Tag: raw live results

WWE Raw live results: King & Queen of the Ring first round concludes

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: June 16, 2025
Location: Resch Center in Green Bay, WI 

The Big Takeaway —

Liv Morgan injured her shoulder just moments into her match, and the match was stopped. Hopefully, it’s not a serious injury. It’s particularly poor timing with Morgan being set up for multiple programs. 

Jey Uso and Asuka advanced in the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments. On next week’s Raw, Jey Uso faces Cody Rhodes, while Jade Cargill faces Roxanne Perez. On Friday’s SmackDown, Asuka faces Alexa Bliss, while Sami Zayn faces Randy Orton. 

Next week’s Raw will also see Becky Lynch defending her Intercontinental Championship against Bayley. 

Goldberg returned as expected to set up a World Championship match against Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event in Atlanta. 

**********

Show Recap — 

Gunther (holding the world title belt and wearing a smile), Bayley, Stephanie Vaquer, and Jey Uso were shown arriving earlier today. 

Corey Graves is filling in for Pat McAfee alongside Michael Cole on commentary. Graves said he couldn’t be more excited to be on Raw.

Liv Morgan and Iyo Sky segment 

Liv Morgan and Dominik Mysterio entered holding their respective belts. Liv welcomed us to Monday Night Morgan and wanted to hear some noise for the most gorgeous man in WWE, Dominik Mysterio. The fans booed, but they didn’t boo over his promo like they used to. Dom said tonight wasn’t about him and turned things back over to Morgan. 

Morgan said Nikki Bella learned the hard way that this division was about her, and now Nikki was sitting hurt at home. Morgan mocked Iyo Sky’s comment that Bella paved the way for them. Morgan said nobody paved the way for her. She was a four-time tag team champion and the greatest women’s tag champion ever. Now, she demanded the rematch she never got for the world title. 

Just as Morgan was about to call her out, Sky interrupted. The crowd chanted for Iyo. She told Morgan to do everyone a favour and shut her mouth. She said Morgan disrespected her and disrespected Nikki. Sky was ready to fight her, but Morgan only wanted to do it for the title. 

Morgan accused Sky of being scared and invited her to just hand over the belt. Sky told Morgan she had to earn a shot. Morgan couldn’t just steal it the way she stole Dirty Dom. Dom said Sky should give Morgan whatever she wanted, just like he did. 

They again suggested that Sky hand over the belt, so she did, but then dropkicked Morgan out of the ring. She also kicked Dom, and he left with Morgan. 

******** 

Stephanie Vaquer entered ahead of a commercial break. Chad Gable cut a promo on Ivy Nile’s behalf during a break (while also taking a shot at the Green Bay Packers). He returned to the back for the match. 

Backstage, Morgan told Rodriguez to win her match, then they would take care of Sky and Kairi Sane. (It was difficult to hear Morgan, but the closed caption helped.)

Queen of the Ring first round fatal four-way: Stephanie Vaquer vs. Asuka vs. Ivy Nile vs. Women’s Tag Team Champion Raquel Rodriguez

Asuka entered to her singles theme. She had full face paint and wore mostly black gear along with a knee brace. The crowd chanted, “Welcome back.” 

Asuka and Vaquer had a very brief exchange that was interrupted by the heels. Rodriguez powerbombed Asuka into Vaquer and Nile, which led to break 80 seconds into the match. (Nothing else has happened since the previous commercial break.) 

The crowd was quiet through the break until they returned and Vaquer did Devil’s Kiss to Nile. Rodriguez blocked a Devil’s Kiss, but Vaquer managed to do it to her on the apron. (The crowd counted along instead of yelling like Booker T.) 

Vaquer blocked an Asuka lock, and Nile kicked her in the face. Nile gave Asuka a German suplex for two. This led to the match’s second commercial break—just eight minutes into it. 

As they returned from break, Rodriguez hoisted both Nile and Vaquer on her shoulders, which was impressive, and Asuka knocked everyone down with a flying dropkick. Asuka handed out kicks, but her pinfall attempt on Nile was interrupted by Vaquer. 

Vaquer invited Asuka to her feet so they could go at it again. Asuka no-sold Vaquer’s strikes, so Vaquer responded with repeated headbutts and a vertical suplex. Vaquer hit a facebuster, but Nile broke up the cover. Nile gave Asuka a uranage, but Vaquer broke up her cover. 

Rodriguez booted Vaquer and gave her a Tejana Bomb. You could tell she was about to get yanked out of the ring because of how she made the cover. Rhea Ripley pulled Rodriguez out and gave her a Rip-tide on the floor. 

Asuka followed with a running hip attack on Rodriguez for the pinfall win. 

Asuka faces Alexa Bliss on SmackDown in the semi-finals. (Cole reminded us that Asuka and Bliss were once tag champions.) The crowd was up and down during the match, but popped big for the closing sequence. 

(I thought Vaquer might’ve won this one, but they probably don’t want to pin her in the tournament, so Asuka advances. Also, Asuka pinning Rodriguez can set up a future tag title match with Sane.) 

— After the match, Asuka told Cathy Kelley that she would become Queen of the Ring. 

Match result: Asuka defeated Raquel Rodriguez, Ivy Nile and Stephanie Vaquer to advance in Queen of the Ring (15:49)

******** 

There was a Gunther/Jey Uso video package. Gunther is up next. 

New Day cut a normal heel promo during the break.

******** 

Morgan approached Rodriguez in the Judgment Day locker room and wanted them to go somewhere. I’m not sure what she actually said, but Rodriguez wasn’t up for whatever it was because she wasn’t cleared by medical after just wrestling. Morgan left to deal with it alone. 

There was another disagreement between Dom and Finn Bálor, where Bálor brushed it off. The crowd repeatedly yelled, “What?” throughout the segment because it was hard to hear. Bálor told Rodriguez not to worry about Morgan, and he left with Roxanne Perez. 

******** 

Gunther and Goldberg segment 

Gunther entered and received a big fireworks display as he held up the World title. 

Gunther said he was man enough to admit that Jey Uso was the better man at WrestleMania. Jey was better than him—for one night. But on every other night, Gunther was untouchable. (The crowd booed as he spoke.) 

Gunther heard the rumours about what was next for him. Some fans chanted for Goldberg. Gunther said it wasn’t Goldberg, because he already cussed out Goldberg in front of his family. 

Gunther spoke about Seth Rollins. He heard Rollins say the champion would be a target, so he told Rollins he was right there. 

Goldberg entered. He wore a “Goldberg’s Last Ride” t-shirt. The fans chanted for him, and he thanked them. 

Goldberg told Gunther not to worry because tonight was his night. Goldberg congratulated him on winning the title. 

Goldberg got in his face and recalled what happened between them last time. Gunther started something with him and his family in Atlanta, so Goldberg wanted to end it in Atlanta. At Saturday Night’s Main event on July 12th, “You’re mine because you’re next!” 

Gunther was perturbed and left the ring.

(Goldberg was good enough here, but this title match isn’t the most exciting direction.) 

This title match was made official after a break. 

********

AJ Styles vs. JD McDonagh (w/ Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio) 

This match was sponsored by an app. 

Dom helped McDonagh get a rope break as Styles held a calf crusher, so Styles chased Dom around the ring. When Styles got to the timekeeper’s area, McDonagh flew over the barricade to wipe him out. It was a cool-looking spot and got a good reaction. 

Styles fought back after a break, but McDonagh cut him off with a headbutt and brainbuster for two. Styles knocked McDonagh off the ropes but was distracted by Dom, who hopped onto the apron in front of the referee. 

McDonagh tried to use the distraction, but Styles hit him with a Styles Clash anyway for the pinfall win. 

— Dom tried attacking Styles after the match, but Styles fought him off until Bálor pulled him to safety. Styles held up Dom’s IC title belt. Judgment Day tried swarming Styles, but Styles bailed with the belt. 

Match result: AJ Styles defeated JD McDonagh (10:34)

******** 

Maxxine Dupri and Natalya gave Sheamus words of encouragement backstage. They want him to take care of Rusev. Akira Tozawa fired up and told Sheamus to kick his ass. 

Bayley walked through the back. She’s up next. (Grayson Waller and Austin Theory argued as they hung out with New Day nearby.) 

Packers player Evan Williams was at ringside. 

******** 

Bayley and Becky Lynch segment 

Bayley entered. She missed the fans and was happy to be back. She waited as she heard some fans trying to sing, but it didn’t pick up. The fans instead chanted, “Let’s go, Bayley.” 

Bayley revelled in every opportunity she had to perform for the fans because it’s what she was born for. She put her heart and soul into it every single night. Two months ago, she was stripped and robbed of a WrestleMania match and an opportunity to go after the tag titles. That division was near and dear to her heart. 

She didn’t just perform for WrestleMania, though. She would do it any night and would do it on nights like this one. If Becky Lynch thought she broke her by costing her WrestleMania, she was wrong. It healed her and made her stronger. 

Bayley said Lynch was always two steps ahead of her on the ladder, and she admitted that it did eat at her. But Bayley planned on climbing the ladder, knocking Lynch down and taking everything from her. 

Lynch entered wearing Chicago Bears gear. (A rival team of the Packers, and Seth Rollins’ favourite team.) The fans chanted, “Bears still suck.” 

Lynch said she and Bayley were the same. They were never meant to be on top of the division. But Bayley accepted playing second fiddle, while Lynch didn’t. Bayley would much rather have friends over her legacy. Lynch would rather have her legacy over some fake-ass friends. 

Bayley said she’s built her own legacy and is a future Hall of Famer, that’s why she didn’t mind bringing others in the locker room along with her. Lynch said she used to fight for the people, but they stopped fighting for her, so she stopped fighting for them. 

Lynch said the fans also stopped fighting for Bayley. Nobody gave a damn about Bayley when Lynch repaced her at Mania. 

Bayley called her an insecure idiot. Lynch was so worried about how the fans would react to her return that she took out Bayley so her return could be a big surprise. She followed that by taking out Lyra Valkyria as well. (Lynch noted the fans cheered that, too.) 

Bayley wondered if Lynch forgot what it was like to fight for opportunities, or if her head was too far up her ass. Lynch smiled and said she didn’t remember what that was like. She wondered if Bayley remembered what gold felt like. 

Bayley challenged her to a match. Lynch was ok with that—but not in Green Bay and not for the title. Lynch said, “See you in Columbus.” Lynch tried a cheap shot, but Bayley avoided it and knocked Lynch down. Lynch bailed with her title. 

********

Kelley interviewed Jey Uso backstage. Jey had his eyes set on a rematch with Gunther, and he was fine going through King of the Ring to get it. Yeet. 

********

Styles returned the Intercontinental title to Nick Aldis. (Aldis was filling in for the vacationing Adam Pearce, which they did not explain.) Aldis informed Styles he was getting an IC title match against Dom at Night of Champions. 

Bayley approached Aldis next, and he put her in an IC title match against Lynch next week. Bayley was happy. (I guess Aldis has full control.) 

Valkyria approached Bayley. Bayley apologized for not returning her texts and calls over the past few months. Valkyria was annoyed but understood that Bayley was simply doing what was best for her. Valkyria said she would do what was best for her, too. 

********

Kairi Sane vs. Women’s Tag Team Champion Liv Morgan 

The match was stopped due to an injury. The first spot of the match was Sane going for a takedown, and Morgan came up injured. She rolled out of the ring, and officials checked on her as she grabbed her arm/shoulder. 

They showed a bunch of replays, and it wouldn’t have looked like much if you didn’t know Morgan was hurt. She appeared to land hard on her right arm/elbow, and the reaction on her face said it all. 

During a break, they announced Morgan couldn’t continue, and Sane was declared the winner. Sane celebrated. 

Match result: Kairi Sane defeated Liv Morgan via injury stoppage 

Cole announced that Morgan suffered a dislocated shoulder.

********

There was a John Cena/CM Punk video package. They didn’t shy away from Cena’s hypocrite line. 

********

Sami Zayn did an interview backstage until he was interrupted by Karrion Kross. Kross thought Zayn was insane for doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. (That’s not the definition of insanity.) Kross said Randy Orton would beat Zayn, go on to win his 15th title, and Zayn would stay at zero. 

Zayn called Kross a coward for lurking in the shadows. Zayn wondered if Kross had the courage to back up his words. Zayn has talked a big game, lost and had the courage to pick himself up and go back out there again. Kross couldn’t say the same. 

Zayn was tired of hearing from Kross. Zayn’s focus was KOTR, but the second that was done, he would get Pearce to put them in a match. Kross said it was about time. 

********

Next week on Raw in Columbus, OH: 

  • Becky Lynch vs. Bayley for the Women’s Intercontinental title 
  • Queen of the Ring semi-final match: Jade Cargill vs. Roxanne Perez 
  • King of the Ring semi-final match: Cody Rhodes vs. Jey Uso  

********

King of the Ring first round fatal four-way: Jey Uso vs. Rusev vs. Sheamus vs. Bronson Reed (w/ Paul Heyman) 

They went to break 90 seconds in after Jey hit Rusev with a suicide dive. Jey’s ribs were taped, and Reed targeted his midsection during the break. Jey handed out superkicks to everyone after the break. Rusev didn’t go down, so Jey tried another, but Rusev clotheslined him. 

Reed tossed Sheamus over the barricade, but Sheamus emerged to give him ten (or twenty) beats of the Bodhrán. Jey superkicked Sheamus and went for a running hip attack on Reed, but Rusev knocked down Jey again. 

Rusev and Sheamus finally went at it in the ring. They each hit big moves before exchanging right hands until Reed squished them in the corner. Reed also gave Jey a world’s strongest slam ahead of another break. 

Jey and Sheamus went back and forth until Sheamus hit a backbreaker. The crowd cheered as Sheamus got big Bronson on his shoulders to hit a White Noise, but Rusev broke up the cover. Rusev slammed Sheamus onto Reed. 

Jey handed out superkicks again, but Rusev blocked a superkick and applied the Accolade. Sheamus flew in with a knee strike, but Reed broke up the cover with a senton. Reed followed with a Tsunami on Sheamus, but Jey broke up the cover. 

Jey speared Reed, but surprise, surprise: there was interference. Bron Breakker shoved Jey off the top rope, so Sami Zayn ran in and posted Breakker. Zayn went for a Helluva Kick, but Breakker grabbed him by the throat and tossed him over the announce table. Penta flew in and wiped out Breakker with a dive. 

Reed hit Jey with a DVD, but there was more interference. This time, LA Knight shoved Reed off the top. Jey speared Reed again and consecutive Uso splashes for the pinfall win. 

Jey Uso advances to face Cody Rhodes on Raw next week. 

— Seth Rollins marched down to go after Jey, but he stopped as Cody Rhodes’ music hit. Rhodes entered to a huge reaction to face off with Rollins. They stared each other down until Rollins left the ring. 

Rhodes and Jey faced off before shaking hands. 

Match result: Jey Uso defeated Bronson Reed, Sheamus and Rusev to advance in King of the Ring (17:24)

(This was a fun match, but with tons of interference. You’ll often wonder where the hell all the good guys are when the heel group is running roughshod, so at least we got a satisfying ending here.) 

WWE Raw live results: Jey Uso vs. Gunther for World title

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: June 9, 2025
Location: PHX Arena in Phoenix, AZ 

The Big Takeaway —

Jey Uso’s reign as World Champion is over. 

CM Punk will challenge John Cena for the WWE Championship at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia. 

Roxanne Perez advanced in the Queen of the Ring tournament, and Sami Zayn advanced in the King of the Ring tournament. The tournament will continue on SmackDown and Raw, and the finals will happen at Night of Champions. The winners earn title matches at SummerSlam. 

Bayley is back, and Nikki Bella returned to announce Evolution. Asuka returns next week.

Plus, R-Truth is officially back as Ron Killings. 

**********

Show Recap — 

Becky Lynch, Nikki Bella, Gunther, and Jey Uso (and son) were shown arriving. 

There were highlights from Worlds Collide and Money in the Bank. As usual, these packages are meant to recap what happened—and tell you how big the events were. Among the clips they made sure to include was a shot of Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian in the crowd at MITB. 

John Cena and CM Punk segment

Cena entered. He was introduced as the greatest of all time and the last real champion. Cena wore purple and orange to match the Phoenix Suns. (He still has Rise Above Hate and Never Give Up on his merch.) The show was ten minutes old by the time he spoke. 

Cena said “truth” was a lie. The fans wasted their energy on a sideshow comedian whose greatest achievement was pretending to be him. (The crowd chanted, “We want Truth.”) 

Cena asked if they thought those chants actually accomplished anything. The fans were all keyboard warriors and armchair activists who did not have the power to change anything. R-Truth was a gimmick they would not care about in a year. 

Cena had limited time on his farewell tour. Nineteen dates remain. They were halfway done, and the fans shouldn’t waste their voice sending him the class clown. They should spend their energy sending him real competition. He’s already beaten their best by beating Truth, Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton. 

CM Punk interrupted. Punk had a lot to get off his chest. He called it ironic that Cena, the boy scout, wanted to ruin wrestling and ruin the establishment that made him, while the punk-rock kid from Chicago was seemingly defending the establishment. Punk wanted to make it clear: he wasn’t defending the establishment. 

Punk wasn’t defending TKO or the billionaires—he was defending the people. Maybe Cena was mad that the establishment picked him while the people didn’t. The people picked Punk in 2011 to be the voice of the voiceless. 

Punk said Cena was wrong, claiming he hadn’t faced the best. Rhodes was the best they got, but Cena only won because he took cheap shots. Punk wasn’t about to kiss the ass of his “final boss,” because the people were Punk’s boss. 

It was Punk’s job to give the people what they wanted, and if they wanted the truth, they would get Ron Killings. 

It was time for Punk to teach Cena that he was only a spoke on the wheel, too. Punk recalled Cena saying he was sorry after pinning Punk at Elimination Chamber, after Seth Rollins stomped him. Cena knew what he did was wrong. He knew what he was doing was wrong. (The fans chanted, “You sold out.”) 

Punk said Cena would spend the rest of his dates apologizing to the people for his actions. The title corrupted him. Punk knew it because it did the same to him in 2012. Punk had a list of goals when he returned, but winning the title wasn’t one of them because he was afraid of what he’d become if he did. 

Everybody should want to be the champion, and only a few can accomplish it. Punk could now see he had to become a monster to defeat the monster. To people like Cena and Rollins, the belt meant power and control, but Punk thought it belonged to the people. 

Punk said Cena had 18 dates left after today, and he would leave it up to Cena to pick the date that Punk takes the belt from him. Punk challenged him to do it tonight. 

Cena said no, of course. Cena said Punk could follow him to Saudi Arabia so they could do it at Night of Champions. Punk said, “You’re on,” off-mic. 

Seth Rollins entered (with his crew) to show off his MITB briefcase, and the segment ended. 

(Punk claiming that it wasn’t his goal to win the championship until now feels like a total lie. It’s also kind of funny that he’s the one who now wants to save the title from someone else.) 

******** 

Wade Barrett is on commentary tonight instead of Pat McAfee, who has the night off. 

There was a graphic for the Queen of the Ring and King of the Ring tournaments. Cody Rhodes is among those on the men’s side, and Asuka is among those on the women’s side. There’s also a mystery person on the men’s side. The tournament finals will occur at Night of Champions. The winners earn a title match against their respective brand’s champion at SummerSlam.

********

Chad Gable cut a promo during the commercial break. He was pissed that neither he or El Grande Americano were in KOTR. 

AJ Styles vs. Chad Gable (w/The Creed Brothers)  

The opening match kicked off 31 minutes into the show, and they went to commercial 90 seconds into it. Styles overcame interference by the Creeds and multiple Gable ankle locks to hit a Styles Clash for the pinfall win. 

Match result: AJ Styles defeated Chad Gable (7:57) 

********

Backstage, Roxanne Perez suggested to Liv Morgan that they work together to ensure one of them wins. Morgan was not on board. 

Queen of the Ring first round fatal four-way: Rhea Ripley vs. Kairi Sane vs. Roxanne Perez vs. Liv Morgan

Morgan reluctantly worked together with Perez. However, as they set up for a double superplex on Sane, Ripley got underneath and hit them with a double powerbomb. Sane followed with a flying forearm on Ripley for two. 

Morgan and Perez worked together again to regain control. Morgan hit Sane with a backstabber, a move she does all the time, and Cole said it was an homage to Carlito. Ripley fired up and laid out everyone. Morgan tried to catch her off guard with an Oblivion, but Ripley caught her and hit a Rip-tide. 

Ripley had it won, but Raquel Rodriguez appeared out of nowhere to pull Ripley out of the ring and break up the cover. As Ripley and Rodriguez “brawled,” Sane wiped them out with a dive. 

Sane followed with an Insane Elbow on Morgan and seemingly had it won, but Perez caught Sane in a jackknife cover for the pinfall win. Roxanne Perez advances in the tournament. 

There are a lot of big names in this tournament, and like with Ripley here, I think we can expect to see a lot of finishes like this one to save prevent them from advancing. 

Match result: Roxanne Perez defeated Kairi Sane, Liv Morgan, and Rhea Ripley to advance in the Queen of the Ring tournament (12:52) 

********

Lynch walked through the back ahead of a break and passed by Austin Theory and Grayson Waller as they argued. 

There were more highlights from Worlds Collide, and a video package for tonight’s title main event. 

********

There was a Nikki Bella video package. 

Nikki met with Natalya and Maxxine Dupri backstage before speaking with Iyo Sky. Nikki put over Sky and how she carried herself as the champion. Sky thanked Nikki and said, “You paved the way for us.” (Another blatant lie.) 

********

Becky Lynch segment, Bayley returns

Lynch entered with her new IC title belt. She wondered where her “You deserve it” chants were. She didn’t need to hear it because she knew she deserved it. She should be out there celebrating, especially since there are so few opportunities for her to celebrate something new. She’s already won everything and is a best-selling author. Now, she is the Women’s Intercontinental Champion. 

This should be an opportunity to celebrate because this title was about opportunities. But the biggest opportunity this title ever got was Lynch winning it. She welcomed the belt to the big time and said it was now the biggest prize in the business. 

She should have been celebrating with her hot husband and beautiful child, but she wasn’t because the disingenuous bird lady Lyra Valkyria ruined everything. Valkyria raised her hand so aggressively that Lynch thought she dislocated her shoulder. Lynch claimed Valkyria tried to kill her when she attacked her after putting the belt around her waist. Lynch called out Valkyria to do it properly this time. 

Valkyria entered and walked out like an angry cartoon character. Bayley suddenly attacked Lynch from behind, and Valkyria was surprised to see her. 

Lynch bailed but bumped into Valkyria. Valkyria shoved Lynch back into the ring, but she escaped before Bayley could hit her finisher. 

********

Ron Killings / R-Truth segment 

Killings entered in the same outfit he wore at MITB. He entered through the crowd and stood on the announce table. 

Killings said: “Don’t let nobody tell you that you don’t matter. Don’t let nobody tell you that your voice doesn’t matter. They heard, they listened, they felt, and they understood. I am back—because of y’all.” 

Killings reiterated that he was back because of them and was back for them. But he was back for himself, too. “Not only did you bring Truth back, you got me.” 

They all loved R-Truth, but Truth could be too funny and forgiving. But he wasn’t. He felt different. He felt alive. He wasn’t a lie. He wasn’t a sideshow act. He wasn’t a gimmick. 

He pulled out a pair of scissors (as the announcers backed away) and cut his hair completely off. The crowd chanted, “Holy shit.” 

“The truth has set me free. I am Ron Killings. I am the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Now put some respect on my name.” 

The fans cheered as Killings walked away through the crowd. 

********

The male members of Judgment Day met backstage. Finn Bálor thought it was strange that Dom was the only member in KOTR. Dom figured Bálor had a shot at MITB, but that didn’t work out, so he thought Bálor would be ok with him being in KOTR. JD McDonagh said Dom could win KOTR, while they could win back the tag titles. Bálor was all smiles and acted like he was happy with this. 

Perez entered, and they congratulated her on the win. Morgan entered and was not in a good mood. Perez tried to claim she helped Morgan in the match by breaking up Sane’s pin. Morgan bluntly congratulated her and left. 

Bálor told Dom he should speak to Morgan. Dom clearly didn’t want any part of this and scampered off for his match. Bálor was amused. 

********

King of the Ring first round fatal four-way: Sami Zayn vs. Bron Breakker vs. Penta vs. Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio 

It’s been a full 30 minutes since the previous match ended. After all the talking and backstage segments, they went to commercial one minute into this match.

Zayn wiped out Breakker with a dive, Penta wiped out Zayn with a dive, Dom wiped out Penta with a dive, and Breakker nailed Dom with a leaping clothesline off the apron and over the announce table. This led to a second commercial break, just 9 minutes into the match. 

Zayn hit Penta with a sunset flip powerbomb during the break for two. After the break, Penta powerbombed Dom, and Breakker hit Zayn with a Frankensteiner. (Cole continues to attribute the name of that move to McAfee.) Penta hit Breakker with a DDT, and Dom tried to steal the pin, but Breakker kicked out. 

Dom blocked Zayn’s Blue Thunder Bomb and went for three amigos, but Zayn blocked the final suplex and hit Blue Thunder for a nearfall. Penta hit Zayn with a Penta Driver, but Dom caught Penta in a schoolboy. The referee didn’t count the fall because Penta’s shoulders weren’t down (which you couldn’t really see), which sorta ruined the spot. Penta followed with a Canadian Destroyer on Dom for a nearfall. 

Breakker sprinted around the ring and cut down Penta with a spear. LA Knight suddenly appeared and hit Breakker with BFT. (Remember what I said earlier?) 

Back in the ring, Zayn gave Dom an exploder and Helluva Kick for the pinfall win. Sami Zayn advances. 

This was fun. The crowd was hot and went nuts for the closing sequence and Zayn’s win. It felt like he needed a win like this, even if this is just the first round of a tournament. The crowd was into all four guys and really into Breakker’s offence.

Match result: Sami Zayn defeated Dominik Mysterio, Bron Breakker, and Penta to advance in the King of the Ring tournament (17:05)

********

Cathy Kelley interviewed Styles. He was pissed about losing last week and didn’t appreciate being disrespected by Paul Heyman. He didn’t like how Judgment Day or Dom conducted business, either. He left to deal with them. 

Kelley approached New Day for an interview as they spoke to Waller. New Day cut their usual heel promo and didn’t have much to say. 

********

Zayn bumped into Karrion Kross during a break. Kross was happy that Zayn won on his own while taking his message to heart. Zayn had no idea what he was talking about. Kross said he used Knight’s interference to get ahead. He did what it took to win. The real Sami Zayn was a manipulator. 

Zayn said he won because he was good enough, just like he was good enough to win the world championship.  Zayn warned him to stop bothering him, because he was also good enough to handle him. 

********

There was an Asuka return video package. 

