Tag: Wwe Raw Results

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. 

WWE Raw live results: Elimination Chamber go-home show

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: February 24, 2025
Location: Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati, OH 

********** 

The Big Takeaway —

Cody Rhodes appeared on Raw to address The Rock’s offer but was interrupted by Seth Rollins, who issued a warning to Rhodes. (See more below.) 

Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez won the Women’s Tag Team titles in a fun main event after Morgan pinned Naomi—thanks to plenty of interference by Dom. 

Penta suffered his first loss in WWE in a triple threat match where he was not pinned.

**********

Show Recap — 

Michael Cole announced a crowd of 12,259. The Women’s tag title match will be tonight’s main event. 

Cody Rhodes was among those shown arriving at the arena. 

Opening segment

Logan Paul entered to kick off Raw. He was booed by the crowd despite announcing he was also from Ohio. He said he was just like them, just better. He saw dreary, grey Cincinnati when he was landing on his jet and told his pilot to turn around, but he decided to go to Cincinnati after all to perform for the peasants because he was just that humble. 

The crowd booed, so he told them that they didn’t appreciate good talent. Just look at what they did to Joe Burrow. Paul beat Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio to qualify for the Chamber, and he will beat three doorknobs and John Cena before going on to WrestleMania to become the face of this company. 

CM Punk interrupted to a big reaction. Paul wondered what Punk’s problem was with him. He saw Punk’s subtweets and thought Punk was jealous because Paul was successful at everything he did, while Punk was a series of failures. 

Punk said he didn’t have a problem with Paul. But Paul was a dime a dozen. A loud-mouth kid who did stupid and ignorant things for the shock of it. Paul thought that made him a generational talent but he had no character or substance, and the fans deserved better. 

Paul said Punk’s return was one of the biggest ever, but he immediately crumbled under the pressure and got hurt. Paul said the fans were familiar with Stone Cold, Cena, and Punk, but that name (of the top guy) changed over time. It was just a matter of time before they were chanting Paul’s name. (The fans chanted for Punk.) 

Punk said Paul was wrong about a lot, but he was right that the names do change. All the names he mentioned were legends, including Punk. Punk made history when under pressure, but Paul never made history and was barely a flash in the pan. Paul wouldn’t be here long enough to be remembered. 

Punk planned on eliminating Paul from the Chamber. Punk would face Cody Rhodes and leave Las Vegas with the title. Punk would make history—and Paul would be history. Punk didn’t care if Rhodes thought he had to sell his soul to beat him because he would find out that Punk was Satan himself—and Paul was nobody. 

They got face-to-face until Paul slapped Punk. Paul immediately left the ring before Punk could retaliate. (And Punk couldn’t leave the ring, I guess.) Punk told him to run while he could because he’d be locked in a cage on Saturday. Punk would get his hands on him, and he would understand why the fans chanted his name.

******** 

Triple threat match: Ludwig Kaiser defeated Pete Dunne and Penta (9:20) 

He didn’t get pinned, but Penta suffered his first loss in WWE. Cole kept calling this a first time ever triple threat match. That is true, but Penta also hasn’t wrestled anyone besides these two men in six weeks (aside from the Royal Rumble match). 

Kaiser and Dunne set something up in the corner, but Penta got underneath and brought them both down with a powerbomb. (The timing was unfortunate because the setup happened during a commercial, but the actual move happened during the split-second where the screen goes black before they come back. They did show a replay later.) 

Penta used a hurricanrana (sort of) to launch Dunne into Kaiser before wiping out both men with separate flip dives. (Kaiser had to stand around too long waiting for his.) Just about 6-7 minutes into the match, they got their third “This is awesome” chant.  Dunne managed to hit Penta with Bitter End, but Kaiser broke up the cover. 

Penta stepped off of a haunched over Kaiser and hit Dunne with a Canadian Destroyer. Penta superkicked Kaiser and set up Dunne for his finisher, but Kaiser chucked Penta out of the ring and hit Dunne with his finisher instead for the surprise pinfall win. 

********

Jackie Redmond interviewed Rhea Ripley in the crowd. Ripley said she has never beaten Iyo Sky, but it’s been five years since they’ve wrestled. Since then, Ripley has become the most dominant woman in WWE. She’s beaten everyone from Becky Lynch to Charlotte Flair, and we can add Sky’s name to that list after next week. 

Sky joined to tell Ripley she would beat her again and go into WrestleMania as the Women’s World Champion. They got face-to-face. 

********

New Day cut a promo during the break where they didn’t say anything new. They also waited around for boos and “New Day sucks” chants, but the crowd only barely played along. 

During this match, Cole plugged Matt & Jeff Hardy wrestling on tomorrow’s NXT. 

Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods defeated Cruz Del Toro & Joaquin Wilde (5:27) 

LWO set up for a double-team move, but Kingston raked Del Toro’s eyes as Woods distracted the referee. Kingston tossed Wilde from the ring, and New Day gave Del Toro the UpUpDownDown (backbreaker/diving foot stomp combo) for the pinfall win. 

— Dragon Lee ran out to make the save, but New Day beat him up too. 

You can skip this. 

********

Finn Bálor told Dominik Mysterio that last week was the most embarrassing day in the history of Judgment Day, and it was all Dom’s fault. Dom said Bálor only had a qualifying match because of him, but Bálor lost it. Dom said they needed a new member. 

Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez interrupted. Morgan couldn’t believe they were still fighting. She said they had a big week coming up, including their tag title match tonight. Morgan said they would bring gold to Judgment Day, and that’s all that mattered. 

Bálor said they should be worried after what they did to Jade Cargill. Morgan said they were not involved, but they would still handle Bianca Belair and Naomi. Morgan told Bálor to get on the same page with Dom and help him against Bron Breakker. Bálor said they would handle their business, and Morgan said they would handle theirs. 

********

Cathy Kelley interviewed AJ Styles during a break. Styles said he always had a target on his back, but that meant he was doing something right. Paul interrupted. Paul thought Styles was going to retire after getting hurt or after getting embarrassed by him in the Rumble. Styles said Paul did eliminate him, but that’s how the Rumble works. Styles invited him to try it again. Paul said he was too busy, but he admired Styles for not giving up, even though he probably should. 

*******

Members of the University of Cincinnati Bearcats football team were shown in the crowd. Adam “Pacman” Jones was shown, too, and he got a good reaction. 

Gunther promo 

Gunther entered. He said he would embarrass Jey Uso at WrestleMania and end the Yeet Circus once and for all. In the spirit of WrestleMania, Gunther told Adam Pearce that he would wrestle tonight against his own hand-picked opponent—Akira Tozawa. (When Gunther was shown entering the building earlier, he walked by Alpha Academy dancing for TikTok.) 

Gunther saw Tozawa dancing with the other two clowns, and that bothered him because they had things in common. They both uprooted their lives to make a career in WWE. They both got into the shape of their lives to prove they belonged. But Tozawa was wasted dancing like a goof for the degenerate fans. He made the wrong choice, just like Jey, and Jey’s choice would cost him his career. 

Gunther recalled what McAfee said last week, that anything could happen on any given night. Tozawa had a chance to earn his respect tonight. Gunther told Tozawa to earn his respect and started shoving him. The ref chose this moment to ring the bell. 

World Heavyweight Champion Gunther defeated Akira Tozawa via ref stoppage in a non-title match (2:50) 

Tozawa attacked Gunther as soon as the bell rang in retaliation. He had Gunther off-guard for a moment until Gunther booted him and killed him with a chop. Gunther tried a powerbomb but Tozawa countered into a victory roll for a nearfall. Tozawa came off the top but Gunther caught him and applied a Boston Crab until Tozawa got a rope break. 

Tozawa tried to fight back with chops, but Gunther planted him with a powerbomb. He had it won but lifted Tozawa off the mat at the two count. Gunther put Tozawa in a sleeper—and had Tozawa off his feet. Tozawa passed out, and the referee called for the bell. 

— Gunther went after Tozawa after the match, so Otis jumped in to make the save. Gunther shoved Otis, who began gyrating, so Gunther left the ring. As Otis checked on Tozawa, Gunther slipped back in and put him in a sleeper until Jey Uso ran out (to his music) to chase away Gunther.

******** 

There was a video package for the Women’s Chamber match, highlighting each wrestler. 

Lyra Valkyria defeated Dakota Kai to retain the Women’s Intercontinental Championship (7:40) 

Valkyria hit a delayed superplex (off the middle rope) following a break. The previously quiet crowd chanted, “Holy sh*t,” and they were into the match from here. Kai came back with a scorpion kick, and they traded cradles for a series of two counts until Valkyria bridged out of a jackknife cover and hit a powerbomb for two. 

Valkyria came off the top, but Kai caught her with a superkick. Kai followed with a running boot and a Kai-ropractor for two. They fought for position on the ropes until Valkyria slipped out and gave Kai a Nightwing for the pinfall win. 

(This was short but good for the time they had.) 

— Valkyria embraced a disappointed Kai after the match. 

As Kai was leaving, Ivy Nile attacked her from behind and tossed her into the barricade. Nile laid out Valkyria in the ring and posed with the IC title belt. 

*******

There was a video package for Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens. 

Sami Zayn sit-down interview 

Redmond interviewed Sami Zayn (earlier today). She mentioned Owens’ video that he recorded from outside Zayn’s house. Redmond said something else happened this past week, and she asked if Zayn would share what it was. 

Zayn said he went to Owens’ house. Owens wasn’t home, but his mother was. She invited him in, and they caught up. It was great to see her, and she was in good spirits. 

Zayn got home that night and was ashamed of himself. He couldn’t look himself in the mirror because he didn’t recognize the man who went to Owens’ house. He didn’t know what his intentions were, but they weren’t good. 

Zayn and Owens have gone through a lot over the years, but family has never been involved. Zayn didn’t recognize himself, and he didn’t recognize Owens. That’s why this one was different. They were in a different headspace now. 

He understood why WWE wouldn’t sanction the match. He admitted his neck wasn’t where he wanted to be right now, but they should be worried about what he does to Owens. This match would be worse than anything they’ve done to each other in the past. Owens better be ready because it was going to be a bad time. 

This was great. 

******* 

Bayley was interviewed during a break until she was interrupted by Roxanne Perez. Bayley told Perez she could envision seeing her at WrestleMania—just not this year. 

Belair and Naomi cut a pre-taped promo on Morgan and Rodriguez. 

******** 

Non-title match: Intercontinental Champion Bron Breakker defeated Dominik Mysterio (w/Finn Bálor & Carlito) via disqualification (3:16) 

Bron was firmly in control until one distraction too many allowed Dom to hit a springboard senton. Another distraction allowed Dom to hit a 619. Dom set up for a frog splash, but Bron hit a Frankensteiner (and the crowd barked for Bron). 

Bron set up for a spear but was yanked out of the ring by Bálor and Carlito for the DQ. 

— Judgment Day put the boots to Bron after the match. Bálor went looking for a chair, so Bron tossed Dom from the ring and speared Carlito. Bálor tried to attack from behind, but Bron caught him and got in his face. Bálor slunk out of the ring. 

********

There was a video recap of the Cody Rhodes/Rock segment from Smackdown. 

They showed the logo for WrestleMania 42 next year in New Orleans, and the logo actually has the number in it. Hopefully, that stays. 

There was a New Day promo during commercials. They were already in their street clothes because they couldn’t wait to leave Cincinnati. They announced they were going on vacation next week in Costa Rica and told everyone to thank God for The New Day. 

The Creed Brothers hyped up Ivy Nile backstage. Kelley asked if Nile was trying to angle herself back into the IC title picture. That’s obviously what she was doing, and Nile responded, “Of course.” Nile said the Creeds were going after the tag belts next week, and she would beat up Valkyria every week until she got a title match. The War Raiders attacked the Creeds and officials frantically tried separating them. 

******** 

Cody Rhodes/Seth Rollins segment 

Rhodes entered to a strong reaction. He didn’t ask what they wanted to talk about because he knew what he was supposed to talk about. 

He pondered what it meant to ask for another man’s soul. That might seem abstract, but having grown up in this business, he understood the offer The Rock was making. It was Good Guy 101, not to lie to the fans. He had never lied to them before and wasn’t starting now. 

He was an incredibly blessed man. He was not a team of one, and this decision would not affect him alone. He had his lovely wife, Brandi, his daughter, his sister and her family, little Brodie and the Nightmare Factory, two nephews breaking into the industry with the last name Rhodes, his mother, and the memory of his father. The crowd chanted for Dusty. 

