WWE Raw results, highlights (June 9): Gunther dethrones Jey Uso, John Cena vs. CM Punk official

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"WWE Raw" in Phoenix felt more like a reset than the "Raw" after WrestleMania did because the bookings were all over the place — and chief among them was a change in the World Heavyweight Champion.
That's right. Jey Uso dropped the title to Gunther in their rematch to close Monday night's show. So, let's start from the end and work back to the start of this wild, loaded "WWE Raw."
🤯 Shock of the Night
It really felt like Uso was going to hold the World Heavyweight title for a significant period of time, and the last person we should have expected him to lose the belt to was Gunther after the lack of build to their rematch. The "Ring General" has barely even been seen since WrestleMania 41. Yet here he is, standing tall as a two-time champion.
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There will be a trilogy to this and a longer story that probably culminates at SummerSlam, because this whole feud has become about these two choking each other. That was the core — and heft of the finish — of this match. Even before it started, Michael Cole couldn't stop highlighting on commentary how Gunther specifically tapped in the WrestleMania match. Then, ultimately, Uso went unconscious in the title rematch to lose his big gold belt.
I was waiting for Seth Rollins to appear mid-submission from one of these guys, as another theme of the match was Uso's ribs being injured from this past Saturday. But it never came, and that's fine. This was one of those ultra-rare moments with an overall clean match on "WWE Raw" — for a world title no less, that even changed hands. I'm not sure if it was better than the pair's collision at WrestleMania, but this was all-around good stuff. Gunther is a better champion, and hopefully, gets some good feuds brewing right away, despite my expectation of things continuing with Uso.
"WWE Raw" was absolutely jam-packed with storyline development and new beginnings. The fallout from WWE Money In the Bank this past Saturday has left significant ripple effects with plenty of intrigue around them all. And to rewind to start the show, WWE got to the big one right away.
👀 Tease of the Night
"WWE Raw" wasted no time getting to the truth of the matter. (Pun fully intended.)
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John Cena had plenty to say about his tag team loss with Logan Paul at WWE Money In the Bank, thanks to R-Truth's surprise return. The claims from Cena were more about the fans demanding that Truth get re-signed rather than the company's internal feelings, which was a somewhat amusing way to spin it, but an expected approach.
"Big Match John" wanted competition. Not a class clown. So, he got CM Punk.
Punk as one of Cena's final feuds was mandatory, and I'm totally here for it. However, this was the most random possible way to throw them together. WWE seems to have completely lost any sort of direction (if there ever was one) with Cena's final run because Truth was nowhere to be seen despite this lengthy opening segment.
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Let's highlight Punk specifically, though. He literally just lost his Money In the Bank qualifier match last week. And that was because of his forever rival Seth Rollins costing him. So, Punk essentially ignored that not only at Money In the Bank, but on "WWE Raw" by calling back to his history with Cena (which was nice), then challenging the champion to one final showdown — on the spot. Cena accepted, but for Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia — a specific location Punk has had colorful words for in the past, making it another nice touch. Ultimately, he accepted, albeit not through the mic.
Anything between these two is good, and this was, but the timing couldn't have been more off. As the cherry on top, Rollins made his entrance to end the segment. That was it. He held out the briefcase, and the show went on. The booking of Cena's title reign has been baffling.
Before "WWE Raw" ended, we did get the eventual Ron Killings appearance.
🎤 Truth of the Night
R-Truth might be back, but Ron Killings is here to stay.
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Killings made it abundantly clear that he was going by his real name now, as he addressed the crowd on the commentary table in his same all black outfit from WWE Money In the Bank. It was a very, very shoot style promo. Killings thanked the crowd and alluded to everything that transpired from the moment of his release tweet to now.
To round out his mic time, Killings almost started to feel like a heel, calling out those who treated R-Truth as a joke before he cut his hair off and demanded respect for his name.
This was a home run way to turn a negative into a positive, because I don't think the wrestling world has ever been as interested in Killings as they are right now. I know that's true for me. Hell, at this point, Killings dethroning Cena would actually be an awesome storyline of events, especially if this WWE version of Killings smashes it from here on out, which he very well could.
