WWE Raw live results: IYO SKY & Rhea Ripley vs. Roxanne Perez & Giulia
Date: May 12, 2025
Location: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, KY
The Big Takeaway —
CM Punk and Sami Zayn will team to face Seth Rollins and Bron Breakker at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Bron laid out Jey Uso, and the two men will wrestle next week in a non-title match.
Gunther is coming after the World Championship again and will face the winner of Jey Uso vs. Logan Paul. Gunther’s title match will happen on Raw next month.
Rhea Ripley pinned Giulia in the tag main event, and is likely getting a title match against Iyo Sky soon.
Money in the Bank qualifiers begin next week.
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Show Recap —
The show opened with a memorial graphic for “Sabu” Terrance Brunk. RIP.
Judgment Day, AJ Styles, Iyo Sky, and Roxanne Perez and Giulia (referred to by Michael Cole as “NXT upstarts”) were shown arriving at the arena in Louisville.
There was a dramatic recap of last week’s main event angle.
Opening segment
CM Punk entered and pointed to the sky in tribute of Sabu.
Punk was pissed off. He nursed a few injuries and hurt feelings since WrestleMania, but he couldn’t shake being pissed off. He had a lot of enemies, and number one with a bullet was himself.
He was mad at himself because they’d been here before. It wasn’t the first time Paul Heyman stabbed him in the back. Punk liked to trust his friends, so this was on him. Heyman dropped a ladder on his head 12 years ago and left him with 13 staples in his head.
Punk thought they had moved past that because he matured as a human being, but Heyman didn’t. Jey Uso warned him about Heyman. Heyman was who he always was. He was a fat little snake. Punk was also mad at “Temu CM Punk” Seth Rollins. Punk couldn’t wait to get his hands on Heyman’s fat neck and squeeze until his eyeballs popped.
Heyman marched out as Punk mocked him by referring to him as The Penguin. Heyman remained near the stage as Punk warned him that his next words would be his last.
Rollins and Bron Breakker joined Heyman on the stage. Rollins said Punk found a way to be even more egotistical. Heyman was his best friend, but Punk made his life hell on the road to Mania. Heyman believed in Punk when no one else did. Rollins believed that Punk was human excrement. Rollins said he would be champion if not for Punk.
Punk said Rollins would never be champ as long as he was on two feet. Rollins figured out that Punk loved to play the victim and be a martyr, so he sent Bron after Punk.
Punk tried fighting them off, but the numbers caught up to him. Sami Zayn ran out to even the odds, but Bron suplexed him easily.
Jey Uso came out and the crowd cheered, but he got beaten up too. The heels finally backed off when both Punk and Zayn hit the ring with chairs.
(Punk was good here, but this was a fairly standard segment. The babyfaces didn’t look great getting beaten up one at a time. I also don’t know how much more I need to see Punk and Rollins trade insults.)
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Cole called the opening segment alone. After Penta and Chad Gable entered for the opening match (Gable’s entrance was during a break), Pat McAfee entered to his music to join Cole on commentary. They tried to explain that McAfee was only coming out now because he just finished getting cleared by medical, but they obviously wanted to give him a TV entrance.
Penta vs. Chad Gable (w/Ivy Nile)
Penta tried a dive early on, but Gable knocked him out of mid-air with a headbutt—the same headbutt used by El Grande Americano, but without the loaded mask. Gable repeatedly tugged at Penta’s mask during a break for heat.
Penta made his comeback immediately following the break, but Gable cut him off with a bridging German suplex for two. Gable flew off the top, but Penta caught him with a Codebreaker. Gable hit a moonsault for two and applied an ankle lock, but Penta immediately rolled out of it and hit a superkick for two.
Gable taunted Penta as they stood on the ropes, but Penta shoved him off. Gable landed on his feet, but Penta followed with a great-looking Canadian Destroyer for the pinfall win. This was pretty good.
Match result: Penta defeated Chad Gable (11:04)
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There was a pre-taped promo by Roxanne Perez and Giulia. They didn’t plan on waiting around for their turn, so they were going after the two women on top. The future started tonight.
During a break, there was a video package of John Cena’s win over Randy Orton.
Kofi Kingston was shown taking in the Louisville Slugger Museum.
Judgment Day met in the back. There was some silly comedy with Dom not understanding that Liv Morgan was in a different time zone. (Hopefully, this bit wasn’t a result of a real conversation that somebody had backstage.) Finn Bálor assured Dom that he would take care of AJ Styles tonight.
There was a recap of Gunther beating McAfee. They cut back to the announcers, and the fans gave McAfee a loud ovation. McAfee tried to play it humble, but Cole told him to stand up and take it in. McAfee thanked the fans before showing that he was still bruised and had popped a blood vessel in his eye. McAfee had respect for Gunther and felt Gunther now had respect for them.