Dusty worked into his 60s in the independent wrestling circuit, breaking his body to make ends meet, and he did not want that memory to mirror his future. The Rock was saying he could have everything without having to scratch, fight and claw. 

Seth Rollins interrupted. He said this was the first time they were in the ring together in nearly a year—since WrestleMania 40. He would love for this to be a moment of celebration. Rollins wanted to congratulate him and tell him he couldn’t wait to face him at WrestleMania after he won the Chamber. But that’s not why he’s here. 

Rollins asked Rhodes what the hell he was thinking. They stood side-by-side a year ago, going against The Bloodline. Against The Rock. And now Rock was back asking to be his champion. The fact that Rhodes didn’t slap Rock in the face was a slap in Rollins’ face. Rollins told him not to make him regret what he sacrificed to help Rhodes win the title. Rollins wondered if being champion was becoming too much of a burden for Rhodes. 

Rhodes said he wished this conversation was going differently. He wanted to show gratitude, but Rollins was being awfully judgmental. Rock showed up to ask Rhodes for his soul, but Rock wouldn’t ask Rollins for his because it may already be compromised. Rhodes knew who Rollins was. Rollins hit Rhodes in the back with a sledgehammer. He turned on the Shield and saddled up with the Authority, running people like Rhodes out of WWE. 

Rhodes also knew that Rollins was his shield at WrestleMania 40. Rollins was his partner and his brother. With one leg and a scrambled back, Rollins helped him gain his family’s biggest dream and was the MVP of WrestleMania 40. 

Rollins said he wasn’t there to judge Rhodes. He wanted to protect Rhodes from making the same mistakes he did. Rollins has been filled with hate. That hate was pointed in the direction of Roman Reigns and CM Punk. Rollins didn’t want to hate Rhodes, too, but Rhodes was a grown man and could do whatever he wanted. 

Rollins planned on winning the Chamber and did not want to face a soulless shell of Cody Rhodes. He wanted to face the man who returned to WWE and beat him at WrestleMania. The man who beat him with one arm. 

Rollins wasn’t coming for Rhodes’ soul, but he was coming for the title. 

********

Next week on Raw in Buffalo: 

  • Rhea Ripley vs. IYO SKY for the Women’s World Championship 
  • The War Raiders vs. The Creed Brothers for the World Tag Team Championships

******** 

Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez defeated Bianca Belair & Naomi to win the Women’s Tag Team Championships (12:12) 

Belair and Naomi attacked Morgan and Rodriguez before the match, immediately following the in-ring introductions. They beat up Morgan around ringside, and the ref decided to start the match once they were back in the ring, with Morgan down on her hands and knees and both babyfaces in the ring at once. Belair beat up Morgan until Rodriguez managed to save her. 

Rodriguez held control during a break, but Belair hit a 450 splash after the break for a nearfall (one of her knees seemed to catch Raquel right on the chin). Belair set up for KOD, but Rodriguez raked her eyes. Morgan tagged in, and they hit a double-team elevated Codebreaker for a nearfall. 

Morgan went for Oblivion, but Belair caught her. Belair and Naomi set up for a double KOD, but Dom ran down to ringside to distract the referee. Rodriguez broke up the double-team, and Morgan hit Naomi with an Oblivion for a nearfall. Belair speared Rodriguez. 

Naomi gave Morgan a jawbreaker, and Belair hit Morgan with KOD moments later, but Rodriguez broke up the cover. Belair and Naomi gave Morgan a double KOD, but Dom put Morgan’s leg on the rope to break up the cover. The ref had to pretend he didn’t see this. 

Belair went after Dom, but Rodriguez slammed her on the announce table. Naomi used a slingshot dive to wipe out Rodriguez. Morgan caught Naomi in a rollup for a nearfall back in the ring. (The crowd was really into all of these nearfalls.) 

Naomi hit a Rear View, but Dom got on the apron, so Naomi knocked him down into the ring. As the ref got rid of Dom, Naomi set up for a moonsault, but Rodriguez blocked it and smashed Naomi’s face against the ring post, and she collapsed in the ring. Morgan crawled into a cover for the pinfall win. 

Fireworks went off as the champs celebrated with Dom and their titles. Morgan and Rodriguez are now the first three-time Women’s tag team champions. Cole really put over the year Morgan was having, which could get even bigger with a Chamber win on Saturday. 

(There was probably too much interference from Dom, especially since some of it seemed unnecessary, but this was still a fun and chaotic match, and the fans were super into it.)

WWE Raw live results: Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: February 17, 2025
Location: Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC 

********** 

The Big Takeaway —

Raw was capped off by an excellent main event, which saw Seth Rollins beat Finn Bálor to qualify for the Men’s Elimination Chamber. Rollins will join John Cena, CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Damian Priest, and Logan Paul in Toronto. 

Roxanne Perez beat Raquel Rodriguez to qualify for the Women’s Chamber thanks to a distraction by Bianca Belair and Naomi. Belair and Naomi will defend their tag titles against Liv Morgan and Rodriguez next week. 

Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens will have an unsanctioned match in Toronto. 

**********

Show Recap — 

Seth Rollins, Finn Bálor, Roxanne Perez, Judgment Day, Ivy Nile with the Creed Brothers, and Dakota Kai were shown arriving. 

AJ Styles arrived in a Chevy NASCAR, driven by Daytona 500 winner William Byron. 

Michael Cole welcomed Pat Acfee back from vacation. Cole said McAfee was out of the country, and McAfee told him that he was not out of the country, he was in Puerto Rico. 

There was a video package for Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. They both agreed that they had to fight, and Owens laid the challenge down for Elimination Chamber in Toronto. 

Sami Zayn segment 

Sami Zayn entered. The fans chanted for him. He said it’s been a tough couple of weeks so that was nice to hear. He’s had time to think about his history with himself and Owens. He couldn’t think of any two other wrestlers in history whose careers have been tied so closely together. (Zayn sold his neck as he spoke.) 

In a story that long, there would be betrayal, forgiving and forgetting. However, there was no forgiving and forgetting Owens this time. Owens tried to end his career. The problem for Owens was that he did not get the job done. Zayn wouldn’t pretend his neck was 100%, but he had enough for a fight. Zayn would see Owens in Toronto. 

Adam Pearce interrupted. He knew everyone wanted the match, but everyone in charge (Nick Aldis, Pearce, the board, and medical) had already told Zayn the answer was no. Pearce told him the answer was still no. The crowd booed. Zayn would not take ‘no’ for an answer and would not leave the ring until he was given the match. 

Pearce said he couldn’t sanction a match between them. If they had an unsanctioned match, Owens could do whatever he wanted. He could wrap a chair around Zayn’s head or piledrive him over and over and there was nothing WWE could do about it. Even if Zayn won, he would still lose. He warned Zayn this could be the last fight of his career. Pearce asked if he understood what that (an unsanctioned match) meant. 

Zayn marched out of the ring to answer Pearce to his face. Zayn said he knew what it meant. He could wrap a chair around Owens’ head or piledrive him on his head. Zayn told him to give him the match. Pearce agreed and made it an unsanctioned match. 

********

Judgment Day met in the back. Dominik was worried about Bianca Belair and Naomi coming after Liv Morgan, but Morgan wasn’t worried about it. Morgan said she was proud of Dom lately. Dom wished Finn Bálor saw it that way. He wanted to add a new member, but Bálor refused. 

Bálor joined them at this moment. He was confident he would beat Seth Rollins tonight and said it would be embarrassing if Raquel Rodriguez lost to Perez tonight. She told him to handle his own business and she would handle hers. Bálor was cool with that. Before leaving, he reiterated to Dom that there would be no new members. 

********

Vic Joseph ran down Bayley’s hectic schedule over the past week, including her participation in the NBA Celebrity game. Bayley then joined him for an interview and said she would win the Chamber. (They couldn’t have given her today off?)

(Joseph was filling in for Jackie Redmond. They didn’t say why she was absent because she’s at the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off, which is on right now.) 

********

Cole announced a sold-out crowd of 15,280. He also announced Michelle McCool’s upcoming Hall of Fame induction. 

AJ Styles defeated Dominik Mysterio (w/Carlito) (8:54) 

The announcers mentioned that Styles was a former TNA World Champion and X Division Champion. 

Styles was about to put Dom away with a Phenomenal forearm early in the match, but Clarito tripped him as Dom distracted the ref. Dom hit a suicide dive to lead to break. Dom hit three amigos and a 619 but missed a frog splash. Styles fought back with a clothesline, forearm, corner clothesline, and neckbreaker. 

Carlito tried to get in the ring, but Styles kicked the middle rope into his crotch and knocked him off the apron. The ref just stood idly by. Dom tried to use the distraction to his advantage, but Styles caught him with a Styles Clash for the pinfall win. 

— Bron Breakker tried to spear an unsuspecting Styles, but Styles dodged it and Breakker speared Dom by mistake. Styles hit an enziguri and tossed Bron out of the ring. Bron was pissed that Styles got the better of him, so he ripped off his shirt and chucked it into the ring but Styles caught it effortlessly. (I don’t know if that was planned or not, but it was timed perfectly.) Bron grabbed his title and left. 

********

The Creed Brothers bragged about what they did to the War Raiders last week (attacking them with the belts). Ivy Nile reminded them that they didn’t win the titles, and they promised Chad Gable that they would all be champions when he returned. Nile planned on beating Dakota Kai tonight to earn an IC title shot. 

Kai walked by and Nile told her that her Cinderella story would end tonight. Kai said many women bigger than Nile tried to take her down before. She planned on earning her IC title rematch tonight. 

Rugby player Aaron Woods was shown in the crowd. 

Lyra Valkyria entered to watch the upcoming match at ringside. 

Dakota Kai defeated Ivy Nile to become the number one contender for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship (6:45) 

Nile briefly worked over Kai’s previously injured leg, but Kai came back with running boots and a Kai-ropractor for two. Nile powerbombed her out of the corner. Kai kind of no-sold that and tried a counter, but Nile caught her in an ankle lock. Kai got a rope break, and the two exchanged strikes. 

Nile hit a German suplex, but Kai reversed a second one into a cradle for two. Nile applied an ankle lock again, but Kai used the ropes to escape and hit a curb stomp (with Nile draped over the ropes). Kai followed with GTK for the pinfall win. 

This match was alright, but it didn’t help that the crowd was dead. 

********

McAfee interviewed Austin Theory and Grayson Waller during a break. 

******** 

Gunther/Jey Uso segment 

Gunther was on the concourse surrounded by fans who were Yeeting, mimicking Jey Uso’s entrance. Gunther entered through the crowd and did Jey’s pose, but the crowd did not participate with him. He called it a simple gesture for simple people. 

He understood why Jey felt comfortable in the crowd because he was a simple guy himself. He understood why the fans didn’t appreciate him (Gunther) because his performances in the ring were like performing Shakespeare for a dog. He was the best wrestler in this company and was tired of wrestling people who couldn’t lace his boots. 

He thought he could beat some sense into Jey, but because of the fans Yeeting along, that gave him a false sense of confidence and now Jey was digging his own grave. The crowd started Yeeting, so he told them to shut up and noted how badly it smelled in the stands. 

He reminded them that the match would not happen in the crowd but in the ring, and he would outclass Jey. Jey’s blood would be on the hands of the fans. He wanted them to be honest and asked if they really thought Jey could win. The crowd chanted, “We want Jey,” before he finished his question. 

Gunther decided to ask a professional instead and climbed the announce desk. He asked Cole and McAfee for their supposedly unbiased, professional opinion. McAfee didn’t want to answer, but Gunther chucked the microphone at him. Cole warned McAfee to be careful. McAfree responded, “Yeah, I hope he can beat you at WrestleMania.” 

Gunther didn’t like that answer, so he began stepping closer to McAfee until Jey’s music hit. Jey entered through the stage, but three referees stopped him. Jey ran by them and attacked Gunther in the ring. This led to a pull-apart brawl with officials getting between them. Jey got the better of it and sent Gunther out of the ring. Jey led the fans along with his chant. 

This was a strong segment. Gunther was great here. 

********

Cathy Kelley asked Morgan and Rodriguez about the footage that implicated them in Jade Cargill’s attack. Morgan said the footage doesn’t show them doing anything. Morgan said they didn’t have time for this, and Rodriguez would squish Perez like a bug tonight. Kelley tried pressing them on Cargill, but they blew her off. Kelley was annoyed and said, “Thanks so much for giving us nothing.” 

