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WWE Raw Results, Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights From June 16
Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of WWE Raw on June 16.
The King and Queen of the Ring tournaments are just getting started after SmackDown saw two men and two women earn spots in the semifinals.
Monday's show continued the buildup for Night of Champions on June 28 while also addressing some of what went down at Money in the Bank.
Here's a look at what WWE advertised for Monday's show at the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin:
—Bayley addresses Becky Lynch
—Liv Morgan vs. Kairi Sane
—Sheamus vs. Bronson Reed vs. Jey Uso vs. Rusev
—Ivy Nile vs. Asuka vs. Raquel Rodriguez vs. Stephanie Vaquer
Let's take a look at everything that happened on this week's Raw.
Liv Morgan Wants a Title Shot
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After the usual shots of Superstars arriving at the arena, Liv Morgan and Dominik Mysterio made their way to the ring.
We saw a quick replay of Morgan taking out Nikki Bella last week.
Morgan talked a lot of trash about Bella and bragged about her accomplishments. It was a standard heel promo. She called out Iyo Sky because she wants a rematch for the Women's World Championship.
It only took a few seconds before The Genius of the Sky showed up.
Predictably, it turned into a fight that ended with Sky sending both Morgan and Dom out of the ring. It's clear Morgan is being positioned as the next challenger.
This was a cookie-cutter segment that helped get the feud going but did little to make the storyline feel important.
Grade: C
Notable Moments and Observations
—Corey Graves was filling in for Pat McAfee on commentary this week.
—The easiest way for a babyface to get a pop is to tell a heel to shut up or give a local sports team a shoutout.
—Having Morgan's character believe Sky would just hand her the title for a single second made her look very stupid.
Ivy Nile vs. Stephanie Vaquer vs. Raquel Rodriguez vs. Asuka
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The women's division continued to be highlighted when Asuka, Nile, Rodriguez and Vaquer fought in a quarterfinal match in the Queen of the Ring tournament.
Asuka and Vaquer formed a temporary alliance to take out Rodriguez and Nile before they squared up for a fight.
We returned from a break to see Vaquer taking it to everyone. She spent a little while controlling the pace until The Empress of Tomorrow tried to put her in a submission.
The match lasted through two commercial breaks, so they had plenty of time to work. All four women had their moments, but it felt like Vaquer was the focus a bit more than everyone else.
This was a solid performance from everyone involved. The biggest complaint had more to do with how WWE spaced out the commercials than anything that happened in the ring.
Rodriguez was about to get the win when Rhea Ripley yanked her out of the ring and hit Riptide. She rolled her back into the ring so Asuka could hit a running hip strike for the win.
Result: Asuka defeated Nile, Rodriguez and Vaquer
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
—WWE should have left Asuka's spot as a mystery entrant so her return felt more important. Spoiling it with a graphic for the tournament brackets is the most lackluster way to bring someone back from a hiatus.
—As usual, The Empress' face paint was incredible.
—Vaquer's dragon screw leg whip always looks brutal.
—The running kick Nile hit to La Primera in the corner was nasty.
Gunther is Next
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After a quick backstage segment with The Judgment Day that continued to build tension in the group, Gunther came to the ring to celebrate winning back the World Heavyweight Championship from Jey Uso.
The Ring General said Uso was the better man at WrestleMania 41, but every other night, Gunther is untouchable. This led into what's next for the champ, but it seemed like the fans knew it before he did.
The crowd started chanting Goldberg's name before he came out to confront the champion. He congratulated Gunther before telling him he would be challenging him for the world title at Saturday Night's Main Event on July 12.
This wasn't an especially surprising segment given how rumors have been floating around for months, but at least it didn't overstay its welcome. They took less than 10 minutes to set this up.
Grade: C+
Notable Moments and Observations
—WWE may be going too slow with Finn Balor leaving The Judgment Day.
—Gunther would make a great villain or henchman in an action movie. John Wick could sell some decent chest chops from him.
—Only having one match for the first hour is ridiculous.
JD McDonagh vs. AJ Styles
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JD McDonagh took on AJ Styles in a singles match.
Dominik Mysterio told Finn Balor to stay backstage since he was unable to get the job done against Styles during their recent encounter. The Irishman pretended to agree with the decision but was clearly enraged.
Styles brought a size and experience advantage into this contest, so he was able to control the pace in the early moments before McDonagh began fighting back.
As the show went to a break, JD hit a big dive into the timekeeper's area. When we returned, The Phenomenal One was just beginning to mount some offense.
