The Great Three-Hour Roller Coaster
If you stayed up watching Monday Night RAW on July 20, you experienced the classic Triple H era duality. One minute you are watching two generationally gifted athletes destroy each other in a stiff physical fight, and the next minute you are staring at a referee looking clueless during a distraction finish. Last night was a three-hour roller coaster that hit incredible highs and maddening lows.
We need to break down three things that made us want to throw our TV remote across the sports bar and three things that reminded us why we still love professional wrestling. Grab a cold drink because we are not holding back on any of it.
Hated: The Endless Opening Promo Parade
We have to start with the opening twenty minutes of the broadcast. Adam Pearce stood in the middle of the ring looking like an exhausted high school principal trying to break up a cafeteria food fight. Then came the steady stream of music cues as wrestler after wrestler walked down the ramp to deliver verbatim dialogue about wanting a championship shot.
This format felt dated back in 2018, and as recent SmackDown analysis showed, heavy talking segments are draining crowd energy across both brands. When Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, and CM Punk take turns grabbing microphones just to repeat the exact same talking points from last week, the arena flatlines. Wrestling is at its absolute best when conflict erupts out of raw hatred rather than corporate scheduling debates.
Think back to 1999 when Stone Cold Steve Austin would drive a monster truck into the arena or launch a brawl before the fireworks even stopped firing. Nobody bought a ticket to watch top stars conduct a board meeting in tights. Give us backstage chaos, surprise jump attacks, or parking lot brawls instead of another fifteen-minute corporate seminar.
Loved: Bron Breakker Annihilating Everything In Sight
Thank goodness for Bron Breakker. While the main event scene was busy debating who gets the next title match, Breakker came out like a human wrecking ball and reminded everyone what pure intensity looks like. His match against Ludwig Kaiser was an absolute sprint that proved why he is the most terrifying prospect in the industry today.
The highlight came at the nine-minute mark when Breakker caught Kaiser coming off the top turnbuckle with a mid-air spear that nearly split the man in half. The sound echoing off the ring mat sounded like a shotgun firing in an empty warehouse. Breakker moves with a terrifying combination of speed and power that recalls Goldberg in 1998, except Breakker can actually execute a 25-minute classic when called upon.
He does not waste time playing to the crowd or fixing his boots between spots. He locks onto his target like a guided missile, hits his marks with ruthless efficiency, and leaves bodies stacked in his wake. If WWE does not strap a rocket to his back and put world championship gold on him before the year ends, they are out of their minds.
Hated: The Tragic Misuse Of Chad Gable
What does Chad Gable have to do to get a win that actually matters on Monday nights? Last night he gave us four minutes of world-class mat wrestling before getting pinned via a lazy distraction roll-up. Karrion Kross stood on the ring apron, Gable blinked for half a second, and boom, three count.
Gable is a legitimate Olympic athlete who pulls off feats of strength that defy human physics every time he steps through the ropes. Watching him get treated like an afterthought in a three-minute match is infuriating for anyone who appreciates actual in-ring skill. Remember when Kurt Angle was allowed to be both hilarious and an unbeatable submission machine back in 2000? WWE needs to give Gable that exact same credibility instead of turning his matches into setup punchlines for secondary feuds.
He should be anchoring the midcard division with 20-minute classics every single week, taking opponents to school with German suplexes and ankle locks. Instead, he gets booked like a comedy villain who forgets how to wrestle the moment a rival's music hits. It is a waste of one of the finest technical wrestlers on the planet.
Loved: Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky Put On An Absolute Masterclass
If you want to know what peak women's wrestling looks like, rewatch the showcase between Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky. These two delivered a main-event-worthy showcase that stole the entire show from the men. The contrast between Ripley's brute power and Sky's unbelievable agility made every single sequence feel electric and unpredictable.
The sequence where Sky countered the Riptide into a spectacular hurricanrana, followed by a moonsault to the arena floor, had the entire arena on their feet. Ripley sold the impact like a veteran, making Sky look like a legitimate threat while maintaining her own protected status. They fought for 14 minutes without relying on ref bumps, outside interference, or cheap tricks.
This is what happens when creative gets out of the way and lets two elite performers tell a story in the ring. The psychology was spot-on, the cardio was ridiculous, and every near-fall had the crowd gasping for air. It proved once again that the women's division contains some of the best big-match workers anywhere in professional wrestling.
Hated: The Distraction Roll-Up Virus Strikes Again
We have to talk about the lazy finishes infecting the midcard tag team division. When the War Raiders fought Judgment Day, we were treated to a physical, hard-hitting brawl for six straight minutes. Then, out of nowhere, ring music hit, someone glanced at the entrance ramp for two seconds, and a surprise roll-up ended the contest.
This trope is ruining the momentum of young talent across the roster. A distraction finish tells the audience that the winner did not actually earn the victory and the loser is an idiot who gets thrown off by a loud noise. In legitimate combat sports, fighters do not stop punching because someone's entrance video plays on a giant screen, and WWE creative needs to retire this finish for at least six months.
It strips all credibility from both teams involved in the match. The crowd goes dead silent because nobody wants to see a hard-hitting collision end like a schoolyard prank. If a team is going to lose, let them lose cleanly after taking a finisher, or craft a dirty finish that does not make the referee look blind.
Loved: Gunther's Brutal Reign Of Terror
Every time Gunther picks up a microphone or steps into the squared circle, the entire tone of the broadcast shifts. His segment with Sami Zayn last night was a brutal reminder of why he is the final boss of World Wrestling Entertainment. Gunther does not need flashy catchphrases or pop culture references to command respect, walking to the ring and delivering cold truths.
When Sami Zayn fired back with emotional passion, Gunther did not even blink before landing a chop that registered at a 109 decibel slap across the arena. The welt on Zayn's chest was visible from the top row of the arena within ten seconds. Gunther makes wrestling feel like a high-stakes fight where every mistake costs you physical blood and bruises.
The subtle villainy he displays during verbal exchanges is second to none in the modern era. He does not yell or scream like a cartoon villain; he dissects his opponent's insecurities with surgical precision before physically dismantling them. It makes every title defence feel like a mandatory fight night where survival is not guaranteed.
The Final Verdict: Great Action Held Back By Lazy Habits
RAW on July 20 showed us both the best and worst of modern wrestling. When WWE trusts its world-class roster to go out there and beat the hell out of each other, the show is television gold. The work rate from Breakker, Sky, Ripley, and Gunther proved that the in-ring talent in 2026 is deeper than it has ever been in company history.
However, the creative team cannot keep relying on 20-minute talking parades and lazy distraction roll-ups to kill time. The fans are too smart, the tickets are too expensive, and the competition for attention is too fierce. Cut the corporate fluff, let the wrestlers fight, and let match results actually matter.
If Triple H and his team can eliminate those lazy booking tropes, RAW will transform from a solid three-hour show into mandatory appointment viewing every single week.