********

During a break, Jey walked through the back and was approached by the New Day. Kofi Kingston said nobody knew what he was going through more than he did as a former tag team wrestler going for a singles world title at WrestleMania. Xavier Woods said they hoped he lost at Mania. They laughed. Jey said KofiMania never would have happened if The Usos hadn’t forfeited. Jey said New Day sucks, and he left. Pete Dunne walked by, and Woods “mistakenly” called him Butch. Dunne also told them that they suck. 

Various celebrities whose names I didn’t write down were shown in the crowd. 

******** 

Penta defeated Pete Dunne (10:06) 

Penta kicked Dunne right in the face, but Dunne responded with a dropkick. Dunne pretty much immediately took control and began working over Penta’s extremities until Penta came back with a Codebreaker. However, Dunne snapped his fingers to take over. 

Ludwig Kaiser entered to watch as they went to break. Penta came back with a superkick and flying crossbody, but Dunne cut him off with another dropkick. (This was almost a repeat of what happened earlier, perhaps because they knew they were in commercials.) 

Penta fought back after the break with a DVD variation, but Dunne responded with a sit-out powerbomb for two. They traded kicks until Penta hit a Canadian Destroyer. Kaiser distracted Penta, which allowed Dunne to cut off his dive attempt. Dunne applied a cradle while holding the tights for two. 

Penta chucked Dunne into Kaiser to knock him off the apron, and Penta followed with Penta Driver on Dunne for the pinfall win. The crowd popped for the win and they were into Penta all match. 

(This was fine, I guess, but the finishing sequence was too similar to the Styles/Dom match.) 

— Kaiser attacked Penta after the match, but Dunne was pissed at Kaiser, so he yanked him out of the ring. They traded right hands until Penta wiped them both out with a flip dive. 

********

Kelley interviewed Jey Uso. She asked about people’s doubts about him. Jey was fired up. He said people kept doubting him, but he was standing there as the Royal Rumble winner. He would shock the world again by beating Gunther and becoming the champion. 

They showed clips of Bayley playing in the NBA Celebrity game. McAfee joked that this was the only positive thing about NBA All-Star. 

There was a Roxanne Perez video package. 

6’4” Vic Joseph interviewed 5’6” Dakota Kai while standing in the crowd. She wanted to prove that all the work was worth it and planned on walking out as IC champion next week. 

There was a War Raiders video package. They warned the Creed Brothers that they made the worst mistake of their lives last week, and the next time they fought, it would be war. 

*******

Elimination Chamber qualifier: Roxanne Perez defeated Raquel Rodriguez (w/Liv Morgan) (7:30) 

Rodriguez used her size and power advantage over Perez. Perez slapped Rodriguez twice, which just pissed her off, so she launched Perez into the ring post. Rodriguez caught Perez in a guillotine and spun her around and around (a spot that could get over if she keeps doing it). 

Perez chop-blocked her, hit a running uppercut and applied a rollup for two. Rodriguez caught Perez out of the air and hit a fallaway slam, followed by an elbow drop for two. Perez avoided a tackle, and Rodriguez went shoulder-first into the post. Perez followed with consecutive dives, a DDT and a springboard moonsault for two. Rodriguez blocked a Pop Rox attempt and hit a big boot for two. 

Belair and Naomi entered to Belair’s music, and they attacked Morgan. This distracted Rodriguez, so Perez hit Pop Rox for the pinfall win. (Despite Perez being a heel, Cole said she was on a Cinderella run.) 

— Belair and Naomi tried to attack Morgan again after the match, but Rodriguez pulled her to safety. 

(The crowd was quiet because this was a match between two heels, but they popped for Perez getting the win. They worked well together, but Perez was on the wrong end of a beat-down for much of the match.) 

********

Seth Rollins told Kelley he planned on beating Bálor tonight. 

After Rollins left, Karrion Kross (with Scarlett) had a message to share. Kross thought Jey and Rollins were both delusional. (Jey for thinking he could beat Gunther, and Rollins for thinking he could win the Chamber.) Zayn was, too, but Kross still had hope for him. Kross said Zayn knew that there was always time to “turn” things around. 

********

There was an IYO SKY video package. 

The New Day segment 

They aired a replay of New Day attacking Rey Mysterio last week. Woods wished him well. The crowd booed them, so Woods told them to shut up. He couldn’t believe the fans were mad about what they said to their own friend Big E when they told him to keep his lazy ass at home. They were mad about what they did to Rey Mysterio, a guy who sucked the life out of every new, fresh-faced luchador in the company. 

Kingston said the fans put Rey on a pedestal, but he had more title wins than Rey had. Kingston had been in WWE longer than Rey, and Kingston never left the company as Rey did. If anyone should be the locker room leader, it should be Kingston. 

He said it could have been a lot worse for Rey, and the fans should be thankful that they showed mercy. They could have given him the Old Yeller treatment, but instead, they gave him some extra time he could spend with his wife. Woods said the fans should be thanking them. 

LWO interrupted. Dragon Lee called Rey the greatest luchador of all time, and what New Day did was unforgivable. He said New Day sucks, and they ran down to attack them. It was a three-on-two beatdown by the babyfaces over the heels. LWO knocked New Day out of the ring, and Dragon Lee was about to go for a dive, but New Day sprinted away to safety. 

********

Next week on Raw: 

  • Lyra Valkyria vs. Dakota Kai for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship 
  • Bianca Belair & Naomi vs. Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez for the Women’s Tag Team Championships 

Belair and Naomi cut a quick promo about the tag title match. They also spoke about the Chamber and the possibility of facing either Rhea Ripley or Iyo Sky at WrestleMania. 

********

Elimination Chamber qualifier: Seth Rollins defeated Finn Bálor (18:47) 

Bálor attacked Rollins before the match. The ref checked on Rollins, who told him to start the match. Bálor was all over him and hit a Pedigree for nearfall about a minute into the match. (This was one of those Pedigrees where he didn’t let go of his opponent’s arms at all.) Rollins avoided a Coup de Grace, but Bálor remained in control until Rollins fought back and hit a suicide dive. 

Bálor avoided a stomp and hit a slingblade, but Rollins kicked his leg out of his leg to take over. Bálor tried fighting back but Rollins dropped him knee-first onto the announce desk. Rollins tried to stomp Bálor’s head onto the steel steps, but Bálor avoided it. Bálor shoved him into the ring post and dropped him on the steps. Bálor targeted his midsection during a break. 

Rollins fought back, and they exchanged strikes until Bálor hit a Pelé kick. Rollins fought back with chops (as the crowd randomly started waving their phone flashlights). Rollins hit a DDT and Lionsault for two. Rollins followed later with a buckle bomb, but Bálor got his knees up on a frog splash attempt and transitioned into a cradle for a nearfall. The crowd chanted, “This is awesome.” 

Bálor hit consecutive slingblades, but Rollins caught his dropkick attempt and applied a Sharpshooter. Bálor almost got a rope break, so Rollins let go and hit a Pedigree for an extreme nearfall. This was really a three-count, but Bálor kicked out late. The crowd thought it was over, so they chanted, “Ref, you suck.” Rollins gave him a DX crotch chop. 

Rollins went for a superplex, but Bálor dropped him onto the top rope and hit a Coup de Grace for a nearfall. They traded counters until Bálor applied a crossface. Rollins slipped out and hit a curb stomp for the pinfall win. (Rollins shook hands with the ref after the match.) 

This was an excellent match. It was so good that it felt like Rollins accomplished something by beating Bálor. The crowd got more and more into it as it went, and some people were screaming by the end of it.

WWE Raw live results: Elimination Chamber qualifiers

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: February 10, 2025
Location: Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN 

********** 

The Big Takeaway —

Jey Uso will wrestle Gunther at WrestleMania 41 for the World Heavyweight Championship, meaning the winner of the Men’s Elimination Chamber will face Cody Rhodes for the WWE Championship. Logan Paul beat Rey Mysterio to qualify for the match, joining John Cena, Drew McIntyre and CM Punk. 

Bayley beat Lyra Valkyria to qualify for the Women’s Chamber, joining Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan and Alexa Bliss.  

Rhea Ripley will defend her Women’s World title against IYO SKY on the Raw after Elimination Chamber. SKY pinned Morgan in a tag match tonight. 

**********

Show Recap — 

Rey Mysterio, Logan Paul (and his cronies), Lyra Valkyria, Bayley, and AJ Styles were shown arriving. 

Jey Uso/Gunther segment 

Jey entered to his usual big reaction as Michael Cole told erectile dysfunction jokes. As with last week’s shows, the crowd chanted “One more time” after his music cut, so they played the music again, and he Yeeted along with the crowd. (Cole looks like such a goof doing it along with everyone else.) 

As Jey posed on top of the announce desk, Cole suddenly warned him because he was about to be attacked by Gunther. Gunther tossed Jey around ringside and laid him out with a powerbomb in the ring. He urged Jey not to choose him for WrestleMania. He shoved aside some security and hit another powerbomb. 

As Gunther left, Jey grabbed a mic and slowly got to his feet while announcing, “Me and you at WrestleMania.” Gunther was pissed, so he marched back down to ringside. Jey knocked him off the ring and wiped out Gunther and security with a dive. 

This was a good, simple setup. Having Gunther cut off Jey’s long entrance was clever. 

********

Cathy Kelley interviewed Rhea Ripley backstage. She thought Charlotte Flair was wasting everyone’s time by not making her Mania selection. Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai interrupted. Sky told Ripley that she cost her a spot at WrestleMania and stated, “I’m coming for you.” Ripley looked forward to it. 

********

Morgan cut a promo during a break, stating her intention to win the Elimination Chamber. 

A video package aired plugging The War Raiders vs. The Creed Brothers for the tag titles, happening later tonight. 

IYO SKY & Dakota Kai defeated Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez (14:57) 

Cole mentioned that Kai was returning from injury, but he didn’t say what the injury was. 

Rodriguez dropped Sky and Kai awkwardly in separate spots early in the match. The heels worked over Sky until Kai made a tag. Kai hit Morgan with a PK but missed a running boot on Rodriguez, which led to Rodriguez posting her. They worked over Kai during a break, and Morgan hit her with three amigos. 

Sky made a hot tag after the break and wiped out both opponents with a suicide dive. Sky hit Morgan with a great missile dropkick and a Meteora in the corner for two. Sky went for a Meteora again, but Rodriguez pulled Morgan to safety. 

Rodriguez and Morgan hit a combo elevated Codebreaker for a nearfall. (Morgan’s knees must’ve nailed Sky right in the face because she kept grabbing at her face/nose. Hopefully, she’s ok. The ref quickly checked on her, and the match continued.) 

Kai tagged in and hit Morgan with a Kai-ropractor for two. Morgan hit Kai with an Oblivion, but Sky broke up the cover with a running knee. Morgan was busted open. Kai hit Rodriguez with a running boot, and Morgan took out Kai with a Codebreaker. Sky rolled up Morgan, and Morgan kicked out at two. (It was supposed to be a nearfall, but Morgan kicked out early.) 

Morgan and Sky had an exchange, which led to Sky hitting a double foot stomp, kick to the head, and moonsault for the pinfall win. 

This was pretty good. The crowd was quiet when it started but they got really into it and popped big for Sky getting the win. 

******* 

Cole announced that Sami Zayn suffered spinal compression and extreme nerve damage thanks to Kevin Owens’ attack. 

New Day cut a promo in the crowd during a break. Kofi Kingston didn’t understand why Rey Mysterio was in the Elimination Chamber over either of them, and he reminded us of this performance in the 2019 Chamber. The crowd booed, and they were eventually cut off by Bayley’s entrance for the next segment. 

********* 

They mentioned that Bayley would be playing in the NBA Celebrity All-Star Game. 

Roxanne Perez and George Kittle were shown in the crowd. 

Elimination Chamber qualifier: Bayley defeated Women’s Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria (12:16) 

This was a first-time-ever match. There were duelling chants early on. 

Bayley hit a sunset flip bomb into the bottom turnbuckle, but Valkyria got her knees up on a flying elbow attempt. Valkyria went for a tornado DDT, but Bayley hit a Bayley-to-belly for a nearfall. Bayley hit a running knee strike and a suplex of some sort that didn’t look good for a two-count. 

