The unlikely pair of Orton and Nakamura gave Ownes and Zayn a taste of their own medicine. Photo by WWE.com
This is a weekly look at the action in the WWE:
Raw
Jason Jordan tried to convince his father, Kurt Angle, to give him a shot at Roman Reigns’ Intercontinental Championship. Reigns came to the ring to explain why he would not be giving him a shot, but Jordan persuaded him after surprising him with a suplex as Reigns was distracted with Samoa Joe, who stood outside the ring. Jordan put on a valiant effort, but it was not enough to defeat the champion. After the match, Joe tried to attack Reigns, but Jordan hit him with a suplex causing him to cower away. Reigns thanked Jordan for his help by hitting him with a Superman Punch.
Paige won her first match in over a year defeating Sasha Banks, thanks to a distraction from Absolution. They didn’t stop there, though, as they continued to attack Banks after the match. Backstage, Elias warned Kurt Angle about his bias towards his “bastard son,” Jason Jordan. Enzo Amore hyped up Tony Neese and Drew Gulak before they participated in the second Fatal Fairway against Cedric Alexander and Mustafa Ali. Just like last week, the Cruiserweight’s delivered an awesome match that Gulak stole out of the hands of Cedric Alexander.
Elias rocked the Los Angeles crowd with his now notorious concerts. Unfortunately for him, there was a bigger reaction from the crowd when his opponent for the night, Braun Strowman, came to the ring. Elias tried to pump fake Strowman and pretended to run away, but he ended up attacking him from behind. This, of course, was a mistake as Strowman ended up destroying Elias. Kane appeared over the jumbotron and issued a challenge to Strowman on next week’s edition of Raw. Asuka defeated Alicia Fox via her Asuka Lock. Much like they did last week, Absolution surrounded Asuka in the ring, but they ended up letting her walk away from the ring. They didn't do the same for Fox, though, as Rose and Deville attacked Paige’s former best friend. Finn Balor got back to his winning ways defeating Bo Dallas via the Coup De Grace. Matt Hardy explained how he has been “woken,” alluding to the debut of the Broken Matt Hardy character in the WWE. Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins challenged The Bar for the Tag Team Championships in the main event. Just when it looked like The Shield was going to get the upper hand, Sheamus got himself disqualified so that they could retain their championships. Kurt Angle came out and explained he was not going to allow the match to end that way, and he restarted the match as a No Disqualification match. Out of nowhere, Samoa Joe attacked Rollins and Ambrose prompting Reigns to come to the aide of his brothers. Sheamus used the distractions to hit Ambrose with a Brogue Kick allowing Cesaro to pin him for the win.
Highlight of the Night
He has AWOKEN! Matt Hardy had a career renascence in 2016. The “Broken” character he developed in his time in the independent circuit was, without a doubt, one of the biggest stories in wrestling last year. Since his return to the WWE, there was never any certainty we would be seeing this character. But an injury to Jeff and a feud with Bray Wyatt later, and here we are.
SmackDown Live
SmackDown Live opened with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn celebrating how they out smarted Shane McMahon and Randy Orton the week before. Randy Orton crashed their party by hitting Kevin Owens with an RKO out of nowhere. McMahon joined in crashing the party explaining that the pair will take on Randy Orton and a partner of his choosing at Clash of Champions. Plus, Zayn will be taking on Randy Orton in this week’s main event. The New Day took on Rusev and Aiden English in the first match of the night. Rusev Day this week was a happy one as Rusev and English went on to defeat the former Tag Team Champions. Backstage, Mojo Rawley explained that he attacked Zack Ryder last week because he is “dead weight” and reminded fans that he won The Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal without him. Because of their win over New Day, Rusev and Aiden English were added to the tag team match for the Tag Team Championships at Clash of Champions. It will now be a Fatal 4-Way featuring New Day, Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable, Rusev and Aiden English, and the champs themselves, The Usos. Daniel Bryan announced that Natalya will be challenging Charlotte at Clash of Champions in a Lumberjack Match. The Bludgeon Brothers continued to display their dominance defeating an enhancement talent tag team in quick fashion.
Bobby Roode took on The United States Champion, Baron Corbin. The match wouldn’t get too far, though, as their opponent at Clash of Champions, Dolph Ziggler left the commentary table and hit both men with Zig Zags. The Woman’s Champion, Charlotte, defeated Tamina via her Figure Eight submission. After the match, The Riott Squad came out and instigated a brawl between the entire women’s division. Kevin Owens was handcuffed to the ring, so he wouldn’t get involved in the main event between Sami Zayn and Randy Orton. Of course, Owens and Zayn found a way to free him, but it was not enough to prevent Orton from winning the match. Before he could celebrate his victory, Owens and Zayn began attacking him. Shinsuke Nakamura raced down to save Orton, alluding to a possible team up between the two at Clash of Champions. Backstage, Shane McMahon revealed to Daniel Bryan that he will be the guest referee in Owens and Zayn’s match at Clash of Champions, and, if they lose to Orton and Nakamura, they will be fired from the WWE.
