WWE RAW 6/16/2025: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show where King of the Ring four-way qualifiers occasionally turn into the end of the main event of WrestleMania 40! Yes, one week after losing the World Heavyweight Championship back to GUNTHER so he could defend it against a returning Goldberg, Jey Uso won Monday night's main event for the right to go up against his friend Cody Rhodes in the King of the Ring semifinals, and boy is that ever an action-packed sentence! We'll cover all that and more in this column, though there are some things (AJ Styles vs. JD McDonagh, for example) that will sadly go unremarked upon.

Of course, if you want a full rundown of Monday's programming, you can always go check out our "Raw" results page. This column is only for the things the WINC staff felt most strongly about — in other words, three things we hated and three things we loved about the 6/16/25 episode of "WWE Raw."

While I'm going to go into more about what I didn't like about tonight's King and Queen of the Ring tournament matches later on, I would be remiss if I didn't write about how ecstatic I am to see Asuka back in the ring after over a year on the shelf. I tentatively had this match written down in the "hated" section of my notes as I was pondering things before the show, because I was worried WWE wouldn't book a returning Asuka going over a white-hot Stephanie Vaquer, especially when it came to Queen of the Ring. Thankfully, I was mistaken, and Triple H stuck by the woman he booked as an undefeated force back in his "WWE NXT" days.

I love Vaquer and I'm so happy she's up on the main roster, but, I think it would have been a pretty bad look if Asuka lost in her return match. While I don't agree with WWE spoiling her return in the tournament bracket reveal last week, I do think it was smart to put her in a fatal four-way just in case there was any ring rust after being gone for so long, as I would hate to see her get hurt again. After seeing Asuka work, especially with Vaquer tonight, I don't think there's any reason to worry about that. "The Empress of Tomorrow" didn't miss a beat in the ring and she looked incredible. After that fatal four-way tonight, I came out of it thinking mostly that I want to see Asuka and Vaquer in a singles match – with no interference, but I'll gripe on that later. Those women have amazing in-ring chemistry.

Asuka now goes on to face Alexa Bliss in the semifinals of the tournament, which will also be a solid match, and another good one for Asuka to get her feet back underneath her. While I'm unsure of just who will win between Bliss and Asuka, I think giving "The Empress of Tomorrow" that first win, a pretty big one, was necessary to get her momentum going. Win or lose to Bliss, who's another super hot star on the opposite brand, I think Asuka will be just fine.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Like a good portion of the WWE fanbase, I can't say that I was surprised to see Goldberg appear on tonight's edition of "Raw" and immediately challenge GUNTHER to a match for the World Heavyweight Championship. That being said, it doesn't mean that I necessarily enjoyed seeing him make his return to the company or overly excited about it.

The men's division on "Raw" is quite extensive as it is right now, and GUNTHER isn't exactly lacking in challengers considering that Jey Uso just lost the World Heavyweight Championship to him last week and Seth Rollins is looming in the shadows with his Money In The Bank briefcase. For that reason, it's frustrating to see Goldberg be able to jump the line ahead of everyone and be granted a title shot for WWE Saturday Night's Main Event when he hasn't been present on programming for months or competed in a proper match since challenging Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship in February 2022 at that year's Elimination Chamber Premium Live Event. While I'm sure there's bound to be some people out there that are excited for the match between Goldberg and GUNTHER, I am definitely not one of them and would rather this just not be happening at all.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

Nearly two months from the date of her last match, we heard from Bayley after she returned last week to take out Becky Lynch. She had been taken out by Lynch and missed WrestleMania. No matter what Becky Lynch said, we did miss her. Bayley told her former friend that she likes giving opportunities to other women while building them up, while Lynch does the opposite. She asked Lynch if she had forgotten what it's like to fight for everything, including WrestleMania opportunities or is "your head too far up your a** that you don't know what it's like anymore?" As she spoke, Lynch was backed so far against the ropes that they nearly became one. Lynch retorted that she doesn't remember and asked if she remembered what gold felt like. After giving her a non-title match (don't worry, Nick Aldis would change that), Lynch struck Bayley. Bayley laughed last when she clocked her.

Perhaps due to their familiarity with each other, this was Lynch's most natural segment since she's been back. The rapport flowed well. Lynch has been loud and bombastic since her return; tonight she was more measured. While still mostly confident, she backed down when Bayley dared her to come at her. She accused Bayley of being sneaky and wouldn't turn her back to her. That showed that she does fear Bayley and knows she did her former friend wrong. Bayley had called her out by saying she knows Lynch couldn't sleep after taking her out. Although these two have been on opposite sides of the ring for years, this feud still feels fresh. Bayley is not afraid of Lynch because she knows her weaknesses. In fact, she called her out by telling Lynch she cared about the fans reaction upon her return.

Upon Lynch's return after more than a year away, there was nonsense about Lynch being too old to be champion and needing to put younger women over. In this feud with Bayley, you have two veteran women who are still in their prime and who have worked hard to make women's wrestling mean something in WWE again. Lynch has elevated Lyra Valkyria and made people care about the women's IC title and Bayley can help her elevate it even more. The IC title should be one that more women want a shot at since it's so new. It should be more important than it has been and by the time these two are done, it should be something more women want a shot at, which is a win for everyone. 

