTHS of Smackdown’s tag division being vastly superior to Raw’s and genuinely being entertaining and well booked, they don’t even get a Wrestlemania feature. Street Profits will defend against the Motor City Machine Guns next week on Smackdown. What?!

Awful booking. If any match needed to be a multi-man match, it was this one. How the story was built, a multi-team ladder match seemed like the perfect finale to months of storytelling. Not only is that not happening, but you’re not even going to put the title on Wrestlemania? You’re not going to give the Motor City Machine Guns their first Wrestlemania appearance?

I don’t hate the War Raiders or New Day, but that match does not deserve a spot on the card over the this one. The Raw tag division has been dead ever since the tag titles left the Judgement Day. I know not every match can be on Wrestlemania, but goddamnit these guys deserve it.

A Hot Mess

I am a huge fan of Chelsea Green and if this was planned, this match was fucking terrible. So Green has no Secret Hervice ahead of her non-title match with Zelina Vega. Green blindsides Zelina and attacks her to get an early advantage. The action spills out of the ring and Chelsea is dominant. She throws Zelina into the ring, she argues with the commentators but she fails to beat the count getting in. The US champion loses via count out. It was so abrupt it felt like a botch, but I don’t think it was.

I detest this booking where cheating heels are portrayed as the stupidest people on the planet. Chelsea Green should not be portrayed this way. She is a great wrestler, but if her character means that she shouldn’t be outwrestling everyone then I understand that her relying on underhanded tactics. However, that doesn’t mean she has to be a fucking moron.

Ever since her rise to US champion, I have been largely disappointed with WWE’s handling of Green’s booking. She has the potential to be a mega star and I don’t think she is being given the opportunity to reach it.

Nick Aldis Addresses Randy Orton (B Grade)

Bayley & Lyra Valkyria win the Women’s Tag Title Contender Gauntlet (B+ Grade)

Drew McIntyre Ambushes Damian Priest Before Their Face to Face (B Grade)

Rey Fenix defeats Berto Garza (A- Grade)

Zelina Vega defeats Chelsea Green by Count Out (F Grade)

Pre-Recorded Naomi & Jade Promos (B Grade)

1) Bayley

2) Lyra Valkyria

3) Rey Fenix

4) Berto Garza

5) Alba Fyre

6) Piper Niven

7) El Grande Americano

8) Cruz Del Toro

9) Joaquin Wilde

10) Seth Rollins

Raw

AJ Styles vs Karrion Kross

We Hear From Roman Reigns

NXT

Ethan Page vs Wes Lee vs Eddy Thorpe vs Lexis King, North American Contender Match

NXT Tag Team Contender Gauntlet

Women’s North American Qualifiers Continue

Darkstate & D’Angelo Family Meet in the Parking Lot

Smackdown

Street Profits (c) vs Motor City Machine Guns, WWE Tag Team Championships

We Hear From John Cena

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royals

Chelsea Green & Secret Hervice vs Zelina Vega, Katana Chance & Kayden Carter

Confirmed Stand & Deliver Matches

Oba Femi (c) vs Trick Williams vs Je’Von Evans, NXT Championship

Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs Giulia vs Jordynne Grace vs Jaida Parker, NXT Women’s Championship

Ricky Saints (c) vs ???, North American Championship

Izzi Dame vs Zaria vs Sol Ruca vs Kelani Jordan vs ??? vs ???, Ladder Match for Vacant North American Championship

Saturday

Gunther (c) vs Jey Uso, Heavyweight Championship

Tiffany Stratton (c) vs Charlotte Flair, WWE Women’s Championship

LA Knight (c) vs Jacob Fatu, US Championship

The War Raiders (c) vs The New Day, World Tag Team Championships

Rey Mysterio vs El Grande Americano

Naomi vs Jade Cargill

CM Punk vs Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins

Sunday

Cody Rhodes (c) vs John Cena, WWE Championship

Iyo Sky (c) vs Bianca Belair vs Rhea Ripley, Women’s World Championship

Bron Breakker (c) vs Dominik Mysterio vs Finn Balor vs Penta, IC Championship

Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez (c) vs Bayley & Lyra Valkyria, Women’s Tag Championships

AJ Styles vs Logan Paul

Drew McIntyre vs Damian Priest, Sin City Street Fight