Sol Ruca is officially a part of the WWE Raw roster after nearly four years on NXT.
On Raw Recap, Ruca discussed nervousness before her debut on the brand. She also spoke about going up against Liv Morgan, who is supported by fans despite being a heel, in her first Raw match. She initially assumed her Raw debut would be a brief on-screen moment or a backstage segment instead of a full-fledged match.
“Absolutely incredible. I mean, this is not what I was expecting at all. I came here to do some world matches, some media stuff, and then a few days in, they were like, actually, you’re gonna be on Raw and I was like, ‘oh, okay, cool. Good thing, I brought extra clothes in here and stuff.’ And honestly, I thought it was gonna be like a crowd shot, or backstage or what have you. And getting here, they’re like, promo match interviews, all that. And I’m like, ‘Alright, this is it, this is my time to make my moment and prove myself, and especially being in the ring with Liv Morgan, who just came off of a huge win at WrestleMania, and her mic work, her ring work, is incredible. And to be able to be put in that position, it honestly gave me confidence.”
Ruca added that she was genuinely surprised by the crowd’s reaction, noting that fans knew who she was despite many main roster audiences not being familiarized with NXT talents.
“A lot of the time, people at Raw, people who watch at home, don’t watch NXT as well. So coming out there, coming from NXT, is a big gamble on I don’t know if these people are gonna know who I am. I don’t know if they’re gonna care for what I have to say. Again, going into Liv Morgan, like, yes, she is a heel, but people do love her as well. So I’m like, I could be booed I don’t know. So, yeah, going out there, you just kind of have to be confident and go for it. And it definitely threw me off a little bit as soon as I said my first line, they popped, and I was like, ‘okay, they know who I am’. But it’s a learning curve, going from NXT to here to listen to the crowd and be able to have a little bit slow of a pace and feed off the crowd and just have your moments.”
When asked about dream opponents, Ruca instantly mentioned IYO SKY. She proceeded to mention Randy Orton, if it ever came down to it given their signature moves style.
“So, my dream match is IYO SKY. But for this scenario, if it can be anyone, it’d probably be Randy Orton. The RKO, the Sol Snatcher, we’re gonna see whose is better. Maybe throw Je’Von in there too. We can all just go crazy.”
Last year in July, Ruca made her SmackDown debut in a fatal 4-way match against Alexa Bliss, Roxanne Perez and Kairi Sane. In October, Ruca and Zaria competed against then-Women’s Tag Team Champions, Bliss and Charlotte Flair for the titles.
The Raw after WrestleMania added three new members to their roster – Ruca, Ethan Page, and Joe Hendry. While Page and Ruca made their in-ring debuts, Hendry will appear on the show next week.
A future title match between reigning WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and former World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk may be on the horizon.
On Monday’s Raw after WrestleMania, Punk came out for a promo segment where he acknowledged those who had passed that were on his jacket Sunday before his match with Roman Reigns and those he had lost which included his dog, Larry, and past MMA trailer Duke Roufus.
He also talked about how he kept going when there were times he could have gone home, eaten donuts, and hung out with his hot wife like after he first lost the title after five minutes, but he put everything he had into coming back and winning it again.
He said the fans helped him get through all that and that he expected the fans to help him get through the loss of the World Heavyweight title to Roman Reigns Sunday, and that he’s not close to being done.
Rhodes then came out, sporting a black eye and the WWE title belt. He said this Punk wasn’t what he was expecting. He said he was glad Las Vegas gave him his flowers and wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do out there when he was the one looking like a beat up loser.
Punk questioned if he was supposed to feel like a loser. Rhodes said no, but Punk later said in a way that he was. He said what Rhodes is feeling is the weight of remaining the champion while he is free to do whatever. It wasn’t his night and the path for Rhodes it so keep being champion.
Punk then said his path is to stay read “because you never know when a championship opportunity is just gonna fall out of the sky.”
As Punk left, Rhodes said, “Hey, Punk? Just say when.”
The two have yet to square off during the latest run for both of them. They have two singles matches in the past: both in the last four months of 2008 and both on Raw. Punk won the first one and then Rhodes won the second via countout after just four minutes. They never crossed paths during their time in AEW.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including lots of notes from WrestleMania weekend, the Rock’s claims about why he wasn’t at the show, the RAW after WrestleMania recap, and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about! We’re back from Vegas to cover the RAW after WrestleMania, the best edition of this show in years, plus all the news on Hisashi Shinma and Black Terry passing away, AAA, WWE PLE schedule, ratings and more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: Thoughts on the Raw after WrestleMania, Hisashi Shinma & Black Terry pass away
15:36: WWE PPV schedule
20:03: The latest on WWE & AAA, Joe Hendry
26:26: Superstar Billy Graham Dark Side of the Ring, ratings
It looks like a familiar rival will be John Cena’s first Undisputed WWE Championship challenger.
Monday night’s Raw after WrestleMania opened with Cena cutting the first promo of his record-breaking 17th World title reign. After calling himself the last real champion and promising to retire with the belt, Cena was interrupted by Orton blindsiding him with an RKO. Orton posed with the title before laying it back onto Cena.
WWE has not confirmed the title match yet, but Backlash — the company’s next PLE — is taking place in Orton’s hometown of St. Louis. It’s being held at the Enterprise Center on Saturday, May 10. Both Cena and Orton are advertised for the show.
Cena said during his promo tonight that he only has 27 dates left on his retirement tour before he wrestles for the final time in December 2025. The heel Cena stressed that those are 27 appearances and he will not be having matches on every date.
With help from rapper Travis Scott, Cena dethroned Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 41 night two. Orton also competed on Sunday, defeating TNA star Joe Hendry in an open challenge. A match between Orton and Kevin Owens was originally scheduled for Mania before Owens had to withdraw from the show due to injury.
Forever linked as two defining stars of WWE’s Ruthless Aggression era, Cena and Orton are longtime rivals but have not had a one-on-one match against each other since 2017.
Date: April 21, 2025 Location: T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV
The Big Takeaway —
Bron Breakker joined Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman, Randy Orton laid out John Cena, Becky Lynch turned heel on Lyra Valkyria, Rusev returned, Stephanie Vaquer wrestled IYO SKY, and Gunther tried to kill the announcers.
There was plenty to chew on, but the show was also almost three hours long, about 20 minutes longer than usual, and featured just three matches that totalled 34 minutes.
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Show Recap —
There was a 4-minute video package recapping the “wonderful” WrestleMania weekend. It included a questionable headline from ESPN stating that the event added to “Las Vegas’ rise as a premier sports city.”
Paul Heyman and Seth Rollins arrived at T-Mobile Arena together. As did Lyra Valkyria and Becky Lynch, who will defend their newly won tag titles against Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez tonight. Judgment Day arrived together, minus Finn Bálor, with new Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio leading the way. Jey Uso was shown, too, and he received a big pop.
John Cena segment
Serious-face John Cena entered, and a huge fireworks display went off as he posed with his Undisputed WWE Championship. Cena called ring announcer Mark Shunock into the ring. (Alicia Taylor has the night off.) Cena handed Shunock a piece of paper. Shunock was told that his introduction was deemed disrespectful, so he read a new introduction off the paper.
Cena said winners write history, and the fans were not worthy. They bullied him on Friday, but now that he had gold and they cheered, he was not suddenly going to forgive them. That’s not how a functional relationship works. Cena told the fans to go to hell. They all owed him an apology, but they lacked the courage to give it.
He called tonight’s show the sacred ticket because this is the night they get to hijack the show, but they’ve gone soft. The crowd chanted, “We aren’t sorry.” Cena called them the sorriest lowlifes he’s ever seen. (Cena said they were chanting, “We aren’t sorry,” but it sure sounded like, “We are sorry.”)
The crowd called him an assh*le while he told them that they don’t mean anything to him. He wasn’t impressed with their chant because they’ve called him so much worse over 25 years, and he never cracked.
They didn’t mean anything to him. The only thing that mattered was the number on the screen. “36 dates.” 36 dates and he was gone. (That number began in the new year.) That number was now down to 27 dates after this weekend’s shows. That wasn’t the number of matches he had left, only appearances.
They thought he couldn’t wrestle, but he didn’t even have to. When that number reached zero, the professional wrestling timeline stopped cold. He knew that the show would continue. But the title held by Bruno Sammartino, Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Steve Austin came home with him.
