Cook’s WWE Raw Review 6.15.26

Hey kids! Steve Cook here with you for the latest episode of WWE Raw on Netflix! We’ve got some King & Queen of the Ring semi-final action, Chad Gable takes on Rusev, and Charlotte Flair & Roxanne Perez face off in a battle between the present & future of WWE women’s wrestling. More importantly…

ROMAN REIGNS IS HERE!

So there’s that.

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Cook’s WWE Raw Review 6.15.26

Then. Now. Forever. Together!

We’re in Baltimore! Fans yeet outside as Joe Tessitore sends us to a video package about SmackDown’s main event where Jey Uso made the semi-finals of the King of the Ring Tournament. Joe Tessitore joins Corey Graves on commentary tonight.

Roman Reigns & the Usos pull up to the arena. The stagehand gives Roman the World Championship belt. Jacob Fatu has been waiting, and he follows the rest of the Bloodline through backstage and towards the ring. Ones are raised as Alicia Taylor introduces them to the audience. I’m not sure I’ve seen so much gesticulation involved in an entrance. They make it to the ring eventually. Baltimore’s liking the scene. The fans sing Roman’s name, then chant OTC.

Roman asks Baltimore to acknowledge him. They’ve got a lot to be grateful for. The Right Hand Man advancing to the next level. He’ll take the KOTR crown, so Baltimore should acknowledge him. They yeet. A lot of people try to piss Roman off, saying he never has anything good to say about Jim. As the twins have always said, it’s day one ish. Back to the beginning, if it wasn’t for Big Jim there wouldn’t be no Right Hand Man or Tribal Chief, or no Bloodline. Acknowledge him! Jey appreciates the love, and there’s one person here who needs to be acknowledged, who doesn’t listen and needs to acknowledge them. Roman says they have a problem and turns towards Jacob.

Roman asks if Jacob doesn’t want to listen to or acknowledge the Usos. Jacob indicates that he doesn’t and takes the microphone from Roman. Jacob says that when it comes to Jey & Jimmy, he doesn’t listen to them. The only person that he acknowledges is his OTC. Jacob hands the microphone back to Roman. Roman says its good, we don’t need yes men around here. Roman gets an ula fala out of a box. Roman says that people are terrified of the Bloodline, they’ll run things again. The Bloodline has always been here and forever. The Wild Samoans, Yokozuna, Rikishi, Umaga, Usos & Roman were all the Bloodline. When their kids are tagging twenty years from now, that’s the Bloodline. Jacob has always said he’s on the outside, but no more. He welcomes Jacob to the family business, the Bloodline, and places the ula fala around Jacob’s neck. Jimmy & Jey seem jealous, but theyjoin in the pose eventually.

Eric Andre tries to dap up the Bloodline on their way out, and Jacob gets mad when he pokes at the ula fala! What a dummy! He tosses Andre into the ring and sets him up for a big splash! Roman finally jumps up on the apron and calls Jacob off. Well, he did for a second, then decided to let Jacob do it anyway. Dang, I was going to ignore most of that once they showed Andre at ringside since I tune out on Netflix celebrity plugs. Ha, Jacob does it again! Good for him! I enjoyed Jacob beating up Eric Andre, so this segment was fine.

We see clips of the beatdown. Joe is saddened, but honestly the dude had it coming. You don’t mess with the ula fala!

Queen of the Ring Semi-Final: IYO SKY vs. Raquel Rodriguez: A sign in the crowd says that Paul Heyman’s final form is Krang, and now I wonder why Paul hasn’t put his head in a robot or another body by now. It could only help. Raquel’s entrance theme is…something. We’ll go with something. IYO attacks right away with strikes. Raquel tosses her to the apron, but SKY with some knees. She rolls into the ring and shoulderblocks Raquel and hits more strikes. IYO gets caught, then cross-bodied. IYO rolls outside. Raquel picks IYO up and Raquel drops her throat first on the barricade. Raquel poses on the announce table, then takes the lid off. Nothing comes of that and they return to the ring. IYO with a guillotine on Raquel, Raquel counters into a vertical suplex. Raquel runs into an elbow, she’s tossed outside and IYO gets caught on a tope suicida attempt. Raquel rams her head into the ringpost and IYO is spread eagle on the floor as we go to commercial.