Next week on Raw: 

  • Queen of the Ring first round fatal four-way: Asuka vs. Stephanie Vaquer vs. Raquel Rodriguez vs. Ivy Nile 
  • King of the Ring first round fatal four-way: Sheamus vs. Rusev vs. Bronson Reed vs. a mystery opponent 

********

Nikki Bella segment 

Nikki was happy to be back and thanked her fans. She was here to talk about something special next month. She announced an all-woman PLE: WWE Evolution. 

She main-evented the first one, and seeing how far the division has come was incredible. She put over Ripley, Sky, Bianca Belair, Stephanie Vaquer, and Giulia. She completely butchered Vaquer’s name. 

Liv Morgan stormed out. She said if Nikki was talking about the best women in the division, she should talk about her. Morgan was the most talented woman in the division, proving it again and again. Nikki was jealous of her because she had everything Nikki didn’t. Morgan had respect, a championship, and a man. 

Nikki wondered if Dom belonged to Morgan or Perez. Nikki wanted Morgan to congratulate Perez on taking her title shot and her man. Nikki left the ring. 

Morgan said at least she was a champion, while Nikki was merely a reality show diva. 

Nikki went under the rope to return to the ring, but Morgan laid her out with an Oblivion.

(Nikki didn’t come across well here, and a lot of fans seemed to like Morgan better.) 

******** 

Cena vs. Punk was made official for the title at Night of Champions.

******** 

Jey entered along with his son, and he got his usual big reaction.  

Jey Uso (c) vs. Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship 

They went to break 75 seconds into this world championship match that’s been scheduled for a month. 

Jey went for the sleeper a couple of times in the first two minutes. Gunther escaped it, but Jey remained in control through the break. Jey hit a flying crossbody after the break for two. Jey came up nursing his midsection, selling the damage taken over the past week or so. 

Gunther booted Jey in the midsection repeatedly and ripped off his shirt to expose that his ribs were taped up. Gunther ripped up the tape while continuing to target Jey’s midsection. Jey fought back momentarily until Gunther hit him with a German suplex outside the ring. This led to a second break, 9 minutes into the match. 

After the break, Jey countered a vertical suplex with one of his own. The fans Yeeted as Jey fought back with strikes. Jey went for a running hip attack, but Gunther ducked. Gunther applied a sleeper while in the ropes, but Jey slipped out and hit a suicide dive. 

Jey couldn’t follow up, so Gunther gave him a back drop onto the barricade. Gunther tried a splash, but Jey got his knees up and followed with a spear. Jey hit an Uso splash for a nearfall. 

Jey went for a spear, but Gunther clobbered him with a clothesline. Jey reversed a powerbomb into a hurricanrana for two. Gunther hit a powerbomb for two, and a spear for two. 

Jey failed again to apply the sleeper, but countered a Gunther sleeper and hit a spear. Jey missed an Uso splash and sold his ribs before Gunther caught him in a sleeper. 

Jey fought toward the ropes, but Gunther repeatedly pulled him to the middle of the ring. It seemed like Jey was on the verge of going out, but Gunther let go and hammered away with elbows. Jey slipped out and applied the sleeper, but this time Gunther reversed into a sleeper again—right in the middle of the ring. 

Jey couldn’t fight any longer, and he went out. Some fans began screaming at the visual of Jey going out. The referee called for the bell. Gunther wins. Jey Uso’s world title reign is over. 

— Jey’s son checked on him at ringside. Gunther posed with the belt as fireworks went off. 

Match result: Gunther defeated Jey Uso to win the World Heavyweight Championship (22:06)

WWE Raw live results: Money in the Bank go-home show

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: June 2, 2025
Location: BOK Center in Tulsa, OK 

The Big Takeaway —

Stephanie Vaquer and Chad Gable will work double duty on Saturday. Both wrestlers will compete at Worlds Collide, and both qualified for Money in the Bank with wins tonight. Vaquer beat Ivy Nile and Liv Morgan, while El Grande Americano/Gable beat AJ Styles and CM Punk. Vaquer’s first official night as a member of Raw was a successful one, as she came across like an emerging star. 

There were chants for R-Truth throughout the night. I wouldn’t say the fans hijacked the show, because they were very much into the product being presented—they were just also upset about Truth. 

**********

Show Recap — 

After a replay of last week’s main event, Sami Zayn (still being called the ‘underdog from the underground’), Jey Uso, Seth Rollins and his crew were shown arriving. 

They showed a replay of Michael Cole and Pat McAfee making a bet over the New York Knicks-Indiana Pacers series. The Pacers won, so Cole lost the bet, which meant he had to wear a tank top while calling Raw. The top he wore was a Pacers jersey. The Oklahoma crowd booed because, by pure happenstance, the Pacers will be playing the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals. 

CM Punk and Sami Zayn segment

Punk entered and made a few references to the NBA Finals. He appreciated everyone’s basketball fandom, but asked the fans to watch Raw or SmackDown if it fell on the same day as the game. 

Punk moved on to his Money in the Bank qualifier. He looked forward to winning MITB for the third time. It was the Summer of Punk, and it was time for him to be wearing gold again. 

Two people were on top of the mountain, and one was his friend, Jey Uso. Punk wanted Jey to know that if they did fight for the title, it was not personal, only business. 

Punk spoke next about John Cena. The tables have turned since Punk first got to WWE—Cena is now public enemy number one because he sold his soul to a “bald fraud goof.” (For a moment, I thought that meant Triple H, but he obviously meant The Rock.) Punk has always had Cena’s number. He called Cena a bitch and said it was time for him to become champion again. 

Punk was done, but Sami Zayn entered. The crowd chanted for Zayn, and he appreciated it. Zayn was glad to hear Punk speak clearly about his goal of becoming world champion. Zayn had his own ambitions to become champion, but MITB was no longer his path thanks to Rollins’ crew. 

Zayn wanted to emphasize the importance of this match and told Punk that tonight was a must-win. Zayn knew that Punk was probably thinking about Rollins’ crew, but he couldn’t be distracted by them. Zayn and Jey would take care of Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker tonight. 

Zayn warned that if Rollins won the title, it would be all over because this place would turn into something they didn’t like. We needed Punk to win tonight. (The crowd chanted for Punk.) 

Zayn wanted Punk to win, but also wanted him to know that if he did win the world title, they would be face-to-face in this ring again, and their conversation would be much different. Punk said he looked forward to it. They shook hands. 

********

Roxanne Perez offered to help Liv Morgan tonight, but Morgan told her to stay out of her business. Morgan bumped into Iyo Sky and, just like last week, warned Sky that she was coming for her title. Sky said that was not going to happen. 

There was a Stephanie Vaquer video package where she spoke Spanish (with English subtitles) about her dream to be in WWE since she was ten years old. The package included pictures of her wrestling in Mexico. It made her look like a big star outside of anything she’s done in WWE. 

They plugged Vaquer’s match at Worlds Collide this weekend as she entered. 

Money in the Bank triple threat qualifier: Stephanie Vaquer vs. Ivy Nile vs. Women’s Tag Team Champion Liv Morgan

Vaquer didn’t waste any time doing her devil’s kiss move, first doing it to Morgan. Vaquer did it next to Nile, but Morgan broke it up with a dropkick. Morgan hit Vaquer with three amigos—hitting the final suplex on top of Nile. Some counters led to Nile hitting both women with a double German suplex. 

There were multiple “We want Truth” chants during a break. (The crowd was into the match, but there were a few signs for R-Truth, which may have prompted the chants.)

After the break, Nile hit a tower of doom powerbomb for a two count. Morgan followed with a Codebreaker on both women off the ropes for a double two count. Morgan hit Vaquer with Oblivion, and Nile tried to steal the pin, but Morgan got back in and broke it up. 

Nile shoved Morgan into the steel steps, and Vaquer hit Nile with SVB for the pinfall win. 

This was good for the time they had, and the crowd was into it despite the chants for Truth (which happened to occur during the commercial break). 

Match result: Stephanie Vaquer defeated Ivy Nile and Liv Morgan to qualify for Money in the Bank (10:18) 

********

Paul Heyman approached AJ Styles backstage and wished him a happy birthday. (Today is Styles’ 48th birthday.) Heyman spoke for a while, trying to convince Styles to focus on Dominik Mysterio and the Intercontinental Championship and leave MITB to Rollins. 

Styles asked Heyman if he wasn’t exhausted, constantly chasing his next meal ticket. Styles did plan on going after Dom and the IC title (as well as MITB), but he didn’t respond well to threats, and knew that Heyman was threatening him. If they tried to push him out, he would push back. Styles knew Rollins’ plan, but everyone had a plan until they got punched in the mouth. 

********

Chad Gable cut a promo during the break. He said the Pacers would beat the Thunder, El Grande Americano would win tonight, and he (Gable) would beat Vikingo on Saturday. 

******** 

There was a Rusev video package. He didn’t appreciate that Sheamus was disappointed with him last week. Sheamus ran out to help a stranger, but they were friends, and Sheamus didn’t help him from falling into the abyss. Sheamus had a body of granite but a neck of sand, and Rusev had the one move (the Accolade) that could end him. Rusev warned Sheamus to stay out of his way or he would snap his neck. 

Sheamus met with Akira Tozawa, Maxxine Dupri, and Natayla. He wanted them to keep their heads up because they heart, which not many people had in WWE. He thought Natalya and Dupri could win the tag titles. Natalya appreciated the words and put over Dupri. 

Cathy Kelley interviewed Sheamus. He said he went way back with Rusev, who was a groomsman at his wedding. Rusev’s WWE career imploded because of his own bad decisions, and his career outside the company lasted about as long as Rusev Day. Sheamus called Rusev a bully, and Sheamus bullied bullies. 

********

They went to break again after the previous segment, so there was only one match in the first 54 minutes of the show. And this match went to break after a couple of minutes. 

The War Raiders vs. Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh (without Carlito) 

There were more chants for R-Truth as the match began.

The New Day joined commentary for this match, but they were quickly tossed to the back by the referee because she caught them about to interfere. 

They had a normal match, and Judgment Day won thanks to Roxanne Perez. Ivar set up for a moonsault, but Perez distracted the referee. McDonagh yanked Ivar by his beard into the ring post, knocking him down. Bálor followed with a Coup de Grâce for the pinfall win. 

Match result: Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh defeated The War Raiders (11:08) 

********

Becky Lynch promo 

There was a Becky Lynch video promo. She said she’s only been back for six months, and Lyra Valkyria has cost her the tag titles and her chance at MITB. And yet, Valkyria accused her of taking away opportunities. Valkyria was an echo chamber for the ignorant who did not understand what greatness was and would never achieve it. 

Valkyria has forgotten everything Lynch did for her. Valkyria was in a lose-lose situation at MITB. Even if Valkyria won, Lynch couldn’t face her again, but Lynch was the best thing to ever happen to her. Lynch would win, and Valkyria would raise her hand—the same hand that would hold her down. 

********

During a break, New Day advised Grayson Waller to drop Austin Theory, just like they dropped Big E, because he was deadweight holding him down. 

American Made confronted New Day. They were pissed about New Day turning on them in their match last week. The Creeds thought New Day said that brothers stick together. Kofi Kingston said they misheard them, because he said ‘brothas’ stick together. Xavier Woods suggested American Made help them, but Julius said they were coming after the titles. 

********

Kelley interviewed Vaquer backstage. Vaquer said she felt great and continued to respond in Spanish, but was quickly interrupted by Rhea Ripley. They were cordial and shook hands. Ripley said she would see her on Saturday. (Both women got big crowd reactions when they appeared.) 

********

Lyra Valkyria and Becky Lynch segment 

Valkyria called Lynch a coward for talking big backstage. Valkyria called her out to the ring, so Lynch entered. Lynch was about to speak, but Valkyria told her to shut up. 

Valkyria called Lynch delusional and said her downfall needed to be studied. Lynch worked hard to get to the top, but only stayed there because she gave up being a good person. Valkyria realized she needed to get angry, and now she was. No one has hurt her the way Lynch has, and now Lynch has given her what she needed to beat her. 

Valkyria planned on beating the crap out of Lynch to make sure she could never poison what it meant to be IC champion. (Valkyria got loud ‘What’ chants as she spoke.) 

Lynch said Valkyria’s perspective was poisoned. Lynch knew Valkyria just wanted a reason to hate her. Valkyria wanted to replace Lynch, but nobody could do that. Lynch did not want to hurt Valkyria—she wanted to make her better. But that’s changed now, and Valkyria would have to raise her hand on Saturday. 

Lynch stormed out of the ring, so Valkyria called her into the ring to have their match now. Lynch said she didn’t fight in Tulsa, so she would see her at MITB. Valkyria ran after Lynch and attacked her until officials stepped in. 

Whatever they’re trying with Valkyria isn’t working. 

******** 

They announced a Tyrese Haliburton-WWE shirt available on Fanatics. The shirt features an animated Haliburton doing the choking gesture at MSG. 

There was a Penta video package. Winning MITB was his destiny. 

********

Sami Zayn entered with Jey Uso, and the entrance got a typically big reaction. Zayn danced to Jey’s music when they hit the ring, which the crowd got a kick out of. (This was during a break, but it was nice seeing Zayn having fun because he’s been way too serious lately.) 

Sami Zayn & World Heavyweight Champion Jey Uso vs. Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed (w/Paul Heyman)

They went to break 75 seconds in the match. The heels worked over Zayn until he hit Reed with a tornado DDT. Jey made the hot tag and ran wild on Bron until Bron hit him with a gutbuster. Bron went for a super spear, but Jey caught him with a superkick for a close nearfall. 

Jey put Bron in a sleeper, but Reed broke it up with a senton. Zayn went after Reed and tried hitting both men with a dive, but they caught him. Jey then wiped everyone out with a suicide dive. 

Seth Rollins then ran down and gave Jey a curb-stomp for the DQ. 

— Bron placed Zayn on the announce table as Reed set up for a Tsunami off the top, but Punk attacked Bron from behind with a chair and chucked it in Reed’s face. Punk went after Rollins, but Rollins bailed. Bron was fuming over Punk, but Rollins settled him down and said they knew exactly where Punk would be later tonight. 

Punk, Zayn and Jey stood tall in the ring as Punk’s music played. 

The crowd was hot for all of this, despite the non-finish. 

Match result: World Heavyweight Champion Jey Uso & Sami Zayn defeated Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed via disqualification (9:01) 

********

Morgan joined Judgment Day in the back. She told Bálor she knew what he was trying to do by bringing in Perez. Bálor played innocent and reminded her that she helped him and JD win tonight. Bálor knew Perez was coming on strong by giving Dom chicken nuggets, but said Morgan could trust Dom. Morgan said it wasn’t Dom she was worried about trusting. 

Bálor said trust in Perez would come with time. He suggested Perez join them at ringside for Raquel Rodriguez’s match. Morgan said Bálor could babysit Perez and wanted her to stay out of it. Morgan left with Rodriguez. 

Dom (wearing a Carlito t-shirt) apologized to Bálor for costing him the match last week, but Bálor smiled and said it was water under the bridge. 

********

Kairi Sane vs. Women’s Tag Team Champion Raquel Rodriguez (w/Liv Morgan) 

The crowd chanted for Truth again during this match. 

About five minutes in, Sane went to the top, but Morgan jumped on the apron to distract her. Iyo Sky ran out to her music to take out Morgan. Sane drove Rodriguez into the ring post and followed with an Insane Elbow for the pinfall win. 

Match result: Kairi Sane defeated Raquel Rodriguez (6:01) 

********

Karrion Kross approached Zayn as a trainer was checking on him. Zayn wanted to know what his problem was. 

Kross said Zayn was a liar. That was the problem. He lied to the fans and lied to himself. He could have been a world champion ten times over by now. Kross knew Zayn was capable of doing bad things because he was a bad guy, just like the rest of us. Zayn said he was wrong. Kross said he might be wrong, but he might be right, too. 

(You may have read that Kross gets a big reaction every week when he appears. He does get a decent reaction, but it was only the night after WrestleMania that he got a significant one.) 

********

There was a Giulia video package during a break. 

Kelley interviewed Perez during the break. Perez said Bálor knew she was already one of the most dangerous competitors on the roster at just 23 years old. She wasn’t just there to assist Judgment Day—she was there to take over the division, and she would start by winning MITB. 

********

They ran down the cards for Worlds Collide and Money in the Bank. 

There was a video package for Jey Uso vs. Gunther for the world title on Raw next week. 

Gunther sat down next to Jey in the locker room. Gunther said the world title was personal to him, so he appreciated the effort Jey put in to being a great champion. But because he refused to think with his head instead of his heart, Gunther would take it back. Jey was too selfless. He helped his friend Zayn tonight, but now he was less than 100%. He might help Punk tonight, too, if he needed it, and he was helping out Cody Rhodes on Saturday. None of that was the business of the world champion. 

Gunther thanked him because he knew the moment he lost at Mania, he would avenge it. In one week, the party was over. Jey responded: “Three letters, one word: tap. See you next week, G.” 

********

Money in the Bank triple threat qualifier: CM Punk vs. AJ Styles vs. El Grande Americano 

Punk wore pink and black gear. (He wore Bret Hart’s merchandise earlier.) 

Punk and Styles told the referee to check El Grande Americano’s mask for a metal plate. As McAfee noted, he should be checking all three men. 

Punk and Styles teamed up on Americano and tossed him from the ring. Styles dropped Punk with a dropkick, but Americano got right back in and dropped Styles with a running headbutt. Americano posed for the crowd, so Punk hit him with a running knee. The crowd cheered as Punk tried removing Americano’s mask, but Americano fought him off and hit a dive. 

They went to break a couple of minutes into the match, and Americano held control throughout, mostly working over Punk’s leg. 

Back from break, Styles gave Americano a back drop off the middle rope, and Punk followed with a diving elbow drop on Styles. Americano gave Punk a running headbutt before turning Styles around with a release German suplex. The crowd chanted, “He’s Chad Gable,” and “No, he’s not.” 

Americano tried a flying crossbody, but Punk tried rolling through like John Cena, but Punk isn’t as strong as Cena and was also selling his leg, so it wasn’t exactly smooth. Punk did get him up on his shoulders, but Styles dropped both guys with a combo DDT/inverted DDT. 

Americano put Punk in an ankle lock, but Punk rolled through, and Americano’s momentum sent him with a Styles’ Clash by AJ, but Punk broke up the cover. Chants for R-Truth were replaced by chants of “This is awesome.” Punk got Styles in a jackknife cover, but as Styles bridged out of it, Americano hit them both with a moonsault. 

Punk hit Americano with a GTS, but Breakker pulled him out of the ring. (You could see it coming because of where Punk was positioned, and because the crowd was barking.) 

Reed and Breakker beat up Punk until Jey and Zayn ran out to make the save. As everyone brawled, Styles wiped out everyone with a springboard dive. The crowd chanted “Holy sh*t,” which they tried desperately to censor. 

Styles went for a Phenomenal forearm, but Americano caught him with a mid-air headbutt for the pinfall win. (Americano presumably loaded his mask during the earlier commotion, but the announcers called it like it was a normal headbutt. There was also no evidence that he loaded it.) 

With the win, Gable will wrestle at Worlds Collide, and his alter ego will wrestle at MITB. Stephanie Vaquer will do the same. 

— Rollins ran down to attack Punk. They brawled until Breakker speared Punk. Zayn attacked Breakker, but the heels swarmed him, and Rollins put him down with a stomp. Rollins stomped Punk, too. Jey superkicked Reed, but Breakker speared him and Rollins stomped him, too. Reed flattened Jey with consecutive Tsunamis. 

Rollins’ heel group stood tall as the show ended. 

The crowd was into all of this and was really into Punk all night. 

Match result: El Grande Americano defeated AJ Styles and CM Punk to qualify for Money in the Bank (11:50)

WWE Raw live results: Money in the Bank qualifying continues

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: May 26, 2025
Location: Yuengling Center in Tampa, FL 

The Big Takeaway —

Seth Rollins and Penta qualified for the men’s Money in the Bank ladder match.

**********

Show Recap — 

There was a recap of the Raw matches and angles from Saturday Night’s Main Event. 

Jey Uso, Lyra Valkyria, Sami Zayn (signing autographs), and Finn Bálor and JD McDonagh were shown arriving. 

They’ve killed the stage to allow for more fans, so there’s just a small entryway, a small video board, and a narrow aisle. 

Opening segment

Seth Rollins, Paul Heyman, Bron Breakker, and Bronson Reed entered to start the show. Breakker and Reed were dressed the same—in all-black suits with black shirts and shoes. 

Heyman called Breakker an attack dog and the badass in a bloodline of badasses. If Skynet could predict who would main event WrestleMania 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, and 50, it would tell you Bron Breakker. He called that a spoiler, not a prediction. 

The crowd chanted for CM Punk, so Heyman told them he wasn’t there tonight. The timing was perfect because it allowed Heyman to move on to Reed. He said it was because of Reed that Punk wasn’t there. He claimed WWE wouldn’t allow Reed around the top guys because they were too afraid. Reed was reckless and violent and would put everyone down. 

Heyman noted that Reed went after Rollins months ago because he was the top guy. Reed gave Rollins a bigger beating than Roman Reigns or CM Punk ever did. 

Heyman told the fans to acknowledge Rollins, so they chanted, “OTC” and “We want Roman” instead. Rollins said this was the way forward for the industry’s future—through total control, domination, and power. 

There was a “You sold out” and light “F*ck you, Rollins” chant, and they had to censor it (and Pat McAfee tried talking over it). Rollins reminded them they had just sung his song a few minutes ago, but now they questioned his integrity and chanted profanities. 

Rollins held the power and would be the champion right now if not for Zayn and Punk. However, even more powerful than being the champion was holding MITB and controlling the fate of the championships. He would win MITB and cash in whenever and wherever he wanted. Nobody could stop him, and that was true power.

(Rollins’ promo felt like retread, so his part wasn’t terribly exciting. I like Reed’s addition to this group, but I don’t like that he and Bron are dressed identically and generically like Rollins’ personal security. ) 

******** 

El Hijo del Vikingo was shown ringside. 

Money in the Bank triple threat qualifier: Chad Gable vs. Penta vs. Dragon Lee

There was an ugly and almost lethal spot early in the match. Penta tried some move that would simultaneously drop Dragon Lee backwards with a Gory Bomb, perhaps, and drop Gable forward with a facebuster, but Gable wound up landing right on his head. I mean, he really landed on his head. The referee immediately checked on Gable, who grabbed his face, but he seemed ok, and continued the match as if nothing happened. 

After a break, Dragon Lee flew out of nowhere while going for a suicide dive on Gable, but Gable dodged it, and Lee knocked Penta over the announce table. As the ref checked on them, Gable gave Vikingo a cheap shot. 

All three men traded moves, which included Dragon Lee hitting a poisonrana. Gable hit both men with a double German suplex and Penta with a moonsault for two. Gable gave Dragon Lee an overhead suplex into the turnbuckle and set up another moonsault, but Vikingo kicked him in the face. 

Dragon Lee gave Gable a double foot stomp, and Penta gave Dragon Lee a Canadian Destroyer. Penta followed with a Penta Driver on Gable for the pinfall win. (Gable was busted open by the end, perhaps because of Vikingo’s kick to the face.) 

This was a hell of a ten-minute TV match. The crowd loved it. 

Match result: Penta defeated Chad Gable and Dragon Lee to qualify for Money in the Bank (10:03) 

********

Roxanne Perez joined Judgment Day backstage and handed Dom a big platter of chicken nuggets. Perez was about to massage Dom’s sore shoulder, but they were joined by the returning Liv Morgan, who got a huge pop.

Dom tried to explain why she hadn’t really heard from him, but she cut him off. She said Raquel Rodriguez has been keeping her updated, and she was off to talk to Adam Pearce about getting a MITB qualifier. Bálor was very amused by all of this.

******** 

There was a Memorial Day video, narrated by Cody Rhodes. 

Rusev vs. Akira Tozawa (w/Maxxine Dupri) 

Rusev won in a minute via submission with the Accolade. 

— He wouldn’t let go of the hold after the bell, so Sheamus ran out. Sheamus’ new music is a big downgrade, and you couldn’t tell who was coming out when his music hit until he was shown on screen. (Rusev’s music isn’t any better.) 

Sheamus and Rusev faced off until Rusev left the ring. McAfee referenced Jim Ross by saying a potential match between these two would be a slobber knocker. McAfee shouted out JR without mentioning his name. (Michael Cole didn’t say anything.)  

The crowd was quiet for Rusev. 

Match result: Rusev defeated Akira Tozawa (0:55) 

******** 

Cathy Kelley interviewed comedians Bert Kreischer and Tom Segura about their Netflix special. Kelley referenced some negative comments Segura made about WWE in the past and admitted he was wrong. (Funny, they basically had him publicly apologize.) Kreischer got distracted because he was excited to see the War Raiders nearby. He removed his shirt and posed with them. 

******** 

Sami Zayn met with Jey Uso backstage. Zayn was tired of hearing all the talk from Rollins and co. Zayn regretted not going out to the ring to confront them. Jey told him that wouldn’t have been a good idea. Jey advised him to win the MITB briefcase, and if there was any trouble tonight, he had his back. 

******** 

Triple threat tag team match for the World Tag Team Championships: The New Day vs. The War Raiders vs. The Creed Brothers

If you aren’t already tired of multi-person matches, they gave you plenty of three-way spots. The New Day won, so the other two teams had a lot of high spots. 

New Day formed an alliance with the Creeds, which led to the finish. Ivar squished Kofi Kingston into the video ring board. Ivar went to the top, but Julius Creed flew in and knocked him off with a leaping kick, and Xavier Woods suddenly rolled up the unsuspecting Julius for the pinfall win. (Julius kicked out at three.) Julius and Brutus were upset with themselves post-match. 

Match result: The New Day defeated The Creed Brothers and The War Raiders to retain the World Tag Team Championships (9:13) 

********

Morgan and Rodriguez bumped into Iyo Sky and Kairi Sane backstage. Morgan was surprised to see them because she thought Damage CTRL was dead. Sky told them to keep walking. Morgan said she would win MITB and cash in on her. Sane cut a promo on her in Japanese and challenged her to a match tonight. Morgan accepted. 

Jey Uso and Gunther segment

Jey entered, but his promo was quickly interrupted by Gunther. Gunther congratulated him on his 15-year anniversary in WWE and winning his first title defence over Logan Paul. Gunther said Jey has already held the belt longer than he expected. 

Gunther could see that Jey wanted to be captain of the ship. There was a lot going on, and when Jey’s friends needed him, he was there, no questions asked. Those were great qualities for a human being, but terrible qualities for a champion. Gunther said he was the champion for almost a year because the only person he cared about was himself. 

Gunther didn’t think Jey had the intellect to understand how to carry himself as a great champion. When they wrestled in two weeks, Gunther would make things right. He would relieve Jey of his position, choke him out, and put the title back around his waist where it belonged. 

Jey said he was done with people saying his days as champion were numbered. Jey had friends and family. He fought for them, and they fought for him. Jey was fighting for more than what Gunther was fighting for. Jey fought for the fans’ support, and he would make Gunther tap out again in Phoenix. 