He was the last real champion in WWE. Winning the belt was the hardest part, but the rest would be easy. The best they had to save themselves was Cody Rhodes. A few people booed, and Cena called them heartless bastards. They put him on their shoulders a year ago, but they went back and forth between booing him and cheering him all weekend. That’s what was wrong with them.
That’s also why Rhodes was outshone, outwrestled, and destroyed. The truth was that no one in WWE with the strength, speed, wisdom, or ruthless aggression of John Cena. Unlike them, Cena had a heart, so he wanted to do something nice. He invited the fans to pull out their cameras for a five-second pose so they could take a picture of the last real champion.
Randy Orton appeared from behind and laid out Cena with an RKO.
(Cena received a mixed reaction here. It was probably more booing than cheering. Not that it really matters.)
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Shown in the crowd were Gabriel Iglesias, Rana Daggubati, and guys from Pat McAfee’s show.
Also in the crowd were Tatum Paxley and Gigi Dolin. They face the winners of this match on tomorrow’s NXT.
Lynch and Valkyria entered together to Lynch’s music.
Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez defeated Becky Lynch & Women’s Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria to win the Women’s Tag Team Championships (11:57)
The heels beat up Valkyria throughout an early commercial break, and Lynch made the hot tag as soon as they returned. Morgan caught her with a Codebreaker, but Lynch blocked Oblivion and hit the Man-handle Slam. This won the match last night, but Rodriguez broke up the cover this time.
Lynch and Valkyria tried a double superplex on Rodriguez, but Morgan brought Lynch down with a powerbomb before Rodriguez gave Valkyria a powerbomb off the middle rope for a nearfall. Everyone was down, so the crowd chanted, “This is awesome.”
Valkyria hit a tornado DDT and a Nightwing, but Morgan put Rodriguez’s foot on the bottom rope. Lynch and Morgan brawled on the outside before Valkyria dropped Morgan with a baseball slide. Rodriguez smashed Valkyria with a big boot for a near fall.
Rodriguez powerbombed Morgan onto Valkyria, but Valkyria dumped Rodriguez from the ring. Valkyria blocked Morgan’s Oblivion and set up for Nightwing. Rodriguez grabbed Valkyria to block her from doing it, and Lynch tried making the save, but Rodriguez shoved her aside.
Valkyria knocked Rodriguez off the apron anyway, but Morgan caught her with Oblivion for the pinfall win.
(The story towards the end of the match was that Valkyria was really fighting both women off on her own, and Lynch was thwarted each time she tried to help.)
Morgan and Rodriguez are 4-time champs, and they will defend the belts on NXT tomorrow against Dolin and Paxley.
— Lynch turned on Valkyria after the match. She hugged her before dropping her with a clothesline. Lynch was livid at Valkyria and attacked her a second time. Valkyria was so shocked she didn’t even defend herself.
Lynch returned to the ring to drop her with consecutive Man-handle slams. The crowd chanted, “One more time,” and Lynch did it again. That was probably a dumb idea because, of course, people cheered.
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New Day walked through the back and stopped for a moment upon seeing Karrion Kross.
During a break, Chad Gable entered with American Made for a quick promo. He said Rey Mysterio faked an injury and put over El Grande Americano.
They showed the “fact” of the night: WrestleMania 41 was the most socially viewed WrestleMania of all-time, generating 1.1 billion social views across all social platforms.
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The New Day segment / Rusev returns
New Day entered. Xavier Woods told us to get on our knees and thank God for the New Day. Kofi Kingston said there was no team, alive or dead, who were better than them.
Alpha Academy interrupted. Maxxine Dupri reminded us that Alpha Academy beat New Day in 60 seconds the last time they wrestled. She told New Day to put the titles on the line tonight. Woods said no. Dupri asked if the minute men were scared. That was enough to convince New Day, because Kingston accepted.
A referee ran out, and the teams got ready, but the lights went out.
Rusev entered to a new theme song. New Day bailed as Rusev hit the ring. Rusev laid out Otis and Tozawa. Otis tried firing up, but Rusev dropped him with a thrust kick and put him in an Accolade.
(Rusev got a good reaction and some “Rusev Day” chants.)
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Judgment Day celebrated in the back with their titles. Finn Bálor entered and got in Dominik’s face. Morgan immediately tried to settle him down. Bálor smiled and said, What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Bálor said he would be with Dom tonight. After some Carlito comedy, Bálor took a good look at Dom’s IC title belt.
During a break, they aired the closing moments of Iyo Sky’s successful title defence.
Survivor Series 2025 was announced for Petco Park in San Diego.
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IYO SKY segment
Sky entered to a good reaction. She called last night the best night of her career. She was over the moon because she beat the best there is—and that meant she was the best there is. (The crowd chanted, “You deserve it.”) Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair tried to forget her, but now nobody would forget her. She was the genius of the sky, and she was the Women’s World Champion.
Stephanie Vaquer entered. Vaquer congratulated Sky. Vaquer introduced herself as the NXT Women’s Champion, and the crowd chanted, “La Primera.” Vaquer called Sky amazing and wanted to show her respect. Vaquer wanted to fight the best of the best. Sky said if she wanted to fight, then she accepts.
Sky suggested they do the match right now. People cheered, but they loudly booed when Adam Pearce entered. He asked if the fans wanted the match. They cheered louder this time, so he made it official for right now.
Women’s World Champion IYO SKY defeated NXT Women’s Champion Stephanie Vaquer via disqualification in a non-title match (13:59)
I believe this was a first-time-ever match.
Sky got the better of an early exchange after hitting a suicide dive, but Vaquer followed with a dive off the barricade before they went to break. Vaquer had control through the break, but Sky came back after the break and hit a missile dropkick.
Vaquer avoided a moonsault and hit a deep dragon screw and a running meteroa for two. Sky avoided Vaquer’s finisher and hit a double foot stomp for two. The crowd popped as Vaquer hit Devil’s Kiss (leg scissors head stomps) for two. The crowd chanted, “One more time,” which seemed to amuse Vaquer.
They traded counters until Vaquer applied a cradle for two, and Sky followed with a backbreaker for two. Sky hit a German suplex, but before she could follow up, Vaquer hit her with a German. They went to the top, and Sky hit a Spanish fly.
Sky set up for a running dropkick, but Roxanne Perez decked her for the DQ. (She was a little late getting in, so Sky had to run in place and wait for her.)
— The crowd booed and booed some more when Giulia entered to attack Vaquer. The heels did their thing until Rhea Ripley ran out to make the save.
Ripley (who has a black eye) got rid of Perez before having a face-off with Giulia. They circled each other until Giulia left the ring. Giulia left with Perez.
Ripley handed Sky her world title belt and backed out of the ring.
(This match was quite good until the finish. It built as it went, but of course, it was cut off by the DQ. The crowd liked both women, and they were into it. It was sorta refreshing to see two good wrestlers just having a good match for the hell of it on Raw.)
Match result: IYO SKY defeated Stephanie Vaquer via disqualification
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McAfee announced a crowd of 19,262 during a break.
Jey Uso celebration
This opened with a terrific Jey Uso video package set to “Chant” by Macklemore and Tones and I.
Jey entered to a big reaction with his newly won World Heavyweight Championship. He also wore gold accessories to go along with his gold title belt. The crowd wasted no time in chanting, “You deserve it.” They also chanted, “One more time,” so Jey had the music played again, and they all Yeeted.
Jey opened with: “The World Heavyweight Champion is now in your city.” He continued, “I’m here. I’m here now. I’ve been wanting it since I was a kid. I’m here now.” It was a long, hard road. The road wasn’t easy. He gave it all he had to beat Gunther at Mania, “and I made him tap.” The crowd chanted, “He tapped out.”
Jey was grateful, so he would show up every day and put the work in like he always had. He told them to say, “Yeet,” if they were happy to see him as champion, so they did.
Sami Zayn entered. Zayn hugged Jey. The fans chanted, “Sami Uso.”
Zayn said it was hard being away for the past 8 weeks or so while Jey was going through everything with Gunther. Missing WrestleMania this year was hard. Neither of them did well being on the sidelines, and to be honest, Zayn almost didn’t come to Vegas at all.
But Zayn had to come because he had to make sure he was the first one to stand in the ring and tell Jey how proud he was of him. Jey was his brother, and he deserved it. Every single person knew that Jey deserved it. (Everyone cheered.)