We return and Raquel is trying to slam IYO down but IYO counters into a rollup for two. Kicks rock Raquel, another roll up leads to a double stomp by IYO. Bullet Train Attack in the corner, IYO up top, hits the missile dropkick and does the crazy pose. Raquel avoids another Bullet Train then choke lifts IYO. IYO kicks her to break that up, then goes for a sunset flip powerbomb. Raquel stomps her way out of that, then tries to powerslam IYO. IYO escapes. Raquel runs into the announce table. IYO rams her against it a few more times, Raquel avoids a stomp and trips IYO face first on the table. Back in the ring, Raquel misses the Vader Bomb elbow. IYO bounces Raquel’s head off the ringpost, hits the sunset flip powerbomb in the ring. IYO up top, hits the Over the Moonsault for three!

Winner: IYO SKY (7:09 shown via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***
Pretty solid stuff from both wrestlers here, they’ve had some chances to work on their chemistry and it’s going well.

IYO will face either Liv Morgan or Charlotte Flair at Night of Champions in the QOTR Finals. She celebrates, then Joe & Corey hype up other matches taking place tonight. We see last week when Oba Femi beat up Dominik Mysterio & JD McDonagh.

Roxanne Perez promises Liv Morgan that Charlotte won’t be 100% after tonight. Liv enters Danhausen’s lair, she takes her jacket off to reveal his t-shirt. That doesn’t do much for him, but her saying he’s powerful does it for him. Liv wants him to curse Oba Femi, Danhausen reads off his list of demands (mostly human monies) and Liv leaves. Some girlfriend, huh? Can’t be bothered to buy a Danhausen curse for her guy, I get the feeling they won’t last.

We return from commercial break to a Danhausen documentary about his interactions with the New York Knicks & Stephen A. Smith. He’s the King of New York now! Jericho gonna be mad. Roman Reigns acknowledged them.

Seth Rollins brought Bron Breakker into the Vision and tried to give him the world. In return, Bron took his world from him. Six months of his career that he’ll never get back. He’s here to right his wrongs. No Vision, Heyman or hiding. He challenges Bron to a steel cage match at Night of Champions.

Lyra Valkyria is happy with news from Adam Pearce, and she runs off to tell Bayley. LA Knight arrives and notes that everything he said would happen on Friday did. Pearce disputes LA’s assertion that Solo Sikoa is back with the Bloodline. LA says that he’s going to handle things his way and walks off.

Last Monday, Penta defended the Intercontinental Championship against Rey Mysterio, then both got attacked by Rusev & Ethan Page. Rey lost his mask, things got out of hand until Chad Gable showed up and ran them off.

JACKIE REDMOND is with Chad Gable and wants to know about his next chapter. Chad says he’s been wrong a lot over the last couple of years. He’s making amends, and after he handles Rusev tonight he has other people to make amends with. Chad walks towards the ring and sees Maxxine Dupri with Austin Theory. He keeps walking.

Chad Gable vs. Rusev (w/Ethan Page): Rusev drops Chad down, then knee walks. Chad takes Rusev down and won’t let go until Rusev makes the ropes. Arm drags from Chad, Rusev avoids the third and smacks him down. Chad sent sternum first into the corner. Rusev with a punch in the corner, Chad reverses a whip into a belly to belly suplex. Dragon screw, then an ankle lock. Rusev gets the ropes and goes outside. Chad goes outside and Rusev shoves him into the steps. Rusev suplexes Gable on the floor. Gable’s head is introduced to the announce table. Gable back suplexes Rusev on the announce table. Page distracts Chad and Rusev sends him off the apron into the table. Rusev fallaway suplexes Gable over the table as we go to commercial. Is it just me or do they do more of these spots when Tessitore’s around?