(Jey seemed flustered, so this wasn’t a good promo, but he got the crowd behind him with the last line.) 

********

There was a video clip of Cody Rhodes’ podcast with guest Brandi Rhodes. There were (sponsored) vodka products all over Rhodes’ tour bus. 

Patrick Maroon (hockey player), Waka Flocka Flame (rapper), and Titus O’Neil were shown in the crowd. 

Women’s Tag Team Champion Liv Morgan (w/Tag Champion Raquel Rodriguez) vs. Kairi Sane

A battle on the apron led to Morgan hitting a sunset flip powerbomb outside the ring. Sane fought back after a break and hit a spear. Sane continued on offence and hit a flying forearm off the top for two. 

Morgan followed with a flying Codebreaker for a nearfall. This was one of those spots that looked like a three count, so the crowd told the referee that she sucked. They traded a few moves until they clumsily fell into a cradle for a two count. 

As Rodriguez distracted the referee, Perez appeared and knocked Sane off the top. Rodriguez was upset even though Perez was just trying to help. (Also, it was impeccable timing by Perez to show up at the exact moment Raquel distracted the referee, even though it wasn’t their plan.) The referee looked around dumbly as Sane was suddenly down, and Perez was suddenly at ringside. 

Morgan looked over as Rodriguez argued with Perez. Morgan went for Oblivion, but Sane countered into a schoolboy for the pinfall win.  

This was not good, and the finish didn’t work, either. 

Match result: Kairi Sane defeated Liv Morgan (10:51)

******** 

There was a Rhea Ripley video promo about MITB. 

During a break, Vic Joseph told us that Trick Williams was the new TNA Champion and he would be on tomorrow’s NXT.  

During the break, an upset Gable told Ivy Nile to start training the Creeds again in case they get another title shot. Gable bumped into Vikingo and told him he would beat him at Worlds Collide. Vikingo was not worried. After Vikingo left, Gable turned around into a right hand by AJ Styles. Styles stood over Gable and told him that if he, or that “coffee bean,” interfered in his match again, he would put Gable through the ground.

******** 

Judgment Day met backstage. Rodriguez said Morgan would have won if not for Perez. However, Morgan was actually upset with Rodriguez. Morgan said Rodriguez was the veteran and should have known better. Morgan stormed off. (Bálor was so happy.) 

Lyra Valkyria and Becky Lynch segment  

Valkyria entered. She said she looked forward to facing someone new, but Becky Lynch grovelled and begged until she convinced those in the back to get a title rematch at MITB. Valkyria wouldn’t say no, because she’s already beaten her twice. Valkyria has never cared in the past what her opponents said about her, because once she beat them in the ring, she was the ultimate winner. 

However, she felt no satisfaction beating Lynch (at Backlash). Lynch’s ego was still through the roof, despite being outwrestled and beaten. Lynch talked like she had won the match. Now she was trying to steal an opportunity from the next person. Lynch made it personal by getting in her fiancé’s face and trying to break her arm. Valkyria would bash Lynch’s head in if she had to. 

Lynch interrupted. She said Valkyria was the one who made this personal by costing her the opportunity to qualify for MITB. Valkyria might’ve won their match, but Lynch won the night. Lynch went home with her hot husband, while Valkyria went to the hospital with her weird fiancé. Valkyria said Lynch’s husband was the only talented thing about her. (This was meant to get a pop, but it didn’t. It’s a cheap line they could do without.) 

Lynch said Valkyria was making it personal again. Lynch was the best thing to happen to Valkyria and the IC title. Valkyria said people were talking about her because she beat her. 

Lynch had an offer: if Valkyria beat her at MITB, she would never challenge her for the title again. Valkyria was fine with that because she’s beaten her twice already—and did it with her eyes closed. 

Lynch said she graciously raised Valkyria’s hand in NXT following their match after Valkyria won. Lynch wanted Valkyria to return the favour at MITB when Lynch beat her. Valkyria accepted because she had no trouble raising the hand of the winner—it’s just never been Lynch. 

******* 

Karrion Kross (and Scarlett) approached Sami Zayn. He didn’t like that Zayn was trying to earn a title match “the right way.” Zayn brushed him off. Before Zayn could leave, Kross bluntly told him, “You know you’re never going to win the title, right?” Zayn said he would deal with Kross later. Kross smirked. 

******** 

The announcers plugged two matches for Worlds Collide, and they included clips of the AAA wrestlers involved. They also ran down the MITB card.

Money in the Bank triple threat qualifier: Seth Rollins (w/Paul Heyman) vs. Sami Zayn vs. Finn Bálor 

Bálor shined first ahead of a break, and it was Zayn’s turn after the break. Zayn wiped out both guys with a Sabu-inspired springboard moonsault. He pointed to the sky, and McAfee mentioned Sabu. Zayn hit Bálor with a superplex, and Rollins followed with a frog splash on Zayn. (This led to a break for the second time in 10 minutes.) 

Rollins and Bálor formed an alliance, but Zayn fought them off. Zayn chucked Rollins out of the ring and went for an exploder on Bálor, but Bálor countered into a rollup for two. Rollins hit Bálor with a Pedigree, but Zayn caught Rollins in a crucifix cover for two. Rollins gave Zayn a Pedigree for two. Zayn and Rollins traded reversals until Zayn hit Blue Thunder Bomb for a nearfall. 

Rollins was frustrated and began slapping Zayn in the corner. Zayn gave him an exploder in the corner, but Bálor cut off Zayn with a slingblade. Bálor dropkicked both men into the corner and went for the Coup de Grâce, but they both dodged it. Rollins stomped Bálor, and Zayn hit Rollins with a Helluva Kick. 

It seemed like Zayn had it won, but Bron Breakker pulled him out of the ring to break up the cover. Bron and Reed attacked Zayn until Jey Uso wiped out Reed with a dive off the barricade. Jey handed out superkicks, but after Rollins grabbed Jey, Bron speared him. Reed also crushed Zayn into the ring post. 

Dom ran in through the crowd and slid a chair into the ring. It was supposed to go to Bálor, but it just went into the middle of the ring. As Bálor reached for the chair, Rollins stomped Bálor’s head into it for the pinfall win. (Not sure why Dom was trying to be sneaky, given there are no DQs in a triple threat.) 

— After the match, Rollins called for Reed and Bron to continue their attack. However, CM Punk’s music hit, so they went up the aisle instead. Punk slipped into the ring from behind and laid out Rollins with a GTS. Punk bailed and posed in the crowd as the show ended. 

(Just like Dom could have just interfered in front of the referee, Punk didn’t have to wait until after the match to attack Rollins.) 

Match result: Seth Rollins defeated Finn Bálor and Sami Zayn to qualify for Money in the Bank (19:37)

WWE Raw live results: IYO SKY & Rhea Ripley vs. Roxanne Perez & Giulia

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: May 12, 2025
Location: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, KY 

The Big Takeaway —

CM Punk and Sami Zayn will team to face Seth Rollins and Bron Breakker at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Bron laid out Jey Uso, and the two men will wrestle next week in a non-title match. 

Gunther is coming after the World Championship again and will face the winner of Jey Uso vs. Logan Paul. Gunther’s title match will happen on Raw next month. 

Rhea Ripley pinned Giulia in the tag main event, and is likely getting a title match against Iyo Sky soon. 

Money in the Bank qualifiers begin next week. 

**********

Show Recap — 

The show opened with a memorial graphic for “Sabu” Terrance Brunk. RIP.

Judgment Day, AJ Styles, Iyo Sky, and Roxanne Perez and Giulia (referred to by Michael Cole as “NXT upstarts”) were shown arriving at the arena in Louisville. 

There was a dramatic recap of last week’s main event angle. 

Opening segment 

CM Punk entered and pointed to the sky in tribute of Sabu. 

Punk was pissed off. He nursed a few injuries and hurt feelings since WrestleMania, but he couldn’t shake being pissed off. He had a lot of enemies, and number one with a bullet was himself. 

He was mad at himself because they’d been here before. It wasn’t the first time Paul Heyman stabbed him in the back. Punk liked to trust his friends, so this was on him. Heyman dropped a ladder on his head 12 years ago and left him with 13 staples in his head. 

Punk thought they had moved past that because he matured as a human being, but Heyman didn’t. Jey Uso warned him about Heyman. Heyman was who he always was. He was a fat little snake. Punk was also mad at “Temu CM Punk” Seth Rollins. Punk couldn’t wait to get his hands on Heyman’s fat neck and squeeze until his eyeballs popped. 

Heyman marched out as Punk mocked him by referring to him as The Penguin. Heyman remained near the stage as Punk warned him that his next words would be his last. 

Rollins and Bron Breakker joined Heyman on the stage. Rollins said Punk found a way to be even more egotistical. Heyman was his best friend, but Punk made his life hell on the road to Mania. Heyman believed in Punk when no one else did. Rollins believed that Punk was human excrement. Rollins said he would be champion if not for Punk. 

Punk said Rollins would never be champ as long as he was on two feet. Rollins figured out that Punk loved to play the victim and be a martyr, so he sent Bron after Punk. 

Punk tried fighting them off, but the numbers caught up to him. Sami Zayn ran out to even the odds, but Bron suplexed him easily. 

Jey Uso came out and the crowd cheered, but he got beaten up too. The heels finally backed off when both Punk and Zayn hit the ring with chairs.

(Punk was good here, but this was a fairly standard segment. The babyfaces didn’t look great getting beaten up one at a time. I also don’t know how much more I need to see Punk and Rollins trade insults.) 

******** 

Cole called the opening segment alone. After Penta and Chad Gable entered for the opening match (Gable’s entrance was during a break), Pat McAfee entered to his music to join Cole on commentary. They tried to explain that McAfee was only coming out now because he just finished getting cleared by medical, but they obviously wanted to give him a TV entrance. 

Penta vs. Chad Gable (w/Ivy Nile)

Penta tried a dive early on, but Gable knocked him out of mid-air with a headbutt—the same headbutt used by El Grande Americano, but without the loaded mask. Gable repeatedly tugged at Penta’s mask during a break for heat. 

Penta made his comeback immediately following the break, but Gable cut him off with a bridging German suplex for two. Gable flew off the top, but Penta caught him with a Codebreaker. Gable hit a moonsault for two and applied an ankle lock, but Penta immediately rolled out of it and hit a superkick for two. 

Gable taunted Penta as they stood on the ropes, but Penta shoved him off. Gable landed on his feet, but Penta followed with a great-looking Canadian Destroyer for the pinfall win. This was pretty good. 

Match result: Penta defeated Chad Gable (11:04)

******** 

There was a pre-taped promo by Roxanne Perez and Giulia. They didn’t plan on waiting around for their turn, so they were going after the two women on top. The future started tonight. 

During a break, there was a video package of John Cena’s win over Randy Orton. 

Kofi Kingston was shown taking in the Louisville Slugger Museum. 

Judgment Day met in the back. There was some silly comedy with Dom not understanding that Liv Morgan was in a different time zone. (Hopefully, this bit wasn’t a result of a real conversation that somebody had backstage.) Finn Bálor assured Dom that he would take care of AJ Styles tonight. 

There was a recap of Gunther beating McAfee. They cut back to the announcers, and the fans gave McAfee a loud ovation. McAfee tried to play it humble, but Cole told him to stand up and take it in. McAfee thanked the fans before showing that he was still bruised and had popped a blood vessel in his eye. McAfee had respect for Gunther and felt Gunther now had respect for them.

******** 

Announced for Saturday Night’s Main Event: CM Punk & Sami Zayn vs. Seth Rollins & Bron Breakker. 

Zayn met with Punk backstage. Punk admitted to Zayn he was having a hard time trusting anybody. Zayn had difficulty trusting Punk at WarGames, but it worked out pretty well. They both liked to do things their own way and had similar ambitions, but they would get nowhere with Rollins and Bron standing in their way. Zayn said they could take them out together. They bumped fists. 

********

The opening match was followed by a long string of videos, backstage segments, and commercial breaks, so the show’s second match began with less than ten minutes remaining in the first hour, and they went to break again about two minutes into it. 

The New Day joined commentary to watch the next match. Cole said the winner of this match could earn a future tag title shot. 

The War Raiders vs. The Creed Brothers

Ivar made a comeback as they returned from break, but Julius hit him with a superplex, and Brutus followed with a moonsault for two. The War Raiders fought back, and Erik rammed Ivar into Julius in the corner, but Brutus broke up the cover. Brutus gave Ivar an impressive Angle Slam, but the crowd didn’t really react. Ivar tried a double handspring elbow, but the Creeds caught him out of the air and slammed him. 

Erik broke up the cover and tried to psych up Ivar, but became distracted by Xavier Woods. Kingston attacked Ivar as he went to the top, allowing the Creeds to hit Brutus Ball for the pinfall win. 

New Day ran off quite proud of themselves. 

Match result: The Creed Brothers defeated The War Raiders (10:27) 

********

Rollins assured Bron that Punk and Zayn had no idea what he was capable of. Rollins left for the evening, but whispered one final message to Bron. Bron smirked, and Rollins told him to have fun. 

Adam Pearce quickly met with Jey Uso backstage. (Bálor could be seen talking to Perez in the background.) 

Cathy Kelley interviewed A-Town Down Under during a break. She asked about the elephant in the room, but Grayson Waller said they weren’t there to talk about her mom. Waller tried to get Austin Theory a rematch against Sheamus, but Theory said he already got Waller a match against Sheamus. 

They let us know that the clip of Logan Paul attacking Jey Uso got over 16 million social media views in 12 hours. 

********

Jey Uso segment

Jey entered to a big reaction. The crowd chanted “One more time,” the music was played again, and they all Yeeted again. 

Jey said there was a big target on his big back, so he wanted to get something off his big chest. Logan Paul was talking out of the side of his mouth by claiming he wasn’t championship material. Paul was ducking him and sneaking him, but at SNME, it was the two of them face-to-face. Jey called himself the “arena shaker” and said he would still be our world champion after SNME. 

Gunther interrupted. The crowd chanted, “You tapped out.” Gunther said the unimaginable came true: Jey Uso was World Heavyweight Champion. Gunther noted this was their first time together since that moment. Jey clarified that the moment was when Gunther tapped out. The crowd chanted it again. 

Gunther said he knew what it meant to be champion. Just because he understood doesn’t mean his opinion of Jey has changed. This position was not natural to Jey because he was not a natural champion. 

Gunther had news to share (that Jey already knew): the winner of the SNME title match would face Gunther next. Gunther announced that the match would be Raw on June 9th in Phoenix, Arizona. (Interesting, because they often don’t give the exact date. Could be a way to push ticket sales for that particular show.) 

Gunther really hoped that his opponent would be Jey so he could put him in his place. 

Jey fired up and said he was already in the place he should be. He ran this place and would walk out of their match just like he did at WrestleMania—as World Heavyweight Champion. Yeet. 

(Jey is very good at being Jey Uso, and I mean that as a compliment. It felt like he struggled at times leading up to his big moment, but he was great here.) 

********

Cole and McAfee paid tribute to Sabu as pictures were shown. Cole called him a legendary ECW superstar. A two-time champion who had a legendary rivalry with his friend, Taz. McAfee said they were forever grateful for Sabu’s influence. Cole sent condolences to Sabu’s family and friends. The crowd chanted, “Thank you, Sabu.” 

******** 

During a break, Erik and Ivar screamed at Pearce backstage until Kingston and Woods entered to mock them. Predictably, Pearce announced that New Day would defend their titles in a triple threat.

Jackie Redmond tried interviewing Ludwig Kaiser, but there was a nearby commotion. Jey Uso was laid out with Bron Breakker standing over him. Bron left as officials checked on Jey. Zayn and Punk joined to check on him. 

******** 

AJ Styles vs. Finn Bálor (w/JD McDonagh & Carlito)

Cole referred to Styles and Bálor as former leaders of the Bullet Club. He repeatedly noted that Dom was not there with Judgment Day.

As with the other matches tonight, they went to break quickly, less than two minutes into it. 

Styles was on offence until he became distracted by McDonagh on the apron. Cole referred to this as the “first” distraction of the match. I guess he knows what’s coming. They dropped each other with a double clothesline spot, leading to a second commercial break, nine minutes into the match. 

Styles hit a superplex as they returned from break. They traded strikes until Styles caught Bálor’s Pelé Kick attempt and applied a calf crusher, but Bálor got a rope break. Bálor hit a slingblade and dropkick, but Styles avoided a Coup de Grace. Styles tried the calf crusher, but before Bálor could break it, AJ hit a Styles Clash for two. 

Cole was right because Carlito hopped on the apron for our second ref distraction. Styles knocked down McDonagh, but the distraction allowed Bálor to hit an elevated reverse DDT. 

Penta appeared on the barricade to take out the outside Judgment Day members. He leaped off McDonagh to hit Carlito with a Canadian Destroyer. 

Styles hit Bálor with a Phenomenal forearm for the pinfall win. 

(This was good enough, but nothing you needed to see. The crowd was quiet for most of the match, but got into it as it picked up towards the end.) 

Match result: AJ Styles defeated Finn Bálor (17:00) 

********

Becky Lynch made her way through the back. (Karrion Kross gave t-shirts to New Day in the background.) 

Becky Lynch promo

Lynch said she was not beaten at Backlash. Valkyria was beaten at Backlash. The fans didn’t believe her, but one of them was taken to the hospital (Lyra), while the other went to their big bus, had a shower and a glass of tequila while basking in her brilliance (Becky). 

After everything Valkyria did to her—attacking her character for weeks—Lynch brought out the best in her and gave her the best match of her career. Valkyria has never mattered more than she has now. 

She realized how much she was manipulated not only by Valkyria but also by the fans. She walked away for almost a year because the fans basically asked her to. She saw their reaction after the last time she won the world title, and if she wasn’t there to win the title, then there was no point. 

Lynch had always been for the people because she had them to thank for her career. They saw themselves in her, and they were in this together. And then something happened—she won. They couldn’t see themselves in her anymore because they were failures and hated what they could not understand. 

One of Lynch’s friends asked if she missed it while she was gone. She missed being in the ring, but she liked herself more now because she didn’t have to listen to the fans tell her what she was about. She heard the same lies from the one person she had hope for in this business. 

It all changed from here on out. “From now on, whatever you say I am, I am. So I’m selfish? Yes, I am. I’m greedy? Yes, I am. I’m cutthroat? Yes, I am.” 

All the girls in the back who were happy she was gone because they thought they were safe were finally going to find out what it feels like to be held down by The Man. 

********

There was a Rusev video package. He would rather his brothers fall by his hand than fall into the abyss. 

Akira Tozawa asked Pearce for a match against Rusev. Maxxine Dupri and Natalya had his back, but Pearce said he wasn’t cleared. Sheamus showed up and gave him respect for not backing down. 

After Alpha Academy left, Sheamus spoke to Pearce. Sheamus proposed a match against Grayson Waller. Pearce acted like this was the first he had heard of this and granted the match. Sheamus was happy. I guess some wires got crossed because they already announced this match earlier. 

******** 

Next week on Raw: 

  • Money in the Bank qualifiers 
  • AJ Styles & Penta vs. Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh 
  • Sheamus vs. Grayson Waller 
  • Jey Uso vs. Bron Breakker (non-title) 

********

Women’s World Champion IYO SKY & Rhea Ripley vs. Roxanne Perez & Giulia 

(Perez and Ripley wore similar gear to the point where they looked like partners.) 

The heels were in control through a break over Sky, but Ripley made a hot tag when they returned from break. She gave Perez a Razor’s Edge and a running kick for two. Perez brought Ripley off the top with a hurricanrana for two. Giulia gave Ripley a vertical suplex before Perez hit a middle rope moonsault for two. 

Sky made the next hot tag and hit Giulia with a missile dropkick. They all traded moves until Sky hit a moonsault, but Perez broke up the cover. Ripley elevated Sky into a dropkick to take out Giulia. Sky wiped out Perez with a springboard dropkick. 

Giulia tripped Ripley off the apron before hitting Sky with an impressive avalanche butterfly suplex and brainbuster, but Ripley broke up the cover. Some more stuff happened until Ripley pushed Sky out of the way of a Perez flying crossbody, and Perez wiped out Giulia by accident. 

Ripley hit Giulia with a Rip-tide (as Sky held down Perez) for the pinfall win. 

— As Sky and Ripley posed together, Ripley took a long look at the women’s title belt. They gave each other a knowing look as the show ended. 

(This was pretty good, but somewhat messy at times. It felt like there were long periods with all four women in the ring at the same time. The crowd was oddly quiet for it despite being really into Ripley at the beginning.) 

Match result: Rhea Ripley & IYO SKY defeated Giulia & Roxanne Perez (14:00)

WWE Raw live results: Backlash go-home show

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: May 5th, 2025
Location: CHI Health Center in Omaha, NE

The Big Takeaway —

Jey Uso had an impromptu world title defence against Seth Rollins. Both men got close nearfalls, and Rollins finally seemed to have it won thanks to Bron Breakker, but they were foiled by CM Punk.

**********

Show Recap — 

Following a recap of last week’s show-long storyline, Iyo Sky, Roxanne Perez, Alpha Academy, Rusev, and Gunther were shown arriving at the arena in Omaha. 

Jey Uso and Paul Heyman segment 

Jey Uso entered through the crowd to kick off Raw. Pat McAfee got on the table to Yeet, and Cole told him that’s what got them in trouble with Gunther in the first place. 

Cole spoke about Jey, who told him that he’s busier than he’s ever been but is loving every moment. After Jey hit the ring, the crowd wanted an encore, so as is the new pattern, Jey started his music again and Yeeted some more. 

Jey immediately called out Logan Paul, but he got Paul Heyman instead. Heyman said he wasn’t there to disrespect Jey Uso, but he dragged himself to Omaha because he had something to say to the world champion. 

Jey told him he had a lot of balls to come out here after doing what he just did to his family. Jey said he warned Roman Reigns and CM Punk about Heyman. Heyman said somebody should’ve warned him about Punk. Nobody lived through what Heyman has lived through. (The crowd loudly chanted for Punk.) 

Heyman said Punk put him in a position guaranteed to sabotage his relationship with Reigns. (The crowd chanted, “OTC” next.) Heyman knew Punk way back when Reigns was still playing football, but Reigns should have known he wouldn’t tell Punk any of his secrets. Heyman stood by Reigns’ side for years, even after he got beat by Cody Rhodes after getting distracted by Seth Rollins. 

Reigns disappeared to lick his wounds and left him alone with the new Bloodline, who put him through a table. Reigns only returned to get his Ula Fala, not to avenge him. All Heyman wanted to do was help his friend main event WrestleMania. Heyman went on a crazy rant, saying people always blamed him, but he was right. The crowd called Heyman an asshole. 

Jey quipped, “Are you ok?” and the crowd laughed. Jey wanted to know what any of this had to do with him. 

Heyman said Jey won the title, and the title was all about power and control. Jey didn’t know how to yield that power and control. The title wasn’t about putting on his best performance every night. While Jey might want to be champion, Rollins had to be champion. Rollins had to have the power and control. Bron Breakker was stage one of their plan, and stage two was the title. 

Heyman wanted to allow Jey to sign his own death warrant and pick the night he lost the title because Rollins was officially challenging him to a title match. Rollins deserved to be the number one contender after beating Punk and Reigns. Rollins could beat Jey any time, any place. 

Jey fired up and made the match for tonight as the crowd popped.

******** 

Heyman approached Rollins and Breakker in the back. Heyman said Jey fell for it. (Heyman acted frightened in the ring when Jey made the match, but he was delighted here.) Rollins was happy and said, “I told you so.” 

After Rollins left, Heyman asked Breakker if he understood the significance of tonight’s match, to which he responded, “I think so.” Heyman explained it to the meathead. 

Heyman put over how dangerous Jey was when he was prepared. He made Gunther tap out, but was now focused on Logan Paul. Rollins was a sniper who had Jey in his sights. The keys would be in their kingdom when the referee handed the world title belt to Rollins. 

The match was made official for tonight: Jey defends the world title against Rollins. (The first men’s world title match on Raw in seven months.) 

******** 

Penta vs. JD McDonagh (w/Finn Bálor & Carlito)

Penta won despite tons of interference. 

They went to break after McDonagh gave Penta a DVD onto the ring apron. Penta fought back after the break and hit a slingblade for two, and a backbreaker for two. 

Bálor distracted the referee while Carlito tried to interfere, but Penta shoved him off and sent McDonagh to the outside before wiping out both men with a diving crossbody. Bálor attacked Penta himself, but the ref saw it and tossed him and Carlito from ringside. Bálor tried to apologize, to no avail. 

Chad Gable interfered next while the referee was still distracted, but Penta wiped him out with a flip dive. McDonagh used the distraction to hit a jawbreaker, but Penta avoided a moonsault and hit a Canadian Destroyer for the pinfall win. (I’m glad he won with the Destroyer.) The crowd popped for the win. 

Match result: Penta defeated JD McDonagh (10:55) 

********

Last week, Grayson Waller was excited to announce he was requesting a singles match this week. However, he complained to Adam Pearce backstage after learning who his opponent was. 

Austin Theory showed up, and Waller acted like he never wanted a singles match in the first place. Waller told Pearce that Theory should do the match instead. Theory was happy to do it, so Pearce accepted. Theory asked Waller who his opponent was, but Waller said it was a surprise. 

******** 

Cathy Kelley interviewed Karrion Kross (with Scarlett) during a break. There wasn’t much to it. Kross got a decent reaction and made a reference to his “killer” nickname. 

Anthony Smith was shown ringside. 

Sheamus vs. Austin Theory (w/Grayson Waller)

Theory was not happy with Waller after learning his opponent was the returning Sheamus. The crowd was happy to see him. 

Sheamus was in control until Theory took over during the break after hitting a draping neckbreaker off the apron. Theory avoided ten beats of the Bodhrán and slingshotted back into the ring, but right into a Sheamus knee strike. 

Theory hit a rolling blockbuster, but Sheamus responded with an avalanche White Noise. Sheamus hit ten fourteen beats of the Bodhrán as the crowd loudly chanted along, followed by a Brogue Kick for the pinfall win. 

Match result: Sheamus defeated Austin Theory (9:39) 

********

A new match was announced for Backlash: Dominik Mysterio defends the Intercontinental Championship against Penta. 

McDonagh approached Judgment Day backstage. He was pissed and wondered why Gable got involved earlier. 

AJ Styles, who just lost to Logan Paul, entered and said he was coming for the Intercontinental title after Backlash. (Styles misspoke when trying to say, “Intercontinental,” so he had to redo the line.) Styles left. 

Dom wasn’t happy with this and asked Bálor to talk to Styles since they had a history. Bálor acted annoyed that he had to clean up Dom’s mess again, but he was just screwing with Dom. Bálor smiled and said he would take care of it. 

********

The New Day approached Gable backstage. Kofi Kingston said it was awful what just happened to Gable. Xavier Woods said American Made should start seeing more opportunities (instead of the War Raiders). They were all on the same page. 

Becky Lynch barged through them and made her way to the stage. 