Zayn didn’t want to get all sentimental on the Raw after Mania because it was time to celebrate, so he told them to hit Jey’s music. They posed on the corners and Yeeted along with the fans.
Zayn got off the ropes early and stood behind Jey. The fans assumed Zayn was about to turn on Jey because we’ve seen so many turns lately, but Zayn just hugged him instead.
Jimmy Uso entered next, and they all did their special handshake. Jimmy and Sami raised Jey’s hand, and they played Jey’s music again. They Yeeted for a while longer and left the ring together.
(This was a nice segment for Jey, even if it did go a little long.)
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Metro Boomin, Chelsea Gray & Kiah Stokes, and Chase Briscoe were in the crowd.
AJ Styles and Karrion Kross backstage segment
Jackie Redmond interviewed AJ Styles. He called his loss to Logan Paul a tough pill to swallow, but he was moving on and planned on bouncing back.
Karrion Kross and Scarlett were interrupted. (Kross got a pretty good reaction.) Kross wasn’t happy about this. Kross called Styles the best of them, so his loss just legitimized Paul.
Styles said he didn’t want to go back to being the guy he was a year ago because he hated that guy. Beating Paul with the brass knuckles would’ve been a meaningless victory. He didn’t want Kross to bring him down with him, and told Kross to deal with it himself.
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During a break, A-Town Down tried cutting a promo, but they were cut off by the War Raiders. Erik and Ivar were pissed at New Day for stealing the titles, but reminded them that Raw was War.
Gunther segment
Gunther marched out next as the break came to an end. The fans chanted, “You tapped out.” Gunther got in Michael Cole’s face and knocked off his headset. McAfee tried to interject, but Gunther shoved him down.
Gunther put Cole in a sleeper, but unfortunately, McAfee made the save. McAfee hit Gunther with a forearm, and the crowd cheered. Officials ran down to get between them as McAfee backed off. McAfee made the mistake of turning his back, so Gunther put him in a sleeper.
Officials desperately tried to stop Gunther, who held this sleeper for a long time. The fans chanted, “F*ck you, Gunther,” and he eventually let go. Some referees followed Gunther to the back.
I assumed McAfee would be out for a while because of this, but he actually got to his feet. He sold it really hard as he was checked by officials. (Some of McAfee’s friends jumped the railing and I think they were actually blocked by security until they were allowed to join Pat.)
The camera stayed on McAfee through a commercial, and they followed him up the ramp. He kept stumbling over, but eventually made his way to the back. After the break, officials followed as he made his way to the trainer’s room.
Cole, who feared he suffered a broken nose, told Pearce that he needed to do something about this. Cole said the announcers shouldn’t be afraid to give their opinions or have fun.
Pearce said he would take care of it, but first told Cole to take the rest of the night off. Cole said no. He wouldn’t allow a bully to stop him from calling the Raw after Mania.
Cole returned to ringside as the crowd loudly cheered Cole and sang his name.
(Joe Tessitore was at the desk to fill in for McAfee.)
This was well done, and it helps that they haven’t gotten the announcers, particularly Cole, involved in something like this in a while (in WWE).
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Cole called the next match while periodically coughing to sell the sleeper.
Dominik Mysterio (w/Finn Bálor & Carlito) defeated Penta to retain the Intercontinental Championship (8:01)
Dom had control through a break, but Penta came back after the break and hit a Canadian destroyer. Bálor tried to encourage Dom, but Penta wiped out Bálor with a hurricanrana off the apron.
As Carlito distracted the referee, the returning JD McDonagh shoved Penta off the top rope. Dom hit Penta with a 619 and a frog splash for the pinfall win.
— Morgan and Rodriguez joined the rest of Judgment Day in celebration on the ramp. Bálor seemed surprised to see McDonagh but reluctantly celebrated along with them.
Penta has one win in his last six matches.
Match result: Dominik Mysterio defeated Penta
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CM Punk was shown backstage earlier in the show.
Seth Rollins & Paul Heyman segment
Rollins and Heyman entered to Rollins’ usual music, so of course, the fans sang along.
Rollins stood still in the ring for a while as the fans settled down. They didn’t seem to know what to do with themselves while Rollins just stood there, so there was a smattering of chants for Punk and Roman Reigns, followed by, “F*ck you, Heyman” chants.
Rollins said he took a wise man from Reigns and stole Punk’s best friend. He was the winner of the WrestleMania main event.
Punk stormed out (to his music). Punk attacked Rollins and got the better of their brawl. Punk grabbed Heyman, but Rollins grabbed Punk from behind and poked his eyes before hitting a curb stomp.
Heyman said they would conclude WrestleMania 41 weekend by propelling the news all the way to WrestleMania 42. “There is a new reigning, defending, undisputed, number one top star in this entire industry. Ladies and gentleman: Seth freakin’ Rollins.”
Rollins posed, and it seemed like the show was over because they already showed the trademark graphic, but Roman Reigns entered (to his music). (Rollins dumped Punk from the ring.)
Reigns hit the ring and speared Rollins before punching Heyman.
Reigns was about to spear Heyman, but Bron Breakker suddenly speared Reigns. Rollins acted surprised, but it was a swerve. Punk got back in the ring, and Breakker speared Punk. Rollins laughed and embraced Bron.
Breakker set up for a spear outside the ring, but Reigns punched him. Bron instead ran around the ring and speared Reigns through the barricade.
Bron held down Reigns and forced him to watch as Rollins stomped Punk again before stomping Reigns.
Rollins, Breakker, and Heyman stood tall as the show ended.
(They really needed to elevate someone to the top scene, so it was good to see Bron join this act. Hopefully, it doesn’t take two years for him to usurp Rollins.)
Last night’s Raw after WrestleMania featuring the long Rock-Cody Rhodes promo battle ended up as the most viewed episode of the show in more than four years, and the highest 18-49 number in even longer.
Even with competition from the UConn vs. Purdue NCAA men’s basketball championship game against much of hour two and all of hour three, Raw averaged 2.36 million viewers and drew an incredible 0.83 rating in 18-49.
The 18-49 number was Raw’s largest since September 30, 2019, at a time when television was completely different.
The peak, based on data from Wrestlenomics, was the second and third quarters with the Rock-Rhodes promo that did 2.95 million viewers and 1.04 in 18-49 in quarter two, and peaked in quarter three at 3.19 million viewers and 1.11 in 18-49.
The basketball game aired on TBS, TNT, and TruTV, and the combined audience was 14.82 million viewers and a 3.88 in 18-49.
This will likely be the largest Raw audience of the year. It was up 32 percent in viewers from last week and up 40 percent in 18-49, meaning the audience ballooned more with younger viewers.
The show was way above normal across the board, but the third hour was less incredible against the game as far as being way above normal. Still, the 1.87 million for the Drew McIntyre vs. Jey Uso vs. Ricochet vs. Bronson Reed main event would be the largest of the year by a good level.
It was up five percent in viewers and up 10 percent in 18-49 from the Raw after WrestleMania show last year, again showing more strength with the younger audience.
The Raw after WrestleMania 40 included a surprise appearance by NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov.
Dragunov was in action on Monday night, defeating Shinsuke Nakamura. It was revealed that Dragunov will be joining the WWE main roster. He’s declared for the WWE Draft that’s taking place at the end of this month.
This was Dragunov’s Raw debut and his first time ever wrestling on the main roster. When Nakamura went for a Kinshasa near the end of the match, Dragunov countered with a kick to the face. He then hit a powerbomb, an H-Bomb, and Torpedo Moscow to get the victory.
At NXT Stand & Deliver this past Saturday, Dragunov retained his NXT Championship against Tony D’Angelo. Dragunov has held the title since September 2023.
Dragunov, who is originally from Russia, is a former NXT United Kingdom Champion. He’s been one of Gunther’s top rivals with the two having highly praised matches against each other both in WWE and outside of it.
The 2024 WWE Draft will begin on the April 26 episode of SmackDown and end on the April 29 episode of Raw.
With WrestleMania 40 over, it’s time for a new story to begin.
WrestleMania week in Philadelphia concludes with Raw taking place from the Wells Fargo Center tonight. The first hour of the show will be airing commercial-free.
It’s the start of a new era with Cody Rhodes as Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. With help from John Cena, The Undertaker, Seth Rollins, and Jey Uso, Rhodes ended Roman Reigns’ 1,316-day title run. We’ll get Rhodes’ first appearance as champion tonight.