Punches are exchanged as we return. Gable hits some rolling German suplexes. Rusev elbows out, gets knocked to the floor. Rusev up top, Gable meets him there. Superplex, and the straps come down! Ankle lock by Gable, Rusev kicks out and goes for the Accolade, that leads to a Chaos Theory attempt, a Machka Kick attempt and an anklelock! Ethan runs in, Chad chases him out and then runs into a Machka kick for two! Rusev goes for the Accolade and locks it in! Gable goes for the ropes, Rusev drags him to the center of the ring, Gable grabs the leg, gets an Angle Slam and an Ankle lock! Rusev taps out.

Winner: Chad Gable (7:22 shown via submission)
Match Rating: **1/2
This was pretty decent work, though I have to say that the Baltimore crowd wasn’t really eating Gable up as a babyface as much as one might have hoped. It could happen with time.

Page attacks right after the bell, then Rey Mysterio & Dragon Lee appear to break it up. Page gets kicked on his attempt to get back in the ring. Rey & Dragon pull Chad back up to his feet and raise his arms.

Roman directs a stagehand to get things ready before the Usos show up. They’re not happy about the Jacob not listening to them thing. Roman tells them to think about how Jacob feels. He was an outsider, they’re all outsiders and need to stick together. Roman wants to know why LA Knight’s still talking trash, maybe he should sic Jacob on him. Jey wants to take care of LA instead, but Jimmy says he’ll handle it. Roman & Jey allow it, since Jimmy’s attempts at talking to LA have gone so well in the past.

Raw is doing Hometown Hero segments now like it’s the middle of the second inning at the Reds game. Joe then introduces some boxers around ringside.

Bron Breakker reminds Seth that he made an entire career of undermining and backstabbing people to get where he is. Bron destroyed his vision because he uses deception. He’s a sheep in wolves clothing. At Night of Champions he’ll be locked inside a cage with a dog, and the dog always…makes it out? Huh, I thought he was going somewhere else with that.

LA Knight makes his way to the ring, YEAH. The fans chant his name. Let him talk to ya! On Friday Night SmackDown, he ended his night looking up at the lights. He thought he could lay there all weekend, but needed to get to Baltimore. He got a phone call from a friend suggesting he come home for a couple of days, he needed to get to Baltimore. Someone else called and told him the KOTR over, he could take the week off. LA said he had to get to Baltimore. He stands there and he is home. He didn’t return home a king or champion, with or without it he’s still LA Knight, YEAH. He’s always fought the odds, he doesn’t give up because he doesn’t know how. He didn’t have a famous dad or a tribal chief to help him out. He sees Roman manipulating Jacob, pretty soon he’ll have his own meme coin. He’s not here to complain or whine, he told us that every single member of the Bloodline would be there. Solo spiked him, he’s out of the tournament, Jey moves on…

Jimmy Uso comes down to the ring at this point. Jimmy knows he has legit beef with his family, but that was a few years ago. Solo doesn’t work with them. LA reminds Jimmy that Solo helped Jey win. If he goes after Solo, the rest of the Bloodline won’t come after him? That’s exactly what Jimmy’s saying. Jimmy says may the best man win if LA wants to go after Solo.

Jey Uso comes down to the ring and takes the microphone from Jimmy. Jey uses LA’s line and says that Jimmy is right. They’ve told him over and over again that Solo is on his own. He needs to accept that. Jey is out here for one thing. LA cuts him off. Jey says it’s not to acknowledge the OTC, he’s better than LA. He beat LA fair and square, so LA should acknowledge him. LA says with everything he has to deal with it’s a compelling offer. LA tells Jey to kiss his ass! Jimmy tries to separate them, but LA & Jey go at it. Jimmy superkicks LA off of Jey and tells him it’s not his business. Jey gets a chair, Jimmy gets between them. LA gets the chair and hits both Usos! Jacob runs down and locks in the Tongan Death Grip on LA! Jacob leaves and the Usos follow.

We see clips of Jacob handling the LA Knight problem. Jimmy & Jey argue, Jacob says both of their ways were ass, they didn’t get the job done so he did it the OTC way.

This week’s NXT Spotlight is on Alexa Bliss! We see some classic Alexa clips from her days with Blake & Murphy. What happened to those guys? She’s thankful for her time there.