Highlight of the Night
The 12 days of Rusev song was pure gold. Aiden English and Rusev have made the absolute best with their time together. The Rusev Day gimmick has, quickly, become a fan favorite, and English made it just that much better this week.
How do they compare?
It was a big week for both shows. Per usual, Los Angeles got a good episode of Raw. The three hours flew by, and the main event delivered. SmackDown is quickly putting together a card for Clash of Champions on December 17th. This week’s episode was a vacuum. Many matches for the event just felt like they were quickly put together. Raw gets the edge this week, but I have faith the blue team will put together two good episodes before Clash of Champions.
What looked like a minor blip after an emotional series win in Los Angeles has turned into something more concerning for the Houston Astros.
Swept at home by a Guardians team that came in riding a 10-game losing streak, the Astros were left looking exposed. Not exhausted, as injuries, underperformance, and questionable decision-making converged to hand Houston one of its most frustrating series losses of the year.
Depth finally runs dry
It would be easy to point to a “Dodger hangover” as the culprit, the emotional peak of an 18-1 win at Chavez Ravine followed by a mental lull. But that’s not the story here.
Houston’s energy was still evident, especially in the first two games of the series, where the offense scored five or more runs each time. Including those, the Astros had reached that mark in eight of their last 10 games heading into Wednesday’s finale.
But scoring isn’t everything, not when a lineup held together by duct tape and desperation is missing Christian Walker and Jake Meyers and getting critical at-bats from Cooper Hummel, Zack Short, and other journeymen.
The lack of depth finally showed. The Astros, for three days, looked more like a Triple-A squad with Jose Altuve and a couple big-league regulars sprinkled in.
Cracks in the pitching core
And the thing that had been keeping this team afloat, elite pitching, finally buckled.
Hunter Brown and Josh Hader, both dominant all season, finally cracked. Brown gave up six runs in six innings, raising his pristine 1.82 ERA to 2.21. Hader wasn’t spared either, coughing up a game-losing grand slam in extra innings that inflated his ERA from 1.80 to 2.38 in one night.
But the struggles weren’t isolated. Bennett Sousa, Kaleb Ort, and Steven Okert each gave up runs at critical moments. The bullpen’s collective fade could not have come at a worse time for a team already walking a tightrope.
Injury handling under fire
Houston’s injury management is also drawing heat, and rightfully so. Jake Meyers, who had been nursing a calf strain, started Wednesday’s finale. He didn’t even make it through one pitch before aggravating the injury and needing to be helped off the field.
No imaging before playing him. No cautionary rest despite the All-Star break looming. Just a rushed return in a banged-up lineup, and it backfired immediately.
Second-guessing has turned to outright criticism of the Astros’ medical staff, as fans and analysts alike wonder whether these mounting injuries are being made worse by how the club is handling them.
Pressure mounts on Dana Brown
All eyes now turn to Astros GM Dana Brown. The Astros are limping into the break with no clear reinforcements on the immediate horizon. Only Chas McCormick is currently rehabbing in Sugar Land. Everyone else? Still sidelined.
Brown will need to act — and soon.
At a minimum, calling up top prospect Brice Matthews makes sense. He’s been mashing in Triple-A (.283/.400/.476, 10 HR, .876 OPS) and could play second base while Jose Altuve shifts to left field more regularly. With Mauricio Dubón stretched thin between shortstop and center, injecting Matthews’ upside into the infield is a logical step.
*Editor's note: The Astros must be listening, Matthews was called up Thursday afternoon!
The Astros are calling up Brice Matthews, their top prospect on @MLBPipeline
via @brianmctaggart pic.twitter.com/K91cGKkcx6
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) July 10, 2025
There’s also trade chatter, most notably about Orioles outfielder Cedric Mullins, but excitement has been tepid. His numbers don’t jump off the page, but compared to who the Astros are fielding now, Mullins would be a clear upgrade and a much-needed big-league presence.
A final test before the break
Before the All-Star reset, Houston gets one last chance to stabilize the ship, and it comes in the form of a rivalry series against the Texas Rangers. The Astros will send their top trio — Lance McCullers Jr., Framber Valdez, and Hunter Brown — to the mound for a three-game set that will test their resolve, their health, and perhaps their postseason aspirations.
The Silver Boot is up for grabs. So is momentum. And maybe, clarity on just how far this version of the Astros can go.
There's so much more to discuss! Don't miss the video below as we examine the topics above and much, much more!
The MLB season is finally upon us! Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday.
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*ChatGPT assisted.
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