Raw also has a new World Heavyweight Champion, Intercontinental Champion, and Tag Team Champions. After Drew McIntyre had won the title from Seth Rollins, Damian Priest cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase and left WrestleMania as World Heavyweight Champion. McIntyre’s obsession with mocking CM Punk cost him his WrestleMania moment.
New Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn dethroned the dominant Gunther at WrestleMania, while The Miz & R-Truth won the Raw Tag Team titles in a ladder match.
One star who was able to retain their title was Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley, who defeated Becky Lynch.
Join us for live coverage of what’s sure to be an eventful Raw after WrestleMania starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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– After the new WWE signature open, we went straight to the sold-out Wells Fargo Center and the entrance of WWE’s Chief Content OfficerPaul “Triple H” Levesque, who entered to a loud reaction from the crowd.
Paul Levesque and Cody Rhodes open the show
Levesque started by saying that he wanted to thank the crowd for making something special happen, namely the “Greatest WrestleMania of All Time” this past weekend. He said that he simply wanted to say “thank you”. Levesque continued by saying that on Saturday he had the privilege of welcoming everyone to that new era before introducing the new Undisputed WWE Heavyweight Champion, Cody Rhodes.
Rhodes entered to a huge reaction from the Philadelphia fans, with his new Undisputed WWE Championship in hand. Levesque shook Rhodes’ hand before he raised his arm.
The fans chanted “you deserve it” at Rhodes.
Levesque said that before he left, he wanted to congratulate Rhodes for his accomplishments this past weekend, specifically defeating Roman Reigns to become the new champion. Levesque said that he he had something special for Rhodes from two guys back at the studio, before cueing up a touching video tribute to the new Undisputed WWE Champion. A split-screen reaction showed Rhodes crying tears of joy.
After the video concluded, Levesque and Rhodes embraced in the ring as the fans chanted “you deserve it” once again. Levesque left the ring to let Cody have his moment.
“So, Raw after WrestleMania… Philadelphia, what do you want to talk about?” Rhodes asked. Rhodes turned his attention to ring announcer Samantha Irvin, appreciating her efforts and kindly asking her to once again announce the new Undisputed WWE Champion.
Rhodes continued by saying that two years ago, he laid out his goals and that last night, those dreams became reality. He said that the air in Philadelphia was feeling a bit thin because he and everyone were now on top of the mountain. Rhodes discussed the former champion, the Head of the Table, Roman Reigns. He said that we didn’t have to like Reigns, but he had to acknowledge what he had done in 1,316 as Undisputed WWE Champion.
The fans chanted “Thank You Roman” in appreciation.
Rhodes said that Reigns was the “most important Superstar of this generation”, and that he was the man destined to defeat him. He told everyone to direct their attention to the screen for one of the reasons why he did this for a living, showing a video of his daughter Liberty.
Rhodes talked about that this was a unique predicament because the line was now for him. “Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Cody Rhodes. Once undesirable, become undeniable, and now Undisputed WWE Universal Champion!”
The Rock’s music hit, which signaled the arrival of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who entered the scene with his “People’s Champion” title belt in hand.
With microphone in hand, Rock stared down Rhodes in the ring as the crowd chanted “Undertaker” at him. The crowd continued to booed Rock loudly before he could say a single word.
“Now The Rock says is a lot of things, but ‘sucks’ isn’t one of them,” Rock started off before the crowd started booing him and chanting “asshole” once more.
Rock said that he came out here to deliver flowers to Cody Rhodes and to announce that Philadelphia broke the record for “largest gathering of trailer park trash”. The crowd loudly booed Rock again and chanted “shut the f*ck” up at him.
Rock continued again by saying that he came out here with no fireworks or blood spilled, and that he wanted to acknowledged that Rhodes overcame the odds and defeated Roman Reigns one-two-three and completed a story. He talked about how Mama Rhodes should be proud of what her son did and that Dusty Rhodes up in heaven would be proud of him, too.
Rock talked about how his “People’s Champion” belt meant something before asking if there was any way he could hold Rhodes’ new championship. He said that he never had a chance to hold that championship in Rhodes’ shoulders.
Rhodes said that Rock could hold his title for a moment, as long as he could hold Rock’s People’s Championship title. The two men exchanged their championships Rock held the Undisputed WWE Championship around his shoulder.
“I just got to say, this just kinda feels right,” Rock said before handing Rhodes’ championship back to him.
Rock said that he had to go away for “a little while now”, which prompted the Philadelphia crowd to sing “na na na na, hey goodbye” to him. He said that when he returns, he was coming to get Rhodes. Rock concluded by pointing out how he beat Rhodes on Saturday at WrestleMania. He said that Rhodes’ story with Roman Reigns was “over”, but that Rhodes’ story with him was just beginning.
Rhodes mentioned the Rock’s role as his literal boss as a TKO Board of Directors member, responding by saying that he was the champion of not only WWE, the fans, but also “your” champion (in reference to the Rock).
Rock said he had one thing to give him before he left, handing something to Rhodes, stating to never “break the Final Boss’s heart” again, before he left. Rhodes didn’t reveal what that item was, and looked somber.
Strong opening segment to start off Raw with the new champion Cody Rhodes. Rock’s temporary exit but making things clear that he wanted to face Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship creates an instant story for when Rock returns from filming his movies. The segment took up nearly 45 minutes of Raw’s first hour, which was billed as commercial free.
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– We got Earlier Today arrivals for The Judgment Day, Awesome Truth, and Sami Zayn before we went to Michael Cole & Pat McAfee at the commentary desk.
Ilja Dragunov defeated Shinsuke Nakamura
During Dragunov’s entrance, Cole announced that the WWE Draft was returning at the end of the month on April 26th during SmackDown and April 29th during Raw.
Dragunov and Nakamura started off by trading blows before Nakamura had the early advantage. Dragunov responded with a second-rope splash, followed by a series of German suplexes. He got Nakamura with the Constantin Special clothesline before ascending to the top rope.
Dragunov tried for the top rope senton, but Nakamura dodged at the last second. Nakamura trapped Dragunov in the corner and hit him with a sliding German suplex. Early cover attempt, but Dragunov kicked out at two.
Nakamura hit Dragunov with a kick to the back of the head and went for the cover, but the NXT Champion kicked out. He caught Dragunov with a knee, but got hit with a kick to the head. Dragunov flattened Nakamura with the H-Bomb before he finished things off with the Torpedo Moscow headbutt for the win.
This was a nice surprise to see Dragunov on Raw meant to promote the unpredictability of the WWE Draft later this month. This was a great showcase and introduction to Dragunov and his unique in-ring ability and he could very well be a good fit for the main roster.
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– A recap of the World Heavyweight Championship matchup and Damien Priest cashing in Money in the Bank on Night Two of WrestleMania XL aired. They showed Drew McIntyre arriving at the arena as we got a graphic promoting a No. 1 Contenders’ Fatal Four-Way match between Ricochet, Jey Uso, McIntyre, and Bronson Reed happening later tonight.
– Judgment Day was shown walking backstage, as we’d hear from them after the events of this past weekend, coming up next on Raw.
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– After a shot of outside the Wells Fargo Center, we got a recap of WrestleMania XL, specifically the Tag Team Ladder Match and the Women’s World Heavyweight Championship Match
The Judgment Day speaks
Finn Balor, JD McDonagh and Dominik Mysterio were already in the ring.
Balor started off by addressing all the “haters” who thought that Rhea Ripley couldn’t defeat Becky Lynch and that Damien Priest couldn’t cash in Money in the Bank by saying that they were all wrong.
Dominik tried to introduce Rhea Ripley, even as the crowd booed him into oblivion. Ripley entered to a great reaction from the Philadelphia crowd, with a smile on her face.
Ripley said that WrestleMania was “almost perfect” and that they’d be dealt with soon, but two important things came out of it: Mami was still on top and that this was a new era for the Judgment Day.
Balor then introduced the new World Heavyweight Champion, Damian Priest. Once Priest entered the ring, he shared a group embrace with the rest of his fellow Judgment Day members.
The fans chanted “you deserve it” at Priest, to which he responded with a simple “you damn right you do.”