They fought to the apron, and Valkyria hit a tornado DDT and fisherman’s suplex on the outside. Valkyria hit another fisherman’s suplex in the ring for two. Valkyria headbutted Bayley off the top and followed with a leg drop as Bayley was draped over the middle rope. 

Valkyria went for a cradle, but Bayley drove her into the bottom rope. Valkyria tried another cradle, but Bayley caught her in a cradle of her own for the pinfall win. 

— Bayley helped Valkyria to her feet after the match, and they posed together as the crowd applauded. 

(They played this up as the veteran Bayley against Valkyria, who grew up idolizing her. They put over Valkyria’s performance despite the loss and spoke about her strong year on Raw. They didn’t really address the fact that Bayley just pinned the IC champion.) 

********

There was a Penta video package where he spoke about Pete Dunne and Ludwig Kaiser. 

Jackie Redmond interviewed Kaiser, but they were interrupted by Dunne. He was pissed at Kaiser for getting involved last week. Dunne said he would destroy Penta next week and told Kaiser to stay out of his business. Dunne left. 

AJ Styles walked past Kaiser as they went to break. 

********

During a break, McAfee kept the crowd warm, then had them all wish Michael Cole a happy birthday. Cole sheepishly hid his face when McAfee mentioned his birthday. (Odd, because Wikipedia says his birthday is December 8th.) 

Hardy (musician) was shown in the crowd. 

Alpha Academy consoled Valkyria backstage when they were interrupted by American Made. Ivy Nile mocked Valkyria for losing and being coached by losers. Valkyria told her to back off or else. Nile said they would do it on her time, but first, the Creed Brothers would win the tag titles. 

******** 

AJ Styles segment 

Styles entered, and the crowd chanted his name. He spoke about returning in Nashville four months ago, but he suffered what should have been a career-threatening injury (against Carmelo Hayes). But he woke up the next day and knew he still had gas in the tank and still had something to prove. 

It was hard coming back, but anything worth doing was difficult. He announced that he was back and had a long to-do list. He also wanted to remind the locker room that he was still the Phenomenal AJ Styles. 

Dominik Mysterio and Carlito interrupted. They got a lot of heat. Dom wanted to inform Styles that Judgment Day still ran Raw. Styles said a lot had changed while he was gone. He wondered where Damian Priest, Rhea Ripley and Finn Bálor were. Styles said no matter how much has changed, Dom would always be Rey’s punk-ass kid. 

Dom tried a cheap shot, but Styles blocked it. Styles fought off Carlito, which allowed Dom to drop Styles on the middle rope. Dom went for a 619, but Styles chased him out of the ring. Styles gave Carlito a Phenomenal Forearm. 

********

Gunther vs. Jey Uso for the world title was made official for WrestleMania. 

Redmond interviewed Seth Rollins in the crowd. Rollins said Jey made his choice for Mania, which meant all eyes were on Cody Rhodes, the WWE Championship, and on the Chamber. All eyes were also on the winner of the Chamber—Seth freakin’ Rollins. 

Bálor interrupted. He said all eyes were on Rollins, but all they were seeing was his downfall. We all saw the cracks. We all saw Rollins lose to CM Punk. We all saw Rollins lose his mind at the Royal Rumble. The only thing standing in Bálor’s way from a title shot at Mania was a guy who was falling apart. 

Rollins said they had a long history, and any time they stepped in the ring, they put on a show. But Rollins had unfinished business with Punk and Rhodes. Bálor was standing in his way, but after next week, he wouldn’t be standing at all. Bálor smiled and left. 

******** 

Kelley interviewed Austin Theory and Grayson Waller during a break. They plugged NXT and said there would be a new NXT Champion soon. They mocked Sami Zayn by confusing him for an unhoused man and mocked Sheamus for losing his shot at the IC title again. Kelley was unamused and cut them off. 

Adam Pearce granted Styles his wish and gave him a match against Dom next week. Bron Breakker (in a cowboy hat) got in Styles’ face and said, “See you around.” 

Golden Tate and Bailey Zimmerman were shown in the crowd. 

******** 

Tag Team Championships: The War Raiders defeated The Creed Brothers (w/Ivy Nile) via disqualification (12:22) 

Erik slammed Ivar on top of Julius before Ivar smushed Brutus into the side of the ring with a crossbody. Erik hit Julius with a sit-out powerbomb and running knee ahead of a break. The Creeds used a simple distraction to take control of Erik during the break, which led to a somewhat boring heat segment. 

Ivar made a hot tag after the break. He beat up both opponents before the Raiders gave Brutus a combo powerslam for two. Julius yanked Erik off the apron while Brutus gave Ivar an Angle Slam. (Kurt Angle was mentioned a bunch during this match.) Ivar knocked down the Creeds with a double handspring elbow. 

Ivar went to the top but stopped what he was doing because of a distraction by Nile. Julius popped up to the top rope and hit a superplex. Brutus followed with a moonsault, but Erik broke up the cover. 

The Raiders set up for their finisher, but Julius hit Erik with a title belt for the DQ. Brutus hit Ivar with a belt as well. They held the belts up as the crowd booed. 

********

Bálor joined the Judgment Day in their clubhouse. They were all beat up, except for Dom (who ran away from Styles earlier). Morgan had a huge gash above her eye. 

Dom told Bálor that things were going to turn around for them soon. Bálor said Styles made Dom look like a fool. Dom said they could’ve used his help, but he would take care of Styles next week. Dom suggested they find a new member. They’ve been shorthanded, especially with JD McDonagh out. Morgan seconded the idea. 

Bálor refused. He did not want a new member. He would fix things by beating Rollins, winning the Chamber and becoming champion at Mania. 

******** 

Ripley approached Sky and Kai as they were leaving. Ripley said she didn’t owe Sky anything. She wasn’t giving Sky a match because she felt she needed to but because she wanted to. She spoke to Pearce and had a title match made official for the Raw after Chamber. Sky was pleased. 

******** 

Next week on Raw: 

  • Men’s Elimination Chamber qualifier: Seth Rollins vs. Finn Bálor 
  • Women’s Elimination Chamber qualifier: Roxanne Perez vs. Raquel Rodriguez 
  • Penta vs. Pete Dunne 
  • AJ Styles vs. Dominik Mysterio 

******** 

CM Punk segment 

Punk said he was confident he was going to win the Rumble. He talked a lot, and maybe sometimes he talked too much because he didn’t win the Rumble. He wasn’t mad at Jey Uso. He liked watching his peers accomplish their goals. Punk’s goals were still there. He issued a warning to Rhodes. 

Punk noted that one guy in the Chamber didn’t even qualify—he just declared himself. Punk took a shot at John Cena but did say he was a legend who deserved to call his shot. The bad news for Cena was that he would see Punk in the Chamber. Punk planned on beating the living crap out of Cena to win the match. 

The only other person who has qualified so far was that piece of crap Drew McIntyre. McIntyre wasn’t on Raw anymore because he ran away so fast to the other show. Punk destroyed McIntyre inside Hell in a Cell and would do the same in the Chamber. (Punk also mentioned the possibility of Rollins or Bálor qualifying.) 

Punk has never been more confident in his life, and WrestleMania 41 belonged to him. 

Logan Paul interrupted. Paul understood why they called him “Punk.” He had a lot of names for Punk, but none you could say on TV. Paul wondered why the fans would boo him but cheer Punk. Paul said he eliminated Punk from the Rumble, and that was the best 15 minutes of fame in Punk’s career. Paul had his number in the Rumble and would have it again in the Chamber. Paul would give Rey his 15 minutes of fame tonight. 

Punk congratulated Paul on eliminating him from the Rumble. Punk would’ve mentioned him earlier, but he forgot Paul even had a match tonight. Paul may have had his number at the Rumble, but the number he pulled tonight was 619. Punk advised him to worry about the legend Rey Mysterio. If he was lucky enough to get past Rey, Punk would see him in Toronto and put him to sleep. 

******** 

Cole announced a crowd of 13,009. He did not call it a sell-out. 

Elimination Chamber qualifier: Logan Paul defeated Rey Mysterio (17:15) 

They got off to a rough start, but the match got much better as it went. Paul hit a nice fallaway slam moonsault ahead of a break and an impressive-looking press slam to the smaller man during the break. 

Paul slid Rey out of the ring, but Rey rolled through and popped to his feet. He hammered away at Paul and drove him into the barricade, but Paul responded by dropping him onto the top of the barricade. Paul was going to drive him into the ring post, but Rey countered and drove him into the steel steps. Rey followed with a sliding splash to the outside. 

Rey hit a seated senton and springboard moonsault for two. Paul responded with a Finlay roll and a springboard moonsault of his own for two. Rey came back with a tornado DDT for two. Rey went for a 619, but Paul booted him. Paul was standing on the middle rope, so Rey got under him and actually hit a sit-out powerbomb for two. 

Rey hit a 619, but Paul got his knees up on a frog splash. Paul followed with a right hand and a cool new finisher (a lifting DDT variation) for the clean pinfall win. (McAfee called it the Paulverizer.) 

Paul joins Cena, Punk, and McIntyre in the Chamber.  

— As the show was ending, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods attacked Rey from behind. Their attack lasted about two seconds before the show went off the air.

WWE Raw live results: Royal Rumble fallout

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: February 3, 2025
Location: Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, OH 

********** 

The Big Takeaway —

CM Punk will join John Cena in the men’s Elimination Chamber match in Toronto after beating Sami Zayn in a qualifying match. Kevin Owens laid out Zayn with a package piledriver after the match. 

The main event match and post-match were both really good but tainted by a significant amount of glitching of the Netflix feed (which hadn’t really happened before tonight). 

Jey Uso and Charlotte Flair both appeared, but neither announced which champion they would face at WrestleMania. Jey will be on Friday’s Smackdown to address Cody Rhodes, while Charlotte will be on NXT and Smackdown to address Giulia and Tiffany Stratton, respectively. 

Drew McIntyre was not on the show. 

**********

Show Recap — 

Sami Zayn, CM Punk, Judgment Day, Iyo Sky, and Charlotte Flair were shown arriving. There was a long video package highlighting the Royal Rumble. 

Michael Cole announced a crowd tonight of 13,432. 

Jey Uso segment 

Jey Uso entered to a huge reaction. He really kept the crowd going, and his entrance lasted a good five minutes. His music cut and fans chanted, “One more time.” So they played his music again, and he Yeeted along with them again. They followed with loud “You deserve it” chants. 

An emotional Jey Uso caught his breath and removed his shades to address the fans. He took an additional moment to gather himself as the fans chanted, “Yeet.” He thanked the fans. Jey said, “To be honest, I don’t even know what to say.” Everyone yelled, “Yeet,” and he responded, “Man, besides that!” 

He said he came into the game about 15 years ago. He and Jimmy tried to make a good living and carry on their family legacy. They did that. He went through the pandemic era and the Bloodline. They were cool chapters of his career. But, after that, he was scared because he didn’t have the confidence to be a singles star. But after coming out here tonight, he realized: “I got it now.” 

Jey said, “I worked really hard to get to this spot, man. I worked hard to get to this position.” He began tearing up as he thanked the fans. He even struggled to get the words out because he was so emotional. He thanked the fans because, thanks to them, he was the 2025 Royal Rumble winner, and he was going to the Mania main event. 

Gunther entered. He wanted to offer his congratulations, but really, he was disappointed. This possible matchup didn’t appeal to him. Jey couldn’t even lace his boots. Gunther learned box office and learned how to make the fans think he was barely holding onto the title. But the reality was he was always in control. 

Gunther refused to do this with Jey again. Beating him at Mania would add nothing to his legacy, unlike beating John Cena, Roman Reigns or CM Punk. Jey had everything to gain, while Gunther had everything to lose. Gunther said, “If you choose me, Jey, every week is going to be hell, with WrestleMania being the most horrible display of violence this business has ever seen. I’m going to hurt you, Jey. I’m going to put you down like a diseased dog.” Gunther said Jey had options, and he would be wise to consider them. 

Jey asked if Gunther wasn’t tired yet. Jey was tired. He was tired of everyone telling him what he can and cannot be. Jey said he would go to Smackdown and holler at Cody Rhodes. But no matter who he chose, he would go into Mania as the Rumble winner, and he would walk out of Mania as the champion.

(It’s always nice seeing guys show genuine emotion, and I thought Jey came across great here.) 

******** 

There will be an update on Roman Reigns tonight after getting stomped repeatedly by Seth Rollins on Saturday. 