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Announced for Saturday Night’s Main Event: CM Punk & Sami Zayn vs. Seth Rollins & Bron Breakker.
Zayn met with Punk backstage. Punk admitted to Zayn he was having a hard time trusting anybody. Zayn had difficulty trusting Punk at WarGames, but it worked out pretty well. They both liked to do things their own way and had similar ambitions, but they would get nowhere with Rollins and Bron standing in their way. Zayn said they could take them out together. They bumped fists.
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The opening match was followed by a long string of videos, backstage segments, and commercial breaks, so the show’s second match began with less than ten minutes remaining in the first hour, and they went to break again about two minutes into it.
The New Day joined commentary to watch the next match. Cole said the winner of this match could earn a future tag title shot.
The War Raiders vs. The Creed Brothers
Ivar made a comeback as they returned from break, but Julius hit him with a superplex, and Brutus followed with a moonsault for two. The War Raiders fought back, and Erik rammed Ivar into Julius in the corner, but Brutus broke up the cover. Brutus gave Ivar an impressive Angle Slam, but the crowd didn’t really react. Ivar tried a double handspring elbow, but the Creeds caught him out of the air and slammed him.
Erik broke up the cover and tried to psych up Ivar, but became distracted by Xavier Woods. Kingston attacked Ivar as he went to the top, allowing the Creeds to hit Brutus Ball for the pinfall win.
New Day ran off quite proud of themselves.
Match result: The Creed Brothers defeated The War Raiders (10:27)
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Rollins assured Bron that Punk and Zayn had no idea what he was capable of. Rollins left for the evening, but whispered one final message to Bron. Bron smirked, and Rollins told him to have fun.
Adam Pearce quickly met with Jey Uso backstage. (Bálor could be seen talking to Perez in the background.)
Cathy Kelley interviewed A-Town Down Under during a break. She asked about the elephant in the room, but Grayson Waller said they weren’t there to talk about her mom. Waller tried to get Austin Theory a rematch against Sheamus, but Theory said he already got Waller a match against Sheamus.
They let us know that the clip of Logan Paul attacking Jey Uso got over 16 million social media views in 12 hours.
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Jey Uso segment
Jey entered to a big reaction. The crowd chanted “One more time,” the music was played again, and they all Yeeted again.
Jey said there was a big target on his big back, so he wanted to get something off his big chest. Logan Paul was talking out of the side of his mouth by claiming he wasn’t championship material. Paul was ducking him and sneaking him, but at SNME, it was the two of them face-to-face. Jey called himself the “arena shaker” and said he would still be our world champion after SNME.
Gunther interrupted. The crowd chanted, “You tapped out.” Gunther said the unimaginable came true: Jey Uso was World Heavyweight Champion. Gunther noted this was their first time together since that moment. Jey clarified that the moment was when Gunther tapped out. The crowd chanted it again.
Gunther said he knew what it meant to be champion. Just because he understood doesn’t mean his opinion of Jey has changed. This position was not natural to Jey because he was not a natural champion.
Gunther had news to share (that Jey already knew): the winner of the SNME title match would face Gunther next. Gunther announced that the match would be Raw on June 9th in Phoenix, Arizona. (Interesting, because they often don’t give the exact date. Could be a way to push ticket sales for that particular show.)
Gunther really hoped that his opponent would be Jey so he could put him in his place.
Jey fired up and said he was already in the place he should be. He ran this place and would walk out of their match just like he did at WrestleMania—as World Heavyweight Champion. Yeet.
(Jey is very good at being Jey Uso, and I mean that as a compliment. It felt like he struggled at times leading up to his big moment, but he was great here.)
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Cole and McAfee paid tribute to Sabu as pictures were shown. Cole called him a legendary ECW superstar. A two-time champion who had a legendary rivalry with his friend, Taz. McAfee said they were forever grateful for Sabu’s influence. Cole sent condolences to Sabu’s family and friends. The crowd chanted, “Thank you, Sabu.”
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During a break, Erik and Ivar screamed at Pearce backstage until Kingston and Woods entered to mock them. Predictably, Pearce announced that New Day would defend their titles in a triple threat.
Jackie Redmond tried interviewing Ludwig Kaiser, but there was a nearby commotion. Jey Uso was laid out with Bron Breakker standing over him. Bron left as officials checked on Jey. Zayn and Punk joined to check on him.
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AJ Styles vs. Finn Bálor (w/JD McDonagh & Carlito)
Cole referred to Styles and Bálor as former leaders of the Bullet Club. He repeatedly noted that Dom was not there with Judgment Day.
As with the other matches tonight, they went to break quickly, less than two minutes into it.
