Three Things We Hate and Three Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.’s weekly review of “WWE Raw.” After two women’s money in the bank ladder match qualifiers, we’ve been talking a lot about the “raw” women this week. So many thoughts (This week) and the other featured Zoe Stark’s horrible and obvious leg damage. Don’t worry – at least we’ll talk a bit about the continuation of the main event angle between Jey Uso and Bron Breakker, Jey Uso and Seth Rollins, Seth Rollins and Bron Breakker, CM Punk and Sami Zayn, Jey Uso and Logan Paul.

If the objectivity you are looking for is legitimate objectivity, look for the “raw” results page. If you want to know what the WINC staff on offer tonight, Monday, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 5/1/25 episode of “WWE Raw.”

Two-time NXT women’s champion Roxanne Perez had a record run at this year’s Royal Rumble. She entered the elimination chamber and gave an impressive show. She is now officially signed “ultimately) “WWE RAW” and is already mixed with things like Rhea Ripley and Women’s World Champion Iyo Sky, so it’s easy to get into the money at this year’s bank ladder match. She thankfully won her place at tonight’s premium live event in a great match between Becky Lynch and Natalia.

I was nervous there for a while in tears as Lynch returned as a heel, but Lynch was there to take Lynch from the match, following her beatdown after the backlash match. Natalia, the third woman in the Triple Threat, was another thing I absolutely loved about this. I’m a huge Natalia fan and she seems to have flowers everywhere outside of WWE these days, from Bloodsports to the NWA. Perez hit Pop Rocks on Nutty for victory, but I don’t think it would harm her in any way. Sadly, she isn’t that much on TV anyway, so the two have young Perez left. And of course, she is known for helping with training and taking over promising talent. I personally think Perez got a pin for Natalia. The “WWE NXT” star, which pins “Low Key Legend,” looked great.

Late in the evening it became clear that Finn Valor might want to add Perez on Judgement Day. Or it’s revealed that she’s at least having her as a backup for women’s tag team champions Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan. I’m not entirely entirely sure if I still have a fully formed opinion on it, but I love the fact that Perez is officially on the main roster. She is exactly where she should be, in another big stipulated match. I forget about some extra “NXT” matches and the fact that it took her several more months for her to officially come here.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Since “Live” after Wrestle Mania, Roxanne and Giulia have been wrestling as a team. On Friday, Nick Aldis announced in a behind-the-scenes segment that Julia is officially with his brand. The moment of uneasy happened when another woman was standing outside the GM’s office.

Roxanne wasn’t that good. Within an hour of “Raw,” WWE posted a video on Adam Pearce’s social media welcoming “The Prodigy” to the brand. So close to the show they could have waited until Showtime to announce their signatures before competing in the bank’s qualifying match. At least she was doing great shows against Becky Lynch and Natalia, so we managed to move on to PLE.

WWE is all a viral moment and booking more than wrestling. I think this makes sense when it’s “sports entertainment” entertainment. Fraxiom was announced via social media as a member of “Smackdown” after his colleague was fired. What has been frustrating for a long time is how they handled the announcement that they would sign a Motor City Machine Gun. They were one of the best tag teams in modern wrestling and were big free agents. Of course, WWE has announced its signature on social media.

Roxanne and Giulia were both “NXT” stars, and fans were waiting for an official call-up. They should have been treated as a bigger deal rather than being presented as an afterthought. I’m totally hoping that when Jordyn Grace and Stephanie Verker are eventually called to the main roster, they’ll get the same type of treatment. Even if I expect it, I’m still plagued by it and probably enough to hate it.

Written by Samantha Schipman

Over the past few months there has been a lot of noise about Judgement Day getting new members. The faction has experienced a power struggle between Dominique Mysterio and Liv Morgan against Finn Balor. The reason for the faction involved in Penta, with Mysterio floating around Lukador as a potential new member, and Valor pushing back the idea back and pushing back Penta herself to cheerfully repel Penta herself. But a few weeks later, and Monday night took the first real step in that direction.