They aired a clip of John Cena declaring for the Elimination Chamber in Toronto. (The reporters in the room clapped for him when he left.) 

********

Kaiser entered during a break and cut a quick promo on Penta. This was a first-time-ever match. 

Penta defeated Ludwig Kaiser (9:58) 

Kaiser hit a rolling DVD onto the apron, which led to a break two minutes into the match. Kaiser maintained control through the break, but Penta fired up with chops and a clunky backstabber for two. They exchanged chops before Penta wiped out Kaiser with a flip dive, followed by a flying crossbody for two. 

Penta hit consecutive superkicks, but Kaiser came back with a Finlay roll for two. Penta snapped the arm of Kaiser and hit Penta Driver for the pinfall win. This was fine. 

— Jackie Redmond went to interview Penta in the ring, but they were interrupted by Pete Dunne as he entered to his music. Kaiser took the opportunity and laid out Penta from behind. Dunne looked surprised but not upset. 

*********

They showed pictures but not video of JD McDonagh’s dive last week that resulted in broken ribs and a punctured lung. Cole said this is why you don’t try this at home. 

An annoyed Finn Bálor approached Judgment Day. He said he’s been gone for two weeks, and everything has fallen apart. Dominik stole his tag title match and got his partner injured. Bálor thought they might need a babysitter for Dom. 

Liv Morgan interjected to stick up for Dom. She informed Bálor that Adam Pearce would have given their tag title match to another team if Dom hadn’t stepped in. She blamed the War Raiders for McDonagh’s injury. 

Morgan had good news. She had a qualifying match for the Chamber, and Dom got her and Raquel Rodriguez a tag title shot. On top of that, Dom got Bálor a qualifying match in the Chamber. 

Bálor was surprised to learn it was Dom. Dom said they were family. An excited Carlito (with an apple) asked Dom what he got for him. Dom shrugged and said, “I got you that apple.” 

********

Charlotte Flair segment 

Charlotte entered to a mixed reaction. There were people booing as she began speaking, although it wasn’t that loud. She said that booing would have bothered her a year ago. But she missed them. She’s been gone over a year and missed the fans booing and cheering her. 

She said last year sucked. She thought she was unbreakable, but last year broke her mentally and physically. People booed. There was a point where she didn’t think her knee would get better. People booed. She said she would embrace the booing because she loved the fans. Their reaction didn’t change the fact that she was the greatest superstar in the history of this business. People booed. Last year broke her, but she fought because this ring was her passion. This was the thing she wanted to be the very best at. 

Rhea Ripley interrupted. The crowd chanted, “Mami.” Ripley said this was her show, and they had the opportunity to go to war again. Ripley respected Charlotte and hoped she picked her because the last time they fought at Mania, “I beat you.” Charlotte reminded Ripley that she won the first time they wrestled at Mania. Ripley said she was just a kid back then. 

Charlotte said she had plenty of time to make her decision. She planned to attend NXT tomorrow to see if Giulia inspired her and planned to attend Smackdown to see if Tiffany Stratton inspired her. Charlotte said Ripley jumped the gun by coming out here, which just showed her that Ripley was still just a kid. 

Ripley said Charlotte didn’t respect her and told Charlotte to pick her so she could beat the respect into her.

(This wasn’t good. Charlotte didn’t come across well in any fashion. She was booed but didn’t get a ton of heat, and she played it off poorly.) 

********

Redmond interviewed Sami Zayn backstage about facing CM Punk for the first time ever tonight. Zayn said it was tough losing the Rumble because he thought this was his year. He didn’t have time to think about that because he could have another shot at the Chamber, and Punk was all he had on his mind. 

Redmond asked about Kevin Owens but Zayn ended the interview upon seeing Jey Uso offscreen. Jey tried to tell him that he wasn’t trying to eliminate him from the Rumble. Zayn didn’t want to hear that. He hugged Jey and told him this moment was his. Zayn said, “You did this, you got here, now go all the way.” Jey wished him luck against Punk. 

Karrion Kross approached Zayn and asked what it was like to see everyone else live out his dream. Zayn was tired of seeing him and said they would have a problem soon if this didn’t stop. Kross issued a warning. 

********

New Day entered to new music. They cut a promo during a break. Kofi Kingston said a crime was committed when they were excluded from the Rumble. Kingston has given them more memorable Rumble moments than anyone. Xavier Woods said the fans were booing the truth, which made them liars. Kingston said they couldn’t wait to get out of Cleveland, just like Myles Garrett. 

******** 

Ripley bumped into Iyo Sky backstage. Sky said she might see her at Mania. After Ripley left, Morgan attacked Sky until Ripley ran back in to chase her away, but Rodriguez tackled Ripley over some equipment boxes. 

******** 

Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods defeated Rey Mysterio & Dragon Lee (11:18) 

Logan Paul entered to his music about three and a half minutes into the match. He was booed in his hometown and later received loud “F*ck you, Logan” chants. They did their best to censor it. Cole said Paul has a Chamber qualifying match against Rey next week. 

Paul’s entrance distracted the good guys. Kingston used Dragon Lee’s mask to yank him off the top rope. Rey, who has been wrestling for 36 years, turned his back completely to the ring to watch Paul walk out, so Woods shoved him off the steps and into the barricade. 

Rey made a hot tag after a break, but Woods saved Kingston from a 619. Rey hit Kingston with a seated senton outside the ring. Paul got in Rey’s face, so Rey shoved Paul on his ass. He also posted Kingston, while Dragon Lee gave Woods a hurricanrana off the apron. 

As Kingston distracted the referee, Paul yanked Rey out of the ring onto the black mats. Kingston followed with Trouble in Paradise for the pinfall win. 

(Cole reminded us that Paul will face Rey in a qualifying match next week. Perhaps Kingston should be in that match now, too?)

******** 

Cole gave us a non-update on Reigns. He said they could only share what Reigns would allow them to share, and that was that he’ll be out “for the foreseeable future.” 

******** 

Cathy Kelley interviewed CM Punk. Punk said the silver lining from last night was that Rollins and Reigns did not win the Rumble. Punk apologized to the Zayn fans because Punk was going to the Chamber. He set a goal to go to Mania, and the pressure was on everyone else. 

******** 

During a break, there was a confrontation between Alpha Academy and A-Town Down. 

McAfee put over Cleveland but said their teams all stink. Cole reminded him that the Cavaliers are good this year. 

They aired a Rumble clip of IShowSpeed assisting in Otis’ elimination before getting killed by Bron Breakker. They claimed this clip had more than 300 million views in less than 24 hours on social media. 

There was a video package for Lyra Valkyria vs. Bayley next week. They were both shown in the audience. 

******** 

Elimination Chamber qualifying match: Liv Morgan (w/Raquel Rodriguez) defeated IYO SKY via disqualification (12:12) 

Morgan has a higher rating (91) than Sky (89) in WWE 2K25. 

They were having a really good match until the finish. 

Sky hit a suicide dive ahead of a break, but Morgan took control after knocking her off the top rope. Morgan hit three amigos after the break, but Sky came back with a knee strike. Sky hit a great-looking missile dropkick and double-foot stomp for two. Morgan hit a backstabber (Cole said she learned the move from Carlito, but she’s been doing it a long time.) 

Sky went to the top but a distraction by Rodriguez allowed Morgan to knock her off. Sky fought her off and hit a springboard moonsault. Sky tried something off the top but Morgan countered into a Codebreaker for a nearfall. Sky came back with a Frankensteiner and double knee strike in the corner. 

Sky went for a moonsault, but Rodriguez distracted her again, allowing Morgan to get her knees up on the moonsault. Morgan went for Oblivion, but Sky countered into a German suplex. 

Ripley ran out to take out Rodriguez. Morgan grabbed at Ripley’s hair, so Ripley turned around and punched her. The referee called for a DQ, and they announced Morgan as the winner. This was so stupid. 

Ripley tried reasoning with Sky, but Sky left. 

********

Kelley interviewed the War Raiders. They said JD McDonagh earned their respect. Chad Gable and American Made interrupted. Gable called them pathetic for injuring a stud like McDonagh and running away just barely clinging to their belts. He said they weren’t championship material, unlike his boys, the Creed Brothers. Ivar told them to be prepared to go to war if they wanted the titles. The War Raiders left. 

Gable told his team, “Guys, I have to leave you for a bit. I’m going on a quest on my own to conquer the dark arts of Lucha libre.” When he got back, he wanted to see Ivy Nile with the IC title and the Creeds with the tag titles. 

********

There was a video package for AJ Styles. Pearce said he made one more move before the transfer portal closed and announced that Styles was now a member of Raw. He’ll be on next week. 

Bron Breakker entered and advised Pearce to keep Styles away from him. Bron also wanted to know what was next for him and didn’t think Pearce was showing him much respect. They left to discuss it. 

*********

Seth Rollins/Sami Zayn segment 

Rollins entered wearing his newest ridiculous outfit. He said it stung that he didn’t win the Rumble, but he was happy and proud of Jey Uso. He loved seeing good people get what they deserve. He also loved that Punk lost. He loved seeing a scumbag and a piece of trash get dumped by that idiot Logan Paul. 

Rollins said Roman Reigns also lost and may not make it to Mania at all. Reigns was hurt, but Reigns and Paul Heyman wouldn’t admit it. WWE wouldn’t tell them the truth but Rollins knew that he hurt Reigns. Rollins wasn’t in the wrong because, for the past four years, Reigns has done nothing but hurt those closest to him. Reigns had a limited schedule, so if anything, Rollins did him a favour. 

Rollins said his path to Mania now went to the Chamber, and he had a qualifier in a couple of weeks against Finn Bálor. Rollins wanted to talk to Zayn and called him out. 

Zayn entered. Rollins led the crowd in a chant for Sami. Rollins admitted they haven’t seen eye-to-eye lately, but that was in the past. Their future could be the Chamber or Mania, but Zayn’s immediate future was Punk. Everyone knew Rollins hated Punk, but Rollins knew how much Zayn hated Punk, too. 

Rollins said Zayn put on a brave face at War Games, but tonight was not the night for that. Rollins reminded Zayn that Punk said he wasn’t on his level. Punk was delusional if he thought that. Zayn main-event Mania. Zayn was also a good person, something Punk has never been. Punk wasn’t on Zayn’s level because Zayn was levels above. 

Rollins wanted Zayn to keep Punk out of the Chamber. People like Zayn belonged in the match, not Punk. “Put his WrestleMania dream in the dirt for good, and come fight me in that Chamber.” 

As Rollins was leaving, Punk’s music hit, and they met in the aisle. They tried to exchange fists, but referees quickly got between them. Rollins continued to the back while Punk went to the ring. 

(Rollins gave the fans so many reasons to boo him here, but they never really did. He may not necessarily be turning, though.) 

******** 

Elimination Chamber qualifying match: CM Punk defeated Sami Zayn (14:57) 

(The Netflix feed glitched a few times earlier tonight, mostly in backstage segments, but it happened a lot during this match, particularly toward the end.) 

Zayn hit a superplex ahead of a break. He came off the top rope, but Punk caught him mid-air with a dropkick. There were duelling chants, which led to both men colliding with simultaneous crossbody attempts. After a break, Zayn hit a tornado DDT. Zayn wasn’t able to make a cover because of an injury to his elbow, which Punk worked on earlier. 

Punk avoided a Blue Thunder Bomb and hit a kick to the head, followed by a shoulder tackle and running knee. Zayn countered a bulldog into a Blue Thunder Bomb for two. Zayn avoided another tackle, and Punk went shoulder-first into the post. Punk kicked out of a cradle and applied an Anaconda Vice, but Zayn got a rope break. 

Punk hit a knee strike and taunted Zayn, telling him to look at the Mania sign. Zayn tried to catch him off guard with a Helluva Kick, but Punk saw it coming and dodged it. Punk went for a GTS but Zayn countered into a small package for a nearfall. (This was one of those nearfalls where Punk may not have kicked out in time, but it wasn’t the planned finish.) 

Zayn avoided the GTS again and hit an exploder into the corner. Zayn set up for Helluva Kick, but Punk caught him with the GTS for the pinfall win. 

The screen glitched like crazy as Punk looked up at the Mania sign. The glitching was so bad post-match that I would’ve turned it off if I wasn’t writing this report. 

This match was really good, glitching aside. 

— Punk shook Zayn’s hand after the match. 