Becky Lynch and Lyra Valkyria segment 

Lynch entered. She was confused over why the fans treated her like the bad guy, because she was the victim. When she returned at WrestleMania, everyone lost their minds. A woman in the crowd cried tears of joy. Nobody cared where Bayley was because she was garbage. 

Lynch took out the garbage, and now everyone was mad that she did. That’s not how you react when someone takes out the garbage; you thank them for it. She also took out the recycling (referring to Lyra Valkyria). Valkyria was less offensive than regular garbage, but she was still garbage. What was garbage about Valkyria was her attitude. She didn’t have a dream or a title if not for Lynch. She wouldn’t even have her fiancé if not for her. 

Valkyria interrupted. She called Lynch the queen of recycling because she’s been recycling the same moves and tired old act for years. Valkyria didn’t care about that. She had a problem with Lynch claiming any credit for her success. 

Valkyria said Lynch went on holiday, and everyone else got better. Valkyria made history. Not only that, she’s already defended the belt more times than Lynch has shown up for work this year. Valkyria said Lynch had no intention of taking anyone else to the top with her. 

Lynch said Valkyria was right that everyone had the best year of their career while she was gone, but that was because she wasn’t around to compare themselves to. It wasn’t Lynch’s job to help anybody. It was her job to beat everybody, and she was the greatest to ever do it. That wasn’t just her talking—Sports Illustrated called her the best to ever do it. 

Valkyria said Lynch must hate it that she was the first-ever Women’s Intercontinental Champion. Valkyria said Lynch better enjoy second place. 

Lynch tried a cheap shot, but Valkyria saw it coming and tackled her. They brawled until officials pulled Valkyria away, but she broke through and laid out Lynch with Nightwing. 

(Lynch was good here, and this was a decent enough exchange. However, Valkyria’s promo sounded like something that could have been written for anybody to say.) 

********

Perez cut a very generic heel promo during a break. 

Non-title match: Women’s World Champion IYO SKY vs. Roxanne Perez

Sky went for a dive, but Perez slipped back into the ring and kicked her leg out of her leg. Perez followed with a dive of her own. Perez took too much time looking around, so Sky wiped her out with a suicide dive. Sky set up for a springboard move, but Perez knocked her down and targeted her leg again. 

Perez targeted Sky’s leg through a break, but Sky hit an arm drag off the second rope as they returned from break. Sky fired up the crowd after hitting a missile dropkick, but she couldn’t follow up because of her knee. Perez tried to take advantage, but Sky hit a double foot stomp. Sky hit a German suplex and rolled through for another, but Perez countered with a back suplex. Sky responded with a backbreaker. 

Perez avoided a moonsault, and Sky sold her injured leg upon landing. Perez followed with a double knee drop for two. They traded cradles for a series of two counts until Sky captured her in one final cradle for the pinfall win. 

— Perez shook Sky’s hand after the match, but it was a swerve. Giulia decked Sky from behind, and Perez joined the assault. They double-teamed her as the crowd chanted for Rhea Ripley, but as the announcers noted, Ripley is in Australia. Giulia and Perez stood tall. 

Match result: IYO SKY defeated Roxanne Perez (10:08) 

********

Pearce met with the War Raiders backstage during a break, which led to an argument involving the Raiders, Gable and The New Day. Pearce put the War Raiders in a match with the Creed Brothers, with the winner getting the next shot at New Day. 

Everyone left, and as Gable was about to leave, Pearce said, “Hey, Americano.” Gable turned around to acknowledge him, but immediately realized his mistake. They both chuckled. Pearce wished Gable a happy Cinco de Mayo, and Gable said, “Gracious.”

The crowd got a kick out of this. It’s too bad this was during a break. 

******** 

Rusev vs. Otis (w/Maxxine Dupri & Akira Tozawa) 

Rusev hit a spinning heel kick ahead of an early break. Otis had some offence during the break, but Rusev sent him out of the ring with a dropkick as they returned. Rusev went after Otis, but Otis easily suplexed him over the announce desk. 

Rusev ducked a strike by Otis, causing Otis to slam his arm against the ring post. Otis ducked a kick, causing Rusev to kick the ring post. They found their way back in the ring, and Otis went for a corner charge, but Rusev hit a superkick. Rusev responded with an Accolade, and Otis tapped out. 

— Rusev wouldn’t let go of the hold after the match, but did once Tozawa hit the ring. Tozawa challenged him to a fight right now, but Rusev couldn’t be bothered, so he left. Of course, as Tozawa checked on Otis, Rusev ran back down to attack them. 

Rusev powerbombed Tozawa onto Otis before putting Otis in the Accolade again until officials broke it up. (Natalya ran down to check on Dupri.) 

Rusev looked good in the post-match.

Match result: Rusev defeated Otis (6:27) 

********

Pat McAfee and Gunther segment 

Pearce called McAfee and Gunther to the ring and told them to keep it professional until Saturday. 

Gunther informed McAfee he wouldn’t do anything to him tonight because he didn’t want to spoil Saturday. And, unlike McAfee and Cole, he was a professional. The crowd chanted, “You tapped out,” so Gunther told them to shut up. 

McAfee called Cole a GOAT. People cheered and chanted for Cole. (This is still so weird to me.) McAfee said Cole has dedicated his time to this company for 28 years straight, minus just three days. Cole earned the right to have an opinion, yet it bothered Gunher so much that it caused him to attack a 60-year-old man. 

McAfee said it was appropriate that they were in Omaha, Nebraska. Being in Nebraska made him think of the Cornhuskers. It made him think of steak, because nobody beats this town’s meat. It made him think of the annual College Baseball World Series held in this town. This city was a symbol of dreams coming true. 

McAfee thought he and Gunther had things in common, despite being from different places. They grew up with the same dream, wanting to be in this industry. They spent hours watching wrestling in front of the television, knowing this was what they were meant to do. 

Gunther has been in the business for 20 years. He was a champion for 80% of his time here. But he’s become jaded. It was just a job to him now. But McAfee was jacked up every time he stepped into an arena. McAfee thought about 11-year-old him, dreaming about getting in the ring to let assholes like Gunther know that he doesn’t like what they’re about. 

McAfee thought about Gunther at this current stage, as opposed to his Waltering around stage, and he’s become too comfortable. He didn’t want it anymore. It happened with Sami Zayn and with Jey Uso. McAfee would show everyone that Gunther has gone soft. 

Gunther asked if McAfee enjoyed his daughter’s 2nd birthday last week. It must have been special. Saturday was a special day for Gunther, and McAfee just got him in the mood for it. 

It was Gunther’s first match since Mania, and he would show up sharper and more focused than ever. Gunther would beat him up and maul him. He would drive McAfee’s head into the mat and choke him out. Only the grace of God would be able to lift his arms off McAfee’s throat. 

Gunther threw down the mic and marched to the back. 

******** 

There was a video for John Cena vs. Randy Orton. They let us know that their last singles match was back in 2017. 

Next week on Raw: 

  • Finn Bálor vs. AJ Styles 
  • The War Raiders vs. The Creed Brothers 
  • IYO SKY & Rhea Ripley vs. Roxanne Perez & Giulia

********

World Heavyweight Championship: Jey Uso vs. Seth Rollins (w/Paul Heyman & Bron Breakker)

Jey wrestled in black pants and white sneakers. He switched to black after Gunther attacked Jimmy, but I think he’s safe to go back to more colourful attire. Black is more serious, but also looks too generic. 

Jey hit with a suicide dive early on. Rollins fell over the announce table and came up bleeding from the back of his head. Jey was in control during a break until Rollins dropped him face-first into the middle turnbuckle. 

They knocked each other down with a duel crossbody attempts, before Jey fired back with strikes, a Samoan Drop, and a running hip attack for two. Rollins followed with a suicide dive, but Jey caught him with a mid-air superkick moments later for a nearfall. Both guys were down, so the crowd chanted, “This is awesome.” 

Rollins hit a buckle bomb but missed a frog splash. Jey went for a spear, but Rollins countered that into a Pedigree for two. (A clever spot, since we know Rollins has done this to Reigns before.) Jey avoided a stomp and applied a sleeper. (The crowd was into the sleeper since that’s how he beat Gunther.) Rollins slipped out of it, but Jey hit a spear for a very close nearfall. 

Jey knocked Rollins off the top, and Rollins accidentally-on-purpose bumped into the referee. Breakker tried to interfere with the ref distracted, but Jey kicked him off. With Jey recuperating, Rollins hit a superplex into a falcon arrow, followed by a curb stomp for a nearfall. 

As Rollins spoke with Breakker, Sami Zayn entered to his music to take out Breakker. 

Jey superkicked Rollins, hit a spear and an Uso splash. Everyone thought that was it, but Rollins kicked out. 

Zayn rallied the crowd and fired up Jey, but Breakker speared Zayn. As Jey checked on Zayn, Breakker speared him too (Heyman distracted the ref). 

Rollins hit a curb stomp and seemed to have the title won, but CM Punk entered to his music, and the crowd exploded. Punk attacked Breakker and Rollins with a chair. (The referee didn’t officially call an end to the match. He just waved his arms in frustration and left the ring, like in WWF Raw the video game.) 

— Punk attacked Rollins repeatedly with the chair until he escaped. The show ended with Punk standing tall as Zayn checked on Jey. 

(This was a fun match and the final moments were really well laid out, with some convincing nearfalls on both sides. Jey’s two best singles matches have now been against Seth Rollins. The other was back at the end of 2023 when Rollins was world champion.) 

Match result: Jey Uso vs. Seth Rollins ended in a no contest or disqualification (approx. 19:20)

WWE Raw live results: Seth Rollins, Paul Heyman & Bron Breakker appear

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: April 28, 2025
Location: T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, MO 

The Big Takeaway —

Another talk-heavy Raw was built around Seth Rollins making an offer to Sami Zayn. You can guess how that turned out. 

Plus, Becky Lynch explained herself, and will get a shot at Lyra Valkyria’s IC title at Backlash. Pat McAfee has himself a match at Backlash against Gunther, and Logan Paul is next in line for Jey Uso. 

**********

Show Recap — 

Nick Aldis, Rhea Ripley, Roxanne Perez, American Made, Stephanie Vaquer, and Logan Paul arrived at the arena. Aldis is filling in tonight for his rival GM, Adam Pearce, which is allowed for some reason. Ripley got a big reaction as you’d expect, but Vaquer also got a pretty good reaction. 

Michael Cole informed us that Pearce suspended Gunther indefinitely. Pat McAfee couldn’t wait to address Gunther later tonight. 

There was a recap of last week’s closing angle. 

Seth Rollins, Bron Breakker, and Paul Heyman segment

Rollins’ music hit, and the crowd popped. They cheered as all three men hit the ring. They sang Rollins’ song and sang along with his catchphrase. 

He said he knew there were people who still wanted to cheer for CM Punk. That actually brought a lot of booing until a small number of people chanted for Punk. That seemed to catch them a bit off guard. Rollins mentioned Roman Reigns next, and he was cheered. 

Rollins said the fans were looking at the future of the industry. The future wasn’t Punk, Reigns, John Cena, Jey Uso, or Cody Rhodes. The future, alongside Heyman and Breakker, ran through Seth Rollins. (There was also a lot of barking for Breakker.) 

Sami Zayn interrupted. Zayn said they’ve been friends a long time and wanted to tell him to his face that this was a lot of crap. Rollins had talked all that trash about Punk and Reigns for years, while noting that the only thing they had in common was Heyman. Zayn wondered how Rollins was any different. 

Zayn used to think Rollins really did hate those two men, but maybe he was just jealous. Maybe he just wanted to be in the position they were in. Zayn called it hypocritical for Rollins to think he had to be at the centre of the industry and compared it to the Bloodline. 

Rollins said this was nothing like the Bloodline, but Zayn said it was just like the Bloodline, because Rollins had his wise man on one side and his little dog on the other. Zayn warned Breakker to stop looking at him, or else he’d get his head kicked in. They got face-to-face until Rollins calmed things down. 

Rollins said this was the future, and Zayn could be with them or against them. That wasn’t meant to be a threat, but if he stood in their way, he was a target. Rollins didn’t want that for Zayn. He offered to have Heyman pull some strings and get Zayn moved off of Raw so he didn’t get caught in the crossfire. Rollins earnestly told him to think about it because they would need an answer by the end of the night.

(They’re a heel group, but the crowd certainly didn’t treat them like that. The only heelish thing about Rollins so far is that he doesn’t like two babyfaces, Punk and Reigns, but we already knew that.) 

******** 

Ripley entered ahead of break, Perez entered during the break. 

Rhea Ripley vs. Roxanne Perez

This was their second match ever, with the first happening in NXT in 2022. 

They played cat and mouse early until Perez chucked her ring jacket at Ripley’s face and chop-blocked her. Perez maintained control by working the leg, but Ripley caught her flying crossbody attempt and hit a fallaway slam. Some children chanted, “This is awesome,” a couple of minutes into the match after not much happened. 

Perez regained control during a break and kept targeting the leg. Ripley fought back while selling her leg and hit a Razor’s Edge and a sliding knee for two. 

Giulia walked out to distract Ripley while Perez cradled her for two. Perez followed with a double knee drop for two. Ripley went after Giulia, who was just standing there, and Perez tried to use the distraction, but Ripley fought her off. 

Ripley went for Rip-tide, but Guilia chop-blocked her from behind for the DQ. Cole wondered what they were trying to accomplish. 

Iyo Sky ran out to a big reaction to make the save, repaying the favour from last week. The heels outnumbered Sky, but Ripley came back in to chase them off. 

Match result: Rhea Ripley defeated Roxanne Perez via disqualification (11:49) 

*******

Judgment Day segment 

Finn Bálor excitedly welcomed JD McDonagh back (and acted like they hadn’t seen each other since the moment their segment ended last week). As they caught up, Liv Morgan interrupted to ask if everything was cool and wondered why they weren’t getting ready for their match. 

Bálor was surprised to learn he had a match tonight. McDonagh thought Morgan had already told him that they had a match against the War Raiders. Morgan wasn’t sure Bálor would like hearing that since it wasn’t a title match. Bálor was happy to have the match, but wanted them to keep him in the loop next time. 

********

Jackie Redmond interviewed A-Town Down Under during the break. Austin Theory put over the Kansas City Chiefs, while Grayson Waller congratulated the Philadelphia Eagles on beating the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Waller informed them that he had a singles match next week. Theory was surprised and upset to learn this. 

Logan Paul / Jey Uso segment 

Paul wondered why he was getting booed after beating AJ Styles at WrestleMania. He called the fans victims of circumstance because they were from Kansas City. They didn’t know what greatness looked like. They were so stupid to think a true legend would look like their current world champion, Jey Uso. Paul said he’s done everything there is to do in the industry except win a world title. 

Jey Uso interrupted. Jey said he wasn’t about to hand over the world title he worked 15 years to get to some punk-ass YouTuber. Watching Gunther beat his brother to a bloody pulp lit a fire under him that was never going out. “This title is not given, it’s earned—and it’s mine.” If Paul wanted it, Jey invited him to take it. 

Paul mocked his Yeeting and said he sounded stupid. Paul planned on taking the title, while Jey would crash out, screw up and lose it faster than he lost the Intercontinental Championship. 

Jey laid him out with a superkick, and the crowd popped. 

Jey was good here, and he got a superstar reaction. 

********

New Day joined commentary for the next match. Cole liked Xavier Woods’ haircut because it was the same as Alicia Taylor’s. Woods said he had the hairstyle way before she did. 

The War Raiders vs. Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh (w/Carlito) 

Woods said we were only impressed by Ivar’s offence because he was “fat.” Kingston tried to say he was big-boned, but Woods made sure to call him fat repeatedly. Woods said Bálor had a lot of abs, while Ivar was ab-sent. Cole said he should’ve been in the roast. (The last bit happened during a break.) 

Ivar made a comeback after a break, as Woods continued to make cracks about his weight. Woods was impressed by his moonsault, though. Ivar went for the moonsault but took too long while looking over at New Day, so Bálor moved out of the way. 

McDonagh tagged in and wiped out the Raiders with an Asai moonsault. McDonagh followed with a moonsault in the ring, but Erik broke up the cover. Ivar hit a double handspring elbow as Woods continued to mock him. Kingston said he can easily do that move. 

Ivar grabbed Bálor and chucked him into New Day at ringside as they continued to talk trash. Woods actually caught Bálor, so Ivar tackled them all to the ground. 

Carlito tried to distract the referee to help his team, but Penta suddenly appeared and dropped McDonagh off the top rope (as payback for last week). Erik and Ivar followed with War Machine for the pinfall win. 

Match result: The War Raiders defeated JD McDonagh & Finn Bálor (10:34) 

********

Otis met with Zayn backstage, but left after Heyman entered. Heyman said he and Zayn were OG Bloodline. Zayn said that might be true, but Heyman blew that all up after what he did. 

Heyman said Rollins viewed himself as the vanguard of the industry’s future, and Breakker was his dog at the gate. Breakker was demanding a match with Zayn, and they couldn’t say no to that because Bron was the key to their plans. However, Rollins held Zayn in such reverence that if he accepted a trade to SmackDown, he would get a pass. 

Heyman already spoke to Aldis. If Zayn accepted Rollins’ offer, he would face the winner of John Cena vs. Randy Orton for the title. Heyman urged him to think about his future and his family. He said Zayn could live in the future or die with the past. (Zayn seemed to be taking this under consideration.) 

********

Jeff Passan and Ryan Blaney were in the crowd. 

There was a video package of Becky Lynch’s turn last week. They added a ton of fake booing that did not happen.  

Becky Lynch / Lyra Valkyria segment 

Lynch entered to a mixed reaction. She said Bayley was tragically taken out of her WrestleMania match, but there wouldn’t be any murder mystery or weeks-long who did it. She examined the footage and found the culprit — “It was me! I did it!” 

Lynch was amused with herself until people booed. She told them not to act like she was the bad guy. Bayley has attacked her nonstop since 2019. Bayley never apologized to her. 

Lynch said Bayley forgot what this industry was all about. She begged for people to like her while she wore everyone else’s shirts and danced to their songs. Bayley wondered why she wasn’t a bigger star, but she saw a bigger star when Lynch walked out at WrestleMania. 

Lynch moved on to Lyra Valkyria. She said the friend of her enemy was her enemy. Valkyria would not be in this business if not for her. Lynch had high hopes for Valkyria, but Lynch watched at home while she cozied up to the woman she’s been fighting for six years. Lynch called her a loser for tagging with Bayley. 

Valkyria interrupted. She said many women in the back warned her about Lynch. Bayley was the first. Valkyria didn’t want to believe them. She was caught up in the fairytale dream of winning the tag titles with Lynch at Mania. 

It took Valkyria too long to realize it, but after three consecutive Man-handle slams last week, she realized who Lynch was—and now she would pay for it. Valkyria entered the ring, but Lynch bailed. (Some fans were giving Valkyria the What treatment, but she got them on her side by asking if they wanted to see a fight.) 

Valkyria tried to egg on Lynch by reminding her that she beat her the last time they wrestled. Lynch said she would only wrestle when it mattered, and Kansas City didn’t matter. Valkyria wasn’t surprised, so she suggested Backlash. Valkyria also put her title on the line because she knew Lynch wouldn’t accept otherwise. 

Lynch said she would make the title matter, just like she made Valkyria matter. Valkyria told her to shut up. Valkyria made herself matter. She would be a better person than Lynch, and she was already a better wrestler. 

Lynch started ranting, so Valkyria attacked her, but Lynch bailed through the crowd. It seemed like the segment was wrapping up with Valkyria posing on the stage, but Lynch dropped her from behind. 

********

Aldis met with Penta backstage. Aldis didn’t appreciate Penta getting involved in the match earlier. Aldis let him off with a warning because he didn’t want to fine him. Aldis let him know he would be wrestling McDonagh next week. (Why weren’t the heels admonished for interfering last week?) 

Chad Gable (with Ivy Nile) mocked Penta for dropping the ball at Mania. Gable said his favourite part was watching his useless brother Fénix lose to El Grande Americano. Penta dropped him with a kick and told him not to mess with the Lucha Bros. 

********

There was a Rusev video package. He left WWE and fell into the abyss. He fixed himself while he was there. He realized he should no longer fight for a woman for a flag. He was free to crush people, not because he was told to, but because he wanted to. 

Non-title match: NXT Women’s Champion Stephanie Vaquer vs. Ivy Nile (w/Chad Gable) 

Vaquer hit Devil’s Kiss to the delight of the crowd. Nile blocked it earlier, which the crowd didn’t appreciate. After a break, Vaquer did it again. Vaquer hit a Meteora in the corner, but Gable put Nile’s feet on the rope. 

Vaquer confronted Gable, but Nile dropped her with a German suplex outside the ring. Nile hit another one in the ring for two. Nile went to the top, but Vaquer hit her with headbutts before hitting a superplex for a nearfall. The crowd chanted, “This is awesome.” 

Nile countered Vaquer’s finisher with a uranage for two. Vaquer trapped Nile in the ropes and hit a superkick. Vaquer followed with a dragon screw and SVB for the pinfall win. 

This was a pretty good TV match. The crowd liked Vaquer. 

Match result: Stephanie Vaquer defeated Ivy Nile (9:33)

******** 

Aldis met with AJ Styles until they were interrupted by Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, and Dominik Mysterio. Morgan apologized in advance for tanking the ratings because she needed time off to film a big Hollywood movie. Aldis granted her the time off and said it was already taken care of. 

Dom wanted time off, too. Aldis wondered why, and Dom said he was the IC champ and he could do what he wanted. Aldis said no. Being the champion meant working more often. 

Dom suggested he find a retirement home for Styles and wondered if he broke his hip, like his deadbeat dad did. Styles said no, but offered to break something else. Judgment Day left, while Dom held up his belt so Styles could see it. Styles had an idea, and Aldis already knew what it was. 

******** 

Karrion Kross met with Zayn. Kross said Zayn had a big decision to make and hoped he made the right one. (Kross wore his hair like Zayn. He did not get the big reaction he got last week.)

********

Pat McAfee promo 

McAfee cut a promo while standing on the announce table. McAfee said a lot of people have forgotten who the hell he was. He’s had such a successful career on the microphone that even he has forgotten who he is. He looked in the mirror and realized he was still that dog that was born in the East Hills of Pittsburgh to a truck driver who lived paycheck to paycheck to paycheck. 

He was not handed a lot in this life, but he was blessed to have a lot of friends. He went from being a bum to being someone known in every city in the country. He wasn’t better-looking than most folks, but he had things he hoped people remembered him by. 

When he was six feet under, he hoped people would speak about how hard he worked. He received a lot and gave back a lot. He gave millions of dollars back to his community. To children’s hospitals across the country, military foundations, homeless shelters, and LGBTQ communities. 

He wanted people to say he left the world better than when he entered it. Most of all, he wanted people to say he was a loyal motherf—ker. (This was censored.) 

There was one man who was with him from the beginning, the greatest of all time, Michael Cole. People chanted for Cole. McAfee had no other option than to protect his boy when that Austrian asshole attacked him. McAfee dropped an f-bomb again when addressing Gunther. He called out “SmackDown’s version of Adam Pearce.” 

Aldis entered. Aldis said Pearce might like chaos to reign supreme, but he wasn’t in charge tonight. Aldis told him to be professional. McAfee wanted Aldis to lift Gunther’s ban so he could fight him ASAP. Aldis said no. The two of them were too valuable as assets to the company. 

Aldis had a proposal: a sanctioned contest inside the ring. (I assume that’s what McAfee was asking for in the first place.) Aldis proposed a singles match at Backlash. McAfee accepted and threw down the mic. 

********

Jey Uso met with Zayn. Jey knew he would make the best decision for himself. Zayn thanked him and they hugged. 

The camera stayed on Jey for a while until Logan Paul punched him out. 

******** 

There was a quick segment with Sky and Ripley. Ripley wanted Sky to know she didn’t need her help, and Sky quipped, “Looked like you did.” (Sky will be on tomorrow’s NXT.)

Next week on Raw: 

  • Rusev vs. Otis 
  • Penta vs. JD McDonagh 

********

Seth Rollins / Sami Zayn segment 

Rollins entered alone and called out Zayn. Rollins tried to reason with him. Zayn may not like Heyman and Breakker, but Rollins and Zayn were friends. Zayn celebrated with Jey last week because they were friends. 

Rollins said nobody was better suited to lead them into the future than him. It hurt that Zayn didn’t believe in him. The business tore friendships apart. They’ve both experienced that. He wondered how many true friends they could still count on. Zayn was one of Rollins’ true friends. Rollins turned to Zayn for advice when his baby girl was born. 

Rollins wanted to return the favour by giving Zayn advice that would save his life: Take the way out. Take whatever Heyman offered him. If Zayn didn’t believe in him, bad things would happen, and Rollins didn’t want that. 

Zayn said he was sorry if he had hurt him as a friend. Everything he said about them was true. They were real friends outside of the business, as were their kids. However, Zayn knew Rollins was playing games with what he said in the ring. 

Zayn admitted that Rollins was better than he was at doing that. Rollins knew what card to play because Zayn confided in him over the years about the one thing that nagged at him. The one thing he wanted was the WWE Championship, and now Rollins was dangling that in front of him. Zayn was never one to run away. 

Zayn said Rollins talked about hurt feelings, but Zayn wouldn’t just stand there while his friend threatened him. He didn’t care if he was a target because he’s been a target many times before. But Zayn wouldn’t dare be blackmailed or threatened. 

Zayn fired up and insisted that he would become a world champion one day, but it would not be due to a favour; it would be because he did it the right way. Zayn said, “So buddy, as a friend, I respect you. I love you. But this is me telling you to go to hell.” 

Rollins hung his head as Bron’s music hit. Bron entered in his gear, and I guess we’re having a match. 

Sami Zayn vs. Bron Breakker (w/Seth Rollins & Paul Heyman)

Zayn wrestled in jeans. They went to break after Bron hit a leaping clothesline off the apron and over the announce table. Zayn fought back just in time as they returned from break and hit a sunset flip powerbomb off the ropes for two. Zayn followed with a tornado DDT for two. 

Bron came back with a Frankensteiner, but Zayn blocked a spear and hit an exploder in the corner. The crowd cheered as Zayn set up for a Helluva kick, but Bron cut him off with a spear. 

Rollins watched stoically from ringside the entire match. Rollins nodded at Bron, who hit Zayn with another spear. Rollins told Zayn to take the deal, but Zayn told him to go to hell. Zayn pulled himself to his feet but ate a third spear. 

Zayn fell out of the ring, and the referee called for EMTs. As they checked on Zayn, Bron ran around the ring and killed him with a fourth spear. Jamie Noble tried to plead with Bron, but Bron told him to back off. 

Bron tossed Zayn back in the ring, but the ref covered Zayn and called off the match. (Fans kept chanting, “One more time.”) 

— Rollins told Bron that tonight was his first lesson. Zayn made his bed, and now he had to sleep in it. Rollins stomped Zayn. Rollins, Heyman, and Breakker stood tall as the show ended.

