WWE RAW 6/24/2023: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved
Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show that's suddenly pretty much entirely about Bo Dallas getting therapy from his imaginary friend and Liv Morgan being off-the-charts horny! This was actually a very eventful episode of the red brand — we have new tag team champions and new Money in the Bank entrants, Ludwig Kaiser might be hurt, two more matches have been added to the Money in the Bank PLE, and Michael Cole announced the last two hours of the show completely by himself. We're going to talk about most of that stuff, though obviously not everything that happened on "Raw," because "Raw" is three hours and we only have six love/hate slots available. But trust us — our "Raw" results page has your back if you need all the objective details, and those six love/hate slots are jam-packed with emotional opinions, both positive and negative!
So, are we satisfied with the Money in the Bank build so far? How do we feel about the Wyatt Sicks in their second episode as actual characters? And most importantly, is this Liv Morgan stuff commenting on the Janel Grant lawsuit accidentally because WWE is stupid, or intentionally because WWE is evil? Inquiring minds want to know! Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 6/24/24 episode of "WWE Raw."
Hated: Where is the build for Money in the Bank?
Premium live events oftentimes tend to fall relatively close to one another in WWE. Clash at the Castle and Money in the Bank happened to be one of those cases, being held just a mere few weeks apart on June 15 and July 6 respectively. While that's perfectly fine on its own, it becomes more of an issue when the build for one show feels like there was more effort and thought put into it than the other.
The men's and women's Money In The Bank ladder matches haven't exactly been given an immense amount of time to be put together, but at least there have been qualifiers for competitors in both to earn their spots in them and they can be a little more random given that everyone is fighting for a briefcase and therefore do not need to be involved in storylines with each other. Both the World Heavyweight Championship and Intercontinental Championship matches slated for the card, however, feel a bit random and thrown together at the last second.
I can appreciate that WWE has made efforts towards making Damian Priest's World Heavyweight Championship defense against Seth "Freakin" Rollins a big deal by having Rollins make a surprise return and up the stakes Monday night by having Priest being forced to leave Judgment Day if he loses and having Rollins never challenge for the title again through the rest of his reign. That being said, Rollins wasn't even the one to challenge Priest for the title as Priest simply handed him a match in a move that made little sense.
While it can be argued that there's some sort of build for the World Heavyweight Championship match (albeit limited build at that), there's no arguing that Sami Zayn putting the Intercontinental Championship against Bron Breakker was a bit out of left field. Yes, Breakker has been tearing through the "Raw" locker room, but announcing him as Zayn's challenger in a short backstage segment with no real prior indication made it feel as though it was an afterthought more than anything else.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
Loved: Breakker, Kaiser, and Sheamus get after it
In an era where WWE programming is featuring legit creepiness in the midst of a touching tribute to a fallen family member, it strikes me as refreshingly simple that this week, we also got to watch a couple of performers just beat the crap out of each other, with a third combatant added to the slugfest to boot. Bron Breakker brings unmatched intensity and athleticism to the table and it's already paying dividends in his main roster run. Ludwig Kaiser is getting a chance to shine on his own after booting Giovanni Vinci from Imperium (while also stepping out of the enormous shadow of GUNTHER) and flourishing in the rule. (I'd be remiss here, of course, if I didn't note that we all sure hope Kaiser is okay, as reports surfaced during Monday's show that he might have been injured during the match.) And Sheamus, the fiery, seasoned veteran of the bunch, absolutely upped the ante when he came out of the crowd to boot Kaiser in the face as he ran around the ring.
Everything in this match and this segment was all in and you love to see it. And now, with Breakker livid about another interruption in his matches, he's parlayed it into an Intercontinental Championship opportunity against Sami Zayn at Money in the Bank, which will both showcase all that Breakker brings to the table as well as allow Zayn, even as champ, to thrive in the underdog role as he does so uniquely well.
I would think that the plans were for Kaiser and Sheamus to continue forward and let's hope they can with Kaiser coming out okay. But if not, Sheamus has shown he can far more than still hang and he'll transition into something meaningful too — maybe even remaining in that Intercontinental Championship picture, especially seeing as how it's the only major title he hasn't yet captured in WWE.