Priest said that the “Terror Twins” (he and Ripley) stand before us as world champions and that the whole world needed to follow suit by rising for the Judgment Day, R-Truth snuck up with his new Raw Tag Team Championships and tried to raise them with Priest and Ripley.
Truth said that he thought he was still part of Judgment Day, much to Priest’s protests. He introduced his co-Raw Tag Champion, The Miz, who walked down the ramp.
Miz said that he wanted to be in Judgment Day, as Truth continued to claim he was in the group. He then wanted to introduce Philadelphia to the new Raw Tag Team Champions, Awesome Truth.
Balor asked if he thought Miz was being funny and that it’d be funny if Awesome Truth had the shortest Raw Tag Team Championshp reign, challenging them to a Tag Title match for tonight.
Truth said that he couldn’t accept that challenge because there were three of us, to the confusion of Miz and Balor. Truth challenged Judgment Day to a six-man tag match and declared that he and Miz’s partner was someone we couldn’t see. Judgment Day attacked Miz and Truth and threw them out of the ring, as the commentators were baffled at what they were seeing.
– A promo for the 2024 WWE Draft was shown.
Six-Man Tag Match: Awesome Truth (R-Truth and The Miz) & John Cena defeated The Judgment Day Finn Balor, JD McDonagh, Dominik Mysterio)
Raw returned with the match in progress and Dominik and JD McDonagh working over Truth in the Judgment Day corner. McDonagh continued to punish Truth and held him in a headlock.
Dominik was tagged in and he continued to attack Truth. He missed a splash in the corner, which allowed Truth to tag in Miz, who teed off on Dominik in the corner with kicks and a clothesline. He held Dominik and McDonagh for a double DDT in the middle of the ring. Miz tried for the Skull Crushing Finale, but Dominik escaped.
Balor hit Miz while the referee was distracted by Dominik. Raw went to commercial with Judgment Day taking Miz out at ringside.
Raw returned with Miz doing his best to get to his corner to tag Truth in. Miz created separation by taking out McDonagh, but Dominik tripped up Truth to prevent the tag as he and Balor attacked Truth at ringside.
As McDonagh posed in the ring, John Cena’s music hit, revealed as Truth’s “guy that we couldn’t see. The crowd went wild for Cena’s arrival.
Miz tagged in Truth and he hit his patented shoulder tackles and Protoplex on McDonagh. Miz and Truth hit Protoplexes of their own on Balor and Dominik, as all three of them hit simultaneous Five Knuckle Shuffles, followed by triple Attitude Adjustments on the Judgment Day. The three men did a simultaneous pin for the win.
This was a great surprise fitting for the Raw after WrestleMania and a nice way to pay off R-Truth’s idolizing of John Cena. The fans enjoyed the surprise and that’s what matters.
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– The commentators recapped the Andre the Giant Battle Royal on last Friday’s Smackdown before we went backstage to a promo from winner Bronson Reed. He boasted that he was going to show the three other competitors in the No. 1 Contender’s Fatal Four-Way match what “raw dominance” would look like. During Reed’s promo, the screen briefly glitched and showed a strange image.
– A promo for Friday’s SmackDown advertised the blue brand-specific fallout from WrestleMania XL.
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– Backstage, Rhea Ripley & Dominik Mysterio were shown walking. Ripley said that Andrade was the problem that needed to be dealt with, not John Cena. Dominik went to see Adam Pearce, which allowed Liv Morgan to jump Ripley by throwing a chair at her. Morgan brutally attacked Ripley, which caused referees and Dominik to separate the two.
Roxanne Perez defeated Indi Hartwell (w/ Candice LeRae)
The new NXT Women’s Champion was revealed to be Hartwell’s opponent prior to the match. Michael Cole talked about the shared history that Perez and Hartwell had in NXT, which started with Hartwell winning the NXT Women’s Championship that Perez had to vacate last year.
Perez slapped Hartwell to start before pouncing on her with a headlock. Hartwell threw her down to break it up. Perez regained the advantage with a dropkick, followed by a series of furious blows, then a Russian leg sweep. She then tried to work over Hartwell’s legs, but got pushed aside.
Hartwell got momentum back by attacking with clotheslines on Hartwell. She tried for a big boot, but Candice LeRae pulled at Perez’s legs, which frustrated Hartwell. As the referee tried to chastise LeRae, Perez took advantage with an eye rake, followed by Pop Rox for the quick victory.
Another short match to establish another NXT standout ahead of the upcoming WWE Draft, also helping further establish Candice LeRae’s heelish behavior costing her friend Indi Hartwell a match. Prior to the match, we got a fantastic continuous camera shot transitioning from Liv Morgan’s attack on Rhea Ripley to the action in the ring, as the great new production format from WWE continues.
– We got a recap of Sami Zayn’s miraculous Intercontinental Championship win at WrestleMania XL before we saw Zayn walking backstage and being congratulated by Jey Uso on his big victory. The commentators mentioned that we’d hear from Zayn up next.
– Roxanne Perez was shown walking backstage, confronted by Natalya, who said she’d see her tomorrow night on NXT.
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Sami Zayn speaks
New Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn entered to a very loud reaction from the Philadelphia crowd. Once he got to the ring, Zayn soaked in the crowd singing his theme song.
The crowd chanted “Sami!” and “you deserve it” at Zayn, who responded by saying how much it meant to him. He talked about how he had done some historic things at WrestleMania in the past few years, and that this year, he wanted to top it, acknowledging that he may have done so.
Zayn gave credit to former Intercontinental Champion Gunther and his 666-day reign, calling him the “greatest Intercontinental Champion of our time”, before saying that he beat him. He said that he couldn’t take sole credit for the win, giving that credit to the WWE fans, his wife and child, and Kevin Owens. He said that there was one other guy that he needed to thank before being interrupted by Imperium’s Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser.
Kaiser said that it broke his heart that someone like Zayn was holding the Intercontinental Championship that Gunther spent two years holding. “Congratulations WWE Universe, your new Intercontinental Champion looks like a bum!” said Kaiser.
Kaiser said that on behalf of the General, he and Vinci were here to make this right, as they surrounded Zayn in the ring. Chad Gable showed up to even up the odds for Zayn.
– A teaser for Sheamus’ return was shown, with no specific date mentioned.
Chad Gable & Sami Zayn defeated Imperium (Giovanni Vinci & Ludwig Kaiser)
Gable and Vinci started this match off in the ring, with the Alpha Academy head having control of the match before Vinci took him down with a running crossbody. Vinci tagged in Kaiser, who continued the attack on Gable.
Gable found an opening and tagged in Zayn, who countered Kaiser’s attack and got him with a top rope standing elbow. With Zayn in the Imperium corner, Vinci tagged back in and tried his best to stop Zayn’s momentum, but to no avail. Gable tagged back in as he hit a flying splash on Vinci and Kaiser at ringside.
Back in the ring, Gable connected with a flying crossbody on VInci. While the Imperium duo were working over Zayn, the crowd chanted “we want beachballs”. Raw went to commercial with Vinci and Kaiser in complete control of the match at the moment.
Raw returned from break with Gable fighting off Kaiser and Vinci in the ring. He had Vinci isolated and hit a flying headbutt for the near-fall. He went back up to for a moonsault, but Vinci avoided it. Gable tried to go for the Chaos Theory suplex, but Kaiser tagged in and tried for his and Vinci’s double team move. It connected, but Zayn broke it up.
Gable avoided calamity as he and Zayn hit stereo repeated German suplexes on Kaiser and Vinci. Zayn tagged himself back into the match as he applied the ankle lock on Vinci. Kaiser took out Gable on the apron and broke Zayn’s ankle lock.
Things broke down in the ring with all four men brawling, but it boiled back down to Vinci and Zayn. Vinci got crushed by an exploder suplex as Zayn tagged in Gable. Helluva Kick by Zayn, followed by Gable’s Chaos Theory suplex got the one, two, three.
A fun little tag team match and great showing for the new Intercontinental Championship to continue his partnership with Chad Gable. They have a wonderful chemistry as a tag team and I wouldn’t mind them being a team moving forward.
– Another recap of WrestleMania XL was shown, focusing on the Philadelphia Street Fight and the Jey Uso versus Jimmy Uso match. We then got words backstage from Jey Uso, who had some words for the main event No. 1 Contenders’ Fatal Four Way.
