RAW was in Quebec City tonight in front of a live crowd at the Videotron Centre—so, that means the heels played the ‘French angle’ to get the early crowd heat (see Paul Heyman). Quebec is a wrestling province that has produced some of the sports entertainment’s best, both active and former greats alike, such as Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, to go along with Pat Patterson and Rick Martel, to name a few.
With Clash in Paris three weeks away, WWE had yet to establish RAW’s biggest storyline for the show, at least for the men’s side of the roster (Naomi and Stephanie Vaquer is a FIRE first-ever matchup for the title). While go-home episodes have traditionally been thought of as the show that closes the PLE promotion with the ‘big go-home spot,’ WWE has, in recent years, used the show three weeks out, with the blow-up taking place the week before the go-home.
Tonight marked three weeks to the PLE, making this a prime show for a big spot that will be leaned on until the actual go-home show—which is basically a clip show by today’s standards.
CM Punk Has A Seth Problem, LA Knight A Punk Problem, Rollins Has An Everyone Problem
CM Punk kicked off with a fiery promo directed towards Seth Rollins. Punk admitted that his brief taste of the title and the unjust manner in which he lost it have only worked to intensify his desire to hold the title once more. LA Knight eventually made his way out to the ring to confront the man who interfered in his own match with Rollins.
Knight came at Punk respectfully by fully acknowledging the former champ’s gripes on how he lost the title and his logic in wanting his rematch for the title. Knight was not as accommodating when he challenged Punk on getting involved in his match and the consequences of his DQ loss to the champ. The faces had the crowd, and their dialogue was terrific considering you had two of the best to ever cut a promo in the ring together. Still, the face-on-face nature of this storyline is complicated when you consider the proverbial “enemy of my enemy” adage.
Eventually, Paul Heyman made his way out, collecting that ‘parlant francais’ heat (translation: French speaking) heat along the way, and challenged both Punk and Knight to a match against Breakker and Reed (or, as Punk called them, ‘The Bron Brons’—that was my joke). Heyman was masterful on the mic as he warned Knight about ‘getting into the favor business’ with CM Punk—a call back to their tremendously effective “favor storyline” that spanned the end of 2024 through the beginning of 2025.
MAIN EVENT: CM Punk & LA Knight vs. The Vision (Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed)
The Bron Brons™ were up before the bell sounded as Knight and Punk bickered through the heels’ entrances. The ‘Tribal Thief’ made his way out with two pairs of Roman’s sneaks around his neck, or the “Shoe-La-Fala” (it is clear the Tsunami will soon be called the Shoe-NAMI).
Before the match, Rollins was seen in the back with ‘The Vision’ and Heyman, delivering a pep talk to the boys before action. He claimed he would not be needed tonight and would be leaving the arena before their match. Rollins never left the building and eventually made his way to the ring after Punk was well in control following an elbow drop onto Breakker. Rollins started beating down Punk before moving on to Knight, and that is when ‘Main Event’ Jey Uso came out to make the save with a steel chair in hand.
The faces cleared the ring, and it seemed like RAW would end for the first time in a long time with Rollins and the gang not standing tall. That is when Adam Pearce came out, super frustrated and somehow even balder than earlier in the night (stress will do that) and announced that Rollins would defend his title in a 4-way against Punk, Knight, and Jey at Clash in Paris.
The faces in the ring, now confronted with the realization that the persons standing in the ring present as big a roadblock to securing the heavyweight title as does Seth Rollins on the outside of it. They bickered amongst one another, a common theme on the night, and that is when Rollins and The Vision took control of the ring by beating down Jey and La Knight.
Punk was also beaten down, but he suffered at the devastating ends of several curb-stomps from Rollins in a row to close out the show. This team’s dominance since post-Mania needs to be recognized for the decidedly devastating faction it set out to be and has become.
AJ Styles & Dragon Lee vs. Dominik Mysterio & El Grande Americano
Aside from Styles, all three participants in tonight’s tag match will challenge Vikingo for his Mega Championship at Triple-Mania this weekend. Styles was added to this match based on his feud with Dom, but the self-professed “King of the Luchas” made an ally out of El Grande Americano—much to the objections of the rest of The Judgment Day.
AJ Styles had the match well in hand before Dom, wearing his black Lucha mask, loaded the mask with the steel object that Grande Americano has made his trademark. Dom and Americano picked up the win with the steel plate that will likely play a part in this weekend’s AAA Fatal Four Way main event.
Other Tidbits/In-Ring Action
- Bayley was shown in a prerecorded interview displaying some concerning behavior. She seemed defeated and completely lost after suffering her latest defeat on her way to squashing another title opportunity. It was an interesting segment as Bayley reflected on her Role Model gimmick, hinting at something potentially darker.
- Becky Lynch successfully defended her IC title against Maxxine Dupri.
Sami Zayn Time To ‘Face’ His Title Reign??
FIGHT AFTER FIGHT AFTER FIGHT! pic.twitter.com/8kXujfqRHo
— WWE (@WWE) August 12, 2025
Now that Sami’s story with Karrion Kross has wrapped, he is on his quest to become the world champion—he couldn’t have picked a worse time. He faced Rusev in a match meant to secure two separate storylines.
The MFTs (w/Solo) caused the schmoz and beat down Sami while Sheamus kept an earlier promise to Zayn that he would not interfere with his match despite his heat with Rusev. Instead, Sheamus waited until the end of the match to continue his feud with Rusev.
Sami and Knight had a confrontation before the match, and Knight also opposed Jey Uso’s own title aspirations (always quick to remind us that he has yet to receive his ‘title rematch’). This narrative has been building as Seth and The Vision have made too many enemies to the point that winning the title effectively enlarged and bolded the bullseye.
Sami’s program with Solo and MFTs will have to find a conclusion before Zayn can even begin a genuine title run, but the U.S. champ seems hellbent on keeping Sami out of the picture altogether. The MFTs were booted from the building as Pearce was seen and heard yelling at GM Nic Aldis for allowing ‘blue-branded’ superstars to interfere with RAW business—likely setting up whatever WWE creative has planned for this year’s Survivor Series.
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