Written by Samantha Schipman

Liv Morgan getting hurt isn't anybody's fault, but it still sucks that it happened — and not just that it happened, but when. IYO SKY might be the women's champion on "Raw," but Morgan has been getting the most TV time, anchoring two separate feuds leading up to the first all-woman WWE Evolution PLE in eight years. One of those feuds is with SKY herself and concerns the Women's World Championship; the other is with a returning Nikki Bella — and considering the fact that Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez hold the women's tag titles, presumably her sister Brie, a match that would be the Bella Twins' first time in the ring together since about the same time as that first and most recent Evolution show. These are both massive storylines, and Evolution is less than a month away. Even if the injury isn't serious, it would be absolutely heartbreaking for Morgan to have to ride the bench for any length of time at this specific moment, especially due to a freak injury that happened on one of the most basic of basic wrestling maneuvers.

The silver lining here is that there's probably an easy solution, booking-wise, in the form of Roxanne Perez. If Morgan does miss Evolution, Perez could easily slot in alongside Rodriguez against the Bellas, or work a singles match against Nikki. And of course, she's more than capable of putting on a show with SKY. Perez would potentially need to not be in the Queen of the Ring finals for that to happen, but I suspect she was always losing to Jade Cargill anyway, and my only other brilliant idea for Rodriguez would have involved Dakota Kai, except for the fact that WWE fired her. So yeah, the machine will obviously roll on, but I really hope Morgan is okay. She's earned this position of prominence — how often does WWE send a women's division storyline out to open "Raw"? — and the division is healthier when she's healthy.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

If you're a fan of seeing the humans behind the characters on TV then you will agree that a highlight of modern WWE has been the occasional times rivals-turned-tag-title-winning partners Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso have been together on screen. Rhodes, so often the introverted goofball trying his very best to be the franchise player, and Uso, an extroverted goofball who was just too popular not to crown the champion, on the face of it look like a chalk-and-cheese pairing. But whether it be during the show, on the mic and in the ring, or after the show, with a few beverages consumed prior to a press conference, Uso does well to bring Rhodes out of his shell and they produce some of the most genuinely and unintentionally funny moments together. They're almost such a great pairing that one could forget things had started out very differently for them, and after this week there is a chance that all gets dredged up once again. 

Alongside his brother Jimmy, Jey had the chance to get well-acquainted with Rhodes during his initial run with WWE, with the Usos and the Rhodes brothers feuding for the tag titles over a decade ago. When Rhodes had returned, his journey to lift the title his father – who just so happens to be Dusty Rhodes, in case you didn't know – was screwed out of put him at direct odds with Jey as Roman Reigns' "Right-Hand Man." Jey and Rhodes became partners when he finally stood up to Reigns, and within months he had captured the tag titles alongside him, the first time he was holding the title next to someone other than his brother. 

But both have since become World Champion, and both have since lost their titles to villains to fill the vacuum left by Reigns. Both, crucially, will be in the ring during next week's "Raw" facing one another in the King of the Ring semi-finals. So often does wrestling play the game of putting partners together just to break them up and have them feud for their singles goals. But this is different, neither has had an issue with one another up until this point, and even at the end of tonight they were stood in the ring together fending off Seth Rollins and The Vision. 

That doesn't change what is at stake for each of them, however, with Rhodes making it clear he wants the title that John Cena wrested from him and Jey making it clear he wants to get back in the ring with Gunther for his title. But it was just on Friday that Rhodes had to stand across from Randy Orton, yet another dear friend, and hear that their friendship would have to come second to his chance at vengeance. Who is to say that is not the case for the "American Nightmare" towards "Main Event" Uso? Either way, speculation aside, it was the intrigue and the way the tournament has been set that thrilled me here, what's not to love?

Written by Max Everett

The worst part about tonight's "Raw," and about the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments as a whole, wasn't the fact the first round was entirely fatal four-way matches, it was the interference that has happened in what I believe has been every single match, including tonight. It could have initially been argued that WWE booked so many multi-person matches because they have so many incredible stars on both brand's rosters, I think now we can easily say that they were booked partially because fatal four-ways have no disqualifications, making it easy for other stars to inference. I really hope we saw the last of that tonight, but knowing WWE, we haven't, even when the semifinals move on to singles bouts.

The women's match was slightly less egregious tonight, with Rhea Ripley returning to take out Raquel Rodriguez and no one else. It was still pretty annoying, because as I mentioned, while I'm happy Asuka got the victory, Ripley's interference overall was annoying, especially because Asuka didn't need her to soften anyone up. I'm also still so sick and tired of Ripley's involvement with Rodriguez and Liv Morgan, so that's always going to feel too soon to me.

The men's match in the main event was even worse. I assumed Jey Uso was going to get the victory after being revealed as the mystery opponent in the tournament, and I also expected the ridiculous amount of interference we go to end the match. It was like one guy, after the other, after the other, and of course, the brand split doesn't matter now that guys from opposing brands are facing each other in the semifinals. The interference could have stopped at Bron Breakker getting involved to help Bronson Reed, then maybe getting taken out by Rusev or Sheamus who were already in the match, but no. Sami Zayn interfered to attempt to take out Breakker, but got himself thrown over the commentary desk, which wasn't a great look for Zayn going in to his KOTR semifinal match against Randy Orton.

Then, we had Penta go flying out of the ring to actually take out Breakker, followed by LA Knight who knocked Reed off the turnbuckle before he could hit a Tsunami to Uso. So, once again, Uso needed the help of all his friends. Even when Seth Rollins came out to confront him, Uso couldn't even do a simple stare-down on his own surrounded by all the other guys on the outside of the ring. Cody Rhodes had to come down, too. It was all an overbooked mess, and for once, I didn't enjoy the chaos.

Most of these matches throughout the tournament would have been amazing with no interference. WWE could have enacted some kind of rule to keep other talent away. But, Triple H loves his interference. While yes, the rosters are stacked with top tier talent, I don't have to see all of them at once, and I'd love to just get SOME quality, clean matches.

Written by Daisy Ruth