WWE Raw Honors Hogan Ahead of SummerSlam With Tag Team Victories

Detroit's Little Caesar's Arena was nearly full on the night of July 28, with 14,160 fans in the seats and only 586 tickets left unsold. WWE Raw had come to the Motor City as the final stop before SummerSlam, and the company marked the occasion by honoring Hulk Hogan. During a ten-bell salute, Nick Hogan stood center stage while the crowd rose to meet his father's memory with applause. It was the kind of moment that wrestling uses to reset the emotional temperature of a show—reverent, brief, and pointed toward what comes next.

The evening's first real collision came when Paul Heyman took the microphone to deliver a lengthy meditation on family betrayal. His thesis was simple: families lie, they cannot be trusted. The exception, he suggested, was his own tribe. Jey Uso answered by walking to the ring and reminding Heyman of everyone he had proven wrong on his path to the world title. Uso blamed Heyman's associates for costing him that championship, though the record showed he had actually lost the match cleanly. The two men circled each other verbally, each trying to establish dominance before their larger confrontation at SummerSlam. It was the kind of promo exchange that wrestling relies on—personal, pointed, and designed to make you want to see what happens when they meet again.

The night's wrestling told its own story. AJ Styles and the Kabuki Warriors defeated Judgment Day in a match that featured one particularly clean moment: Styles launching Kairi Sane to the outside, where she landed a perfect flying elbow on Raquel Rodriguez. Styles finished the match with his signature Phenomenal Forearm, pinning Dominik Mysterio cleanly. Elsewhere, Sheamus beat Grayson Waller despite outside interference, only to have Rusev immediately turn the tables and rain on his victory with a Shillelagh. The two are now headed toward a rubber match with that weapon hanging above the ring.

The eight-woman all-star tag team match became the night's highest-rated bout. Nikki Bella absorbed punishment early, including a vicious elbow drop from Piper Niven. When Stephanie Vaquer and Iyo Sky performed their signature taunt together, the crowd erupted. Niven mocked the gesture and paid for it with a Riptide. Vaquer cleaned up the match by hitting an SVB on Chelsea Green, securing the victory for her team and keeping the babyfaces' momentum alive heading into the pay-per-view.

The Judgment Day retained their World Tag Team Titles against the LWO in a match that drew the night's highest grade. Cruz Del Toro lit the ring on fire with a coast-to-coast move on JD McDonagh while McDonagh hung upside down, prompting the crowd to chant "This is awesome!" But the finish belonged to a masked figure in a sweatsuit—someone the streets identified as Pete Dunne—who crotched Del Toro and cost the LWO the titles. It was the kind of interference that plants seeds for future rematches.

CM Punk and Gunther traded words about their world heavyweight championship match. Gunther had bragged about beating Punk cleanly, but Punk interrupted to say he wasn't speechless, merely dumbfounded. He didn't want the world title, he needed it. He worked the Detroit crowd into a frenzy talking about earning the right to call himself the best in the world, then told Gunther he would feel what that actually meant. For a moment, Gunther had no answer.

The main event between Jey Uso and Bronson Reed never really happened. Bron Breakker stormed the ring and attacked Uso, with Reed joining in the assault. Roman Reigns made the save, clearing the ring and standing tall with Uso. But Breakker and Reed regrouped, cutting off both men simultaneously. Breakker hit Uso with a spear. Reed followed with a Tsunami. Breakker added a clothesline that sent Uso through a table. As the show ended, the heels stood tall, and the question of what comes next at SummerSlam remained unanswered.