Dom tried to help with a distraction, but it wasn't enough to prevent AJ from hitting the Styles Clash for the win. Balor saved Mysterio from taking a Phenomenal Forearm and Styles posed with the IC title to end the segment.
This was a match that was good but could have been great if they had a little more time. Styles and McDonagh found instant chemistry in their first singles encounter.
Result: Styles defeated McDonagh
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
—It's so great that WWE went back to using Styles' old theme. The music it tried to give him recently was terrible.
—McDonagh took a nasty bump when he jumped over the barricade to take out Styles in the timekeeper's area. He seemed fine and continued the match, but it looked painful.
—The way The Phenomenal One countered into the Styles Clash was cool.
An Old Rivalry Renewed
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Bayley came out to the ring and gave a promo about how she does what she does for the fans, not for titles or accolades.
She said Becky Lynch taking her out before WrestleMania has only made her stronger. The Man eventually came out to respond and said the fans were happier to see her at 'Mania than they would have been with Bayley.
Lynch agreed to defend the women's IC title against Bayley before taking a swing at her. She missed, so The Role Model knocked her down and out of the ring.
This segment was pretty straightforward. They did a decent job setting up their match, but it's doubtful anyone will be talking about the promo after the show.
Grade: C+
Notable Moments and Observations
—Lynch was wearing Chicago Bears gear. Her husband must be so proud. The Wisconsin crowd was not happy about it.
—The Man seems more comfortable as a heel than she used to be.
Liv Morgan vs. Kairi Sane
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The next match featured Morgan taking on Kairi Sane in singles action.
After Sane took Morgan down, the two-time women's world champion immediately grabbed her shoulder and rolled out of the ring. It appeared to be a legitimate injury. Sane was just walking around waiting for the referee to check on her until the show went to a break.
We returned to find out the match was called off due to Morgan being injured. We are not grading this match since a legitimate injury occurred.
Result: Sane won by forfeit
Notable Moments and Observations
—SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis, who was standing in for Adam Pearce on Raw this week, told Styles backstage he would get an IC title shot at Night of Champions. He also told Bayley she would get a women's IC title shot next week.
Jey Uso vs. Rusev vs. Sheamus vs. Bronson Reed
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This week's main event was a quarterfinal match in the King of the Ring tournament with Uso, Rusev, Sheamus and Reed.
Rusev and Uso paired up while Sheamus and Reed fought each other at ringside. Jey was giving up a lot of size to the Bulgarian, and he had his ribs taped up to sell an injury, so it felt like he was at a big disadvantage.
The Celtic Warrior and The Bulgarian Brute eventually had their standoff before unloading on each other with strikes.
Even though he was outweighed and overpowered by everyone in the match, Jey still managed to stay competitive. All four guys worked hard to make sure this was the best match of the night.
Bron Breakker showed up to prevent Uso from hitting a splash on Reed, but Sami Zayn and Penta showed up to fight him. LA Knight pushed Reed off the top rope and allowed Uso to hit him with two big splashes for the win.
Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes both showed up at the end of the show, which officially made this segment feel a bit too crowded.
Result: Uso defeated Rusev, Sheamus and Reed
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
—Karrion Kross and Zayn had a confrontation backstage.
—Rusev's music is too generic. It would be great if he could get his original song back.
—Michael Cole said Sheamus and Rusev haven't been opponents in almost a decade. It's almost like he is trying to make some of us feel old.
—Even though Rollins did not accompany Reed to the ring, Paul Heyman still carried the MITB briefcase for some reason.
—Sheamus getting Reed up and holding him for several seconds was an impressive show of strength.
The Final Word
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Monday’s Raw was a fairly run-of-the-mill episode, but it had a couple of things worth noting.
The women’s division was featured all over the show. Not only did we get a couple of matches, but it was also the focus of a handful of in-ring and backstage segments, too.
Unfortunately, the night ended early for Morgan after she was injured during her match with Sane. She appeared to hurt her shoulder on a takedown, but we won’t know how severe it is until we get an update from her or the company.
Asuka advancing in the Queen of the Ring tournament felt like the right call, especially since Rodriguez has her own feud with Ripley to worry about.
Styles and McDonagh put on a fun match, but the King of the Ring bout that served as the main event provided the most excitement on the show. The showdown between Goldberg and Gunther was well-received in the arena, but we will have to wait almost a month for their title bout.
Unfortunately, Monday's Raw as a whole felt stymied by an abundance of commercial breaks. It’s hard to get invested in a match when you only get a few minutes of action at a time.
Grade: B-
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