Kevin Owens showed up out of nowhere and attacked Zayn from behind. (Zayn bumped into Punk, who fell out of the ring.) Owens gave Zayn a package piledriver as the crowd booed. The show ended with a shot of Owens wearing a “Sami Zayn Forever” t-shirt.

WWE Raw live results: Royal Rumble go-home show

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: January 27, 2025
Location: State Farm Arena in Atlanta, GA 

********** 

The Big Takeaway —

Lots of seeds were planted on the final Raw before the Royal Rumble. Sami Zayn lost again to Drew McIntyre and mistakenly knocked out Cody Rhodes with a Helluva Kick. The show ended with CM Punk addressing Rhodes and calling his shot for WrestleMania. See more below. 

**********

Show Recap — 

Cody Rhodes, Brandi Rhodes and their daughter were shown arriving at the arena. Naomi and Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez, Sami Zayn, and Drew McIntyre were also shown. A dizzying drone shot showed us the packed State Farm Arena in Atlanta before Pat McAfee quickly ran down the SNME results. 

Seth Rollins kicks off Raw, Gunther and Logan Paul interrupt 

Rollins entered to a good reaction. It was his favourite time of year—WrestleMania season, which kicked off on Saturday when he won the Royal Rumble. He admitted that 2025 got off to a bad start. He suffered the worst loss of his career on the first Raw of the year and suffered a black eye. (The crowd chanted for CM Punk, so he remarked that Punk looked no better off than he did when the match was over.) 

After he lost, Rollins wondered who he was and who he wanted to be. But he knew who he was, he was Seth freakin’ Rollins. When he was the most focused version of himself, there was no one on the planet better than him. He started his path to redemption when he beat McIntyre last week, and it would continue on Saturday. 

He had no problem tossing out John Cena, Jey Uso, McIntyre, Sami Zayn or Roman Reigns. He especially hoped to toss out Reigns. He dreamt of CM Punk being the final person in the ring with him so he could crush his Mania dream to dust. 

The real question was which title he would go after when he won. We all knew Gunther was just holding the world title until he decided to go after it. But it would be poetic if he took the same title from Rhodes that he helped Rhodes win last year. 

Gunther interrupted. He informed Rollins that he wasn’t keeping the belt warm for him. He wondered where Rollins has been while he has been defending the title. He beat that clown Jey Uso on Saturday. The crowd Yeeted, so Gunther reiterated that he beat Jey’s ass. Gunther advised Rollins to ignore the drama and focus on the Rumble, but he wondered if Rollins still had it in him. 

Rollins said the World Heavyweight title that he held only existed because of him. Rollins wasn’t Jey Uso or Damian Priest or Finn Bálor. 

Gunther knew that and called Rollins one of the best wrestlers to ever step foot in this company. But it was 2025, and he was no longer the best in the company—Gunther was. Gunther wanted Rollins to face him at Mania so he could feel the same way as everyone else when they faced him. 

Logan Paul interrupted. He was booed a decent amount when he entered, but it got exponentially louder the more he spoke. He said the Netflix era needed a new face, one that oozed with charisma. He said Gunther and Rollins were both great in the ring but they reached their peak. (It was hard to hear what he said next because the crowd loudly chanted, “You suck.”)  

Paul announced he was entering the Rumble. He had no plans to eliminate 29 other men because that was grunt work. He would be smarter than that. He would win the Rumble and main event Mania. The crowd gave him the “What” treatment. Rollins was amused. 

Gunther changed his mind and said he wanted Paul to win the Rumble so he could knock the smirk off his face. The crowd cheered. Rollins got the last word and said he would be getting his title back—if he chose to. 

********

Cathy Kelley interviewed CM Punk backstage. Punk didn’t care about Paul and planned on winning the Rumble. He’d throw out Kelley if he had to. 

Zayn interrupted to ask about Punk’s comment last week about them not being on the same level. Zayn said that was true because only one of them was a WrestleMania main-eventer. They said they’d see each other at the Rumble. 

Karrion Kross approached Zayn after he walked away. Kross basically advised him to listen to Kevin Owens because there was a world of opportunity at his feet. After Kross left, Rhodes suddenly appeared and patted Zayn on the back. Zayn acted surprised to see him. Zayn quickly patted him on the chest and left. 

********

There was an interview during commercials with Austin Theory and Grayson Waller in the crowd. 

After the break, Noah Centineo, Lil Yachty, 2 Chainz, Quavo, Theory and Waller, and The Creed Brothers were shown in the crowd. 

******** 

The War Raiders defeated Dominik Mysterio & JD McDonagh to retain the World Tag Team Championships (11:54) 

There was a scary spot early in the match where McDonagh hit a springboard moonsault to the outside (on Ivar), but his head bounced right off the announce table. Michael Cole freaked out and repeatedly asked that somebody check on him. They showed a replay, and it looked brutal. McDonagh got to his feet and to the apron and actually got a nice applause from the crowd. 

During a break, the doctor checked on McDonagh, and he waved her off. 

Erik and Ivar went for their finisher, but McDonagh ducked it and headbutted Erik. Ivar went to the top, but McDonagh brought him down with a suplex. Cole said McDonagh must be the toughest man in the WWE the way he’s still going. 

Dom tagged in, but Ivar hit him with a spinning kick. As McDonagh distracted the referee, Carlito spat an apple in Ivar’s face. This allowed Dom to hit a 619, and McDonagh followed with a moonsault. Dom hit a frog splash for a nearfall after Erik shoved McDonagh into Dom to break up the cover. (Cole suggested the ref look at all the apple bits in the ring.) 

Dom went for another 619, but Erik tagged himself in, and they hit Dom with War Machine for the pinfall win. This turned into a pretty good match. 

********

Ludwig Kaiser approached Pete Dunne backstage. It seemed like Kaiser wanted to form an alliance, but before they could say much, they were approached by New Day. Even these heels wanted nothing to do with New Day, so they walked away. Kelley approached New Day for an interview. 

Kofi Kingston said Atlanta’s favourite son was home. Kelley thought they meant Bron Breakker. They said no. She also guessed Austin Theory and Cody Rhodes. Woods said he was Atlanta’s favourite son, and he would beat the brakes off Rey Mysterio in front of his town and his mother, father and sister. His family wasn’t there yet, but Woods knew they would show up because he spent a lot of money on their front-row seats. 

********

New Day entered during commercials. They were booed. Woods wanted the crowd to show respect, and Kingston said he would bring Atlanta something that Kirk Cousins and the Falcons never could—a win. (Because they were still in a break, Cole remarked that they were really bad guys now because they ran down the local sports team.)  

Lil Baby and Miller Mike were shown in the crowd. Also shown were the empty reserved seats that Woods paid for. 

Cole announced that this was Zelina Vega’s final night on Raw because she was being sent to Smackdown as part of the transfer portal. 

Cole also announced a sold-out crowd of 12,432. 

Rey Mysterio (w/LWO) defeated Xavier Woods (w/Kofi Kingston) (10:56) 

Woods wrestled in black jeans (and black knee pads), as Kingston did in his recent match. Woods cut off Rey’s comeback attempt after a break, but Rey hit a sunset flip powerbomb off the ropes, followed by a Code Red for two. However, Woods shoved Rey into the announce desk moments later. 

Woods noticed that his parents and sister finally arrived, sitting next to Lil Yachty in the front row. Woods approached them only for his parents to reveal they were wearing “New Day Sucks” t-shirts. Lil Yachty was wearing one, too, which was funny. Woods’ sister tossed a shirt at his face. 

Woods was pissed, so he went back into the ring, where Rey gave him a 619 and springboard splash for the pinfall win. Woods’ family cheered. 

Rey put on a “New Day Sucks” shirt and posed with Woods’ family. 

*******

Rollins approached Zayn backstage. Zayn wanted him to know the Helluva Kick last week was a mistake. Rollins knew that but said you could understand why he may have thought otherwise. If it happened again, Rollins would not think of it as a mistake. They shook hands. Rollins told him to get his win over McIntyre tonight. 

********

Jey entered through the crowd alongside Quavo. He got a huge reaction. Jey told the crowd he needed that, and he thanked them. He lost on Saturday, but he knew he could beat Gunther. Now Rollins had his name in his mouth, too. Jey knew what he had to do. He would toss all their assess out in the Rumble, and he would become the world champion at WrestleMania.

******** 

Pat McAfee kept the crowd warm during commercials. He interviewed Woods’ family and Lil Yachty. McAfee asked Lil Yachty if he’d ever get into the ring. Lil Yachty said he’d only be interested if it involved Rhea Ripley. The crowd was amused by that. (He held up a Ripley shirt earlier in the show.) 

********

Jackie Redmond interviewed Lyra Valkyria. Valkyria was ready to defend her Intercontinental Championship, but she also announced that she was entering the Rumble. 

American Made interrupted. Chad Gable told Valkyria that Ivy Nile would be winning the belt for him… and for them. Valkyria said this was as close as any of them were getting to the IC title. Nile got in her face, but Valkyria brushed it off. 

American Made bumped into Otis and Akira Tozawa, who were dancing nearby for Maxxine Dupri’s cameraphone. Gable called them pathetic for doing TikTok dances. 

(It makes sense that Valkyria would enter the Rumble, but this segment also made it pretty clear they don’t have much of a plan for her first IC title challenger.) 

********

Cole plugged Belair and Naomi defending their tag titles against Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson on tomorrow’s NXT.

Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez defeated Women’s Tag Team Champions Bianca Belair & Naomi in a non-title match (12:33) 

Belair made a hot tag shortly after a break and ran wild on Morgan. Rodriguez tagged in and gave Belair a spinebuster. She also powerbombed her partner onto Belair for a two count. Naomi tagged in and hit an X-Factor for two. Rodriguez followed with a fallaway slam. Morgan tagged in and hit Belair with a Codebreaker. 

Morgan went for Oblivion, but Belair caught her and hit a KOD. However, Dom distracted the referee from making a cover. Belair wiped him out with a slingshot dive. 

Naomi hit Morgan with a split-legged moonsault, but Rodriguez pulled Naomi out of the ring to break up the cover. This happened right in front of the referee, who, instead of admonishing Rodriguez, played dumb and checked on Morgan instead. This allowed Rodriguez to slam Naomi onto the apron. Morgan crawled into a cover for the pinfall win. 

This was a weak finish. It’s also odd that Belair completely disappeared after hitting a simple dive. The crowd was quiet for the match, but they were into Belair when she was doing stuff. 

********

Kelley interviewed Ripley. She said it didn’t matter who won the Rumble because she would brutalize them if they faced her. Bayley appeared and issued a warning. Ripley chuckled and wished her luck. She left. Iyo Sky approached Bayley and sternly told her, “See you Saturday.” 

********

There was a Penta video package. He thanked the fans for their reaction, but this was only the beginning. He wanted to be the best in the world, but the only way to do that was to face the best. He was entering the Rumble, and he would get his WrestleMania moment. This was good. 

The announcers ran down the Royal Rumble card, which begins at 6pm ET (3pm PT). 

  • 30-man Royal Rumble match 
  • 30-woman Royal Rumble match 
  • Cody Rhodes vs. Kevin Owens in a ladder match for the WWE Championship 
  • DIY vs. Motor City Machine Guns in a 2-out-of-3 falls match for the WWE Tag Titles 

********

Paul Heyman/Drew McIntyre segment 

Paul Heyman sauntered out to the ring to announce that Roman Reigns is the cover man for WWE 2K25. A banner dropped from the ceiling showing the cover. The crowd chanted, “OTC.” 

Heyman said Reigns was coming back for his championship. He said it would be 29 vs. 1 at the Rumble because he knew that all 29 other men were coming for Reigns. Reigns was the biggest star in WWE, on Netflix, on this planet and would be the biggest star on Mars when Elon Musk colonized it. He called the rest of the locker room Reigns-wannabes. 

Drew McIntyre entered before Heyman could leave. Heyman was nervous, but McIntyre told him to relax because the only person who should be nervous around here was Zayn. McIntyre just wanted to talk. The crowd chanted, “We want Roman.” McIntyre said he was responsible for all the success Heyman was having. The crowd chanted, “We don’t care.” 

McIntyre said they will care. He called himself the daddy of the Bloodline and said, “I hate it, but I’m the catalyst of it all.” McIntyre said he eliminated Reigns to win the Rumble (in 2020) and slayed the beast at WrestleMania. That beast was Heyman’s client. (He never said Brock Lesnar’s name.) 