Styles was on offence until he became distracted by McDonagh on the apron. Cole referred to this as the “first” distraction of the match. I guess he knows what’s coming. They dropped each other with a double clothesline spot, leading to a second commercial break, nine minutes into the match.
Styles hit a superplex as they returned from break. They traded strikes until Styles caught Bálor’s Pelé Kick attempt and applied a calf crusher, but Bálor got a rope break. Bálor hit a slingblade and dropkick, but Styles avoided a Coup de Grace. Styles tried the calf crusher, but before Bálor could break it, AJ hit a Styles Clash for two.
Cole was right because Carlito hopped on the apron for our second ref distraction. Styles knocked down McDonagh, but the distraction allowed Bálor to hit an elevated reverse DDT.
Penta appeared on the barricade to take out the outside Judgment Day members. He leaped off McDonagh to hit Carlito with a Canadian Destroyer.
Styles hit Bálor with a Phenomenal forearm for the pinfall win.
(This was good enough, but nothing you needed to see. The crowd was quiet for most of the match, but got into it as it picked up towards the end.)
Match result: AJ Styles defeated Finn Bálor (17:00)
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Becky Lynch made her way through the back. (Karrion Kross gave t-shirts to New Day in the background.)
Becky Lynch promo
Lynch said she was not beaten at Backlash. Valkyria was beaten at Backlash. The fans didn’t believe her, but one of them was taken to the hospital (Lyra), while the other went to their big bus, had a shower and a glass of tequila while basking in her brilliance (Becky).
After everything Valkyria did to her—attacking her character for weeks—Lynch brought out the best in her and gave her the best match of her career. Valkyria has never mattered more than she has now.
She realized how much she was manipulated not only by Valkyria but also by the fans. She walked away for almost a year because the fans basically asked her to. She saw their reaction after the last time she won the world title, and if she wasn’t there to win the title, then there was no point.
Lynch had always been for the people because she had them to thank for her career. They saw themselves in her, and they were in this together. And then something happened—she won. They couldn’t see themselves in her anymore because they were failures and hated what they could not understand.
One of Lynch’s friends asked if she missed it while she was gone. She missed being in the ring, but she liked herself more now because she didn’t have to listen to the fans tell her what she was about. She heard the same lies from the one person she had hope for in this business.
It all changed from here on out. “From now on, whatever you say I am, I am. So I’m selfish? Yes, I am. I’m greedy? Yes, I am. I’m cutthroat? Yes, I am.”
All the girls in the back who were happy she was gone because they thought they were safe were finally going to find out what it feels like to be held down by The Man.
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There was a Rusev video package. He would rather his brothers fall by his hand than fall into the abyss.
Akira Tozawa asked Pearce for a match against Rusev. Maxxine Dupri and Natalya had his back, but Pearce said he wasn’t cleared. Sheamus showed up and gave him respect for not backing down.
After Alpha Academy left, Sheamus spoke to Pearce. Sheamus proposed a match against Grayson Waller. Pearce acted like this was the first he had heard of this and granted the match. Sheamus was happy. I guess some wires got crossed because they already announced this match earlier.
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Next week on Raw:
- Money in the Bank qualifiers
- AJ Styles & Penta vs. Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh
- Sheamus vs. Grayson Waller
- Jey Uso vs. Bron Breakker (non-title)
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Women’s World Champion IYO SKY & Rhea Ripley vs. Roxanne Perez & Giulia
(Perez and Ripley wore similar gear to the point where they looked like partners.)
The heels were in control through a break over Sky, but Ripley made a hot tag when they returned from break. She gave Perez a Razor’s Edge and a running kick for two. Perez brought Ripley off the top with a hurricanrana for two. Giulia gave Ripley a vertical suplex before Perez hit a middle rope moonsault for two.
Sky made the next hot tag and hit Giulia with a missile dropkick. They all traded moves until Sky hit a moonsault, but Perez broke up the cover. Ripley elevated Sky into a dropkick to take out Giulia. Sky wiped out Perez with a springboard dropkick.
Giulia tripped Ripley off the apron before hitting Sky with an impressive avalanche butterfly suplex and brainbuster, but Ripley broke up the cover. Some more stuff happened until Ripley pushed Sky out of the way of a Perez flying crossbody, and Perez wiped out Giulia by accident.
Ripley hit Giulia with a Rip-tide (as Sky held down Perez) for the pinfall win.
— As Sky and Ripley posed together, Ripley took a long look at the women’s title belt. They gave each other a knowing look as the show ended.
(This was pretty good, but somewhat messy at times. It felt like there were long periods with all four women in the ring at the same time. The crowd was oddly quiet for it despite being really into Ripley at the beginning.)
Match result: Rhea Ripley & IYO SKY defeated Giulia & Roxanne Perez (14:00)