– Elsewhere, Andrade was shown shaking hands with Raw General Manager Adam Pearce, NXT General Manager Ava, and SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis. They discussed the upcoming WWE Draft before Chelsea Green chimed in. She complained about not being on WrestleMania, as Pearce and Aldis revealed that Green would have a special matchup against a mystery opponent coming up next.
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– The commentators talked about WWE’s 17 consecutive televised event sellouts before they pointed out the combined five-event total attendance for WrestleMania weekend.
Jade Cargill defeated Chelsea Green
Jade Cargill was revealed to be Green’s mystery opponent and she entered to a great reception from the crowd.
Green mouthed off to the commentators as the bell rang, angry that she didn’t want the match. She turned to a Cargill big boot, before being lifted up for Jaded. One, two, three.
An incredibly short squash, but still a nice surprise to see Jade Cargill on the Raw After WrestleMania. Her presence is everything and her entrance is
– A WrestleMania 40 recap showed Stephanie McMahon’s return, Bayley versus IYO SKY, and the World Heavyweight Championship events.
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– Sami Zayn walked backstage and was met by the Alpha Academy. He said he wanted a moment with Chad Gable. Zayn said that he knew what Gable wanted when he asked for a favor, namely a shot at the Intercontinental Championship. Zayn said that Gable would get his shot next week on Raw in his hometown of Montreal.
Drew McIntyre was first to enter and he took the mic, upset about his five minutes of glory of being the World Heavyweight Championship. He gave respect to Seth Rollins for going out on his Shield last night, as he then turned his ire to Damian Priest and the Money in the Bank contract, calling Priest a “bondage Undertaker” and the briefcase something that’s screwed him over one too many times. McIntyre addressed CM Punk’s actions last night, calling him a “coward” for costing him the World Title. He said that it would be on sight for Punk the next time he saw him.
Jey Uso interrupted McIntyre’s tirade with his entrance as we went to a commercial break.
– Next week on Raw: Andrade versus Dominik Mysterio and Sami Zayn versus Chad Gable for the Intercontinental Championship.
No. 1 Contenders’ Fatal Four Way Match: Jey Uso defeated Drew McIntyre, Ricochet, and Bronson Reed
The match started with McIntyre and Jey fighting while Ricochet and Reed fought in their own battle. With Reed, Jey, and McIntyre outside, the ring, Ricochet took out the three men with a high-risk maneuver off the top rope. Raw went to a commercial break early on at this point.
Raw returned from break with everyone back in the ring and a table set up in the corner. As Jey sent McIntyre outside, Reed flattened him with a running elbow drop. Reed ran at Jey in the corner with a fierce hip charge. He eyed the table in the corner and tried to powerbomb Jey, who briefly fought ou tof it. Spear attempt by Jey was blocked by Reed as he then got sent crashing to the table corner. Raw went to yet another commercial break.
We came back from break with Reed and Ricochet fighting in the ring. They showed clips of action that took place during the commercial break in the picture-in-picture replay. Ricochet was caught by McIntyre and thrown across the ring. Reed responded with a Biel throw of Ricochet as he then stared down McIntyre. The two meaty men exchanged chops as McIntyre lifted Reed for the Michinoku Driver. Jey interrupted the pinfall.
Now all four men were inside the ring, with Ricochet and Jey hitting a superkick on McIntyre, before being joined by Reed for a triple superkick. Brief exchange between Ricochet and Jey ended with Reed clotheslining Ricochet and getting hit by a Jey spear. McIntyre stopped the count as all four men were laying in the ring.
McIntyre tried for a superplex on Jey, who fought him off and trapped McIntyre in a tree of woe position. McIntyre managed to throw Jey aside from a precarious position, as Reed hit a buckle bomb on him.
Reed tried to go to the top rope for the Tsunami, but McIntyre intercepted him. Reed leapt with a senton on McIntyre before clearing the Spanish announcer table. McIntyre hit Reed with the Glasgow Kiss and laid him on the commentary table. Uso took out McIntyre, but got hit with a kick on the button by Ricochet.
Ricochet looked over the prone Reed and hit a springboard 450 that didn’t quite hit the mark. In the ring, Jey and McIntyre were the last two men standing in the ring as they fought.
McIntyre had Jey sized up for the Claymore, but CM Punk appeared from under the ring to grab his leg, which opened him up for Jey’s superkick, followed by the Uso splash. Jey pinned McIntyre to earn a shot at Damian Priest’s World Heavyweight Championship.
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A good main event match to cap off an alright Raw after WrestleMania. The big story, of course, was CM Punk’s appearance at the end to screw over Drew McIntyre. Jey winning was the right call to cement him as Priest’s first challenger for the World Title. I found myself enjoying the match, though the strange commercial break placement for it did kind of take me out of things, but the last half of the four-way was entertaining stuff.
Next week’s Raw in Montreal will prove to be interesting, particularly with the Intercontinental Championship situation. The possibility of a Chad Gable heel turn whether he wins or loses is higher and it’ll be something to watch for in his match with Sami next week.
Overall, this year’s Raw after WrestleMania might have not lived up to certain lofty expectations some might have had for the show coming out of an excellent WrestleMania XL, but at the very least, it didn’t feel as meandering and disappointing as last year’s post-WrestleMania 39 Raw was. I was adequately entertained and didn’t feel bored watching the entirety of it.
The Raw after WrestleMania 39 was expected to do a monster number, but beat expectations with 2.26 million viewers and a 0.76 rating in 18-49.
It was the second biggest Raw audience of the year, trailing only the Raw 30th anniversary episode. But in the 18-49 demo, it was the best Raw rating in more than three years.
Raw beat everything on television except CBS’ coverage of the NCAA men’s basketball finals where Connecticut beat San Diego State, which went against the last two hours of Raw. The game did 14.69 million viewers with a 3.73 in 18-49, which is one of the toughest nights of competition of the year for Raw.
Raw did peak in the commercial-free first hour, off the WrestleMania curiosity, and then the game started. Even with spending the entire show advertising a match with Brock Lesnar & Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa, which ended up not being delivered, between the basketball game and the circumstances of an audience tuning in early after Mania, the drop from the first to third hour was the largest in weeks. But that was to be expected.
Raw dominated cable. It tripled second place Tucker Carlson in 18-49. It more than doubled second place Rock the Block in women 18-49. It more than tripled everything in men 18-49. The 0.58 in 18-34 was amazing when you consider second place was 0.12. The rating with men 12-34 was 0.62 compared to a 0.14 for second place.
The number two show for the night on cable, Tucker Carlson, did 3.25 million/0.25 in 18-49, less than one-third of Raw in the key demo.
Raw even beat The Voice and American Idol on network TV.
Raw was seventh on cable in total viewers behind six news shows.
It was up 23 percent in viewers from last week, up 37 percent in 18-49, and up 41 percent in 18-34.
As compared to last year’s show this week, also the day after WrestleMania, Raw was up eight percent in viewers, up 21 percent in 18-49, and up 23 percent in 18-34, and that’s with major decreases in homes that can get the USA Network. Factoring in direct homes comparisons, the real percentage gains from last year were 14 percent in viewers, up 29 percent in 18-49, and up 31 percent in 18-34.
The number would have been far higher without the basketball game, as men 18-49 dropped 23 percent from hour one, not against the game, to hour three, far more than usual. Other drops were 15 percent for women 18-49, 21 percent with women 12-34 , 14 percent with men 12-34, and 13 percent with people 50.
The Raw after WrestleMania 39 was a second straight rough night for Cody Rhodes.
Last night’s Raw ended with Rhodes being demolished in a brutal attack by Brock Lesnar. The attack included Rhodes being given an F5 through the announce table, an F5 onto steel steps, and attacked with a steel chair.
After Raw went off the air, Rhodes refused to be stretchered out, instead hobbling up the ramp.
Rhodes and Lesnar were supposed to be tag team partners against Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa last night. That was set up at the start of Raw, when Reigns refused to give Rhodes a rematch for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Rhodes then suggested a match against Reigns and Sikoa.
Reigns accepted the challenge, but there were a couple of conditions. Rhodes’ partner had to be someone who competed at WrestleMania. And whoever teamed with Rhodes would never be allowed to face Reigns for the Undisputed title. Lesnar, who isn’t able to face Reigns again after losing at SummerSlam, then made his way out and wanted to team with Rhodes.
Lesnar attacked Rhodes before the tag team match ever got started. When the attack happened, Reigns and Sikoa looked like they had no idea what was going on.