Perez qualified for a bank ladder match early in the evening, auditioning effectively for his role on the loser of things over the past few weeks, taking his own step in the right direction. And putting her around the female tag team champions seems like an interesting path to explore, while still immersed in the present. When Naomi replaced Jade Cargill, introducing a third wheel into the mix made several layers of storytelling possible. In the end, Perez gives something that can stab her teeth, the group of constantly and established names feels like a good call in that vein.

Meanwhile, Judgment Day is already the third iteration, starting three years ago with Edge, Damien priest, Rhea Ripley. Adding and removing members is central to keeping factions fresh and strengthening the dynamics between each, and it can now be argued that the group needs its shuffle. This could be a catalyst for the faction to meet its end or rebrand once more.

Written by Max Everett

When we went to Vengeance Day in February, we really thought we were nearing the end of Austin theory. Of course, that was three months ago, but here we are still waiting for the breakup of Waller and theory. However, I felt that tonight was a little different. Fans were urging support for the theory when Waller was abused by Sheamus in the ring. Waller and Theory continue to set opponents against each other, but I don’t know how long this needs to go. I’m a more Waller fan than the theory as a babyface, but at this point, as long as these two are split forever, I’ll take whatever I can get.

On the other side of things is poor Sheamus. Having missed Wrestlemania 41 and appeared to be devastated about it in a recent interview, Sheamus has also revealed his pitch again to return to the Intercontinental Championship scene, trying to become WWE’s first ultimate Grand Slam champion. It doesn’t necessarily look like Seamus is slowing down in the ring, but he’s not getting younger. He is (shockingly) 47 years old and although his better days are behind him, he still looks physically at $1 million.

If I had to do fantasy books, I seem to be doing it more often than not these days, so I put Sheamus in a program that won the Dominic Mysterio title, held it for months, probably won it at the bank and then put it back to Mysterio at Summer Slam. Mysterio has been bringing babyface recently, but I think it will still work. Sheamus doesn’t beat the young people really, other than pointing him towards him against a much bigger, more powerful man to see him beat down.

Written by Daisy Ruth

First and foremost – hated: all kinds of injuries, especially the troublesome ones. All the condolences and greatest wishes to Zoe Stark. We are all pulling her back more than ever.

As it is said, it screams Stark’s fellow triple threat participants, Rhea Ripley and Kairi Thane, who not only continues the match after getting injured, but also appears to rebuild it on the spot, turning the second half of the contest into a space acquisition match from 2018. Originally it was for Stark. Surprisingly, Kairi and Ripley had never played a singles match on TV, which could have been the result of a truly unfortunate situation, but being able to call together in the ring was enough to make me hoping for that singles match on TV. One of the strange truths of professional wrestling is that it can sometimes make tragic invasions of reality to raise the medium to its maximum height. On “Raw,” Zoey Stark suffered from tragedy, but the end result was beautiful.

Oh, by the way, this is one of the really, really great things about having a deep women’s department for those who have been wondering. One participant in the triple threat goes down, and the other two turn the rest of the match into first-class single action. It only happens when the other two happen to be in a world sphere like Kairi or Ripley. The presence of these people in this type of place is why, for example, Dakota Kai and Shayna Baszler don’t fire. I’m just saying it.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

I can’t even calculate how many times I’ve spent complaining about the interference or brawl that leads to the end of a match, but I’ll admit that either of them makes a great cliffhanger to finish “raw” or other weekly wrestling shows. When roughly the same interference or brawl ends the show for more than a week, perhaps two or more in two, it becomes boring, repeated and boring. That’s exactly what happened at the end of tonight’s “RAW.”

Over the past few weeks we’ve seen a very similar ending to the show. Jayuso’s match ends with interference from Seth Rollins and Bron Breakker and disqualification from the pair. The main event on Saturday night was only a few days from now, and WWE had an opportunity to change things quickly, but instead they felt it for 100 consecutive weeks in the same week, leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

Written by Olivia Quinlan