Written by Jon Jordan
Loved: When a match comes together
The Indianapolis crowd for Monday's "WWE Raw" was pretty loud for pretty much everything, but they were just a little bit quiet at the beginning of the Money in the Bank qualifying match between Kairi Sane, Shayna Baszler, and Lyra Valkyria. A few minutes later, they were on their feet and chanting "This is awesome," because those three wrestlers absolutely cooked.
There are two things I loved about this match, and they're kind of contradictory but I don't even care. First, the damn thing was a little over eight minutes long, and it was incredible. Fast-paced, hard-hitting, full of cool spots, but didn't overstay its welcome and didn't drag things out with a million false finishes. I get so tired of wrestling fans and promoters (mostly promoters) thinking matches can only be great if they go 25 minutes and involve at least two kick-outs after finishing moves. These three wrestled quickly and ferociously for eight minutes, and then in the closing sequence, Baszler locked the Kirifuda Clutch on Valkyra, Sane hit the Insane Elbow on Baszler, and Valkyria hit the Nightwing on Sane for the win. Nobody comes out looking bad, partially because triple threats (when produced properly) naturally gravitate toward the story of "who can best take advantage of the chaos" rather than "who is the better wrestler," but also because everybody's moves were protected. It was the best match of the night, and it didn't take forever and a day to get there.
That having been said — it's very easy to approach "great match" territory in under 10 minutes when basically everything is going right. Everything in this match looked good, from Kairi's double slingshot headscissors/headlock takedown to Valkyria's sit-out powerbomb to Baszler's picture-perfect knee strikes. Everything was smooth and crisp and was executed to perfection; as a result, it's the best match Baszler had for a while, and the best match Kairi has had since coming back to WWE, and yet another awesome match in the growing main roster catalogue of Valkyria, who is thriving on "Raw" and was the exact right choice to win. The match even had a tragic little callback moment when Baszler kicked out of the exact Kirifuda Clutch counter that Kairi used to pin her and take the NXT Women's Championship back in 2018 in Brooklyn, only to find Kairi crashing down on her with an elbow drop this time. Long story short, there was nothing to complain about with this one, only things to praise.
Written by Miles Schneiderman
Hated: The Liv Morgan Revenge Tour is a disaster
Most of the time, championships are meant to elevate a star and bring them to the next level. They give them a chance for wrestlers to show the world what they can do, often benefiting them in some way and helping to cement them as a legitimate competitor. When you take the focus off the wrestler and the title in whatever storyline they're involved in, though, what's trying to be accomplished takes on the opposite effect. It becomes hard to take the wrestler seriously and makes fans hate the performer not in the way that may be intended. This is exactly what's happening with Liv Morgan.
On paper, the Liv Morgan Revenge Tour sounds cool, and the idea of her wanting to take everything away from Rhea Ripley for sidelining her with an injury for several months is not only interesting, but sets up a good spot for Ripley upon her return. The execution of it has most certainly left something to be desired. Morgan's reign as Women's World Champion has become less about her, the title she holds, and seeking retribution on Ripley by the minute, and more about her continuing to go after Dominik Mysterio, potentially having a relationship with Finn Balor, and inadvertently being a helping hand for Judgment Day. It's all become such a tangled mess that's extremely hard to follow, as evident in her exchange with Zelina Vega and the messy main event.
It's bad enough that WWE is running a storyline that not only makes you actively want Morgan off your screen, but is borderline uncomfortable to watch. It's completely unacceptable for them to exploit serious allegations from Janel Grant by feeding Morgan a line that directly references text messages that are being used in her court case against Vince McMahon (among other smaller references made throughout the rest of the show towards the lawsuit). It's an awful look, and brings both WWE's morals and motivations for running the storylines into question.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
Hated: Liv Morgan uses R-Truth to get Judgment Day clout
While I didn't hate that the World Tag Team Championship changed hands on "Raw" this week (frankly, I thought Awesome Truth had run its course with them weeks ago after a feel-good WrestleMania 40 moment), I really did not enjoy the set-up to the match. I'm getting tired of Women's World Champion Liv Morgan doing whatever she's doing with Judgment Day, which I'm sure will be mentioned again in this exact article, and her using the funny, adorable, always quirky R-Truth to gain clout with the faction just wasn't for me.