Charlotte Flair (w/Alexa Bliss) vs. Roxanne Perez (w/Liv Morgan): Corey notes that Charlotte & Alexa first met during their NXT days. Liv & Charlotte will meet on Friday in the QOTR semi-final. Roxanne with a big slap to Charlotte. Charlotte blocks a kick and knees Roxanne in the face. Roxanne rolls outside and Charlotte attacks with chops against the barricade. Unfortunately she misses against the ringpost and Roxanne focuses on Charlotte’s hand. We go to commercial!

Roxanne has an armbar on Charlotte when we return. She doesn’t have it all the way locked in, and Charlotte powerbombs her way out for two. Roxanne takes Charlotte down with La Mistica for two, and goes back to Charlotte’s arm. Roxanne with some chops of her own. Charlotte no-sells, then chokes Roxanne. Flair Flip in the corner, Charlotte boots Roxanne, but gets distracted when Liv knocks Alexa into the post. Roxanne tries to take advantage, Charlotte hits a fallaway slam, then some left handed chops. Walkover into a clothesline by Charlotte. Big boot to Roxanne, cover gets two. Liv distracts Charlotte before going up for the moonsault, then Roxanne yanks Charlotte off the ropes and hits a springboard moonsault for two. Charlotte boots Roxanne down and goes for the figure four. Liv distracts the referee, but Alexa trips her on the apron! While the ref attends to Liv, Alexa reverses the small package! It gets two. Roxanne goes for Pop Rox, but Charlotte reverses into the Figure 4! Once it becomes a Figure 8 Roxanne taps out.

Winner: Charlotte Flair (7:06 shown via submission)
Match Rating: **3/4
Interesting contrast between the two women’s matches tonight. The first had the classic David vs. Goliath formula with the smaller babyface having to overcome the odds. This one had the smaller heel chipping away at the babyface but not quite getting the job done. I’d really like to see more of Charlotte & Roxanne working together, it seems like it could be fun.

Je’Von Evans is WALKING! He’ll join us next.

Je’Von Evans walks to the ring for an interview with JACKIE REDMOND. Jackie asks how he’s preparing for Jey Uso. Je’Von tells Jey he’ll keep it short & sweet. He’s gonna put a belt to his ass and yeet him out. Next week on TV he’ll be winning the King of the Ring Tournament and people will be saying he’s bouncy!

Logan Paul & Austin Theory make their way to the ring. Logan has a large arm brace and says he’s here for Je’Von. He’s been watching him, he’s a generational talent. Je’Von has untapped potential. He sees through the good guy persona, he’s ruthless and a killer. Je’Von needs the right people around him, and the Vision are the right people. Logan formally invites Je’Von to join the group. Je’Von says Hell Nah. Logan says it wasn’t an invitation, it’s a mandate. Je’Von is in the Vision! Je’Von tells Logan to back up before he leaves with no arms. Austin says Je’Von has it all confused. He either joins the Vision or get dropped! Je’Von drops his pants to reveal his wrestling attire, and he asks a referee to come out! Looks like we’ve got one of those impromptu match things.

Austin Theory (w/Logan Paul) vs. Je’Von Evans: We return to the match already in progress. Theory runs into an elbow, Evans hits a rana and Theory goes outside. Evans with a tope suicida. Back in the ring, Evans hits a vertical suplex and a standing moonsault for two. Evans throws his shirt at Logan, Theory evades the top rope move, smashes Evans in the corner and hits a rolling clothesline. Theory stomps away on Evans. The fans sing Joe Hendry’s song. Theory works Evans over in the corner. Theory misses a punch in the corner, then Evans hits ten and a few more. Evans tries a springboard move and gets knocked to the floor in front of Logan. We go to commercial!

Evans stomps Theory in the corner when we return. Kick to the back, Evans springboards into a crossbody for two. Evans tries to springboard in the corner, Theory knocks him into the turnbuckle and hits A-Town Down for two. I think that was the name of it. Both men end up outside and Evans decks Theory. Logan with the distraction, and Theory attacks from behind. Evans rams Theory into the ringpost and sends him into the timekeeper’s area. Evans runs around the ring and jumps over the barricade onto Theory! He dang near kills himself in the process but adrenaline is a hell of a drug. Back in the ring, Evans goes for the OG cutter, but ends up speared in mid-air by Bron Breakker!

