AJ Styles and JD McDonagh WWE RAW Match Falls Apart After Alleged Timing Error

The June 16, 2025 episode of WWE RAW featured a strong matchup between AJ Styles and JD McDonagh—but things went off the rails in the final stretch. What looked like a clean, hard-fought match quickly turned into an awkward and confusing finish that left the crowd, commentary, and even the wrestlers caught off guard.

On Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer analyzed the botched ending and suggested that a missed cue or poor timing—possibly involving Dominik Mysterio—caused the entire segment to fall apart.

“We had AJ versus JD McDonagh and this match was actually going very well—until the end,” Alvarez said.

During the climax of the match, JD set up for a superplex, only for AJ to fight him off. But instead of following through with the next move, Styles remained awkwardly seated on the ropes for several seconds while nothing happened.

“He’s standing there and he just kind of sits on the ropes and just waits. Like nothing happened for him to get stuck. Time just stands still.”

Meltzer speculated AJ may have been physically caught up in the ropes, but Alvarez pushed the idea that someone missed their cue—most likely Dominik Mysterio, who was expected to interfere.

“I think what happened is—Dom forgot his spot. Could be. Because when they finally got back on track, Dom jumps up on the apron, AJ knocks him off, and then they get right back into it.”

After the missed timing, AJ hit the Styles Clash and pinned McDonagh. The referee made the three-count, but commentary added to the confusion when Michael Cole called a kickout that never happened.

“The ref goes one, two, three, and Michael Cole goes: ‘Kickout!’ Then there’s a pause, and he goes: ‘Nope. Win for Styles.’”

Meltzer confirmed something clearly went wrong, saying simply: “Definitely, definitely an issue there.”

While WWE hasn’t addressed the situation, the likely scenario is that a delayed interference spot threw off the entire finish, causing a domino effect that impacted the ref, commentary, and the match ending.

Do you think WWE should clean up this storyline with a rematch, or just move on? Let us know how you’d fix it in the comments below.

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