After that, McIntyre said, Heyman found Reigns at a low time and harnessed his talent for evil. Heyman went on to make more money than ever. Heyman was even on the video game cover. (McIntyre pointed to Heyman bowing to Reigns on the very bottom-right of the cover.) McIntyre just wanted a ‘thank you’ from Heyman. 

Heyman thanked him but said, “You’re crowding me right now.” McIntyre backed off but asked Heyman for a favour: tell your boy that I will target him and toss his carcass over the top. Heyman sarcastically agreed to deliver the message to Reigns. McIntyre said he wasn’t talking about Reigns—he was talking about Punk. Heyman left looking distressed. 

*******

Redmond interviewed Bron Breakker. He called half the other Rumble entrants senior citizens. They’d realize they were no match for the badass because it wasn’t 2014 anymore. He declared himself for the Rumble. He was interrupted by Penta (wearing a suit). He made the “cero miedo” gesture without saying a word, and the crowd chanted along. 

******** 

Drew McIntyre defeated Sami Zayn (14:27) 

Zayn came up bleeding from the tip of his nose early in the match. (I’m not sure where it happened but he did get booted in the face a couple of times.) McIntyre went for a Claymore outside the ring, but Zayn ducked, and McIntyre landed on the announce table. 

During a break, McIntyre chucked Zayn into the barricade. Zayn and his bloody face managed to crawl back into the ring. However, after a break, McIntyre hit a spinebuster for two and a sit-out powerbomb for two. Zayn came back with a sunset flip powerbomb out of the corner for two. McIntyre suplexed Zayn and kipped up to his feet, but Zayn nailed a boot and Blue Thunder Bomb for two.  

Zayn went to the top, but McIntyre brought him down with a suplex. He tried a Claymore, but Zayn countered into a cradle for two. McIntyre ran shoulder-first into the ring post, and Zayn hit an exploder into the turnbuckles. Zayn went for a Helluva Kick, but McIntyre dodged it and covered Zayn with his feet on the ropes for the pinfall win. 

That’s 11 straight losses for Zayn against McIntyre. 

— As Zayn pleaded with the referee, McIntyre attacked him from behind. Cody Rhodes ran out to make the save, but Kevin Owens ran out next to attack Rhodes. Rhodes fought him off, but McIntyre attacked Rhodes from behind. Zayn tried to make the save, but he hit Rhodes with a Helluva Kick by mistake. 

Owens stood next to Zayn and smiled. He patted Zayn on the chest and left the ring. 

Zayn was distressed as he looked down at Rhodes. Cole wondered if he would choose a title opportunity over his friends. 

— The camera followed Zayn during a commercial break. Zayn was upset as he walked toward the back. He even got some boos. He looked back toward Rhodes and repeatedly said, “I’m sorry.” Zayn left. 

(For a moment, I thought the show was over when they faded to black on a shot of a sullen Sami Zayn. But it continued.) 

******** 

Cody Rhodes/CM Punk segment

Rhodes got to his feet to address his hometown fans. He looked up at the two WWE Championship belts hanging above the ring. He said he’s learned that being champion was not about the physical belt despite what Owens has convinced himself of. It was a mindset. It was about the work. Nobody in WWE worked more matches than him. He showed up first and left last. He was so looking forward to Saturday when he could finally move past Owens. 

CM Punk interrupted. Punk asked if Rhodes was feeling alright. Rhodes was his friend, and Punk was worried about him. It seemed like everything was finally getting to him. Punk knew what the title could do to a man. 

Punk was champion for a historic 434 days. Somewhere around the 300-day mark, it started to weigh on him. He was burned out, and it turned him into somebody he didn’t enjoy being most days. He lost friends, and it’s happening to Rhodes now. He understood Rhodes wanted to be Bruno Sammartino and John Cena, but none of them could be Superman. 

Rhodes said he didn’t have a lot of friends, but “CM Punk, you’re my friend, right?” Punk said Yes, that’s why he was out there. Unlike everyone else, Punk would always be his friend. Not just because of a promise he made to Dusty but because he loved him. But not even Dusty could’ve prepared Cody for this. When you were on top, there were no friends because you had a target. 

Rhodes asked Punk what was next for him. Punk said he knew Rhodes wasn’t going to get much sleep because he either had an early call time or he’d be thinking about the biggest match of his career against Owens—one of the toughest SOBs in the locker room. If he got past that, there would be more waiting for him after that. That’s what’s next for Rhodes. Less time with his family, feeling alone ironically in front of sold-out crowds. Meanwhile, somebody in the best shape of their life would win the Rumble and take advantage of Rhodes and take his belt. And that was the good news. 

Rhodes wanted to hear the bad news. Punk responded, “The bad news is that somebody is me.” Unlike everyone else who stabbed Rhodes in the back, Punk would win the Rumble and stab him in the front. 

Rhodes had a story. When he showed up in OVW, he met Punk, and they were the only ones who wanted to learn arm drags from Greg Gagne. Everyone there wanted to be Punk. They chased him. Punk got called up, and Rhodes followed later. Rhodes chased Punk. Everyone chased Punk. But that dynamic changed because Punk was now chasing him. 

Rhodes wanted Punk to win the Rumble “because I want you to catch up.” Rhodes wanted to see the look on Punk’s face when he realized the “best in the world” wasn’t the best in the world anymore. Rhodes’ music played, and the show ended. 

(This was a strange segment. Mostly because of Rhodes’ behaviour. He sounded upset in the first part of his promo, where he spoke about doing the work. Instead of sounding like a proud champion, he sounded annoyed and even whiny. He was also oddly confrontational to Punk from the get-go and a bit overdramatic—even for him. Perhaps we’re to feel like he’s losing it a bit, but that also came out of nowhere. This was also very long. It didn’t help that the show felt like it ended 15 minutes ago.)

WWE Raw live results: Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: January 20, 2025
Location: American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX 

********** 

The Big Takeaway —

Kevin Owens appeared and offered Sami Zayn words of encouragement for the Royal Rumble match. Owens made it clear that he wanted Zayn to win so the two men could main-event WrestleMania against one another. Owens also suggested that he would have Zayn’s back at the Rumble if Zayn had his (against Cody Rhodes).

Zayn saved Seth Rollins from a Drew McIntyre beat-down at the end of the show, only for Zayn to hit Rollins with a Helluva Kick by mistake. 

The inaugural Women’s Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria was advertised for the show but did not appear.

**********

Show Recap — 

Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, and CM Punk (wearing a t-shirt of Marvel’s The Thing) were shown arriving. Rhea Ripley was shown earlier today, too, but she was attacked by Nia Jax. They also plugged Penta against Pete Dunne. 

Michael Cole said Dallas was hosting Raw for the 27th time. Wade Barrett is filling in for Pat McAfee, who is at the College Football National Championship. 

Jey Uso and Gunther segment

Jey Uso entered to a huge reaction. Cole danced like an idiot, and instead of heading to the announce desk with Barrett, he awaited Jey to slap hands with him. 

Gunther quickly cut off Jey’s promo. Gunther called him a funny little man for thinking he would win the world title. Gunther was looking forward to facing him—until today. Until he saw Jey acting like their conversation hadn’t happened last week. Acting like a complete dork and a company mascot. At this point, Gunther may as well be facing Jimmy Uso. 

Jey warned him not to talk about his brother. Gunther asked, “Or what?” because Jey never followed up on his words. Jey claimed he bet on himself, but he wouldn’t be doing that if Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn or Cody Rhodes came calling for help. Jey was just a useful idiot. Jey’s words and actions didn’t align, but Gunther’s did. Gunther would expose Jey on Saturday. 

Jey said Gunther was right again. Jey was the mascot, but the fans were his team. Because they ride with him, and they would be with him when he beat Gunther for the title. Jey respected Gunther, and Gunther would respect him, too. Only one of them had main evented WrestleMania, and it wasn’t Gunther. 

Gunther heard enough and attacked, but Jey fought him off and sent him out of the ring with a superkick. Jey held up the world title belt, and the crowd popped. 

********

The New Day ran into JBL backstage. Kofi Kingston was glad JBL was doing commentary for his match and slid cash ($2) into his coat pocket to butter him up. Kingston and Xavier Woods assumed he would be on the same page as them because he cut the dead weight of his own tag partner and went on to the most success of his career—just not as much success as them. 

JBL gave them a backhanded compliment. He understood why they cut ties with Big E because the fans loved him way more than them, and he figured they wanted the fans to pay more attention to them. New Day didn’t appreciate this, so they left. 

********

Cathy Kelley interviewed Bayley. She announced she was officially back on Raw and declared herself for the Royal Rumble. She said she could go after either brand’s champion if she won. She was about to tease perhaps going after the NXT champion but was cut off by Jax. Jax wanted Tiffany Stratton for herself and planned on winning the Rumble. 

Professional bull riders Mason Taylor and Austin Richardson, and PBR announcer Matt West were shown in the crowd. 

JBL entered for commentary. 

********

The crowd booed New Day heavily as they entered. They were pissed at the fans constantly booing them since they were walking Hall of Famers, unlike JBL. Kingston took back the two bucks out of JBL’s coat pocket. 

Rey Mysterio defeated Kofi Kingston (w/Xavier Woods) (10:30) 

Kingston wrestled in black jeans (with black knee pads). Kingston worked over Rey and had a lot of heat until Rey drove him into the steel steps ahead of a break. Interference by Woods behind the referee’s back allowed Kingston to take over. The crowd chanted, “Let’s go, Rey,” and he fought back with a seated senton and low dropkick for two. 

Kingston poked Rey in the eyes behind the ref’s back and hit a splash on Rey’s back for two. Rey set up for 619, but Woods blatantly tripped him, so the ref tossed him out. Woods argued, so Rey knocked him off the apron. Rey hit a 619, but Kingston got his knees up on a springboard splash. 

Kingston went for an SOS, but Rey reversed into a cradle for the sudden pinfall win. 

— Woods attacked Rey from behind and attacked him alongside Kingston until the LWO ran out to make the save. New Day bailed, but as LWO checked on Rey, New Day ran back down through the crowd, and Kingston posted Joaquin Wilde. New Day bailed again before Rey or Cruz Del Toro could get them. 

(New Day running back down just to attack one of the LWO guys was pretty funny.) 

*******

There was a video package highlighting Penta’s debut. 

Kelley interviewed Chad Gable, who was pissed off. He spoke of his recent struggles in the ring with Penta, Dragon Lee and Rey Mysterio. He realized he knew a man who could help with his luchador problems, and that was Dominik Mysterio. 

Ivy Nile and the Creed Brothers stated their intentions of winning gold. Gable said they would all be wrapped in gold, and it would be glorious. 

********

During a break, Jackie Redmond interviewed Karrion Kross and Scarlett. Kross dismissed the Wyatt Sicks. He said, “I’m the only guy to beat Uncle Howdy. I derailed all their momentum. He’s gone, I won, they lost.” He had his eyes set next on Rollins, Punk, and Zayn. 

******** 

The announcers spoke briefly about pro wrestling’s history in Dallas. They aired a clip of one of the many things to happen in Dallas: Wade Barrett winning the first season of NXT. 

*******

Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens segment 

Zayn entered and announced he was in the Rumble after speaking with Adam Pearce. His conversation with Rollins last week really made him think about what he wanted. It opened up a lot of thoughts. 

He thought about his 14-year-old self and all the people who grew up wanting to be wrestlers. He thought about the few thousand who did become wrestlers and the many fewer who actually got to WWE. He thought about the even smaller group of guys, the upper echelon of five or six or seven guys. 

He considered himself in that group, and all of those guys were in the Rumble with him. The only difference between them and him was that they had a world championship in their name, and he didn’t.  He has had a great life and career. He didn’t need the world title to feel complete. 

The fans have supported him throughout the years, and their support has meant more to him than any world title could ever mean. “So no, I don’t need the world champion. But dammit, I want it!” Because 14-year-old Sami wanted the championship, and 14-year-old Sami was still with him. 

Kevin Owens interrupted. (Owens wore a Bret Hart zip-up jacket.) Zayn said he knew it was just a matter of time before Owens came. Zayn asked how he wanted to do this. Owens didn’t know what he meant. Zayn brought up his issues with Rhodes after he teamed with Reigns. 

