WWE's handling of Gauntlet match on RAW buried by Vince Russo: "That makes zero sense" (Exclusive)

WWE SummerSlam is less than three weeks away now, and the company is putting the gears in motion for its first-ever two-night edition of the event. The men's world title match over on SmackDown was confirmed a while ago due to Cody Rhodes' King of the Ring victory at WWE Night of Champions. However, RAW still needed a challenger for Gunther heading into this week's program.

A Gauntlet match was announced for this week's episode of RAW, with the winner challenging Gunther for the WWE World Heavyweight Title at The Biggest Party of the Summer. The contest saw Penta, Jey Uso, Bron Breakker, LA Knight, and CM Punk compete to book their shot at the World Heavyweight Championship.

On Sportskeeda WrestleBinge's Legion of RAW, Russo took issue with Bronson Reed's interference in the high-stakes match. He said that the contest was announced as a no-disqualification bout just when Reed interfered to help Bron Breakker win against Jey Uso.

"Okay, so we get down to Punk and Bron Breaker and Bronson Reed gets involved, and the announcers then tell us there's no DQ in this match. Why is there no DQ in a Gauntlet match? If a guy gets disqualified, you're out. Why would there be no DQ in a Gauntlet match other than for Bronson Reed to interfere? This is what I'm talking about, Chris [Featherstone]. They don't care about anything. They don't care about nothing. That makes zero sense," Russo said. [From 37:16 onwards]

The match ended with Punk getting the win over Breakker after hitting him with a GTS. Following the contest, The Second City Saint was attacked by Bronson Reed, and Jey Uso attempted to make the save. However, the duo of Breakker and Reed was too much for the former champions.

WWE RAW ended with the return of Roman Reigns, who saved his cousin and sent Paul Heyman and his men packing.

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About the author

Faiz is a WWE writer at Sportskeeda Wrestling. He is a BBA graduate who is passionate about sports and wants to make a career in that field. This passion led to a postgraduate degree in Journalism, which helped him pivot into becoming a sports writer. When writing, he puts the utmost importance on accuracy and thorough research.

Faiz has six years of work experience across four companies. He started his career with Zomato and then moved to Amazon. He shifted to becoming a football writer at TV9 Digital and is now with Sportskeeda. He covered the Wrestling Xtreme Mania event in Gurgaon in 2025, where he had the opportunity to interview Raj The Maharaja, fka Jinder Mahal. At the same event, he also got quick interviews with former WWE Superstar Dijak and Japanese Joshi legend Emi Sakura.

When it comes to his favourite wrestlers, Faiz has two names in mind. He loved to watch Triple H before the current WWE CCO retired, and he is a huge fan of Roman Reigns. Being a loyal fan since the Tribal Chief's SHIELD days, Faiz credits Roman's mic skills and unmatched in-ring storytelling for his mega success. When he was young, one in-ring story left a lasting impression on his mind and eventually got him hooked on WWE. That match was Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24. Apart from that, he is also a fan of RAW.

When Faiz is not writing for Sportskeeda, he loves to keep up with other sports. He is an avid cricket and football fan, a huge gamer, and loves playing some RPGs on the PlayStation.

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Edited by Pratik Singh