The John Report: WWE Raw Deal 06/08/26 Review – LIVE!

It’s WWE Monday Night Raw, featuring more King & Queen of the Ring tournament matches, Penta facing Rey Mysterio, Sol Ruca battling Lyra Valkyria, and more

The WWE European tour continues with this episode of Raw taking place in Paris, France, with a 2 p.m. ET start time on Netflix. I don’t mind the afternoon start time, and I think it’s a smart move by WWE because they likely knew that Game 3 of the NBA Finals was taking place tonight, so they scheduled the European tour at the perfect time. Good job by them. The NBA Finals audience is pretty huge, especially with the New York Knicks leading the San Antonio Spurs 2-0 going into Game 3. By doing Raw early, people can watch it live or at any time on Monday or any other day. As I said, I certainly don’t mind it because I’m also an NBA fan, so it makes my life easier.

I really liked last week’s Raw with Seth Rollins beating Bron Breakker in a great main event, plus Oba Femi and Iyo Sky moving on in the King & Queen of the Ring tournaments after winning some exciting matches.

This is the Raw Deal for episode #1724 of Monday Night Raw, taking place at the Accor Arena in Paris, France. Follow me on Twitter/X @johnreport. Let’s get to it.

The show began with a shot of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It was a massive crowd at the show. There was some pre-show walking shown of Penta, Rey Mysterio with Dragon Lee, Sol Ruca (there’s Austin Theory talking to Maxxine Dupri in the background), Alexa Bliss, and Je’Von Evans

A video package aired, showing the start of the King and Queen of the Ring tournament, featuring wins by Oba Femi, Dominik Mysterio, Iyo Sky, and Raquel Rodriguez.

Let’s Hear from Oba Femi

Oba Femi made his entrance to a huge ovation in front of the vocal French fans. There were “Oba” chants as Femi did his strut on the way to the ring. They showed a split-screen with fans doing the Oba Strut, which is a smart move to encourage fans to do that more. The fans kept on chanting “Oba” and shouting “Ooh” for him. When Femi tried to silence the fans, they just kept going.

Femi said he doesn’t agree on many things with Paul Heyman, but we agree that Heyman believes in spoilers, not predictions. Femi claimed he had a spoiler. Femi said he’ll run through every single man in the King of the Ring tournament, and he’ll meet the last one at Night of Champions, and his journey will end there. Femi said he’ll destroy him as well. Femi said that he’ll take his rightful place upon his throne as the King of the Ring and that is not a prediction, that is a spoiler. More “Oba” chants from the crowd.

Femi said that your Ruler needs a crown to be a Ruler. Femi said that there is one trophy he has yet to collect, and that is the head of Brock Lesnar. Femi said that Lesnar attacks from behind and cheats when Femi isn’t looking. Femi said that Heyman talks about Lesnar being a big bad beast, but in the last three weeks, he’s been in a big, bad bitch. Femi said that when he sees Lesnar, he’ll settle the score.

Analysis: While I think King Oba or King Femi sounds great, I think Brock Lesnar is going to show up and cost Oba either in the semifinals or finals. That will set up the third Femi-Lesnar match at SummerSlam.

Dominik Mysterio made his entrance as the AAA Mega Champion and was booed heavily. Dominik said that Femi doesn’t rule anybody. Dominik said you should worry about Dirty Dom, not Lesnar. Dominik asked rookie Femi how long has he been here? The fans chanted “Oba” again. Dominik said that Femi has been here for a cup of coffee, while Dom is a 20-year veteran (that’s funny), he’s the King of the Luchadores, and when he’s King of the Ring, he’ll rule over Femi. Dominik told Femi to bend the knee and respect the Stache.

JD McDonagh was in the ring with a steel chair that he used to hit Femi in the back, but Femi didn’t even flinch. Femi punched the chair into JD’s face. Dominik hit a 619 kick to Femi. Dominik jumped off the top, Femi caught him, and Femi tossed Dominik across the ring. JD got Dom out of there. Femi said that Rey Mysterio is your father, but next week, Femi will introduce you to your Daddy, referring to himself. More “Oba” chants from the crowd.

Analysis: Good segment. It’s smart to start the show with Oba Femi since the fans absolutely love the crowd, and Femi is getting huge reactions from the fans. It was an unsuccessful cheap attack by Dominik, which isn’t much of a surprise because Femi is usually booked to be dominant, and I don’t mind that.

The Raw commentary team of Michael Cole and Corey Graves welcomed us to the show. The French commentary team was at ringside.

A replay was shown of last week when Seth Rollins beat Bron Breakker in a match that saw Breakker hit a Spear on Paul Heyman by accident.

Seth Rollins was interviewed by Jacie Redmond backstage. The fans sang Seth’s song. Rollins said that the last time he was in Paris, he was the World Heavyweight Champion and he was leading The Vision. Rollins said the present is about the King of the Ring tournament, which he will win and take back the title he never lost. Rollins said that means he has a date down the line with Roman Reigns. Rollins said Reigns can’t win on his own and can’t beat Rollins when it matters most. Rollins told Reigns that the title belongs to Seth Freakin’ Rollins.

Analysis: A Roman Reigns-Seth Rollins match at SummerSlam sounds like a great idea, but Rollins has to win King of the Ring to set it up. It might happen.

The Queen of the Ring tournament was up first, with Alexa Bliss making her entrance for the 4-way match. They went on a break, so they showed a clip from R-Truth on The Undertaker’s podcast.

There were more entrances as my fellow Canadian, Chelsea Green, was up next. The legendary Becky Lynch was next, looking sad about losing the Women’s IC Title. Liv Morgan was up last as the Women’s World Title. Liv has yet to defend that title since winning it at WrestleMania. That’s not her fault. The creative team should be doing a better job. Happy birthday, Liv Morgan, who is 32 years old today.

Queen of the Ring Quarterfinals: Chelsea Green vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch vs. Liv Morgan

The first fall wins. No disqualifications and no countouts in a 4-way match. They left the ring early with Bliss hitting a senton off the apron onto a few women on the floor. Green hit a cross body onto the ladies on the floor. Lynch was back up to shove Green into the ring post. They went on a break for some fans as the action continued. Lynch hit a leg drop off the middle turnbuckle for two. Lynch complained to referee Jessika Carr about her count. Lynch hit a Bexploder on Bliss and complained about the count. The fans in France chant/sing after every two count. Bliss flipped Lynch over the top to the floor. Liv hit a Backstabber on Bliss. Green hit a forearm on Liv, but Liv came back with a kick to the ribs. Liv hit two suplexes on Green. The four women teased a multi-woman suplex spot as Green and Bliss suplexed Lynch and Morgan.