This was meant to push Rollins more as a heel, but of course, the fans sang his song. The crowd did cheer for Zayn during the match, but it looks like it’ll take a lot more to turn them completely against Rollins and his group. They might want to start by changing his music. 

Match result: Bron Breakker defeated Sami Zayn via referee stoppage (12:33)

WWE Raw live results: The Raw after WrestleMania 41

Posted on by Steve Khan

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.

**********

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.) 

******** 

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.

******** 

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. 

******** 

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.) 

******** 

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. 

******** 

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 

******** 

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.) 

******** 

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. 

********

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). 

******** 

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 

******** 

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.) 

WWE Raw live results: WrestleMania 41 go-home show

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: April 14, 2025
Location:  Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, CA 

The Big Takeaway —

Seth Rollins stood tall to end the final Raw before WrestleMania 41.

**********

Show Recap — 

Jey Uso, Penta (facing Finn Bálor tonight), Judgment Day, CM Punk, Seth Rollins, and Paul Heyman were shown arriving. 

Gunther interview 

There was a Jey/Gunther video package before Gunther entered. The announcers acted surprised because Michael Cole was meant to interview him later tonight. Cole left the table to join Gunther in the ring. 

The crowd booed Gunther as he spoke. He was in a bad mood over Jey and called him full of crap. The crowd Yeeted, which just upset Gunther even more. Gunther called himself the greatest gift this company ever received. He had been a champion for 80% of his time in the company and was the greatest World Heavyweight Champion of all time. He refused to let somebody like Jey ruin that for him. 

Gunther wanted Jey to enter their match with more confidence than ever because it wouldn’t matter. Gunther would put him down for the fourth consecutive time. Gunther said he did not lose control when he beat up Jimmy Uso. He was in full control when he wiped Jimmy’s blood on himself, and he loved it. Jey should pray to the lord that he was in control, because if he wasn’t, he would have drowned them both in Jimmy’s blood. 

Gunther looked forward to calling his mother and telling her how much he enjoyed beating the living hell out of Jey Uso and walking out of WrestleMania as the champion. He dropped the mic and stormed off. 

This was an effective promo.

******** 

There was a Bianca Belair video promo. She admitted that Iyo Sky and Rhea Riply had brought out a different side of her, but that wasn’t a bad thing. She has been through a lot, but she was still the best. She won the Chamber and has never been beaten at WrestleMania. There was nothing they could do to stop her from winning the title at Mania. 

Cole announced a sold-out crowd of 14,158. 

Bayley (w/Women’s Intercontinental Lyra Valkyria) defeated Tag Team Champion Liv Morgan (w/Tag Team Champion Raquel Rodriguez) (12:54)

The opening match kicked off at 8:19 pm. 

Morgan tried three amigos outside the ring, but Bayley blocked the third one. Morgan managed to stomp Bayley’s hand on the steel steps and hit a vertical suplex off the steps. Morgan controlled through a break, thanks in part to a cheap shot by Rodriguez. Things really slowed down as Morgan applied a rest hold before they came back from break. 

Bayley hit a knee strike after a break, but Morgan avoided a sunset flip bomb and drove her into the turnbuckle instead. Morgan countered Bayley a couple of times before Bayley hit a knee strike and sunset flip buckle bomb for two. Morgan hit a Codebreaker on the apron, followed by a dropkick off the apron for a two count in the ring. 

Morgan tried something off the ropes, but Bayley caught her with a stunner, followed by a Bayley-to-belly. Bayley seemingly had it won, but Rodriguez put Morgan’s foot on the rope to break up the cover. At least she tried to. Morgan’s foot fell off. 

Valkyria went after Rodriguez, but Rodriguez booted her, so Bayley gave her a stunner in the ropes. As the ref got rid of Rodriguez, Morgan hit a backstabber. Morgan tried an Oblivion, but Valkyria held Bayley from behind in the ropes, which caused Morgan to fall backward. Bayley followed with a jackknife cover for the pinfall win. 

They messed up the rope break spot, but the actual finish was clever, and it obviously made sense for Bayley to win. The crowd popped big for the finish. 

Match result: Bayley defeated Liv Morgan 

******** 

Paul Heyman was shown awaiting the arrival of Roman Reigns. 

There was a Rhea Ripley video promo. She didn’t appreciate Belair making her look like the bad guy. She told Sky to cherish every moment with the title while she could. Belair would find out what it felt like when Ripley was the bad guy, and she would walk out as champion at WrestleMania. 

Rey Mysterio (w/LWO) defeated Julius Creed (w/American Made) (10:19) 

A ref distraction led to Chad Gable dropping Rey on the top rope. LWO returned the favour by crotching Julius. The ref saw both teams standing on the apron, so he tossed everyone to the back. 

Julius had control during a break, and like in the opening match, he held a rest hold before they came back from break. Right on time, Rey made his comeback following the break. 

Rey sent Julius out of the ring with a hurricanrana. Rey went for a sliding splash, but Julius caught him, held him up high and walked up the steps to the apron. Julius tried a charge, but Rey dodged it, and Julius went shoulder-first into the post. Rey hit a hurricanrana off the ropes, followed by ten punches in the corner and a DDT for two. 

El Grande Americano ran out and leaped onto the apron. Rey tried to rip his mask off, so Julius put Rey in a cradle for two. Rey shoved Julius into Americano, knocking him off the apron. Rey followed with a 619 and springboard splash for the pinfall win. 

The crowd popped big for the finish again. This isn’t a complaint, but it was the second straight match with a babyface outsmarting the heels. 

— After the match, El Grande Americano, now with a loaded mask, hit Rey with a running headbutt. LWO tried to make the save, but Americano laid them all out by himself (with a slight assist from Julius) using the loaded mask. He landed a diving headbutt on Rey and stood tall. 

Match result: Rey Mysterio defeated Julius Creed 

******** 

The War Raiders cut a pre-taped promo on New Day. 

Jackie Redmond interviewed New Day in the back (as Xavier Woods played Clash of Clans). Kofi Kingston said Erik and Ivar might want war, but New Day have been dealing with war from the locker room for months. When New Day won their titles back, the fans would have no choice but to say Thank God for the New Day. 

There was a video package of Undertaker beating Triple H in Hell in a Cell with Shawn Michaels as referee at WrestleMania 28. 

AJ Styles defeated Karrion Kross (w/Scarlett) (9:46) 

This was Kross’ first televised match since he, AOP, and The Miz beat the Wyatt Sicks back in September. Cole said Kross had tights made by the same person who made tights for Styles and deliberately had similar ones made. 

Kross quickly took control of Styles, thanks in part to a cheap shot by Scarlett. For the third match in a row, the two wrestlers sat in a rest hold as the ad break came to an end. Styles did not immediately make a comeback following the break, as Kross hit a DVD for two. 

Styles began fighting back by kicking Kross’ leg. Kross tripped and played it like he was hurt “for real,” but he was faking, and Styles fell for it. Kross was mocking Styles’ injury from months ago. That pissed off Styles who fired back until Kross dropped him with a DDT. 

Kross tried a clothesline from behind, but Styles ducked it and hit a fireman’s carry neckbreaker. Styles followed with a Phenomenal forearm for the pinfall win. 

— Logan Paul entered the stage post-match. He said the people of Sacramento weren’t cool enough to live in Los Angeles and weren’t smart enough to live in San Francisco. He complimented Styles’ win and said they would “cook” at WrestleMania. He wanted to show everyone why they would make money at Mania, so he aired a video package of himself. 

Styles called him a smartass and told him to get in the ring so they could start Mania early. Kross tried a sneak attack, but Styles saw it coming. He fought them both off and gave Kross a reverse DDT. 

However, Paul nailed Styles with his loaded fist and laid him out with Paulverizer. 

Match result: AJ Styles defeated Karrion Kross 

********

Heyman is still waiting for Reigns. 

Gable cut a promo on the stage during a break. He was upset about being screwed out of a Mania spot again, but was happy to see an up-and-comer like El Grande Americano get an opportunity to cement his legacy as the greatest luchador of all time. 

Jey Uso segment

Jey Uso, wearing all black (with white sneakers), entered to a big reaction. The crowd chanted “One more time” when his music cut, so he had them play it again for a moment. 

He cut a promo while standing on the announce table. He shouted out his mom, who was somewhere in the crowd. He said people were wondering where his mind was at, and wondered if he was crashing out. He was crashing out, but he was locked in. Listening to Gunther made him realize that Gunther was afraid. Afraid that Jey would whip his ass in front of 60,000 people for the world title. Jey told Gunther he would get him on Saturday. They played his music, and that was that. 

********

Cathy Kelley tried interviewing Bron Breakker, but he was immediately attacked by Judgment Day. Bálor chucked him into some equipment boxes before officials intervened. 

Finn Bálor defeated Penta via disqualification (11:34)

They wrestled in a tag match a couple of weeks ago, but this was a first-time-ever singles match. 

Penta knocked Bálor off the apron during his entrance and followed with a flip dive. The match began moments later when they entered the ring. Penta was in control early on as a result until Bálor hit a basement dropkick. Bálor did a “too sweet” hand gesture before driving Penta onto the apron ahead of a break. 

They technically broke the rest hold streak from the previous three matches. Bálor did use a rest hold during the break, but Penta broke it during the break instead of as they returned. Bálor hit a superplex as they returned from break for two. Penta fought back and hit a backstabber for two. 

Penta hit a slingblade, but Bálor followed right away with a slingblade of his own. Penta avoided a running dropkick and hit a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Penta snapped Bálor’s arm, but Bálor countered a Penta driver into a roll-up for two. Penta followed with kicks but became distracted by Carlito and Dominik appearing at ringside. 

Bálor used the distraction to apply a schoolboy for two. Bálor followed with a dropkick, but before he could set up for Coup de Grace, Bron Breakker entered (to his music). 

Carlito was in the same position at the bottom of the ramp as last week, so he ran away before Bron could kill him. Bron instead attacked Bálor for the DQ. 

Carlito and Dom attacked Bron, but he actually hit them both with a double spear. Bron tried to spear Penta, but Penta fought him off and wiped out everyone (minus Bálor) with a dive. 

Match result: Finn Bálor defeated Penta via disqualification 

*******

There was an Iyo Sky video promo (in Japanese). She said Ripley and Belair kept pushing her aside, but they were forgetting that she was the whole reason they were fighting in the first place. Sky was done being ignored and forgotten. She has beaten them before and would do it again. After WrestleMania, they will never forget the name of Iyo Sky, Women’s World Champion. 

The announcers ran down the cards for WrestleMania nights one and two. 

******** 

CM Punk sat down next to Heyman, who still awaited the arrival of Roman Reigns. Punk was amused and said he’s never seen Heyman so stressed. Reigns happened to arrive in a GMC SUV at this moment, as Punk put his arm around Heyman. Reigns stormed off, and Heyman tried to follow. 

Main event segment with Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, CM Punk and Paul Heyman

Roman Reigns entered, and Heyman followed. Heyman tried handing a mic to Reigns as usual, but Reigns charged past him to grab a different one. Heyman appeared dismayed as Reigns told Sacramento to acknowledge him. They did. 

Reigns said the world can hear the people love and acknowledge him. The world could see that they would never betray him. But not everyone was like them. Some people would betray him. Heyman stared directly at Reigns as he spoke, while Reigns looked past him. 

Reigns finally turned his attention to Heyman and asked how he could betray him. The crowd chanted, “You f—cked up” (which they tried to censor). The crowd booed Heyman (after cheering him earlier when he was shown arriving). Heyman said it was not a betrayal; he paid back a favour that he owed. 

Reigns was confused. You normally pay back a favour yourself, but the only person getting screwed in his scenario was him. Reigns would never ask for a favour. You take what you want. Reigns never asked anyone to join him at War Games. He never asked for this, so he wondered why he had to pay the tab for Heyman’s dumbass favour. 

Seth Rollins interrupted. (He wore a black leather cargo vest with oversized black tactical pants and boots.) Rollins said Reigns was finally starting to put the pieces together after all these years. Reigns was just missing one piece, but it was too late for him. 

Rollins still wanted to end him at WrestleMania because it was still the right thing to do. Rollins called this the most important triple threat match in the history of this industry because the winner would define the future of the industry. That person could not be Reigns because if the industry was filled with people who only showed up when it was convenient and wanted everyone else to do the dirty work, it would die. If the industry was filled with people like CM Punk, who pick up their ball and go home only to come back and leech off others’ success, it would die. 

Rollins didn’t want the business to die—and it wouldn’t if it were filled with people like him. People who sacrificed and would always do what was best for business. There could only be one, and it had to be Rollins. 

The piece that Reigns hadn’t yet figured out was that favours didn’t happen by chance; they were a choice. Rollins chose not to put Heyman in the hospital last week, and now Heyman could choose to pay that favour back to him. But Heyman was a scumbag and Rollins expected nothing from him. Heyman chose to be in Punk’s corner. It wasn’t just a betrayal. Heyman was choosing, and Reigns had to figure out why he was choosing Punk over him. 

Reigns said Rollins was right. Heyman made his choice. Reigns made his choice, too. Reigns decked Rollins and shoved him into the ring post. Heyman was delighted by this, and he acknowledged Reigns. However, Reigns pie-faced Heyman and shoved him to the mat. 

CM Punk ran out and attacked Reigns, knocking him out of the ring. Punk checked on Heyman, but turned around into a spear by Reigns. 

Rollins hit Reigns in the back with a steel chair (the same way he did when he broke up The Shield). Rollins and his large boots handed out curb stomps to both Reigns and Punk. Heyman looked on in fear as Rollins stood tall, chair in hand.

WWE Raw live results: CM Punk, Paul Heyman, Seth Rollins appear

Posted on by Colin McGuire

The second-to-last WWE Raw episode before WrestleMania 41 takes place tonight from the Target Center in Minneapolis.

CM Punk, Paul Heyman, and Seth Rollins are all scheduled for the show. On SmackDown last Friday, Punk revealed that he’s cashing in his favor to have Heyman in his corner at WrestleMania. Punk vs. Rollins vs. Roman Reigns is official for the show and will main event night one

Another triple threat could get announced for WrestleMania with Raw general manager Adam Pearce set to address the Women’s World Championship situation tonight. IYO SKY vs. Bianca Belair is the match that’s currently on the books for Mania, but Rhea Ripley is expected to be added. Last week’s SKY vs. Ripley title bout ended in a chaotic brawl after special guest referee Belair called for a double disqualification.

Lyra Valkyria vs. Bayley for the Women’s Intercontinental title and The War Raiders vs. New Day for the World Tag Team titles have both been announced for tonight. Penta will be in action against Dominik Mysterio. And “El Grande Americano” will compete in Chad Gable’s hometown.

Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

**********

– Michael Cole welcomed everyone into the show as shots of Allegiant Stadium aired. The scene then cut to Minneapolis, where Raw is being held tonight.

– Gunther, The New Day, War Raiders, Judgment Day, Penta and Paul Heyman were all shown walking backstage.

– A recap of last week’s IYO SKY/Bianca Belair/Rhea Ripley developments aired.

– RAW GM Adam Pearce was in the ring for the first segment. Pearce welcomed IYO SKY to the ring.

The IYO SKY/Rhea Ripley/Bianca Belair segment

There wasn’t too much to this and if anything it put an exclamation point on the fact that the build for this match has been lackluster and on top of that, there’s a growing number of people who subscribe to the notion that this shouldn’t even be a triple threat to begin with. Ripley vs. Belair would have been great. Ditto for SKY vs. Ripley. Ditto for all the other combinations. Instead, this feels like a triple threat for the sake of being a triple threat. The match will probably be pretty good, but what could have been would have been better. I hope Ripley is OK. That dropkick she took from SKY forced her to konk heads with Belair and Ripley appeared to take the worst of it.

Pearce began by taking responsibility for what happened last week. Pearce said he was wrong to think any of them could handle things like professionals. Pearce then announced to right the wrong, he’s going to make the WWE Women’s Championship match at WrestleMania a triple threat between Belair, SKY and Ripley. Pearce presented a contract for everyone to sign.

Belair hopped on a microphone and said she would normally be mad that Ripley just walked in, did whatever she wanted and is now added to the match. These days, Belair said, she’s not mad, though, because she’s not scared of Ripley. Belair said she will walk out of WrestleMania as the new WWE Women’s Champion and she wil go through Ripley to get it.

Ripley started talking and Belair told Ripley to shut up and pushed the contract into Ripley’s chest, telling her to sign the document. Ripley through the contract back at Belair. SKY intervened and the women pushed her away. SKY was annoyed, threw down her mic and walked out of the ring. Pearce stopped her and SKY dropkicked Ripley into Belair before signing the contract for WrestleMania. Ripley and Belair were left lying as SKY’s music hit and SKY left to end the segment.

**********

– Finn Balor vs. Penta vs. Dominik Mystero vs. Bron Breakker for the Intercontinental Championship was made official for WrestleMania.

– The Judgment Day were shown backstage and Live was attempting to convince Balor it’s best to have two members of their group in the Mania match. Balor noted how some think Dom doesn’t have a killer instinct and is a loser. Things got weird and Balor walked away. Carlito stepped in and said he has Dom’s back.

Lyra Valkyria defeated Bayley to retain the WWE Women’s Intercontinental Championship [13:24]

There were some clunky moments, but the crowd really came around by the end of it and the women worked really hard to get there. Plus … my God, those knees that Bayley laid in were something to behold. The first one, especially, felt a little personal, but thankfully, Valkyria seemed OK. The post-match stuff was odd in that Valkyria seemed surprised that Bayley first shrugged her off and then hugged her. If anything, Valkyria looked confused. Either way, this is one of the better women’s I.C. title matches to date. Not that there have been a lot, but this felt like these two had a point to prove. It wasn’t perfect, but it seemed like they got to where it needed to be by the time it was all said and done.

The two wrestled for control to start things out with Valkyria getting the best of it for a quick moment. Valkyria rolled up Bayley for a two-count and the match reset. Bayley rolled through to pin Valkyria, but Valkyria kicked out at two. Bayley knee’d the hell out of Valkyria’s head and things looked dicey for a couple seconds but Valkyria bounced back and went for a pair of pin attempts to no avail.

Valkyria worked what Pat McAfee called an Irish Swing, which stretched Bayley out. Valkyria eventually got a two-count because of it. Valkyria went to kick Bayley, but Bayley moved and went to the outside. Valkyria landed a dropkick through the ropes onto Bayley. Back inside the ring, Valkyria hit a cross-body from the top rope for a two-count. The show then went to a commercial break.

The show went to a commercial break and Bayley was working a half-crab. The two traded forearms after Valkyria worked her way out of the submission. Bayley hit a neck-breaker and Valkyria fell to the outside. Bayley followed up with a baseball slide, but Valkyria moved when Bayley went for a suicide dive. All of this ended up with Bayley giving Valkyria a Bayley-To-Belly on the outside of the ring. Both wrestlers barely beat the 10-count to get back inside the ring.

Bayley lfited Valkyria, but Valkyria countered with an arm-drag. Valkyria landed Night Wing, but Bayley kicked out at two. Cole sold the fact that Valkyria “didn’t get all of it.” Valkyria lifted Bayley again, but Bayley worked out and landed another stiff knee to Valkyria’s head. Bayley placed Valkyria on the top and went for a super-plex, but Valkyria fought out and lifted Bayley, but that amounted to nothing. As a result, Bayley came back with a Sunset Flip Bomb into a corner.

Bayley kicked Valkyria a few times and went to the arpon. Valkyria cut her off and dragged her back into the ring for a Tornado DDT-Fisherman’s Suplex combination and earned a good near fall because of it. Valkyria went to the top, but Bayley caught Valkyria and worked a Boston Crab. The crowd woke up at the thought of Bayley beating Valkyria. Bayley let go of the hold and set up for a Rose Plant, but Valkyria rolled Bayley up and escaped with the win.

After the match, Valkyria went for a handshake, but Bayley pushed her away. Bayley started to walk away, but turned around and hugged Valkyria.

**********

– Cathy Kelly interviewed comedian Burt Kreischer backstage, but Chad Gable interrupted him. Otis then walked in and ripped his own shirt off. Kreischer did the same to himself and Otis and Kreischer hugged.

– Jackie Redmond interviewed AJ Styles backstage and mentioned how Logan Paul “did a lot of things” last week. Redmond asked Styles where his head was at. Styles said it’s in a good place because he’ll get an opportunity to embarrass Logan Paul. Karrion Kross showed up and asked Styles to explain the situation to him. Kross said he can’t let Styles lose at Mania because if he loses, they all lose. Styles said he’ll give Kross a taste of the better AJ Styles next week on Raw.

American Made (El Grande Americano, Julius Creed & Brutus Creed) defeated the LWO (Dragon Lee, Cruz Del Toro & Joaquin Wilde) [10:28]

A fine TV match for what it was. I’m sort of agnostic on the Americano bit, and I’m not sure they got the most out of Gable being in his home state, but this was fun in its own silly way. Wilde and Del Toro deserve better. Shoot. Dragon Lee deserves better. Having covered the SmackDown beat for this site the last few years, I can attest to the fact that the LWO spun its wheels on Friday nights and, now taking this in, it appears the wheels seem to be spinning again on Monday nights for them. All three guys are talented and unless WWE decides to heat Mysterio up, which they haven’t in a while, the LWO feels like a non-starter. That in mind, this was a quality television six-man that had a few memorable spots. So it goes.

Brutus grounded Del Toro to start the match and followed it up with a strong shoulder block. Julius tagged in and Del Toro hit an arm-drag before tagging in Wilde. Wilde spun Julius around with his legs and went for an arm-bar, but that only led to things breaking down as all six men brawled inside the ring. The LWO team stood tall and hit a trio of dives onto their opponents on the outside of the ring. Back inside the ring, the LWO trio went to separate top ropes, but the heels cut them off and landed a series of super-plexes. The show then went to a commercial break.

The show returned and Julius was working over Lee. The two fought on the second rope and Lee turned things around with a double-stomp. Del Toro received the hot tag as Brutus tagged in and Del Toro ran over American Made with a series of fired-up moves. Del Toro briefly stopped to throw his shirt into the crowd. Del Toro kept up the momentum until Americano got involved. Lee tagged in and lifted Americano. I’m not quite sure what happened, but Americano got up and went face-to-face with Lee, who powerbombed Americano. Julius appeared out of nowhere for a Shooting Star Press on Lee. “This is awesome!” chants began.

Wilde jumped 5,000 feet in the air onto American Made on the outside. Wilde followed that up with a Corkscrew. Ivy Nile gave Americano something to put into his mask and Americano headbutted Rey Mysterio, but Lee intervened. That led to Americano headbutting Lee and hitting a diving headbutt – complete with the steel plate in his mask – from the top rope on Lee for the win.

**********

– A recap of what happened between Gunther and the Usos last week aired.

The Gunther/Jey Uso segment

This was really good. Really, really good. The touch of Jey motioning for the crowd to not Yeet along with him because of how serious the moment was turned out to be quite effective, most so because the crowd actually kind of/sort of listened and settled down. I’m not sure I’ve seen more fire ever come from Jey Uso in a promo and Gunther played his part perfectly, grinning until he didn’t, feeling at ease until it was clear he was unsettled. I’ve been wondering all these weeks about how they’d keep heat on this program, considering how early in the season the match was announced, and while there was a lull, this was fantastic in terms of adding another layer to the match. Kudos to both guys. If nothing else, they made this viewer care.

Gunther walked out all smiles, laughing a bit, even. Gunther stood on the commentary table and held up his title as the crowd booed. Gunther was given a microphone on the outside of the ring and Gunther then entered the ring. “We want Jey!” chants broke out. Before Gunther could talk, Jey Uso’s music hit and the arena started to Yeet. Uso walked through the crowd not Yeeting and looking quite angry. Gunther smiled in the ring and took off his suit coat. Gunther rolled up his sleeves as Uso took his time going through the crowd.

Uso entered the ring. He was in all black and he continued to look angry. Gunther continued to giggle. Uso knocked the microphone out of Gunther’s hand with force. Uso took off his all-black sunglasses to show hurt. “Ohhh-Sooo!” chants broke out. Uso spoke in hushed tones and asked Gunther if he had a mom. Gunther looked confused. Uso asked Gunther if he talks to his mom and asked Gunther what they talk about – “Family stuff? How’s the wife? How’s the grandson?” Uso said he has a mother, too, and he had to tell his mom that her son is in a hospital bed.

Uso said Jimmy got 15 stitches in his head. Uso said his mom asked Jey, “Why didn’t you protect him, Joshua?” Jey said he wasn’t going to lie to his mom and he told her that it was because he was afraid of Gunther. Jey said Gunther was playing chess and he had Jey, but it wasn’t enough for Gunther. Gunther had to get Jey’s family involved, Jey said, and recalled how he watched Gunther wipe his brother’s blood all over his body. Jey said he never felt so hopeless, helpless, pissed off, etc. Jey yelled at Gunther and said he violated his twin in front of him and made his heart stop.

Jey said in his darkest moment, a lightbulb went off for him. Jey said he realized he’s not afraid of Gunther no more. “Yeet!” chants broke out. Jey said before WrestleMania, he’s going to lay his head down and say a prayer for Gunther and he’s going to ask the lord to forgive him for the man he’s about to become. Jey said at WrestleMania, he’s going to get Gunther for himself, for his Jimmy and his whole damn family. Jey said he’d take the World Heavyweight Championship and threw the microphone. Jey’s music hit and Jey slowly got himself out of the ring, no Yeeting involved.

**********

– A video recapping what happened between Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman, CM Punk and Seth Rollins on Friday aired.

– Natalya and Maxxine Dupri were shown talking to Adam Pearce backstage and Rey Mysterio walked in. Mysterio was angry and said Americano is making a mockery of everything he’s ever loved. Mysterio said he wanted to face Americano at WrestleMania. Pearce and Mysterio shook hands.

– Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe joined the commentary team at the desk. He’s hosting the Roast Of WrestleMania, remember?! Yeah. All right.

The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) defeated The War Raiders (Erik & Ivar) via DQ [9:27]

This was flat. Admittedly, I lost a minute or two due to a bad Netflix stream issue, but the finish was nonsense and it appears we’re on our way to the War Raiders vs. New Day at Mania for the tag titles. That’s fine. Trying to heat it up with less than two weeks to go by having the New Day attempt to kill Erik feels a bit rushed, but we are where we are. I like the New Day as heels and I root for the War Raiders to work, considering how they were once on the short end of the booking stick when it comes to the company’s former booker. But does this have any juice behind it? No. It does not.

Ivar and Kingston began the match. Kingston quickly rolled to the outside after Ivar got the upper hand. Woods tagged in and teased getting in the ring until Kingston distracted Erik and from there, Woods and Kingston beat Erik down. Eventually, Erik regained control and slammed both Kingston and Woods. Erik bodyslammed Ivar onto Kingston. Wood was thrown outside and Woods grabbed a chair, but Erik cut him off with a punch. Ivar worked over Kingston on the other side of the outside of the ring and Ivar then hit a splash on Woods on the outside. The War Raiders posed for the camera and the show went to a commercial break.