🏆 Bracketology of the Night
WWE went from Money In the Bank season right into King and Queen of the Ring season.
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In the first women's fatal 4-way quarterfinal, Roxanne Perez defeated Liv Morgan, Rhea Ripley and Kairi Sane to advance to the semifinals. Before the match started, there was more dissension boiling between Perez and Morgan, as Perez wanted to work together while Morgan told her to stay out of her way. They wound up teaming for the majority of the match and ultimately needed Raquel Rodriguez's help to stop Ripley from getting the win.
Triple H will always find a way to get the interferences in.
At least we didn't have to worry about disqualifications due to the match type. Perez rolled up Sane after she took out Morgan with the In-Sane Elbow, adding to the story. This was all-around solid — and typical Judgment Day shenanigans.
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On the men's side, we essentially got a repeat of the WrestleMania 41 Intercontinental title match with Finn Balor replaced by Sami Zayn. It's nothing against Balor, because that match was great, but for this show, it was the...
👑 Uncrowned Gem of the Night 👑
The ending of the King of the Ring quarterfinal fatal 4-way match between Zayn, Bron Breakker, Dominick Mysterio and Penta was similar to the women's. Your powerhouse Breakker was swiftly in control until an interference, which was LA Knight hitting him with a BFT on the outside after a spear to Penta. Knight feuding with the "Sethriders" totally works for me after the tease on "WWE SmackDown," then what happened at WWE Money In the Bank.
Zayn got the win with a Helluva Kick on Mysterio afterward, inching him closer to his slow-burn world title story. The match was a proper slapper, and although I'd have tweaked some of the ways it finished, you can't go wrong with any combination of these four.
🤡 Joke of the Night
WWE has gotten better about carelessly spoiling surprise returns since the last Royal Rumble, as evidenced, obviously, by R-Truth, but, dude. The company just casually revealed that Asuka is going to come back as one of the members in the Queen of the Ring fatal 4-way qualifier matches. This is one of the most beloved female wrestlers of the past decade, man. They even put a mystery person in one of the men's matches. What a joke.
To try and make up for it, they gave her a video package later in the night, but it's still inexcusable. With Stephanie Vaquer in the match, there's also no way Asuka wins. Frustrating stuff.
👏🤨 Return(s) of the Night
We knew it was a matter of time, but this "WWE Raw" saw Bayley make her way back into the ring by attacking Becky Lynch, as the new Intercontinental Champion waited for Lyra Valkyria.
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Lynch's promo was fine. She's always great on the mic, but her character's need to have Valkyria properly raise her hand is still stupid. There isn't even any good logic behind why Valkyria would have come out when Lynch called for her. Ultimately, Valkyria didn't even get a word out before Bayley appeared for the attack. That was pretty much the segment, so a fairly lackluster and rushed return, honestly.
Oh, and speaking of spoilers, Nikki Bella was announced to be back in WWE at Money In the Bank. She gave the typical return, babyface promo before Morgan came out and started a feud. There was a whole lot of crammed, random booking on this "WWE Raw." They traded verbal jabs, and Morgan hit Bella with the Oblivion. Alright. It's a thing now.
👍 MONDAY NIGHT MONEY 👍
1. AJ Styles defeated a beat-up Chad Gable. It was an unsurprisingly good match, but pretty short. Hopefully, we start to see a change in Gable soon, which would presumably be after all the Grande Americano stuff is over.
2. Michael Cole and Wade Barrett are a much better duo than Cole and Pat McAfee.
👎 RAW DEAL 👎
1. Morgan's continued involvement in matches that lead to singles title opportunities just further smashes home how pointless the Women's Tag Team titles are. Just get rid of them, Triple H. You clearly don't care.
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2. The New Day are in Strugglesville, folks. Plain and simple, they need some help around them because it's the same thing over and over right now.
3. Karrion Kross staying involved with Zayn is nice, but let's start progressing Kross, yeah? Unless this is all building towards Kross costing Zayn or something, I don't know what the point is.
👑 This "WWE Raw" was an incredibly overwhelming watch, and the best word to describe it, if you couldn't tell, was "random." I give this show a Crown score of: 7.5/10. 👑