Winner: Je’Von Evans (7:26 shown via disqualification)
Match Rating: **1/2
I think if you give these guys enough time it could be Jim Cornette’s favorite match ever, somehow entirely due to Theory. Seriously though, this was perfectly fine though I think a stronger win for Evans heading into Friday would have been nice.

Before more can happen, the Street Profits appear! Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins hit the ring and go after Breakker & Theory. Theory gets Silenced, Bron is clotheslined over the top rope after taking many strikes.

Friday on SmackDown: Cody Rhodes vs. Gunther, with Sami Zayn as guest referee! Commercial free! Not even a hydration break?

We see clips of things Jacob Fatu has done tonight. Roman exits his locker room and Jacob appears. Jacob says he got LA’s ass. The twins weren’t happy about it. Roman says they don’t understand Jacob, but he does. And as long as Jacob understands him, there won’t be any problems. They embrace, I think Roman whispers something into Jacob’s ear before walking off.

Next week’s Raw is live in London at 2 PM Eastern! Breakker & Theory vs. Street Profits! Brie & Paige vs. Bayley & Lyra! Two big Tag Team Championship matches!

King of the Ring Semi-Final: Oba Femi vs. “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio (w/JD McDonagh): We’re getting pretty close to 10:30 so I got a feeling this won’t be lasting long. Not that it should. We see the split-screen with some in the crowd strutting as well. Dom rolls right outside after the bell rings. Dom gets back in, gets on the ropes so the referee can hold Oba off. I haven’t watched any Larry Zbyszko in awhile so this is kinda fresh to me. Dom cowers in the corner again, then rolls back outside. Oba chases him & JD and gets kicked. That just annoy Oba, who smacks Dom and tosses him over the announce table. JD runs out through the crowd. Dom gets the ring bell hammer and puts it in his shoe. Oba puts Dom back in the ring, and JD runs in to get smacked. Dom with a low blow to Oba, then a couple of 619s with the hammer! Frog splash gets a 1 count. Dom has the hammer in his hand, that doesn’t matter as Oba chokeslams Dom & JD. Running uppercuts to both. Spinning uppercut to JD. Pizza toss to Dom. Fall From Grace ends things in favor of Oba.

Winner: Oba Femi (4:28 via pinfall)
Match Rating: **1/2
Pretty much what I expected here. Given that it’s modern wrestling I’m not too worried about Dom losing anything by getting killed by Oba even if he’s got a championship to defend in Mexico at some point, but I can see the argument against having this match. I can also see that Dom’s rarely wrestled lately and probably needs to be doing something. There are a lot of arguments here, all I know for sure is that Oba beat up these fools.

Oba makes it to the KOTR final, and that picture’s starting to come in crystal clear. Oba says he’s one match away, and then the ruler will have his crown. He’ll beat whoever he needs to beat, even Brock Lesnar. He thought this would be the night Brock would come. He looked up to Brock as a man, now questions if he’s a man at all. What will Brock’s legacy be? Oba will be the ruler, the mountain that Brock can not climb or conquer. He will be king and Brock will be the man who ran from Oba Femi. The fans chant Oba’s name and he hits his pose as our live event comes to an end. So long for now!

If you’d like to chime in with your own thoughts on tonight’s show, feel free to join your fellow 411 Maniacs down in the comment section! As the legendary Larry Csonka always said: Have fun and don’t be a dick. When I’m not here you can catch me on social media from time to time. To be honest, e-mail is a better option and you can reach me at [email protected]. I’ll be more likely to respond there.

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

Raw's return to the States for a week went well enough, though the lack of reaction from American fans compared to their European equals will stand out even more next week in London. While many of the beats of the Bloodline story seem to repeat themselves over & over, at least Jacob is being moved into an intriguing spot now. See ya next Monday afternoon!