Brock Lesnar destroyed Cody Rhodes, beating him around the arena in an eight-minute angle to close the WWE Raw after WrestleMania episode.
At the top of the show, Rhodes issued a challenge to Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa for a tag team bout, which Reigns accepted with the caveat that Rhodes’ partner had to be someone who competed at WrestleMania, and could not challenge Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal title. Lesnar entered and declared himself Rhodes’ partner for the evening’s main event.
After the ring introductions for the Rhodes & Lesnar vs. Reigns & Sikoa bout, Lesnar hit Rhodes with an F-5, and the match never took place. Instead, Lesnar suplexed Rhodes, threw him into the timekeeper’s area, hit him with a chair, hit him with the steel ring steps, put him through the announcer’s table, then hit another F-5 onto the steel steps in the ring in an angle that stretched over eight minutes.
As Rhodes was being attended to and stretchered out of the arena, Lesnar returned to the stage to flip double middle fingers to Rhodes.
The angle capped a weekend that saw Rhodes lose in his Undisputed WWE Universal title match against Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania Sunday following interference from Paul Heyman and Sikoa.
Lesnar defeated Omos in the opening contest of WrestleMania Sunday.
The Raw after WrestleMania 39 saw music superstar Bad Bunny get put through a table by Damian Priest.
After getting involved at WrestleMania, Bad Bunny made another appearance on WWE programming as he was ringside for Rey Mysterio’s match against Austin Theory on Monday night. The match ended with Theory winning after interference by Dominik Mysterio.
Dominik attacked Rey after the match and then got in Bad Bunny’s face. He went to sucker punch Bad Bunny, but Bad Bunny blocked it and decked Dominik.
Priest responded by pulling Bad Bunny over the barricade. Priest told him that he shouldn’t have gotten involved. When Bad Bunny punched Dominik again, Priest attacked Bad Bunny, including chokeslamming him through the announce table.
Adam Pearce confronted Priest backstage after the attack. Priest said that, if Bad Bunny wasn’t his friend, he would have really given Pearce a reason to be angry.
Priest was Bad Bunny’s tag team partner when Bad Bunny made his in-ring debut at WrestleMania 37. They defeated The Miz & John Morrison.
Bad Bunny helped Rey defeat Dominik at WrestleMania 39 night one. He took a chain away from Dominik when Dominik tried to use it as a weapon.
The story appears to be leading to Bad Bunny competing in the ring at Backlash next month. Bad Bunny has been announced as the host of the event, which is taking place in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Saturday, May 6.
Date: April 3, 2023 Location: Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA
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Show Recap —
There was a long video recap of WrestleMania 39 (where they showed actual clips instead of still photos).
Kevin Patrick welcomed us to a “historic day” in WWE.
Triple H segment
Triple H kicked off the show. He got a big reaction.
Triple H spoke about how great the weekend was and said it lived up to the hype. It was 40 years in the making, starting with one man’s vision at Madison Square Garden all the way to SoFi stadium in Los Angeles.
Triple H thanked every superstar in the back and every performer who has ever stepped into the ring for laying their bodies on the line. He thanked the staff, crew and camera people. The set they built for WrestleMania took his breath away.
He especially wanted to thank the WWE Universe for giving them the opportunity to entertain day in and day out.
He mentioned that WWE was dominating the news and talk on social media. He mentioned that there was news but didn’t say what it was but did say, “we ain’t going anywhere.” He said they will continue to put on shows like WrestleMania and pack stadium after stadium. “We are the WWE – then, now, forever, together.” The fans cheered.
Triple H wanted them to “acknowledge” one more person. The fans immediately started booing as he introduced WWE Undisputed Champion Roman Reigns. Triple H shook the hands of Reigns, Paul Heyman and Solo Sikoa on the way out.
Roman Reigns/Cody Rhodes segment
Reigns held up his title belts as fireworks went off. The crowd loudly booed after the music stopped. There were definitely “Roman” chants but they were mostly drowned out. Reigns proudly took a lap around the ring as the crowd chanted “Roman sucks.”
Reigns told Hollywood to acknowledge him. There was a mixed reaction.
Cody Rhodes entered. The crowd chanted his name. Rhodes started with, “I know what I want to talk about.” Rhodes said today turned out differently than he thought it would and differently than a lot of people thought it would. Rhodes thought he would be standing there as the Universal Champion. Rhodes said that Reigns was the better competitor last week.
Rhodes essentially said that he wished Sikoa wasn’t a factor because he had Reigns beat last night. The crowd cheered. Rhodes had one word in mind. The crowd chanted “rematch” and Rhodes indeed said rematch.
Heyman took the mic. Heyman wondered when Rhodes would hypothetically want this theoretical rematch. Rhodes immediately said, “tonight” and the crowd cheered. Reigns looked displeased. Heyman said, “no rematch.” Heyman was clear, no rematch anywhere, ever — not in Puerto Rico, not at SummerSlam, not at the Royal Rumble — nowhere. Heyman said Reigns called the shots.
Rhodes said he didn’t come this far in his career to have things end the way they did last night. Rhodes saw that Reigns didn’t want to do the rematch tonight so he suggested a tag match against Reigns and Sikoa since he essentially fought them both last night. Rhodes just wanted to fight.
Heyman spoke with Reigns and said he accepted his tag challenge under a few conditions. If someone in the locker room was stupid enough to team with him it had to be someone who wrestled this weekend at WrestleMania. The other condition was that whoever agreed to it would never be allowed to wrestle Reigns for the title.
Rhodes appeared upset, thinking no one would accept.
Brock Lesnar entered. Reigns was not happy. The announcers explained that Lesnar was already barred from getting another title shot against Reigns. Lesnar aggressively shook hands with Rhodes and the crowd cheered and chanted “you f**ked up” at the heels.
So Rhodes and Lesnar vs. Reigns and Sikoa is tonight’s main event.
(The first hour is commercial free but they took 30 seconds here to air some pictures from the weekend.)
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Omos (w/MVP) defeated Elias (1:41)
Omos won with the tree slam. The crowd didn’t seem thrilled that this match was happening.
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Jimmy and Jey Uso knocked on Reigns’ locker room door and Heyman answered. He seemed happy to see them and called them the greatest tag team of all time. They wanted to see Reigns but Heyman said that he stepped out.
Heyman suggested they had to the jet early and enjoy some seafood and Reigns would join them after they wipe the floor with Rhodes and Lesnar. After the Usos left, Heyman went back in the room and could be heard saying, “I took care of it, Tribal Chief.”
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They aired Hall of Fame clips and showed headlines from various news outlets boasting about WrestleMania.
Cathy Kelley interviewed Bad Bunny ringside. Bad Bunny said hello to L.A. and told Kelley that he was happy to be hosting Backlash in Puerto Rico. He was enjoying Raw as a fan tonight and was happy to be there. “See you in Puerto Rico.”
Rey Mysterio entered and embraced Bad Bunny.
Rey Mysterio segment
Rey said it’s been an emotional week and mentioned being inducted into the Hall of Fame. The crowd loudly chanted “you deserve it” and he said he was there because of them. Rey wanted to thank the WWE Universe for welcoming him with open arms. Rey also thanked Bad Bunny.
Austin Theory interrupted. Theory said he and Rey deserved respect because they were the only ones who did what they said they would do. Rey beat the product of his own bad parenting while Theory beat the legend, John Cena. The crowd chanted “you tapped out.” Theory said the fans tapped out because they didn’t believe in him just like Dominik didn’t believe in Rey.
Theory mentioned Cena’s warning that the crowd would be all over him but he wasn’t fazed because he was on top of the world.
Theory said he would beat Rey too and add him to the collection. Rey said the only thing Theory would be collecting were his teeth after he gets hit with the 619.
A referee ran down and a match began.
********
United States Champion Austin Theory defeated Rey Mysterio in a non-title match (9:22)
(Normally when Raw is commercial-free for the first hour, they take their first break after 9:00 pm after the top-of-the-hour segment. But they took a break here at 8:55 pm, less than a minute into the match.)
[SECOND HOUR]
Theory was in control until Rey hit a spike DDT, seated senton and springboard crossbody for two. Theory responded with a spinning rake bomb for two. Rey dropped him on the middle rope and set up for the 619 but Theory levelled him with a clothesline for two. Theory went for a rolling dropkick but Rey blocked it and dropped him on the middle rope again.
