The King and Queen of the Ring tournaments wrapped up the quarterfinal rounds in Green Bay, Wisconsin, making for an eventful “WWE Raw” with multiple notable returns. None were bigger than one of the WWE’s many Hall of Famers, who walked their way right back into a world title match.
Goldberg. Yeah, Goldberg
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Goldberg is back and has been gifted a world title match at nearly 60 years old.
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Fans have started to grow tired of some of Triple H’s booking (myself included, if you can’t tell) and general decisions, going as far as to wish Vince McMahon was still in charge, which is objectively a bit insane. However, the company is still taking pages out of Vince’s playbook, as evidenced by what we saw during Gunther’s short promo on this “WWE Raw.”
There was what felt like a quick swerve midway through Gunther’s promo when he shut down the fans’ Goldberg chant before directly cutting into Seth Rollins, standing his ground to previous threats. That’s when the music hit, and good old Billy Georgia was back.
The only backstory utilized here was the little bit they had from the pair’s interaction last year. And, I guess, because of that, Goldberg just gets a title shot because he wants it. So, it’s official for his hometown of Atlanta at next month’s WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event.
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Call me crazy, but don’t be surprised if Goldberg dethrones Gunther and ends up dropping the title to the King of the Ring winner, Jey Uso.
Overbooked, ultra push, garbage
Oh, boy. I think I’m sick. There’s a lot to get off the chest with the final King of the Ring quarterfinal match, folks.
First and foremost, going back to last week and how stupid it was to spoil Asuka’s return while simultaneously putting a mystery wrestler in the fatal-4-way with Bronson Reed, Rusev and Sheamus, that wrestler wound up being Uso. You know, the guy who lost the world title that same night, revealing the whole plan in hindsight. And here’s the plan, as alluded to: Goldberg is going to take the title from Gunther, then lose it at SummerSlam to Uso after he wins the King of the Ring. Spear vs. spear!
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This is going to be Triple H’s “rocket strapped to your back” reference. It’s awful, but Uso is going to be champion again one way or another, especially if he’s out here beating the three monsters that were involved in that match. However, he required an extraordinary amount of help to get it done, as Triple H can’t help but book interferences in fatal-4-way matches.
Check this out. A match between four people had four more people get involved after Bron Breakker tried to prevent Uso’s win, which led to Sami Zayn coming out, then Penta, then LA Knight. I literally forgot about Penta; that’s how insane this overbooking was. And that wasn’t even the end of it because Rollins strolled down to the ring to attack Uso before Cody Rhodes made the save.
What. Is. Happening?
It all goes back to my point from before WWE Money In the Bank. If Rollins’ stable wants to get what they want, why aren’t they just interfering immediately in matches that don’t have disqualifications? There are numerous plot holes here, as well as weak and nonsensical Superman elements. I’m tired, man.
š„“ Confusion of the Night
The Women’s Tag Team titles are legitimately just props at this point, and this “WWE Raw” couldn’t have highlighted that more when Liv Morgan and Dominick Mysterio kicked off the show. That was a surprise in its own right, but the direction(s) that Morgan has been given since WrestleMania 41 are head-scratching.
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Morgan proclaimed the women’s division to be her’s. As she spoke, I couldn’t help but think what Raquel Rodriguez, her tag team champion partner, should be thinking in a moment like that. One would think she’d be somewhat annoyed by that, laying the foundation for a break-up. Rodriguez deserves another run on her own, anyway. The champs briefly exchanged words before Rodriguez’s match right after, but she didn’t show any signs of being bothered by the promo.
To make matters more confusing and bolster the belt’s prop status, Morgan used it as a promo booster to try to get herself over and entice the Women’s World Champion, Iyo Sky. This was all despite Morgan having done nothing but lose lately. Sky ultimately came out to play along before she kicked both Morgan and Mysterio out of the ring. So, at least we got the champ doing something on TV again, and I liked her telling Morgan she needs to earn it, but this just feels extra unnecessary with Morgan involved in two other storylines as is.
Morgan’s night didn’t end there though, and got significantly worse as soon as her match with Kairi Sane happened. On the first move, Morgan appeared to dislocate her shoulder and was helped to the back, resulting in Sane’s “win.” Hopefully, it’s nothing serious, but talk about absolutely awful luck when WWE has put her in the center of several storylines, as mentioned.