After returning to action, chairs got involved and the War Raiders were DQ’d because of the chairs. After the match, The New Day set up Erik and ran him into a chair perched in the corner. The heels then sent Ivar into the timekeeper’s area. Woods grabbed another chair and New Day went to work on Erik’s surgically repaired neck. Officials ran out to stop Kingston from coming off the top onto Erik’s neck, which was draped on a chair.

**********

– A video recapping the John Cena/Cody Rhodes program aired.

Penta defeated Dominik Mysterio [8:17]

The winner felt like it was never in doubt. The post-match angle felt like it was never in doubt. Meh. Much like the women’s title match that I whined about earlier, I don’t know why we can’t have a simple one-on-one bout for some of these titles, but Mania is about getting everybody on the card, right? Maybe? How else do you explain those battle royals? Anyway, my preference would have been Penta vs. Bron, but we probably all agree that this is set up for the single reason to give the kill shot to the Judgment Day for good in Vegas. Finally. Mercifully. Hopefully? Whatever it ends up being, this match tonight was predictable and bland.

Dominik had control early, at one point posing on the second rope. Penta ultimately came back with a backbreaker and a kind of/sort of Slingblade. Penta went to the top and landed a cross-body on Dominik and Carlito, who were on the outside. The show went to a commercial break after that. The show returned and Penta jumped into a kick from Dom, who then landed the Three Amigos for a two-count. Dom dropkicked Penta and set up for a 619, but instead ran into a super-kick from Penta .

Penta landed the double-stomp onto Dom in a corner, but Dom got the shoulder up at two. Penta went for his finisher, but Dom countered and hit a Destroyer of his own. Dom then hit the 619 and went for a Frog Splash, but Penta got his knees up to stop Dom’s momentum. Penta tried for a pin, but Dom got out of it and went for a clothesline, but Penta took Dom down and hit the Sacrifice into the Penta Driver for the win.

After the match, Carlito attacked Penta, complete with a Backstabber. Bron Breakker’s music hit and Breakker slowly walked out and speared the hell out of Carlito. Bron did the same to Dirty Dom inside the ring. Finally, the completed the trifecta by spearing Penta. Finn Balor appeared out of nowhere and took out Bron. Balor then picked up the I.C. title and held it high. Bron tried to spear Balor, but Balor rolled out of the ring. Bron’s music hit to end the segment.

**********

– Next week, AJ Styles will take on Karrion Kross. Also next week, Roman Reigns is set to appear.

The Paul Heyman/Seth Rollins segment

This was really kind of good, but my biggest quabble comes in the form of this: Why the hell did it take CM Punk so long to rush out to the ring? Rollins said more than enough and left more than enough space to allow for Punk to stop everything Rollins was doing. The final straw was Heyman snapping at Rollins? I’m not so sure about any of that. The entire build to this match has felt absentminded and when you combine that with the fact that nobody really wants to see it and it’s going to headline a night at WrestleMania … the world is against Punk, Reigns, Rollins and Heyman, but maybe they can pull a rabbit out of a hat. Time will tell. As for this, it was a solid talking segment that put everything about Heyman into question, which is a good thing. Rollins did a nice job antagonizing not just the Wise Man, but the situation, writ large. With one Monday left, I’m interested to see how they tie a bow on this heading into the Big Show.

Paul Heyman was in the ring back from commercial and Heyman did his regular introduction. Heyman launched right into it and said he will always be loyal to his Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns. Heyman said he will always be loyal to his best friend in the world, CM Punk. Heyman said just because he is loyal to both of them, it doesn’t mean he will ever be disloyal to either of them. Heyman said when it comes to WrestleMania, he wanted to get one thing perfectly clear … until Seth Rollins’s music hit and cut Heyman off.

Rollins grabbed a microphone and went right up to Heyman before screaming, “Minneapolis!” Rollins welcomed everyone to Monday Night Rollins. “Tonight, it’s not about me,” Rollins said, because tonight “is about Paul Heyman.” Rollins called Heyman out for talking about loyalty and asked Heyman whose side Heyman is on. Rollins asked Heyman if he will be the very best friend to CM Punk or if he will be the wise man to Roman Reigns. Rollins said Heyman is trying to convince everyone he can do both at the same time, but it occurred to Rollins that Heyman is neither thing.

Rollins took off his glasses and told Heyman that Roman Reigns doesn’t give a damn about Heyman. Rollins said Reigns uses Heyman and he said Reigns doesn’t respect Heyman. Rollins brought up WrestleMania last year and said Reigns lost his title thanks to Rollins. Rollins noted how Reigns left Heyman after Mania last year and left Heyman in the hands of Solo Sikoa, who did not treat Heyman well. Rollins said everyone wondered when someone would come save Heyman and brought up how Reigns did not come to save Heyman. Instead, Reigns left Heyman to get massacred in his hometown, in front of his children.

Rollins said CM Punk, his best friend in the world, was also not there to save Heyman. Rollins recalled how Punk walked out on everybody in WWE, Heyman included. Rollins said Punk tried to tear down everything Heyman created while he was in WWE. Rollins talked about how Punk and Heyman love to reminisce about War Games. Rollins brought up the fact that Punk was not the first choice to join Heyman’s team at War Games; instead, it was Rollins and Rollins declined the invitation. Rollins said Punk was the last choice and he said Punk only did because he knew he could get a favor out of Heyman. Rollins said Punk loves nobody but himself and he is not Heyman’s best friend.

Rollins said he feels bad for Heyman because he is between a rock and a hard place. Rollins said it would easier if Heyman just removed himself from the equation and let Punk, Rollins and Reigns battle it out “for the soul of this industry.” Rollins wondered aloud about a way to remove Heyman from the situation. Rollins told Heyman it would be for his own good. Rollins said he would take it as a privilege to remove Heyman from the situation “right here, right now.” Rollins said it’d be quick and easy – one quick stomp and it’s all over. Rollins said nobody was there to save Heyman.

Rollins asked Heyman how much he was worth and slightly pushed Heyman. Rollins asked Heyman how much he was worth and slightly slapped Heyman. Rollins pushed Heyman repeatedly. Heyman broke and yelled, “Don’t put your damn hands on me again.” Heyman threw his microphone and Rollins pie-faced Heyman. CM Punk’s music hit and Punk ran out to brawl with Rollins. Punk threw Rollins into the ring stairs. Punk put Rollins’s head on the ring steps, but Rollins moved and Punk rolled into the ring, where Rollins gave Punk the stomp. Heyman tended to Punk and Rollins tried to Stomp Heyman, but Heyman moved slightly. Rollins pulled back anyway and grabbed the microphone to say that Heyman now owes Rollins a favor. The show ended with Rollins standing tall and Heyman looking confused at Rollins.

WWE Raw live results: IYO SKY vs. Rhea Ripley Women’s title match

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: March 31, 2025
Location: The O2 in London, UK 

The Big Takeaway —

Cody Rhodes and John Cena had an entertaining verbal exchange where Cena finally explained why he specifically turned on Rhodes. Cena has still not explained aligning with The Rock (who was mentioned by Rhodes). For the first time in weeks, they did not advertise a Cena/Rhodes segment for next week. 

The need to set up multiple multi-person WrestleMania matches led to two bad finishes on tonight’s show, particularly the main event. 

Gunther bloodied Jimmy Uso, Finn Bálor pinned Penta, Tyler Bate returned, and Lyra Valkyria defends her IC title against Bayley next week. 

*********

Show Recap — 

Rhea Ripley, Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai, Bianca Belair, Logan Paul and cronies, Jey and Jimmy Uso, and Gunther were shown arriving at The O2 in London. 

There was a long shot of the sold-out crowd. There were dueling John Cena chants before his music even hit. 

John Cena and Cody Rhodes segment

Cena entered first, and he soaked in the chants for 30 seconds until Cody Rhodes’ music hit. They stood around for a minute while the fans sang for Cody. 

Rhodes knew Cena would try to “cook” him and wanted to know where he would start. Maybe it would be his lisp, maybe it would be Stardust. The fans chanted for Stardust, and Rhodes said it must bother Cena that Stardust was his final WrestleMania opponent. 

Maybe Cena would insult him for having an arm tattoo on his neck. (Rhodes paused again for the fans singing his name.) Maybe Cena would insult him for being booed in the company he created. 

Rhodes knew Cena wouldn’t bite on any of that. Rhodes might even be struggling with the idea that Superman was dead. (Rhodes paused again for dueling Cena chants.) Rhodes said Cena has lied to the fans the past two weeks. His words did not match his actions. 

Rhodes recalled riding with Cena years ago, and the two of them sang in the car together. Rhodes knew Cena cared about the fans. He wanted Cena to really explain why. 

Cena said he would not reduce himself and punch down to Rhodes’ level. Cena wouldn’t protect Rhodes because he’s been protected long enough. Cena wouldn’t cook Rhodes—he would bury him. Just like he buried everyone else. 

Cena said the fans accused him of burying other talent. Cena was the talent. He buried mediocrity. Cena didn’t care about Rhodes’ lisp or failures. Rhodes manipulated his way to the top, and his ego outmatched his ability. Rhodes rode the coattails of Cena’s success. 

Cena was so great that WWE was able to hand the heartbeat of the organization over to his chauffeur. Rhodes was nothing more than a slimy pickpocket who thought he could run the kingdom because he stole the blueprint. 

It disgusted Cena to see Rhodes with the belt. Rhodes rode with him for years and stole every secret. Rhodes wanted to be undeniable, but he was still underwhelming. Cena tried to tell him that he needed to be authentic because the fans could see through phony. Rhodes didn’t listen, and it showed. He was too perfect and too rehearsed. 

Cena said Rhodes relied on the fans signing his name and his song. He was like the Pied Piper because all he ever did was make a catchy tune trick these people into liking mediocrity. Rhodes didn’t look like Cena, he didn’t act like Cena, and he didn’t work like Cena. But Rhodes didn’t look like, act like, or work like himself, either. He was a generic mix of every superstar and TV show he ever loved. He was still a kid who was afraid of public speaking. Nowadays, that was enough to trick these people. 

Cena worked too hard to make the belt a symbol of mastery to have it paraded around by a paint-by-numbers nepo baby that was so into himself that he had his wrestling gimmick tattooed for the world to see. The problem with Rhodes’ tattoo wasn’t its location; it was that it made him look like a fan, like everyone else. 

Cena advised him to go to Fanatics and buy a toy belt after WrestleMania, because the last real champion was taking the title home forever. He would expose Rhodes as an errand boy who got lucky. 

Rhodes said Cena might be right. Maybe he was chosen. But it was the fans who chose him. Rhodes wondered if Cena could say the same. Was it the fans or one guy in an office who isn’t here anymore, and we can’t talk about it. 

Rhodes was indeed a wrestler like his father, and if anyone was a company creation, it was Cena. People were afraid of Cena on the mic but Rhodes wasn’t because Cena had more dick on the mic than in his jorts. Cena insulted him for acting like a 16-year-old taking public speaking lessons, but Cena was the one hanging out with Zac Efron, wishing he were 16. 

Cena created so many disenfranchised fans that he made it easy for Rhodes to pack up and go elsewhere. He told Cena not to act like he left the business better than when he found it. And between the two of them, Cena was the one who sold out to The Rock. 

Rhodes said Cena was still his hero—but he was also a piece of shit. 

Cena said Rhodes’ brain was full of feces and not facts. He worked 100 times harder than Rhodes, and he was never protected from the fans or a superstar taking their best shot at him. Everyone took their strongest swing when he was in the ring, and no one has ever been worthy, so he just did it all himself. 

Cena always made things great, no matter what garbage they gave him. Rhodes had to leave because his best couldn’t wipe Cena’s ass. Cena made empires for billionaires, while Rhodes only stole money from their kids. Cena dropped the mic. 

Before Cena could leave the ring, Rhodes wanted him to know one thing: never once have the fans chanted at him, “You can’t wrestle.” 

Cena acted offended by this and re-entered the ring. He backed down before attempting a cheap shot, but Rhodes put him down with a Cross Rhodes. The fans chanted for Rhodes. 

********

Michael Cole, Pat McAfee, and Wade Barrett are tonight’s announcers. 

As New Day awaited their opponents, Adam Pearce informed them that they would be wrestling the New Catch Republic—Pete Dunne and the returning Tyler Bate. 

Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods defeated Pete Dunne & Tyler Bate (8:43) 

Dunne and Bate got a fair amount of offence in, but New Day won after hitting UpUpDownDown on Dunne. 

Obviously, Dunne and Bate wrestled as babyfaces here in London, but this wasn’t much of a return for Bate. We’ll see if they drop the whole Butch stuff with Dunne if he’s reuniting with Bate full time. 

— After the match, Cathy Kelley asked New Day if they thought they deserved a title match. Woods asked her if she was slow. They said they deserved a title shot, and they wanted it now. The War Raiders (the champions) entered and faced off with New Day. 

********

Jey and Jimmy Uso met backstage. Jimmy told Jey he wanted to take on Gunther alone tonight. Jey said he would feel better if he were out there. Jimmy said Gunther was a big deal—but so were they. There was no Ring General tonight. Gunther was beatable. Jimmy would beat him tonight, and Jey would beat him at WrestleMania to become champion. They shook hands, but Jey pulled him in close and earnestly told him to be careful. 

********

Jackie Redmond interviewed Ludwig Kaiser during a break. He wants a match at Mania, and if Pearce doesn’t give him one, he may have to take matters into his own hands. 

There was a video package of Triple H beating Mick Foley in a street fight at the 2000 Royal Rumble. They plugged the Hall of Fame. 

Kate Nash (from Netflix’s GLOW), Charlie Brooker (Black Mirror), and UFC’s Michael Page were shown in the crowd. 

******** 

World Heavyweight Champion Gunther defeated Jimmy Uso in a non-title match (8:37) 

Jimmy hit suicide dives and went for an Uso splash, but Gunther got his knees up. Jimmy was able to follow with a superplex and an Uso splash for a nearfall. Gunther chopped him out of mid-air outside the ring and clotheslined him. 

Gunther worked him over during a break, but Jimmy fought back after the break with strikes, superkicks and a German suplex. Gunther cut him off with a dropkick and powerbomb. Gunther seemed to have it won, but he lifted Jimmy’s shoulders off the mat at the two count. Gunther hit a clothesline but lifted him up again at two. 

The crowd chanted, “Yeet,” but Gunther applied a sleeper hold, and Jimmy passed out. 

— Gunther placed Jimmy in the sleeper again after the match, so Jey ran out (to his music). Jey tackled Gunther and wildly attacked him, but Gunther quickly escaped through the crowd. 

During a break, Jimmy heavily sold damage from the sleeper as Jey and medical staff checked on him. As the timer for the commercial break counted down from ten, the crowd began to buzz, so you could tell something was about to happen. 

They came back from break as Jey helped Jimmy walk toward the aisle, but Gunther attacked them both from behind. Security tried to stop Gunther, but he powerbombed one of them onto the steel steps. 

Gunther ziptied Jey to the ring ropes and chucked Jimmy into the barricade. Gunther held up his title belt and taunted Jey with it. The fans called Gunther a wanker. Jimmy got to the apron, but Gunther hit him with the title belt. 

As Gunther continued to taunt Jey, Jimmy reemerged with a bloody face. Gunther powerbombed him as Jey desperately tried to rip the zip tie. Gunther wiped Jimmy’s blood over his body and tasted some of it (before quickly spitting it out). 

Gunther placed bloody Jimmy in a sleeper again as the announcers wondered where the hell help was. Officials finally stepped in and stopped Gunther.

(The match itself was ok, but this was a strong post-match angle that will hopefully—and finally—give Jey the motivation he needs.) 

********

There was a video package of the SmackDown angle with CM Punk, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins. Cole said, “So, what is the favour? Hopefully, we find out soon.” 

Judgment Day met backstage. Finn Bálor and Dominik Mysterio were back on the same page. Bálor sarcastically offered his condolences to Raquel Rodriguez for losing her IC title match last week. Bálor said he would bring home the IC title to Judgment Day. 

********

Bron Breakker entered during a break. Everyone else entered live. 

Finn Bálor & Dominik Mysterio (w/Carlito) defeated Penta & Intercontinental Champion Bron Breakker (9:10) 

Penta suffered his first pinfall loss in WWE. 

Penta hit a dive and, believe it or not, that led to a break. Judgment Day used a referee distraction to take control. Penta gave Dom a backstabber after the break and made the hot tag to Bron, who handed out suplexes to both opponents. 

Bálor and Dom set up for a double vertical suplex on Bron, but Bron hoisted them up and gave them a very impressive-looking double suplex instead. Bron hoisted Bálor on his shoulders (for a Steinerizer), and Penta brought him down with an elevated slingblade, but Dom broke up the cover. As cool as all this was, it led to a somewhat convoluted finish. 

Penta went for a Canadian Destroyer on Bálor, but Dom grabbed him from the apron. The referee just stood by and watched because he knew this was leading to the planned finish. Bron set up for a spear, and Dom warned Bálor it was coming. Dom then shoved Penta into Bálor, and that knocked Bálor aside, so Bron speared Penta by accident instead. 

Dom dropkicked Bron out of the ring, and Bálor hit Penta with Coup de Grace for the pinfall win. 

********

Chad Gable told Pearce he was impressed with El Grande Americano and would love to wrestle him one day. Gable was still sick, though, and couldn’t compete. He produced a doctor’s note. Pearce said that was too bad because they were in Gable’s hometown of Minneapolis next week. 

Gable wanted to wrestle next week and said he would be fine, but Pearce said he should recover. El Grande Americano would be in a match instead. Gable was disappointed because he still wanted to wrestle in his hometown (instead of his alter ego), but was caught in a lie and couldn’t do anything about it. 

As Gable was about to leave, he bumped into Alpha Academy. He referred to them as clowns and idiots before leaving. 

Maxxine Dupri told Pearce that she spoke to Natalya, and she had ideas about the tag division. 

********

Redmond interviewed Karrion Kross (with Scarlett) during the break. He was interested to see which version of AJ Styles we would see tonight. 

Penta confronted Bron backstage and called him stupid. Officials quickly stepped in and pulled Penta away. Bron told him to watch his mouth. 

********

AJ Styles and Logan Paul segment 

Logan Paul was supposed to call out Styles, but Styles entered first. Styles was tired of waiting in the back, and he called out Paul, who entered to a ton of heat. Paul said if he wanted to make them wait, they would, because they were sheep. The fans told him to shut the f*ck up. 

Paul said he’s had a change of heart. He was a dad now. A girl-dad. He wanted to teach his daughter the art of forgiveness, so he forgave Styles for what he did to him at Madison Square Garden. He warned Styles not to try it again. 

Styles said he had a daughter, too, and he forgave Paul as well. Paul didn’t understand. Styles forgave him for being the biggest douchebag to ever step foot in WWE. Styles said Paul bragged about his success and money, but the fans didn’t care about that. They wanted to see what he would sacrifice in the ring for them. Styles said Paul might be talented, but that could only take him so far. Styles wondered what he would do with all that talent. 

Paul said he would ask for Styles’ advice, but you should never take advice from someone you wouldn’t trade places with. Styles warned him not to write a cheque he couldn’t cash. Paul asked if that was a threat. Styles said he was in his gear, but Paul said he didn’t fight for free. Paul insulted the fans for being broke and accused one fan of spending their life savings on a front row seat. The crowd told him to be quiet again. 

Paul tried a cheap shot, but Styles saw it coming. However, Paul used the middle rope to crotch Styles and laid him out with the Paulverizer. 

********

Redmond interviewed Lyra Valkyria. Valkyria appreciated Bayley’s help last week, but she wanted to prove that she could stand on her own. Bayley is the only person who has beaten her since she won the title, and it was driving her crazy. They would have a rematch next week with the IC title on the line. 

******** 

Next week on Raw in Minneapolis (regular start time of 8 pm ET): 

  • Lyra Valkyria vs. Bayley for the Women’s Intercontinental title 
  • El Grande Americano in action 
  • Seth Rollins appears 

********

Bálor was pumped up over his win and celebrated with Judgment Day. Bálor was excited after pinning Penta and getting the better of Breakker again. Bálor left to talk to Pearce about getting a title shot. 

They were all on the same page until Liv Morgan noticed Bálor was taking all the credit. After Bálor left, Morgan told Dom that Bálor had already lost to Breakker, while Dom had not. Morgan said she would talk to Pearce when Bálor was done. Dom was unsure about all of this (because he doesn’t want to piss off Bálor). 

*******

Women’s World Championship: IYO SKY vs. Rhea Ripley [with Special Guest Referee Bianca Belair] ended in a double disqualification (14:41) 

This was bad. 

There were spots early on where Belair had to pull each woman off the other while in the ropes because they wouldn’t listen. During a break, Ripley slammed Sky and got a two count on a cover (but we didn’t see it because the screen went back as they returned from break). 

Sky hit a suicide dive following the break. Ripley had Sky on her shoulders outside the ring, and Sky went for a poisonrana, but Ripley slipped and just fell over. They both avoided a count-out by entering the ring at the same time. 

Sky took over and hit a double foot stomp. Ripley went to the middle rope, and Sky tried the poisonrana again, but Ripley blocked it and hit an avalanche Samoan drop. At least that’s what it looked like. It was meant to be a crucifix bomb by Sky, but it didn’t look like it at all. Sky covered Ripley for two. The crowd played along and applauded. 

Sky tried a flying crossbody, but Ripley headbutted her out of midair for a two. They traded counters until Ripley hit a Razor’s Edge and a shining wizard for a nearfall. 

They traded counters again until Sky got backed into Belair. You could see what was coming. Sky ducked, and Ripley booted Belair out of the ring. 

Sky tried a cradle on the distracted Ripley. The crowd was too eager to react, and they loudly counted the fall with Belair down, but it was never meant to be a false finish because Ripley got right up. Ripley hit Sky with a Rip-tide moments later, and the crowd loudly counted to twelve with Belair still down. 

Belair got to her feet, and Ripley told her it should be over. Belair entered the ring to count the fall, but Sky kicked out. Ripley argued with Belair and put her hands on her, so Belair shoved her hand aside. Ripley attacked Sky in the ropes, so Belair pulled her away. Ripley smacked Belair. 

Ripley turned around and ducked upon seeing Sky flying off the ropes, and Sky hit Belair with a missile dropkick by mistake, knocking her out of the ring again. Ripley decked Sky from behind, which didn’t look good either. 

Belair got to her feet and called the match off because she had enough. They announced a double DQ. 

— Ripley attacked Belair, and they brawled until Sky wiped them out with a dive. Sky attacked Ripley before Belair attacked Sky. 

This led to Ripley giving both women Rip-tides. The crowd chanted, “One more time,” so Ripley gave Belair another one off the middle rope. Ripley posed with the belt, and the crowd cheered.

Barrett put over Ripley as a deserving title contender, and the crowd did their part to play along, but this was an awful setup. 

WWE Raw live results: Cody Rhodes and John Cena in Scotland

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: March 24, 2025
Location: The OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland 

The Big Takeaway —

John Cena plans to ruin wrestling for everyone by taking the WWE Championship belt home with him and retiring with it. Cody Rhodes did not take Cena seriously last week, but he did this week, calling him more dangerous than ever. However, Rhodes planned on retiring Cena at WrestleMania. The two men will have another face-to-face next week in London. 

Rhea Ripley will face IYO SKY for the Women’s World title next week, with Bianca Belair as special referee. 

The Intercontinental title main event ended in a DQ when Judgment Day interfered. 

**********

Show Recap — 

CM Punk, Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez, Lyra Valkyria, Dragon Lee & Rey Mysterio, Penta, and Bron Breakker were shown arriving at the arena in Glasgow. Punk and Penta got big reactions. 

Pat McAfee is back on commentary with Michael Cole. 

John Cena and Cody Rhodes segment 

John Cena entered and was loudly booed. He knew the crowd was ready to do their worst because he turned the spotlight on them. They knew that he could pick them out individually and rip them to shreds. No one was safe, not even that clueless kid from last week. His poor, pathetic face was everywhere. WWE even posted it—and the fans all loved it. The crowd loudly chanted, “F*ck you, Cena,” and it was censored. 

Cena would tell the truth, while the best idea the fans had was to use profanity. They meme’d a defenceless kid getting destroyed, so he didn’t need to single out anyone tonight because they were all horrible people. Instead, they would all pay for the abuse they put him through. 

He listened to their lies and their noise for 25 years. He didn’t waste time being mean like them; he paid attention. The crowd chanted, “Shut the f*ck up.” He said he has been learning from the fans and testing them all this time. They told him everything about themselves, but they didn’t know anything about him. 

Their lives were sad. This (being fans) was the best it would get for them. But they have been nothing but an experiment for him. Rats in a cage. Pick out any moment in his career, and he could tell them what he learned about them. 

When he bled, they thought he was tough. When he spoke, they were inspired. When he was edgy, they were excited. When he was vanilla, they were bored. When he spoke in rhythmic tones, they said, “What.” (They were indeed chanting “What” at this moment.) 

They would always tell him everything about themselves because they wanted so desperately to matter. The most important thing they told him was in April 2005, when he gave them the WWE spinner championship. 

They ate him alive for it. He turned their belt into a toy, and they didn’t like that because the championship wasn’t a toy. He disrespected tradition. That was the biggest mistake they made. They told him what meant most to them. And now that he knew that, he was going to ruin wrestling. 

He was going to ruin wrestling for every fan, wrestler—for everyone. At WrestleMania, he would make history by winning a 17th championship. He would force them to forget about the fun-machine Ric Flair, and they would forever say the name John Cena. Even worse, he would win the title—the centre of every superstar and fan in his business—and he would retire with it. “I am taking it home with me.” 

He was leaving them to make a brand new toy belt because the real one was coming home with him. “I will be the last real champion in WWE. Revenge is best served cold, and I pay you back by ripping your heart out and forcing you to watch as I just walk away with your memories, with your traditions, and your dreams. And there’s nothing you can do to stop me.” 

Cody Rhodes entered. The fans sang his name. Rhodes told Cena he couldn’t take the belt away from the fans without taking it from him first. Rhodes could see that Cena was being sincere. Cena was angry and dangerous, but he made a massive mistake. The mistake was not that Cena hit him with the belt in Toronto; it was saying what he just said to these fans. 

Rhodes said Cena should know how hard he had to fight just to hold this belt one time. Cena thought the timeline of professional wrestling hung in the balance because of his vanity. Rhodes laid the belt down and told Cena he could try taking it right now. 

Cena acted for a moment like he might fight Rhodes, but he left the ring instead. 

Rhodes told Cena that his psychotic need to take the belt did not outweigh their (Rhodes and the fans) need to keep it. The champ was standing in the middle of the ring while Cena walked away empty-handed. That is how Cena would walk away at WrestleMania, and that is how he would walk away from WWE. 

******** 

There was a video package for Bron Breakker vs. Penta tonight. 

Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso defeated Austin Theory & Grayson Waller (9:15) 

Jey Uso initially entered alone but was quickly joined by Jimmy in the aisle. Cole exclaimed, “Wait, wait, wait! Look who’s here! Jey’s brother!” He didn’t actually say Jimmy’s name. (Jimmy entering separately would’ve felt like a bigger moment, but they might’ve wanted to keep the focus on Jey since he’s the main eventer.) 

Cole said this was the first time The Usos teamed up (just the two of them) in a year and a half when they beat Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa. 

A-Town Down Under got the heat on Jimmy when Theory made a blind tag and clocked him with a running forearm. After a break, Waller rolled into the ring and into a Samoan drop by Jimmy. Cole somehow thought this was a slingblade by Waller. (It’s sometimes difficult to judge a person’s offence or move, but this was not one of those times.) 

Jey tagged in, but A-Town Down Under teamed up on him. Jimmy tagged back in, and they hit Waller with an alley-oop. Jimmy hoisted up Waller into a spear by Jey before The Usos hit Theory with a 1-D for the pinfall win. 

— Gunther knocked Jimmy off the top rope as he celebrated. Jey superkicked Gunther and set up for a spear, but he literally tripped and fell. He went for the spear anyway but Gunther tackled him down. Gunther hammered away with elbows, but Jimmy ran him off with a steel chair. 

I don’t know if they did this trip spot on purpose or not, but this was not a good look for Jey, regardless. (Update: It looks like the spot was done deliberately, and they’ll be using it to build Jey back up in the coming weeks.) 

*******

There was a big video package for “El Grande Americo” (Chad Gable), who hailed from the “Gulf of America.” I suppose this video was a nice idea, except for all the AI they used to make it. 

Dragon Lee and Rey Mysterio told Adam Pearce that the person in the video was clearly Chad Gable. (Because they used AI, the wrestler didn’t actually look like Gable.) 

Gable showed up and said they were wrong. He was also sick and had a doctor’s note, so he wouldn’t be able to compete today. Pearce said the note was legit. (Even though he was obviously faking it.) Gable suggested that Dragon Lee face El Grande Americo instead. Dragon Lee accepted. Rey looked at Gable and said, “You’re a real jackass.” (That was funny.) 

********

Richard Gadd of Baby Reindeer (on Netflix) was in the audience.  

Lyra Valkyria defeated Raquel Rodriguez (w/Liv Morgan) to retain the Women’s Intercontinental Championship (8:23) 

Rodriguez booted Valkyria out of mid-air to take control ahead of a break. She hit a jackhammer following the break for two. Valkyria countered a suplex into a DDT, but Morgan placed Rodriguez’s foot on the rope to break up the cover. 

Valkyria dropkicked Morgan moments later and countered Rodriguez’ Tejana Bomb attempt into a victory roll for the pinfall win. 

— Morgan and Rodriguez attacked Valkyria after the match. I guess Bayley was waiting behind the stage because her music hit immediately, and she ran out to clear the ring with Valkyria. Bayley gave Valkyria her IC title belt, and they posed together. 

This match was just fine. The crowd liked Valkyria. 

********

The New Day (who last appeared on Raw three weeks ago when they beat Rey and Dragon Lee) cut a promo during commercials. They ran down the locals before proclaiming they would win the tag team titles at WrestleMania. 

There was a video package of Triple H beating The Rock at SummerSlam 1998 in a ladder match for the IC title. This was meant to hype HHH going into the Hall of Fame, but it also put over the importance of the IC title, which is on the line tonight. 

********

Jey sat alone in the back when he was joined by Jimmy. Jimmy wondered what was going on with Jey the last few weeks. He could see Jey was in his own head. Jey hit dives perfectly for 15 years before last week. Last week’s dive became a meme and a joke. Then he went out there tonight and slipped. If he kept going like this, he wouldn’t win at Mania. 

Jey bluntly said he knew that. He said he couldn’t beat Gunther and was 3-0 against him (he meant to say 0-3). Jimmy said that this Jey could not beat Gunther. Jimmy hyped him up and said he needed to see the Right Hand Man Jey Uso, the one who became the Main Event Jey Uso. The one who won the Royal Rumble. That’s the Uce he needs. 

Jimmy found Gunther around the corner and challenged him to a match on Raw next week. Gunther said sure and suggested he didn’t slip and fall like his brother. Jimmy slapped him hard in the face. 

********

Women’s World Title segment 

Adam Pearce was in the ring with the contract for Iyo Sky vs. Bianca Belair at WrestleMania for the title. He said Rhea Ripely signed her name on it, too, but that did not mean she was getting a title shot at Mania. The crowd booed. 

Pearce said he’s been trying to assign Ripley’s title rematch for weeks, but in the meantime, Belair won the Elimination Chamber and earned the title match at Mania. Ripley, meanwhile, only wanted the title rematch on her terms. 

He was about to make an announcement but was interrupted by Sky. Sky didn’t care about contracts and was happy to take on both Belair and Ripley because she was the Women’s World Champion. 

Belair interrupted next. Belair was not about to let Ripley headbutt her way into this match because she didn’t earn it. 

Ripley interrupted and said, “Honestly, I don’t give a damn about WrestleMania.” She didn’t care who she had to face to get her title back. She wanted her rematch. Pearce was annoyed because now she suddenly wanted the match. Belair said Ripley has already waited three weeks, she can wait another three weeks. 

Once again, Ripley and Belair argued while Sky tried to interject, but Ripley shoved her aside. Sky was about to go after them again, but Pearce stepped in. Pearce was pissed and announced that Ripley would get her title rematch against Sky next week. The winner would face Belair at WrestleMania. 

As Ripley and Belair argued again, Sky wiped out Ripley with a DDT. The crowd booed as Belair set up Sky for a KOD. Sky avoided it and gave Ripley a hurricanrana outside the ring. However, Belair gave Sky a KOD to send her out of the ring and onto Ripley. Belair stood tall with the belts. 

This was another weak segment to set up whatever match they’re doing at Mania. 

********

Dom approached Penta backstage. Before Penta could say anything, Dom told him to think about his offer and maybe he would walk away as IC champion tonight. 

******* 

Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods told Pearce they were demanding a world tag title shot at Mania. He said no. He wanted them to prove they earned a shot first. They left. 

Belair, perhaps suffering from amnesia, entered next and asked Pearce who she was facing at Mania. Pearce said she would find out next week after the title match. He also announced that she would be the special referee. She said she didn’t know how to be a referee, and he told her to figure it out.  (Now everyone is coming off poorly in this feud.)

*******

El Grande Americo (Chad Gable) defeated Dragon Lee (8:55)  

Gable (wrestling in a mask) hit Dragon Lee with an exploder off the apron ahead of a break. They exchanged chops after the break until Dragon Lee hit a snap German suplex and superkick. Dragon Lee sprinted at Gable, but Gable launched him with an overhead suplex into the corner. The crowd chanted, “Olé.” Dragon Lee avoided a moonsault and hit a Liger Bomb for two. 

With Gable dangling upside down in the corner, Dragon Lee set up for a double foot stomp, but Gable sat up and ripped Lee’s mask off. Dragon Lee frantically covered his face while Gable applied an ankle lock. Dragon Lee struggled for a moment but he couldn’t get the ropes while also covering his face, so he tapped out. 

This was pretty fun for the time they had, and the finish got a ton of heat. 

********

There was a video package for CM Punk/Roman Reigns/Seth Rollins. 

CM Punk segment

Punk entered to a big reaction. He said he was not in a good mood, but it was hard to be pissed off when you enter to a reaction like that. He was tired and jetlagged. He hasn’t slept well the last few days, thanks mostly to the uncertainty around his road to WrestleMania. 

He had a match at Mania, “but what I want, I’m not getting—or am I?” 

He wanted to win the Rumble, but he didn’t. He needed to win the Chamber, but the more things changed, the more things stayed the same. “I work with children.” He said Seth Rollins was the world champion of being a piss-baby, and Rollins screwed him at the Chamber. 

For Rollins and Reigns, it was clearly personal, but for him, it was just business. The two men who stood in his way from getting what he wanted had to go. 

Rollins has been crying since Punk returned because the shadow he cast over him belittled everything Rollins was about. Reigns seemed to be taking it personally because he realized his wise man wasn’t just his wise man. 

It would be business for Punk on Smackdown, too, because they were having a contract signing. Some fans booed, and Punk acknowledged it. He knew they wanted it tonight, and so did he. He wanted his hands on the contract to see if this match would get him closer to what he wanted or if it would just be another rug-pull from the powers that be. 

Punk reminded Rollins and Reigns that they had never beaten him without the other’s help. Punk also said, “I brought you into this business. I cannot wait to be the man who takes you both out of it.” Punk called himself the best in the world and dropped the mic. 

(Cole reminded us that Punk brought The Shield to WWE.) 

******* 

Next week on Raw in London, England (airing at 3 pm ET/12 pm PT): 

  • Logan Paul calls out AJ Styles 
  • Gunther vs. Jimmy Uso (non-title) 
  • Cody Rhodes and John Cena face-to-face 
  • Iyo Sky vs. Rhea Ripley for the Women’s World Championship 

*******

Cathy Kelley asked Bron Breakker if he was worried that Penta might have help from Judgment Day tonight. Bron didn’t seem worried about it. He would retain the title because the dogs were barking in Glasgow. 

Intercontinental Championship: Bron Breakker defeated Penta via disqualification (11:25)

They were having a strong match until the finish. 

Penta used a hurricanrana to send Bron into the ropes. To set up the next spot, Bron was actually supposed to be on the other side of the ring, so he “stumbled” to the other side as Penta posed, which looked pretty awkward. This led to Bron hitting a leaping clothesline off the apron and over the announce table. 

Dom and Carlito wandered out during a break. 

Bron and Penta traded strikes until Penta hit a superkick, bulldog, and backstabber for two. Bron blocked a Canadian Destroyer and hit a military press gutbuster for two. Penta hit a superkick and enziguri and used a hurricanrana to yank Bron off the middle rope. Penta followed with a flip dive and Canadian Destroyer for two. Bron followed later with a Frankensteiner for a nearfall. 

Bron set up for a spear, but Dom distracted the referee. Carlito tried to interfere, so Bron pulled him into the ring and speared him. Dom chop-blocked Bron in front of the referee for the DQ. 

Bron went after Dom, but Finn Bálor attacked him with a chair. Bálor seemed like he was pissed with Dom, but he handed Dom the chair. 

Dom hit Bron with the chair before handing it to Penta. Bálor didn’t like that idea. 

Penta teased that he might hit Bron, but instead, he chucked the chair at Dom and superkicked it in his face. Bálor decked Penta and hit Bron with the chair. Bálor laid out Penta with a Coup de Grace. 

Raw ended with Bálor, Dom and Carlito standing tall.

WWE Raw live results: Heel John Cena returns

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: March 17, 2024
Location: Forest National in Brussels, Belgium 

The Big Takeaway —

John Cena cut a long promo addressing his turn and his relationship with the fans, but he did not discuss The Rock, Cody Rhodes, the WWE Championship, or WrestleMania. Rhodes confronted him, and both men will be on Raw again next week in Scotland. 

That segment opened the show, and the rest of the show was not particularly interesting. 

**********

Show Recap — 

There were exterior shots of Brussels, Belgium, which was certainly a contrast to the usual shots of North American cities. Finn Bálor, Bron Breakker, Bianca Belair, Iyo Sky, and Dakota Kai arrived at the arena in Brussels. It’s another boisterous crowd, like Smackdown in Spain. 

Corey Graves is on commentary with Michael Cole.

There was a video package for Cody Rhodes/John Cena. 

********

John Cena and Cody Rhodes segment 

Cena entered to his usual music and loud “John Cena sucks” chants. He had a stern demeanour and wore a shirt with Belgian graphics and colours. He stood still in the ring as the crowd went back and forth with loud chants of “Let’s go, Cena” and “Cena sucks.” 

He dropped the mic and acted like he would leave, so the crowd booed. He picked up the mic, and they chanted, “You sold out.” He pretended to leave again but returned. 

He said, “When someone is properly grounded in life, they shouldn’t have to look outside themselves for approval.” (He posted this earlier on X.) He continued, “You are making this so easy for me. For 25 years, I’ve been the victim. I have been the victim of an abusive relationship.” The fans booed, so he shut them down. 

He called them hurtful and abusive, and all they ever did was bully him into being their puppet while expecting him to do it with a smile on his face. No more. They chanted, “F*ck you, Cena,” and he held up the mic because they were proving his point. 

He said he was not a babyface or a heel—he was a human being, and all of the fans have been awful to him. It’s been the same noise for 25 years. When he first arrived, they let him know they hated him. He changed himself, hoping they would like him, but it wasn’t enough. 

So, he worked hard like he always did, and then he won and won and won and won. He won a lot, and they hated it. He spent the next 10 years of his life trying to give everything he possibly could, but it wasn’t enough. (The fans yelled obscenities again.) 

In his final moments, he could have just walked away. He announced his retirement in advance and tried one last time to get along with the fans, but they ruined it, just like they ruined everything. Like always, it was great for two seconds, but it wasn’t enough. (The crowd sang the goodbye song.) 

He said these fans were proving his point. No matter what he did, it was never enough. All they ever did was take and take and take. They only cared about themselves. Cena put his values on the line, but all they could think about was what they were getting. None of them asked how he was feeling. Now, they were getting what they earned, and that was nothing. 

They weren’t getting a new look. They dressed like him, he didn’t dress like them. They weren’t getting new music. That was his voice in his song. Their time was up, his time was now. All they were getting was a chance to look in the mirror and realize how awful they have been for 25 years. 

The fans chanted for Cody Rhodes. Cena knew they would because he was their shiny new toy. They kept proving his point. They were all awful people, and none of them were safe, especially those he could pick out in the crowd. He pointed out people who were still wearing his shirt, the “Let’s go, Cena” people. 

The “Cena Sucks” jackoffs have already proven themselves awful people, but the “Let’s go, Cena” people were too. He asked what they had ever done to support him. All they ever did was steal from him. They stole from him and took his time. They made the same invisible joke for 15 years, and they still thought it was funny. It was pathetic. They were pathetic. 

He said they wore his shirts to feel good. They wore words like hustle, loyalty and respect, but he lived them every day. They didn’t support him. They used him as an excuse for their pathetic failure of a life. All they ever did for 25 years was sit on their asses watching him be great. 

He was in a toxic relationship, and he was breaking up with all of them. Whether they liked it or not, they were dumped. (They showed a sad, young Cena fan in the crowd.) 

He said, “I don’t need you anymore. I don’t care about you, and you don’t matter to me. There’s no noise you can make. There’s nothing you can do because you know I’m right, and you know you’re wrong.” 

Cody Rhodes entered to a huge reaction. Rhodes said Cena thought the fans had given him their worst, but they had also given him their best. They did that for 25 years because he was special and because he could carry it. Cena said, “Listen, kid,” but Rhodes cut him off and said, “Enough!” Rhodes told him it wasn’t “Kid,” it was “WWE Champion.” 

Rhodes was excited to go face-to-face with the real John Cena, but he got this instead. This version of Cena better not show up at WrestleMania because Rhodes would run it over. Rhodes already took Cena’s best shot, and it wasn’t enough. Rhodes would retire him early. 

Rhodes told him to go find the real John Cena because he wanted to fight that Cena, not this whiny bitch. Rhodes dropped the mic and left as the crowd cheered him on. 

Cena grabbed his little branded towel and left as the fans booed and sang the goodbye song. 

(Cole acted livid over Cena’s comments. The show was 32 minutes in when this was over.) 

This was a great performance by Cena, but it felt like the promo was missing something. It makes sense that he would feel this way about the fans, but he never mentioned The Rock or even his actual pursuit of the WWE Championship. There’s still time, of course. 

******** 

No Holds Barred: Penta defeated Ludwig Kaiser (10:51) 

Since his debut, Penta has now had six matches on Raw… against three different opponents. His last five matches have been against two different opponents. 

Penta was all over Kaiser and cleared the announce table, but Kaiser raked his eyes and gave him a rolling DVD on the table. Penta tried fighting back after a break, but Kaiser hit another rolling DVD in the ring for two. Kaiser ran around the ring and charged at Penta, but Penta gave him a back body drop onto the table. The table didn’t break, so the crowd chanted, “We want tables.” 

Kaiser took control again and used a chair, but Penta snapped his arm. Penta superkicked the chair twice into his face and hit a Canadian Destroyer off the middle rope. Penta followed with the Penta Driver for the pinfall win. 

The crowd was super into this. This was pretty much exactly as good as every other Penta match so far, in part because it was against the same guy again. 

— Cathy Kelley asked Penta what was next. Penta cut a fiery promo, and he was eyeing the Intercontinental Championship. 

********

There was a backstage segment earlier today to set up a match with the Creed Brothers against Rey Mysterio and Dragon Lee. American Made played dumb about Chad Gable in the mask last week, but LWO wasn’t buying it. Turns out, Brutus Creed is actually dumb because he really doesn’t know who was in the mask. 

********

Judgment Day met in the back. They were all on the same page until Dominik Mysterio suggested to Finn Bálor that Penta join Judgment Day. 

Bálor was pissed and got in Dom’s face. Bálor mentioned that Penta just declared his intention of going after the IC title, the same one he was going for tonight. Bálor called him a snake. (Dom didn’t know Penta made that declaration.) 

******** 

Dakota Kai defeated Ivy Nile (w/American Made) (2:48) 

Chad Gable, wearing a suit, ran out as the match began to join the Creeds at ringside. Nile used a distraction by her buddies to hit a uranage variation for two. Mysterio and Dragon Lee ran out to clear American Made from ringside while Kai gave Nile a GTK for the pinfall win. 

********

IYO SKY and Bianca Belair contract signing 

Iyo Sky said that no one, not Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley or anyone else, would disrespect her again because, after WrestleMania, she would still be Women’s World Champion. The crowd loudly cheered and chanted, “You deserve it.” 

Belair said she had all the respect in the world for her. However, she had the same message for Sky that she had for Ripley last week. If you thought you could put her hands on her and get away with it, you didn’t know her at all. Belair planned on leaving Mania as the champion. They both signed. 

Adam Pearce thanked them for being professional, but he flipped his wig when Ripley’s music hit. Ripley entered, and the crowd erupted. 

Belair teased Ripley about having a Mania title match, and Ripley claimed she was just there to watch. They bickered, so Sky tried to get involved again, but Belair brushed her aside again. Ripley headbutted Belair onto the table. 

Sky went after Ripley, but Ripely powerbombed her onto Belair (the table didn’t break). 

Ripley signed her name on the contract and took it with her. Pearce followed her to the back.

(Hopefully, they have a good follow-up to this because even the announcers didn’t think this made sense.) 

********

Jey Uso cut a promo backstage. He hasn’t been himself lately. His mind was playing tricks on him, so he flew halfway across the world to whip someone’s ass. Tonight, it was Austin Theory, but at Mania, it would be Gunther. 

Gunther confronted him, but officials got between them. Gunther told Jey that he had spoken to Jimmy, and he was just as dumb as he was. Jey shoved Gunther, but officials separated them, and Jey entered for his match. 

Jey Uso defeated Austin Theory (w/Grayon Waller) (0:29) 

Jey almost immediately hit Theory with a spear for the pinfall win. 

— Jey superkicked Waller and wiped them both out with a flip dive. 

Gunther tried to put him out with a sleeper again, but Jey drove him into the turnbuckle. Jey chucked Gunther out of the ring and posed with the world title belt before tossing back at Gunther. Jey posed for the fans. 

(This was exactly what it should have been.) 

********

There was a video package for tonight’s IC title match. 

Theory and Waller cut a promo during a break. The crowd didn’t care about them. They challenged Jey to a tag match if he could find a partner. 

******** 

Backstage, Pearce demanded Ripley give him back the contract. She refused and tried to claim it was legally binding with her name on it. He said this was like speaking to a child, and, in fact, she was acting like a child. Pearce took the contract and left. 

Belair rushed in and attacked Ripley. Sky ran in next to join the party. They all shoved each other into stuff, and Ripley wound up standing tall after security stepped in. 

********

Rey Mysterio & Dragon Lee defeated The Creed Brothers (5:44) 

The Creeds dominated through a break, but Rey made a hot tag after the break. Rey fended off Brutus’ interference and gave Julius a DDT before Dragon Lee yanked Brutus off the apron with a hurricanrana. Rey hit Julius with a 619 and springboard splash for the pinfall win. The crowd loved Rey Mysterio. 

— Chad Gable/the masked man ran in after the match and beat up both Rey and Dragon Lee. He suplexed Rey onto Dragon Lee and hit Lee with a diving headbutt. The crowd yelled, “Shoosh!” at him. He ran away as security chased him to the back. 

********

There was a CM Punk/Seth Rollins/Roman Reigns video package. 

Seth Rollins segment 

This was a ten-minute-long segment to let us know that Rollins will be on Friday’s Smackdown to confront Roman Reigns and CM Punk. 

Rollins entered, and the fans sang his song pretty much all the way through a commercial break and for a long while after the break. He welcomed them to Monday Night Rollins, and they kept singing. 

He finally got to his promo. He was ready to be mad, but it was hard to be mad hearing the fans sing his song. Perhaps they wanted him to be mad because they chanted for CM Punk. 

Rollins said he would get to Punk but wanted to talk about Reigns first. Rollins wasn’t mad at Reigns for coming for revenge because he would have done the same thing. The problem was that Reigns couldn’t come up with a plan of his own, even with a wise man in his ear. 

Rollins called Punk the luckiest loser on the face of the planet. If he had just a few more seconds, Rollins would have done what he promised. He would have ended Punk’s Mania dream and put his career on ice. He would have taken care of the Punk problem for everyone—including Reigns. Just like in the good old days, he was left to clean up Reigns’ mess. 

It just so happened that Reigns and Punk would both be on Friday’s Smackdown, so Rollins was planning on heading to Italy to join them. The crowd kinda went quiet because this had nothing to do with them, so he invited them to sing his song one more time before they got to tonight’s main event. That was that. 

********

Next week on Raw in Glasgow, Scotland, airing one hour later (4 pm ET/1 pm PT).

  • Lyra Valkyria vs. Raquel Rodriguez for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship 
  • CM Punk appears 
  • Jey Uso & partner vs. Grayson Waller & Austin Theory 
  • Cody Rhodes and John Cena under one roof again 

********

Backstage, Kelley tried interviewing AJ Styles, who was momentarily distracted by the fans singing for him. Karrion Kross and Scarlett interrupted. (Kross wore his hair like Styles again.) 

Kross tried to egg him on by noting how fast Logan Paul got to WWE and accomplished as much as he had, while it took Styles 17 years. Styles cut him off. Styles knew what Kross was trying to do, but it wouldn’t work. He left. Kross told Scarlett, “I think it’s working.” 

******** 

Bron Breakker crossed paths with Penta backstage. 

Bron Breakker defeated Finn Bálor to retain the Intercontinental Championship (12:31) 

Early in the match, Bron went for a running spear outside the ring, but Bálor cut him off with a slingblade. Bálor had control during a break and cut off Bron again after a break with a side Russian leg sweep. 

Bálor dismissively smacked and kicked Bron. Bron fired up and no-sold Bálor’s strikes. Bron fought back with a leaping back elbow, overhead suplex, and powerslam. 

Dom and Carlito ran out, and Bálor used the distraction to apply a schoolboy for two. Bálor followed with a headlock elbow drop for two. Bron knocked Bálor out of the ring with a running clothesline and followed with a leaping clothesline off the apron and over the announce table. 

Bálor cut him off again with a slingblade in the ring, followed by a shotgun dropkick. Bron avoided the Coup de Grace, but Bálor avoided a spear and used a schoolboy again for two. Bron hit a powerslam for two. 

Bron set up for a superplex, but Carlito distracted the referee, and Dom knocked Bron off the turnbuckle. However, Dom accidentally caused Bálor to get crotched on the top rope. 

Bron knocked Dom and Carlito off the apron before hitting Bálor with a Frankensteiner and spear for the pinfall win. 

— Dom and Carlito attacked Bron after the match, but Penta ran out to make the save. Penta handed out superkicks, and Bron speared Carlito. 

Penta grabbed the IC title belt and held it up for a moment before handing it back to Bron. Bron held the belt high while Penta did his zero miedo taunt as the show ended.

WWE Raw live results: CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins cage match at MSG

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: March 10, 2025
Location: Madison Square Garden in New York City 

The Big Takeaway —

Roman Reigns returned to attack Seth Rollins in the main event. Reigns also laid out CM Punk after seeing him being consoled by Paul Heyman. 

Cody Rhodes and John Cena will both be on Raw in Brussels, Belgium, next week. 

**********

Show Recap — 

Michael Cole announced a sell-out crowd of over 19,000 at Madison Square Garden, which is hosting Raw for a 15th time. There’s a small video screen in lieu of a stage. 

Cody Rhodes, Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai, Bianca Belair, Seth Rollins, and CM Punk were shown arriving. 

Jey Uso entered to kick off Raw. As he did, Cole let us know that “many, many celebrities” were here and they showed someone named Andrew Schulz in the crowd. 

Grayson Waller ripped up a kid’s “Yeet” sign on the way down. 

Jey Uso defeated Grayson Waller (w/Austin Theory) (9:10) 

This was a rare instance of a match kicking off Raw, but they still went to break just three minutes into it. 

This was not a squash match for Jey Uso, which you could argue it should have been. Instead, it was your usual patterned WWE TV match. 

Waller used a Theory distraction to take advantage ahead of the break and held control until Jey fought back with strikes and a Samoan drop. Jey fended off another distraction and hit a superkick but Waller blocked his dive attempt and hit a rolling flatliner for two. 

Jey fought back with another superkick before superkicking Theory off the apron. Jey speared Waller for the pinfall win. 

— Theory and Waller attacked Jey after the match, but he dumped Waller from the ring and speared Theory. Jey splashed Theory but Gunther grabbed Jey in a sleeper and put him down.

(This was an ordinary match to say the least. I have no issue with Jey Uso’s position on the card, but this match didn’t help his case with anyone who has doubts. The crowd was into him, though, and the Gunther attack got a decent amount of heat.) 

********

There was a video package for CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins. 

During a break, there was a video package for Penta/Ludwig Kaiser. 

After the break, Alpha Academy approached Jey in the trainer’s room. Otis said they’d have his back, and he said he’d be alright. (It’s a little weird they’re associating some of the biggest losers on the show with Main Event Jey Uso.) 

********

Logan Paul and AJ Styles segment 

Logan Paul entered. He ripped off the t-shirt of some fan plant which read “I hate Logan Paul.” 

Paul got an absolute ton of heat. He said his name was associated with people like The Rock and John Cena, who transcended the business and would do anything to reach the top. That’s why he was shocked when Cody Rhodes turned down The Rock. It took Cena 20 years to realize that nice guys finish last. Paul wanted Rock to know that his soul was for sale. 