Morgan ran into Truth backstage after hugging Mysterio and telling him he was her hero for saving her from Mysterio's "deadbeat dad" who ran down to help Zelina Vega during a previous segment where the two women faced off in the ring. Truth being his usual self, he called Mysterio "Tom and Nick," which, I will admit, will never not be funny to me. He said he always had a soft spot for "Tom and Nick," and that it would be nice to do something for a "hero like that." Morgan agreed, and gently coerced Truth to asking "Raw" General Manager Adam Pearce to give Mysterio's Judgment Day buddies, Finn Balor and JD McDonagh, a shot at the tag team championships. I honestly felt a little bad for Truth here, and WWE's writing made it even worse when they had him not even realize he was talking to Morgan, but rather thinking he had seen former partner in crime, Carmella.
Truth had his cute moments, especially still holding a grudge against McDonagh, even going as far as to say he has a "freakishly large head." I laughed, but I still felt bad. I don't like Morgan getting involved with all this Judgment Day stuff, but this, to me, was pretty bad and cringey. And now she's even able to ask for matches from Pearce and have others do the same for her? I just don't like what that says moving forward.
Also – this match took The Miz off commentary, leaving Michael Cole to himself, as Pat McAfee wasn't on the show Monday night, despite it being in Indianapolis, and McAfee seemingly having something going on with the Wyatt Sicks. Miz completely left the commentary desk to try to get to Pearce before Truth did, which obviously didn't do any good. While I like Cole a lot, I don't like one-man commentary, so the entire setup for this one match had EVERYTHING thrown off for me for a good portion of the night.
Overall, I don't like Morgan using others, like babyfaces like Truth, to get what she wants with Mysterio and Judgment Day. I personally am so ready for Rhea Ripley to get back and kick her head in, especially now that she's causing matches to be set up in pretty lame ways. I'm glad McDonagh and Balor have the tag gold again, but now, I'm worried for the setups to other matches moving forward with Morgan and Judgment Day.
Written by Daisy Ruth
Loved: Bo Dallas doesn't want us to forget what his brother stood for
One week ago, the Wyatt Sicks made their long-awaited debut, and it was incredible. After nailing that debut, they needed to follow it up with something good, and did they ever.
Nikki Cross delivered a beat up package to Michael Cole. Inside was a VHS tape, which seems to fit with this crew. When someone finally found a VCR, the contents on the tape aired and no one was expecting it. No, it wasn't anything grotesque. Instead, it was something quite emotional.
Uncle Howdy is seen talking to someone and right off the bat asks the person if they are happy and how they feel about the loss. The camera cuts to Bo Dallas and we get a reminder of just how much he looks like his brother. As siblings sometimes do, Dallas sounded like his brother, only his voice is softer. There was an unmistakable pain in his voice as he spoke of Bray and how much he always wanted to be like him.
The video also addresses the concerns that the Wyatt Sicks are exploiting Bray's death and legacy. Dallas said that he worked hard to be alongside Bray and that they were there and they had it. This was their vision and it was taken away. "What am I supposed to let this be? A mausoleum?" Dallas asks. He won't allow people to forget his brother and what he stood for. The shot pans out to reveal that they are in the Firefly Funhouse.
The segment addresses multiple things head on: how his brother's death affected him, why they are back, and if they're exploiting his brother. The pain and anguish is so clear on his face. Uncle Howdy speaks to Dallas the way he did with Bray. He is still running the show. The Wyatt Sicks have bonded over their pain and trauma. Hopefully, we'll get videos of each one to explain their why.
It's only been two episodes, but they have knocked this out the park so far. WWE failed Bray Wyatt and his visions over and over again. Now is the time to get this right, and not only honor Bray, but help fans and his loved ones remember him while the Wyatt Sicks forge their own paths.
Written by Samantha Schipman