Dominik ran down as Rey went for a 619 so Rey knocked him off the apron. This was not a DQ and Rey continued with a 619 attempt but Theory caught him and hit A-Town Down for the pinfall win.
— Dom hammered away at Rey after the match before turning his attention to Bad Bunny. Dom and Bad Bunny got into an argument and I believe Bad Bunny said he did the right thing at Mania. Dom tried a sucker punch but Bad Bunny blocked it and he dropped Dom with a right hand.
Damian Priest yanked Bad Bunny over the barricade and told him he shouldn’t have gotten involved. Bad Bunny decked Dom again so Priest clotheslined him.
Priest chokeslammed Bad Bunny through the announce table and officials quickly checked on him.
Dom put the boots to Rey before leaving with Priest.
Rey and officials checked on Bad Bunny. Corey Graves was trying to get this over big on commentary and he apologized to fans of Bad Bunny.
After a break, Adam Pearce freaked out on Priest backstage. Priest told Pearce that Bad Bunny was his friend and if he wasn’t, he’d really have something to be upset about.
********
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn segment
They got a loud reaction and “you deserve it” chants right away. Kevin Owens said, “You know what? We do deserve it, but all you guys deserve it too!” The fans sang “Olé.”
Sami Zayn said it’s been a crazy year, going from wrestling Johnny Knoxville to winning in the main event of WrestleMania. Zayn didn’t want to be corny but he had to tell the fans that this wouldn’t have happened without them.
Zayn knew that L.A. loved to celebrate but Owens hoped that they had the same kind of celebration in mind. Owens thought they should celebrate with a fight. Zayn seemed fine with that. Owens wondered who wanted to make a name for themselves tonight.
The Street Profits entered. Montez Ford toasted them on becoming tag team champions. Angelo Dawkins said they also won at WrestleMania and issued a challenge for tonight. Ford emphasized the challenge they said they want the smoke.
********
Jabari Banks, Olly Sholotan, and Jordan L. Jones of “Bel-Air” were shown at ringside.
Tag Team Champions Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn defeated The Street Profits in a non-title match (12:54)
They wrestled for four minutes before going to break. Zayn made a hot tag following the break and hit Ford with a tornado DDT and a flip dive on both Profits. Zayn followed with a sunset flip powerbomb off the top for two.
Dawkins got in and they gave Zayn a big double-team blockbuster but Owens broke up the cover. Zayn gave Ford an exploder into the turnbuckles and Owens followed with a cannonball and senton bomb but Dawkins broke up the cover.
Ford wiped out Owens and Zayn with a flip dive but Owens dodged a frog splash. Owens gave him a frog splash and Zayn followed with a Helluva Kick for the pinfall win.
********
Seth Rollins segment
Cathy Kelley interviewed Seth Rollins backstage. Rollins was on cloud nine after sending Logan Paul and KSI back into the wasteland that was social media. Rollins didn’t want to party backstage and instead wanted to do it in the ring. He told them to play his music and he went to the break.
They went to break, and when they returned, Rollins was in the ring and the crowd was singing his song.
This went on forever and I guess it’s all Rollins wanted because he soaked it in for a while and just walked to the back without saying anything else.
*********
Bobby Lashley admitted to Cathy Kelley that he was frustrated. Bronson Reed approached him and said more words than he had since coming back put together. Reed was being very arrogant and went on about how he could be Lashley’s pupil and said that, eventually, the student always beat the teacher. Lashley suggested they have a match but Reed said he couldn’t tonight.
Mustafa Ali showed up and was being annoying so Lashley suggested they fight. Ali didn’t like that idea but Lashley dragged him to the ring as Ali said, “I was just trying to help.” A ref ran down and they made it official.
Bobby Lashley defeated Mustafa Ali (0:37)
Lashley won quickly by submission with the Hurt Lock.
********
[THIRD HOUR]
In the back, Reigns asked Heyman if his cousins were gone. Heyman said yes. (Heyman also told him this an hour ago.) Reigns asked Heyman if he knew Lesnar would be here tonight. Heyman was unaware and said this is normally the time of year that Lesnar takes off for six to nine months.
Reigns was frustrated that this was happening to him but said he would smash Lesnar just like he had before and he would smash Rhodes like he did last night. After he was done, he would tag in Sikoa and we would find out if he was ready.
Bianca Belair/Rhea Ripley segment
Belair entered to a good reaction and she put over Asuka for pushing her to be the best.
Rhea Ripley interrupted. Ripley said Belair was the luckiest person in WWE because after winning the Royal Rumble, Ripley decided to challenge Charlotte Flair instead of her. Ripley told Belair that they would do this one day and Ripley would beat her just like she beat Charlotte. The crowd chanted “Mami.”
Belair said she made her decision for a reason. Belair was happy to get in the ring with her and “one day, when you’re ready, we’ll really see which one of us is the best of the best.” Ripley smiled and left the ring.
Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez entered for their upcoming match and Rodriguez had a face-off with Ripley on her way to the ring.
********
Rhodes was shown walking through the back. Graves said Lesnar hasn’t had a tag match since 2004.
Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez defeated Dakota Kai & IYO SKY (7:02)
No Bayley.
They went to break early on and Rodriguez made a hot tag when they returned. The crowd was distracted by something else happening in the arena. (Denise Salcedo on Twitter mentioned an incident involving a beach ball.)
Rodriguez fought off both members of Damage CTRL and tackled Kai into SKY which sent SKY off the apron. Rodriguez gave Kai a Tejana bomb and Morgan followed with Oblivion for the pinfall win.
With the win, Morgan and Rodriguez will face Becky Lynch and Lita for the tag titles next week on Raw.
********
The Miz segment/Matt Riddle return
The Miz entered and complained about all of the annoying things that happened to him at WrestleMania — except when he beat Shane McMahon so badly he couldn’t finish the match. The crowd laughed at that. Miz also said Snoop Dogg did the worst People’s Elbow of all time (even though that’s the move that beat him).
Miz was sick of surprises. Matt Riddle entered.
The crowd chanted “bro” and Riddle asked the crowd if they missed him. Miz decked him but Riddle kicked him, hit a knee strike, and hit Bro Derek.
********
Graves announced that Bad Bunny was taken to a “local medical facility” and he may have suffered a separated shoulder. Graves again apologized to Bad Bunny’s fans.
Byron Saxton interviewed Becky Lynch, Lita, and Trish Stratus. Stratus and Lita were in a great mood. Lynch was happy to be done with those fools in Damage CTRL and her new goal was to elevate the tag titles. Beating Morgan and Rodriguez would be a great start. (As they left, Saxton wanted a fist bump from Trish but she turned him down.)
Next week on Raw in Seattle:
Lynch & Lita vs. Morgan & Rodriguez for the tag titles
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa (w/Paul Heyman) vs. Cody Rhodes & Brock Lesnar
The match didn’t happen.
As the ring announcer finished announcing Rhodes’ name, Lesnar grabbed Rhodes and gave him an F5.
Reigns looked surprised and he left with Sikoa and Heyman.
Lesnar F5’d Rhodes again as the crowd booed. Lesnar hit a high-angle German suplex, drove Rhodes into the barricade, suplexed him into the timekeeper’s area, and smashed his back with a steel chair.
Lesnar hit Rhodes in the face with the steel steps and put him through the announce table with an F5. Lesnar placed the steel steps in the ring and gave Rhodes another F5 onto the steps.
Officials ran out but they were too afraid to do anything. They checked on Rhodes as Lesnar began leaving but Lesnar chased them off and hit Rhodes repeatedly in the back with a steel chair. Lesnar choked Rhodes with the edge of the chair and yelled something that was bleeped.
Lesnar left and officials checked on Rhodes.
They brought out a stretcher and the crowd buzzed as Lesnar reappeared on the stage. He held up his middle fingers and the camera focused on Rhodes as they went off the air.
It’s a brand new episode of We’re Live, Pal. Andrew Zarian and I take a look at the RAW after WrestleMania and wonder if it’s dead as a hot show.
We debate Cody’s promo on the show. Was it a great, organic promo, or was it too much of a rehearsed performance? We also wonder what the deal is with Edge and Damian Priest.
We go over the highs and lows of WrestleMania 38, including seeing Austin vs. McMahon for possibly the final time.
Enjoy the latest We’re Live, Pal in podcast form below or on YouTube above.