As for Sane, I know we have to stay in character and all, but read the room! Her celebration was wild.
An empress who wants to be a queen
Asuka’s presentation upon her return was as menacing as ever. Regardless, the lack of a pop she received in Green Bay was so sad and could have felt so much greater had it been the surprise it should have been. I’d like to think that, anyway. Green Bay couldn’t have been more dead for this final Queen of the Ring quarterfinal match, which was ridiculous because it was a great time.
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Guess what though? We got another interference in a fatal-4-way match. Absolutely ludicrous booking, Hunter.
The aforementioned Rodriguez was tasked with overcoming Asuka, Stephanie Vaquer and Ivy Nile. In the end, she had the match won after a Tejana Bomb to Vaquer before Rhea Ripley pulled her out of the ring ā just like Rodriguez did to her last week. Ripley hit the Riptide outside the ring and tossed her back in, allowing Asuka to hit an Empress Impact for the win.
I’m stunned, but satisfied, that Asuka won. But these interferences are insane, man. Sure, there’s logic behind this, but come on.
Overall, Rodriguez had some great moments to shine, and looked very strong even with Ripley clowning her. The real highlight, of course, was just getting to see Asuka and Vaquer go at it. A singles match between them is mandatory at some point, but first, she’ll take on Alexa Bliss in the Queen of the Ring semifinals.
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I can’t wait (sarcasm) until Charlotte Flair interferes or gets Bliss DQ’d in that one.
š MONDAY NIGHT MONEY š
1. Many fans have been wondering why Corey Graves has been kept off main roster commentary, so it was nice to see him replace Pat McAfee this week. I’ve never been his biggest fan, but he’s grown on me over the years.
2. Penta cut a mid-commercial promo that focused on the attack from the “Sethriders” before WWE Money In the Bank. This is interesting for several reasons. Firstly, having Penta, possibly alongside Andrade, seek revenge on Reed and Breakker makes for an interesting direction. Secondly, I like the idea of the stable making so many enemies along the way to get Rollins his title that it ends up costing them because they’re outnumbered. Essentially, that’s what we saw in the aforementioned main event segment fatal-4-way.
š¤· IT HAPPENED š¤·
1. AJ Styles defeated JD McDonagh. The finish was clean, thanks to a Styles Clash, but like every single Judgment Day match ever, it wasn’t without an interference attempt. This time by Mysterio. I would love to see the actual statistics for how many matches in the stable’s history have had overbooked finishes.
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This was all just fine. It feels like somewhat of a waste of Styles, especially if he doesn’t become the champion. They’ll have their title match at Night of Champions.
š RAW DEAL š
1. Week by week, it feels weirder how Carlito just on-screen disappeared from The Judgment Day.
2. Something was weird about Bayley and Becky Lynch’s promo battle. It started pretty decently, particularly before Lynch was called to the ring, but then it took a turn of sorts, and Lynch just decided to give Bayley a non-title match in Columbus. (Until Nick Aldis made it a title match right after.) Then Lynch appeared to miss her slap at the end of the segment, which Bayley countered with a forearm. I don’t know. This was just awkward and didn’t deliver at all what it could have between these two.
š Uncrowned Gem of the Night š
Book Karrion Kross. Book Karrion Kross. Book Karrion Kross. I think we’re finally booking Karrion Kross. Maybe?
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Admittedly, there are some mixed feelings about the latest interaction between Kross and Sami Zayn. The latter was mid-interview, jolly and joyous until Kross predicted his future, which was a loss to Randy Orton in their King of the Ring semifinals match, leading Orton to win his 15th world title. Kross was phenomenal as always here, but then Zayn hit him with the rebuttal, which spun his lack of utilization into the angle. That’s certainly something.
Zayn called Kross a coward, explaining that’s why he doesn’t go out and have matches, only lurking in the back. Hey. If this changes that, then cool. But if not, then this will be a big yikes in hindsight.
These guys have great chemistry, and Kross just acts his ass off every second he gets. As the segment played out, I was thinking Kross would interfere to prevent Zayn from beating Orton. That’s still the most likely outcome, as Kross showed visible frustration, but then Zayn promised him their match would take place after the tournament. It still sounds too good to be true.
š A lot of these shows are getting predictable in a bad, but increasingly frustrating way. It’s tough. It’s very tough. I give this show a Crown score of: 3/10. š