Paul called out Andrew Schulz (the comedian shown earlier). Paul wanted to know who he was there to see. Schulz was there to see the cage match between Punk and Rollins. He said no one in New York was there to see Paul. They were a real city, unlike Cleveland, who wanted to see real wrestlers. Schulz also wanted to see AJ Styles. 

Paul didn’t like that, so he yanked Schulz over the barricade. Paul was about to suplex Schulz, but Styles ran out. 

The crowd was pumped for Styles who laid out Paul with a Phenomenal forearm. (Styles, off mic, yelled, “F*ck yeah!” and he slapped hands with Schulz.) 

Paul walked toward the stage as Styles told him to get back in the ring. Styles kept telling him this was New York City, but Paul kept walking to the back. Styles held up Schulz’ hand and repeated that this was New York City and they played Styles’ music to conclude the segment. 

The crowd was super into this, but the segment just petered out at the end. This was one of those segments that was probably better for the live crowd.

******** 

There was a video recap of Iyo Sky beating Rhea Ripley for the world title last week. 

New Day cut a promo during a break. Kofi Kingston buried the Jets and Giants, and Xavier Woods buried the Knicks. (They were going for cheap heat but the crowd didn’t bite.) New Day’s new thing lately is to tell the audience to thank God for them. Although, I think their promos only happen during commercials, so the audience may not be aware of that. 

They showed Dana White’s TKO Boxing announcement. Boxer Callum Walsh and trainer Freddie Roach were shown in the crowd. 

Oba Femi was also shown in the crowd. 

******** 

Tornado Tag Team Match: Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods defeated Rey Mysterio & Dragon Lee (11:08) 

The crowd chanted for tables, so LWO gave them what they wanted. However, New Day attacked them and put the table away. LWO got the advantage again, so the crowd chanted for tables again. LWO pulled out a table again, but New Day attacked them before they could use it, again. 

New Day had control through a break. Rey brought Woods off the top rope with a springboard hurricanrana, and Dragon Lee hit a double foot stomp off the top. Dragon Lee hit a running hurricanrana off the apron to put Woods through the table. It didn’t land perfectly but the crowd popped because the table technically broke. 

Rey ran wild on Kingston and hit a 619. Kingston got his knees up on a frog splash and applied a cradle but Dragon Lee broke up the cover. Dragon Lee wiped out Kingston with a dive. 

An unidentified masked man in a black hoodie suddenly appeared and wiped out Dragon Lee with a hurricanrana attempt. It was Chad Gable in a USA-themed mask. Gable also laid out Rey with a German suplex. He yelled, “Gracias!” before being grabbed by security. Gable escaped security and ran away through the crowd. 

Thanks to the interference, New Day hit Rey with UpUpDownDown for the pinfall win. 

*******

Judgment Day segment 

Finn Bálor told Carlito that he was sick of Bron Breakker. Carlito wasn’t listening. He was thinking about John Cena being a bad guy. He thought Cena would be a good guy forever, like him. 

Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, and Dominik Mysterio joined them. Morgan said they were off getting Rodriguez a match against Bayley, with the winner getting a shot at the Women’s IC title. Dom also got Bálor an Men’s IC title match against Breakker next week. Bálor hugged Dom and thanked him sincerely. Bálor left to make it official with Adam Pearce. 

After Bálor left, Morgan asked Dom why he didn’t get himself a title match. Dom believed in Bálor. 

********

Peter Rosenberg, Fabolous, and Macaulay Culkin were shown in the crowd. 

******** 

Cody Rhodes promo 

Rhodes entered, still sporting a black eye, and cut a passionate promo on John Cena. 

Rhodes said he was there because the Garden was the cathedral and WWE’s home base. His WrestleMania opponent John Cena was not there tonight. The mere mention of Cena’s name was booed, as well as mentions of Travis Scott and The Rock. 

Rhodes noted that Cena would be in Brussels, Belgium, next week instead. This was the same Cena who first won the US title in MSG and returned to the Royal Rumble from injury in MSG. It was apparently an easy decision for Cena not to appear in MSG. However, Rhodes did not begrudge Cena for having a part-time schedule. 

(Dueling, “Let’s go, Cena” and “Cena sucks” chants broke out. Rhodes paused his promo and told the crowd to let Cena hear it.) 

Rhodes did begrudge Cena for something. He mentioned Cena’s social media post stating that you must have the discipline to do what needs to be done even if you don’t feel like it. Rhodes compared Cena to the overzealous teacher or coach who kept giving advice but it was time for Cena to sit down, “you Goddamn moron.” 

Nobody defined best for business quite like Cena. But there were 17,000 in attendance who knew what was best. (The announcers frantically made sure to mention it was closer to 20,000.) 

The key number to remember was 17 (the record Cena was chasing). It would be Rhodes’ heart-breaking privilege to beat his hero in his last chance, while Cena found out what the fans already knew: “I’m the captain now.” 

(They announced that Cena and Rhoeds will both be on Raw next week.) 

********

Jackie Redmond had a quick interview with Lyra Valkyria during a break. 

Ali Ahn, Rich the Kid, Amanda Serrano, and cast members from ‘Selling The City’, were shown in the crowd. 

They showed a clip of Jimmy Snuka hitting Don Muraco with a splash off the cage at MSG in 1983. 

******* 

Tag Team Champion Raquel Rodriguez (w/Dominik Mysterio & Tag Team Champion Liv Morgan) defeated Bayley (11:06) 

Bayley fought back after a break and hit a flying elbow drop for two. She missed a baseball slide by a mile but managed to shove Rodriguez into the post before Rodriguez could do it to her. 

Dom distracted the referee while Morgan tried to interfere, but Bayley knocked her off the apron. She also knocked Dom off the apron and went for a dive, but Rodriguez caught her and slammed her onto the announce table. 

Bayley barely avoided a count-out but Rodriguez booted her as she entered the ring. Rodriguez followed with the Tejana Bomb for the pinfall win. Rodriguez is next in line for Valkyria’s title with this win. 

The crowd has been hot so far, but they were mostly pretty quiet for this. 

********

Cathy Kelley interviewed Chad Gable. He played dumb and said it wasn’t him who attacked LWO. He called security pathetic for not getting to that fan before he could get involved. As Kelley argued with Gable, a man in a black hoodie and USA-themed mask could be seen being taken out by security. Kelley was confused. 

During a break, there was a Bron Breakker video promo on Bálor. 

There was a clip of Randy Savage defending the WWF Championship in a cage match against Ted DiBiase at MSG in 1988. 

Celebrities William Jackson Harper, Kris Diaz, Josh Segarra, and Nardo Wick were shown in the crowd. 

******** 

IYO SKY, Bianca Belair, and Rhea Ripley segment 

Michael Cole interviewed Iyo Sky in the ring. He congratulated her on heading to WrestleMania and the crowd cheered. She called it a dream to be standing in MSG as the champion and she was over the moon knowing she was headed to WrestleMania. 

Belair entered. She congratulated Sky and said she was excited for them to be headed to Mania. Cole asked Belair if Rhea Ripley would still be champion of Belair was not sitting at ringside last week. Belair said she has had enough drama lately and was only out there to watch the match. If Ripley thought she would put her hands on her and get away with it, she didn’t know her at all. 

Ripley interrupted to a big reaction. She was skeptical of Belair’s explanation. She said Belair should have left her to handle her business with Sky while Belair handled her business with Naomi and Jade Cargill. Belair said Ripley was mad because she knew she couldn’t beat Sky. 

They got in each other’s faces as Sky tried to interject. Ripley and Belair each shoved her aside, so Sky smacked them both in the face (Ripley stumbled back, while Belair fell to the mat). The crowd chanted for Sky. She was livid and left the ring. 

********

Next week on Raw in Brussels, Belgium (start time 3 pm ET/12 pm PT): 

  • Cody Rhodes and John Cena in the same building 
  • Penta vs. Ludwig Kaiser 
  • Jey Uso vs. Austin Theory 
  • Dakota Kai vs. Ivy Nile 
  • Bron Breakker vs. Finn Bálor for the Intercontinental Championship 

******** 

Steel Cage Match: Seth Rollins defeated CM Punk (22:26) 

Rollins chucked his jacket Punk as he entered the ring and attacked him in the ropes as the bell rang to start the match. The crowd booed him for that. Punk fought back before they wildly slapped and punched each other (and missed each other a bunch). 

Rollins powerbombed Punk into the side of the cage, leading to a break three minutes in, and hit another one during the break. Rollins repeatedly drove Punk into the cage during the break. 

After the break, Rollins opened the door and invited Punk to leave. Punk flipped off Rollins (and the screen went black to censor it). Punk used a hurricanrana to drive Rollins into the cage and he followed with a GTS. Punk did not go for a cover. 

Punk drove Rollins’ face into the cage and hit a running knee to the back of his head, causing Rollins’ face to bounce off the cage. Punk invited Rollins to leave, so Rollins flipped him off, too (this was also blacked out). 

Punk hit repeated elbow drops and consecutive flying elbow drops. As Cole noted, neither man had gone for a cover yet. Punk hit a third flying elbow drop and finally did go for a cover for a two count. 

Punk climbed to the top of the cage, so Rollins met him up there. (They used a drone shot to circle them as they exchanged strikes.) Rollins yanked Punk down from the top of the cage and hit a superplex (off the top rope) for two. The crowd reacted like this was a superplex off the cage, but it was basically a normal superplex. 

Rollins went for a Pedigree, but Punk countered into a GTS for a nearfall. Punk went for another GTS, but Rollins countered into an STF (Cena’s move). Punk reversed that into an Anaconda Vice, but Rollins raked his eyes to get out of it. Rollins followed with a curb stomp for a nearfall. 

Rollins set up for a super stomp, but Punk yanked him off the ropes and hit a third GTS for a nearfall. A frustrated Punk hit a curb stomp for another nearfall. 

Punk saw the open door but turned around to see Rollins screaming at him, “If you want my house, take it from me, you asshole. You want this from me? Take it from me. Earn it, you asshole!” 

Punk hit him with a running knee and set up for another GTS, but Rollins popped out and hit a GTS of his own. Rollins followed with a curb stomp for a close nearfall. The crowd went nuts for that. 

Rollins hit a super stomp off the middle rope. Rollins seemingly had it won, finally, but didn’t make a cover or go for the door just yet. 

The door was open and the crowd began screaming. Roman Reigns suddenly grabbed Rollins and yanked him out of the ring. Rollins was announced the winner because he technically escaped the cage. Rollins was shocked to see Reigns. 

— Reigns hit Rollins with a Superman punch, spear and a curb stomp. 

Reigns placed Rollins over the steel steps and set up for another stomp, but officials ran down to stop him. 

Reigns’ attention suddenly turned to the ring upon seeing Paul Heyman comforting Punk. 

Reigns laughed and entered the ring. He drove Punk into the cage and speared him. Heyman backed into the corner as Reigns stood tall. The crowd chanted “OTC,” and he posed as the show ended.

(This was a hot conclusion to a pretty good main event. The rest of the show felt like an average Raw, but all anyone will remember is this finish. Hopefully Punk does not complain about Reigns getting involved, because Rollins had it won regardless. He just hit a super stomp and was sitting right by the open door. ) 

WWE Raw live results: Elimination Chamber fallout

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: March 3, 2025
Location: KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY 

********** 

The Big Takeaway —

IYO SKY beat Rhea Ripley to win the Women’s World Championship and is now scheduled to defend the title against Bianca Belair at WrestleMania. Ripley has reason to blame Belair for the loss, so this will play out over the coming weeks. 

CM Punk cut a heated promo on The Rock, John Cena, and Seth Rollins. Punk and Rollins brawled, and the two men will have a steel cage match next week at Madison Square Garden. 

Cena and The Rock were not on Raw. We’ll hear from Cody Rhodes on Friday’s SmackDown. 

**********

Show Recap — 

Raw is sold-out in Buffalo. 

There was an Elimination Chamber video package. These packages are no longer just about the show but about how big the show was. They include headlines, fan reactions from those at home, celebrities in attendance, etc. This package cut to black on John Cena’s face before he turned on Cody Rhodes. It then showed a number of headlines and fan reactions before cutting to a shot of Cena and The Rock standing over Rhodes. 

Various wrestlers were shown arriving, while American Made were shown training earlier today. 

CM Punk segment 

A pissed-off CM Punk drove into the arena (in a Jeep Grand Wagoneer). He stormed down to ringside, tossed some stuff around (including the big Prime bottle), and stood on the announce table. 

He said some people thought he exhausted all opportunities of main-eventing WrestleMania. He wanted to address his enemies, which meant addressing everyone. He asked the crowd who he should address first. 

Punk looked into the camera and called Dwayne a bald fraud. Dwayne thought he was immune from criticism because he was on the board, but he didn’t know who he was dealing with. He was dealing with the best in the world. Dwayne was having a midlife crisis. Dwayne walked in when he felt like it and tried to hide behind what a big star was. 

Punk would love to address Dwayne in person but he wasn’t there to grace us with his presence. Punk mocked Dwayne’s goosebump gesture and said Dwayne wasn’t there to give us his bullshit and pretend he cared about this business. Punk has never been so delusional as to hold a fake title and call himself the People’s Champion because he earned that right. 

He’s never been so desperate to sell his soul. We couldn’t “see” John Cena but we could see right through him. Cena stole something from him at the Chamber. Punk gave him the benefit of the doubt for not qualifying but Cena wouldn’t fool him twice. Hustle, loyalty and respect for 20 years but he showed what Punk knew all along, that Cena was selling bullshit. 

Punk would never give up on his dreams, but Cena gave up on all of the fans and all of those kids. Punk would get his hands on both of those bald frauds and they would both “make a wish” that he never did. 

The man who currently had all of his attention was “little brother” Seth Rollins. Punk told Becky Lynch to come get his man before Punk put him in a wheelchair. 

Rollins’ music hit and Punk stormed to the stage. The two men brawled as security and officials frantically tried to separate the wild brawl. The crowd was going nuts for all of this. They chanted, “Holy shit,” and “This is awesome.” (Pat McAfee also dropped a “holy shit.” It was at least the third time that word was used in this segment and it was never censored.) 

As you’d expect, both men kept getting away from security, but they finally were separated. 

This was an awesome segment and promo from Punk. It was pretty much the best version of Punk. 

********

They showed some fan reactions to Cena’s heel turn, including videos of children crying. 

******** 

Judgment Day segment 

Judgment Day were backstage. Regardless of the result of the Chamber match, Dominik was happy that Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez were tag team champions. Morgan was happy too, and knew she’d be world champion again one day. She thought it was Rodriguez’s time to chase the IC title and Rodriguez was on board with that. 

Finn Bálor was annoyed with Dom and Carlito getting embarrassed by Bron Breakker. Bálor told Dom they didn’t need a new member and maybe he would deal with Bron himself tonight. 

Dom asked Morgan about Jade Cargill. Morgan said she wasn’t getting involved and reiterated that she had nothing to do with it. 

********

Gunther cut a promo on Otis before their match. Gunther wondered what Otis saw when he looked in the mirror this morning. Gunther looked at himself and saw the world championship belt, while Otis looked for a belt that fit. He suggested that Otis could be great if he had a little bit of self-respect. Gunther would teach him something about self-respect tonight. 

Gunther was about to continue by addressing Jey Uso, but he gave Otis a cheap-shot instead. With Otis down after just getting blindsided, the referee decided this was a great moment to start the match. 

World Heavyweight Champion Gunther defeated Otis (w/Maxxine Dupri & Akira Tozawa) in a non-title match (9:45) 

Gunther worked over Otis until Otis yanked him out of the ring and gave him a fallaway slam on the outside. Otis had control until he missed a charge in the corner. Gunther held control through a break, but Otis fired up and no-sold Gunther’s chops. They traded chops before Otis slammed Gunther. Otis hit the caterpillar elbow drop for a nearfall. 

Otis missed a Vader bomb and Gunther followed with a dropkick. Otis countered a powerslam but Gunther clotheslined him repeatedly, including one to the back. Gunther hit a big boot and another clothesline for two. Gunther followed moments later with a powerbomb for the pinfall win. 

This was fun and the best showing for Otis in a while. The crowd was really into him, way more than they should have been, considering how he’s been used. 

— Gunther put Otis in a sleeper after the match so Tozawa tried to make the save but Gunther powerbombed him on top of Otis. 

Gunther was about to continue but Jey Uso ran out to his music. A quick brawl ended with Jey hitting a spear. 

Jey posed as the crowd Yeeted along, but he was suddenly attacked from behind by Grayson Waller and Austin Theory. The crowd loved Jey so this got a lot of heat. Jey made his own comeback and speared Theory. 

It seemed like Jey would stand tall after all that, but Gunther grabbed him from behind and put him down with a sleeper. Gunther stood tall with his belt. 

********

There was a video package for Rhea Ripley vs. Iyo Sky. They emphasized that Ripley has never beaten Sky. 

Jackie Redmond interviewed Bayley during a break. Bayley was happy for Bianca Belair but disappointed she didn’t win. She had her eyes set on Lyra Valkyria—who she beat once already—and the IC title. 

UFC Hall of Famer Clay Guida was in the crowd. 

There were more Cena fan reactions shown. 

********

Cathy Kelley asked AJ Styles about Cena. Styles didn’t see it coming. Karrion Kross suddenly hugged him from behind and Styles shoved him off. Kross said it wasn’t that surprising if you thought about it. Styles cut him off. 

Styles said he wasn’t John Cena, and maybe the “WWE Universe” needed a reminder of who he was. He planned on calling out Logan Paul next week at Madison Square Garden. Styles told Kross that he could try to be the devil on his shoulder, but God already knew his evil ways. Styles left. Kross was amused. 

******** 

Lyra Valkyria defeated Ivy Nile to retain the Women’s Intercontinental Championship (9:30) 

Valkyria was aggressive early on, pissed over Nile’s recent attack. However, Nile used consecutive dragon screws to take over while targeting the leg during a break. (Netflix usually has a timer that shows how much time is left in the break, but that appears to be gone, at least for tonight.) 

Valkyria hit a sit-out powerbomb after the break but her leg was in too much pain to make a cover. Valkyria went for a tornado DDT but Nile stopped her momentum and deadlifted her into a vertical suplex for two. Valkyria went for her finisher but she twisted her knee and fell down. Nile hit a sit-out powerbomb for two. 

Nile applied an ankle lock to the injured leg, but Valkyria got a rope break. Nile hit a German suplex but missed a running boot in the corner. Valkyria followed with a neckbreaker and Nightwing for the pinfall win. 

This was pretty good but the crowd didn’t seem to care. 

*******

Redmond tried interviewing Rollins as he marched through the back. Rollins saw Punk nearby, and they stormed at each other again. Security quickly separated them as Adam Pearce got between them. (They showed a clip of Punk’s promo earlier and made sure to include his mention of Becky Lynch.) 

After a break, Rollins and Pearce argued outside the arena. Rollins wanted to finish Punk and do to him what he did to Roman Reigns by making sure he didn’t make it to WrestleMania. 

Pearce made a steel cage match between Rollins and Punk at MSG in New York next week. Pearce told him to get on his bus because he didn’t want to see him again until next week. Rollins was happy with that. 

********

Kelley interviewed Dakota Kai (during a break). Kai still had her eyes set on the IC title, and she looked forward to seeing Sky reclaim her spot on top tonight. 

Buffalo Bills OT Dion Dawkins was shown in attendance and the fans cheered. 

********

Ludwig Kaiser cut a promo in the ring. In speaking about his win last week, he said he took back the attention that he deserved, the attention that Penta had taken away. He called himself a future world champion. Kaiser warned Penta to stay away from him because what Cena did to Rhodes was nothing compared to what he was willing to do to Penta. 

Penta ran out (in his street clothes), attacked Kaiser and wiped him out with a dive. 

********

Kelley interviewed Bianca Belair. Kelley wondered how Belair was processing everything that happened with Cargill and Naomi. Belair wanted to talk to them personally before talking about it publicly. She did feel guilty. She was sad about what happened but was proud about winning the Chamber. 

She just wanted to focus on tonight’s title match. She put over both Sky and Ripley. Regardless of who won, they would learn why you couldn’t spell WrestleMania without “EST.” 

********

Redmond interviewed Waller and Theory (during a break). Before she could even ask a question, Waller told The Rock that he was willing to give up his soul. 

Waller said Jey Uso was like Josh Allen, because they were both supremely talented but couldn’t get it done when there was something on the line. The crowd booed this heavily and chanted “MVP” for Allen. They were so hot they missed Theory doing the “Yeet” gesture. Waller pulled him away. 

********

Chad Gable segment 

There was a video of Chad Gable in some town looking for the person who could help him learn the dark arts of lucha libre. He had the card given to him by Dom and he asked locals outside of Los Hermanos Meat Market if they knew who it was but they all brushed him off. 

Gable followed an alleyway and found someone in the dark of night. The mysterious person told him he could not fight what he did not understand. Gable said he didn’t travel this far to go back with nothing. He asked what he needed to do. 

The mysterious figure was about to hand him a box but stopped so Gable could pay him for it. This led to a bit of comedy where Gable had to keep handing bills over until the man finally gave him the box. 

The man said Gable now wielded power beyond his understanding. Gable opened the box and his eyes grew wide. He pulled something out of the box, but we didn’t see what it was. 

********

The War Raiders defeated The Creed Brothers to retain the World Tag Team Championships (11:42) 

The Creeds did lots of stuff but lost in the end. 

After a break, Julius hit Erik with an Angle Slam and Brutus followed with a 450 splash, which didn’t land flush, for two. Julius gave Erik a superplex but Brutus missed a moonsault. Ivar went for a moonsault next but Brutus rolled out of the way. Julius followed with an SSP for two. (McAfee gave Billy Kidman a shoutout.) 

The crowd was dead for the first ten minutes, but they woke up after that with a “This is awesome,” chant. Julius hit a Finlay Roll and they tried Brutus Bomb but Erik slipped out. Ivar smashed Julius into the side of the ring with a crossbody before the Raiders hit Brutus with War Machine for the pinfall win. 

********

There was a recap of Kevin Owens’ win over Sami Zayn and the return of Randy Orton. 

Michael Cole announced that Zayn reaggravated his neck injury, and spinal and nerve issues. 

********

There was a pre-taped LWO promo. They said New Day could try to put them down, but they could not take their hearts. Rey Mysterio told Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods to savour their vacation because he and Dragon Lee would give them the worst Monday of their lives in their tornado tag match next week. 

******** 

Bron Breakker/Finn Bálor segment 

Redmond interviewed Bron in the crowd during a break. He said he didn’t have a problem with Judgment Day until about a week ago. He said it took courage for Judgment Day to do what they did. It took courage for Dom to walk around with a Dirty Sanchez and for Carlito to be the apple man. He was about to move on to Bálor, but Bálor entered (the ring) as they returned from break. 

Bálor said Bron was only champion because Judgment Day let him be. Bron said he was champion because he was a dog and he embarrassed them last week. Bálor said he was untouchable in the ring and ate rookies like Bron for breakfast. Bálor said there would be no dogs barking if they wrestled because Bálor would put him down. 

Bron had enough and he marched down to ringside. Carlito tried to attack, but Bron chucked him over the barricade. Dom tried to attack from behind but Bron caught him off the barricade and suplexed him. 

Bron slipped in the ring but Bálor caught him with a slingblade. Bron grabbed him by the throat and hit a military press slam. Bron was about to kill him with a super spear but Dom pulled him to safety. 

********

There was a video package of John Cena’s heel turn. So far, they had only shown the buildup and aftermath. The video included clips of a heroic John Cena from the past, followed by clips of very upset fans on Saturday. 

Cole said he spoke to Rhodes earlier today. Rhodes had little to say but would address it on Smackdown. 

******** 

Next week on Raw at Madison Square Garden in New York:  

  • Jey Uso vs. Grayson Waller 
  • Tornado tag match: The New Day vs. Rey Mysterio & Dragon Lee 
  • AJ Styles calls out Logan Paul 
  • Steel cage match: CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins 

********

Otis (with Alpha Academy) embraced Jey Uso in the back. 

Kelley interviewed Jey and asked if Gunther had thrown him off his game earlier. Jey admitted that he did a little bit. Every week that passed, Gunther had him doubting himself. 

Jey fired up and said, with his back against the wall, feeling suffocated, nobody would pick him up but himself. Gunther threatened ten weeks of hell, but Jey would walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil. Gunther put him to sleep tonight but he just woke up a beast. Four letters, one word: Yeet. 

(Jey was really good here, but he may need a new talking point soon other than people are doubting him.) 

********

Bianca Belair entered to watch the main event ringside. 

Ripley received a superstar reaction on the way out.  

IYO SKY defeated Rhea Ripley to win the Women’s World Championship (18:40) 

Things were even early on until Ripley pulled Sky out of the ring, swung her into the side of the ring, and hit a vertical suplex. During a break, Sky came off the top and stomped Ripley’s arm. Ripley fought back with a slam but she kept favouring her arm. 

Ripley hit a missile dropkick, which we didn’t see because it happened during the split-second when the screen goes back as they came back from break. They immediately showed a replay. Sky came back with a backstabber, low dropkick, forearm, and missile dropkick. Ripley fought back with strikes but Sky hit a double foot stomp for two. 

Sky avoided a Prism Trap and dropped Ripley arm-first on the apron. Sky ran off the ropes but Ripley turned her inside out with a big boot for two. Sky countered Rip-tide into a DDT. She followed with a running corner boot, inspired by Dakota Kai, and a flying elbow drop, inspired by Kairi Sane, for two. Sky applied an Asuka Lock next, but Ripley fought out of it. 

Sky hit running knees in the corner and went to the top but Ripley went after her and hit an avalanche back suplex for two. Ripley applied the Prism Trap but Sky flipped her shoulder-first into the ring post. 

As Ripley stood on the apron, Sky hit a running sunset flip powerbomb off the apron and into the barricade. Sky followed with a moonsault onto Ripley’s back (which didn’t really connect) but Ripley got her foot on the rope at two. Ripley tried to regroup outside the ring but Sky hit a diving crossbody. 

Sky set up for an Asai moonsault but Ripley caught her on her shoulders and dropped her on the announce table. Ripley was ready to take a countout win but Belair encouraged Sky to get up, and she managed to get back in the ring at nine. 

Ripley didn’t appreciate that, so she got in Belair’s face. Ripley shoved Belair, so Belair shoved her back. They kept pushing each other until referee Jessika Carr got between them. She told them to stop instead of calling for a DQ. 

Ripley set up Sky for a Rip-tide off the top while telling Belair, “See you at Mania.” She took too much time, so Sky countered with a hurricanrana off the top and followed with a moonsault for the surprise pinfall win.

Fireworks went off as Sky celebrated with the title belt. (Ripley was livid with herself.) 

Ripley was the crowd favourite, but the crowd popped big for the title change. The fans have been into Sky for the past few weeks, but they were quiet for the match, perhaps because they didn’t want or expect Sky to actually win with Ripley vs. Belair seemingly being a lock for Mania. Obviously, they have a lot of time to set up a possible triple threat at Mania, but for now, they played it up like Sky was defending the title against Belair and that’s that.