Owens wasn’t here for that. Owens admitted he was upset when Zayn teamed with Reigns, but it wasn’t the same as Rhodes. Zayn and Reigns had a lot of history, just like they did. Reigns did terrible things to Zayn that he chose to overlook. Owens did terrible things, too, and Zayn forgave him, just like he forgave Reigns. Zayn did that because he was a good person. 

Owens called Zayn his best friend and brother. Owens wanted to tell Zayn, “You can and will win the Royal Rumble.” Zayn deserved to win the Rumble and go on to Mania to win the title. They’ve done a lot together, but there was one more thing they could do, and that was main event WrestleMania one-on-one for the WWE Championship. 

Owens said that could only happen if Zayn won the Rumble—and if Owens walked out as champion. Owens knew that would happen because he had Zayn’s back, and Zayn would have his back. Owens ended with, “As my brother, if I need you, I know you’ll be there.” Owens left as Zayn contemplated what he said. 

********

Kelley interviewed Sheamus backstage. Sheamus said he may have had the best career backwards. He beat John Cena just six months into his career for the WWE title. But ironically, the Intercontinental title drew him to WWE as a kid and it’s the title he has been chasing for five years. The stars were aligned on Saturday where he would beat Bron Breakker for the title. 

Breakker interrupted. Bron said he would beat Sheamus and break him like an old man. Bron advised him to retire. Sheamus shoved Bron, who laughed and backed away.

******** 

They aired a memorial graphic for Bob Uecker. RIP.  

******** 

Nia Jax defeated Bayley (12:21) 

Roxanne Perez watched from the front row (squeezed between two regular fans). Perez tried to slap Bayley, but Bayley blocked it and slapped her instead. Perez was about to jump the barricade, but a random security guard grabbed her and held her way up in the air with one arm. She was carried away (off-camera). 

Bayley was amused, but Jax attacked her from behind as they went to break. After the break, Jax missed a leg drop on the ring apron, and Bayley hit a sunset flip powerbomb into the post. Bayley followed with an Annihilator (Jax’s finisher) and an elbow drop off the middle rope for two. 

Jax responded with a shoulder breaker. Jax drove her shoulder-first into the ring post and squished her into the post. Bayley blocked an Annihilator attempt and hit a running knee strike for two. 

Jax went up for her finisher again, but Bayley brought her down with a powerbomb for two. Bayley followed right away with a flying elbow drop off the top for a nearfall. Jax followed with a pop-up Samoan drop, senton, and Annihilator for the clean pinfall win. 

— After the match, Ripley ran out to attack Jax, but the brawl was quickly separated by security. As you can imagine, they broke through the pack a few times which led to Ripley knocking everyone down with a cannonball off the announce table. Ripley angrily challenged her to a match at SNME. 

********

Gable eagerly asked Dom for help with his Lucha problems in the Judgment Day clubhouse. They didn’t seem to want him there and even Dom initially resisted his request. However, Dom handed him a piece of paper containing the name of someone who could help. Gable was excited, and he dismissed the rest of Judgment Day as he left to learn the dark arts of Lucha libre. They weren’t sure why Dom would help him, but Dom said it wasn’t the worst thing for Gable to owe them one. 

JD McDonagh was worried because they were getting a tag title rematch next week, but Finn Bálor was out. Dom offered to take Bálor’s place, and McDonagh accepted. McDonagh was worried Bálor may not like this idea but Liv Morgan assured him that he would. Morgan poked fun at Dom for trying to be helpful like he was (or wasn’t) in her match against Ripley. Dom said he would make it up to her. 

********

There was a video recap of Lyra Valkyria winning the Women’s Intercontinental Championship. (She was advertised for the show but never appeared.)

******** 

There was a Martin Luther King Jr. tribute video. 

******** 

Zayn approached Rollins to let him know that his words got through to him last week. Rollins knew it and was glad to see this side of him. However, Rollins wouldn’t hesitate to throw him out of the Rumble. Zayn said he would toss him out first. They had a friendly face-off before Zayn left, and Rollins continued to warm up. 

******** 

Penta defeated Pete Dunne (10:02) 

Cole mentioned that these two first wrestled at RevPro years ago (2017), which is true. 

Dunne tried a backflip off the top, but Penta superkicked him out of mid-air. Penta went for a dive, but Dunne cut him off with a forearm ahead of a break. Penta fought back after the break with a slingblade, corner dropkick and DVD for two. Penta followed with a Canadian destroyer, but Dunne rolled out of the ring, so Penta hit a flip dive. 

Dunne blocked another destroyer attempt and hit a DeadEye for two. Dunne snapped Penta’s fingers and applied an arm bar, but Penta hoisted him up and hit a backbreaker, The Sacrifice (armbreaker) and Penta Driver for the pinfall win. 

This was pretty good. The crowd was into Penta’s entrance. They got into the match more toward the end and popped for the win. 

******** 

There was a Logan Paul video package. 

********

CM Punk promo 

CM Punk entered. He basically stole Jey Uso’s entrance. He entered from the concourse through a sea of fans. He joined Redmond in the stands for an interview. She asked Punk about the Rumble, a match he’s never won against a stacked field.  

Punk called himself the maker of history. He made history by main-eventing the first Raw on Netflix, where he beat Seth Rollins. He would make history at the Rumble by beating 29 other superstars, and nobody was better than him when the people were behind him. 

Punk ran down the names Redmond listed. He dismissed the idea of John Cena or Roman Reigns eliminating him and he already put Drew McIntyre in the ground. (He got some light boos for his line about Cena.) 

He didn’t want to hear about Sami Zayn because Zayn wasn’t on his level. You could put Hulk Hogan in the Rumble, but Punk would throw his dusty ass out and kill Hulkamania. (The fans cheered, which is exactly what Punk was hoping for.) 

Punk said he would settle a score and would call in a favour or two if he needed to. Only one man would get his hand raised, and that was CM Punk. 

********

Kelley interviewed the War Raiders (who spoke in their normal guy voices). Ivar said they were always ready to defend the tag titles. They would return honour and prestige to the division, something that was tarnished by Judgment Day. Erik said they weren’t overlooking any teams, but no one was taking their titles. 

********

IYO SKY & Dakota Kai defeated Zoey Stark & Shayna Baszler (6:24) 

Early in the match, Stark obliterated Kai with a springboard dropkick, and the crowd buzzed at the spot. (The ref checked on Kai, and the match continued.) 

Sky eventually made the hot tag, and the fans chanted her name. Sky took out Baszler with a German suplex and suicide dive. Sky hit Stark with a missile dropkick and a running double knee strike for two. 

Sonya Deville tried to distract Sky, so Kai wiped her out. Sky was distracted instead by Baszler taking out Kai. Stark knocked Sky off the top and suplexed her for two. Baszler hit a running knee but Kai broke up the cover. Kai hit Stark with a PK, and Baslzer knocked Kai off the apron. 

Baszler put Sky in the Kirifuda Clutch, but Sky slipped out of it and hit a moonsault for the pinfall win. This was more or less a showcase for Sky. The fans were into her. 

********

There was a video package for Rollins vs. McIntyre. Rollins entered ahead of a break, and if you are among the lucky people who get to watch during the breaks, you got to hear Rollins’ music play and play and play. 

(The main event began at 10:15 pm ET.) 

Seth Rollins defeated Drew McIntyre (16:59) 

Rollins hit a suicide dive, but McIntyre caught his second attempt and suplexed him over the announce desk. After a break, McIntyre tried a reverse Alabama Slam, but Rollins countered into a victory roll for two. Rollins followed with jabs and chops and drove McIntyre shoulder-first into the ring post three times. Rollins followed with a flying knee and running boot for two, followed by a springboard senton for two. 

McIntyre went to the top, but Rollins brought him down with a superplex. Rollins tried to transition into the falcon arrow but McIntyre hit the falcon arrow instead. Rollins ducked a Claymore, but McIntyre hit a spinebuster for two. Rollins hit a falcon arrow for two. 

They traded counters until Rollins applied a crossface, but McIntyre got a rope break. Rollins got in McIntyre’s face (in the ropes), and as the ref pulled him away, McIntyre poked Rollins in the eye. McIntyre followed with a Future Shock DDT for a nearfall. 

McIntyre hit consecutive clotheslines and seemed to think Rollins was done. He took his time pacing around the ring, so Rollins caught him in a jackknife cover for the sudden pinfall win. 

— McIntyre was pissed, so he attacked Rollins after the match and nailed a Claymore Kick. 

McIntyre placed Rollins’ head against the ring post and was about to kill him with a Claymore but Zayn ran out to make the save. Zayn checked on Rollins, but McIntyre headbutted Zayn. 

McIntyre taunted Rollins in the corner. Zayn went for a Helluva Kick, but McIntyre moved out of the way just in time, and Zayn kicked Rollins instead. McIntyre was amused. Zayn explained himself to Rollins as they went off the air (at about 10:36 pm).

(They had a good match but the crowd was pretty quiet for it. There was nothing on the line, and Rollins hasn’t been the most endearing babyface lately, so that could explain it. 

One negative was they repeated a few spots we saw earlier tonight. The shoulder-into-the-post spot was done multiple times, as it was in the Bayley-Jax match. Although Bayley and Jax varied it a bit. McIntyre poked Rollins in the eye to set up a nearfall, only for Rollins to win with a flash pin. In the opening match, Kingston poked Mysterio in the eye to set up a nearfall, only for Mysterio to win with a flash pin.)

WWE Raw live results: Street fight, Penta debuts, Women’s IC finals

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: January 13, 2025
Location: The Shark Tank (SAP Center) in San Jose, California 

********** 

The Big Takeaway —

CM Punk, Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre declared for the men’s Royal Rumble, while Nia Jax declared for the women’s Rumble. Rollins and McIntyre will wrestle next week on Raw. 

Penta debuted with a win that was played up throughout the show. Lyra Valkyria is the inaugural Women’s Intercontinental Champion, Jey Uso will challenge Gunther for a world title match at SNME, and Damian Priest beat Finn Bálor in the main event. 

**********

Show Recap — 

Raw opened with a drone shot of the Shark Tank in San Jose, showing the sold-out crowd. There was a video package of Raw’s debut on Netflix last week. 

CM Punk arrived just in time through the loading dock in a black Chevrolet Tahoe. The camera followed him through Gorilla and into the arena. (Punk embraced fans in the front row, put on a kid’s Jey Uso shades and made the “Yeet” gesture.) 

The crowd loudly chanted for Punk as he took it all in. He told the fans that the chants did his heart good. Punk acknowledged all the firefighters and first responders throughout the great state of California, as well as everyone helping from other states, and Canada and Mexico. The crowd cheered. 

Punk spoke about his win over Seth Rollins. He had a lot on his mind and a lot on his plate, but Rollins was no longer one of them. The Royal Rumble didn’t go well for him last year, thanks to his triceps. It was his dream to win the Rumble, but that was taken away. 

Punk mentioned that John Cena declared for the Rumble, but he was declaring for the Rumble, too. Punk planned on throwing out 29 other men and winning the Rumble. He told them to play his song, but Rollins’ music played instead. Punk acted (overacted) annoyed. 

Rollins was cheered. He removed his shades to reveal a black eye. The crowd then chanted for Punk. Punk noticed the black eye and moved in for a closer look. 

Rollins reiterated what he had said before. Win, lose or draw, he planned on being on Raw. If he didn’t show up when times were hard, that wouldn’t be him, that would be Punk. Rollins said he’d rather be the worst version of himself than be any version of Punk. 

Rollins said he has lost a lot of matches, including at WrestleMania, but last week’s was the worst of his career. He has never been more disappointed in himself to underestimate Punk and lose on the biggest stage of his career. The only way to make up for it was to take Punk’s dream and flush it down the toilet. Rollins planned on winning the Rumble. 

Drew McIntyre interrupted. McIntyre referred to one of them as more disgusting and selfish than ever. Punk said the last time McIntyre stood in the ring with him, he was in tears, covered in blood and begging for his life. If McIntyre wanted to step in the ring with him again, it would take more than 15 stitches to close the wound. 

McIntyre said he wasn’t talking to Punk. He was talking to Rollins. Rollins extended him the same invitation. McIntyre said they were both so alike. 

McIntyre said Rollins was all talk. He talked about being a leader, but he was nowhere to be found during Tribal Combat because he was too concerned with his own match—which he lost anyway. He called Rollins pathetic. Rollins said he didn’t have patience for this. 

Punk didn’t either and was ready to fight with either of them. McIntyre teased a triple threat but backed down to the dismay of the crowd. McIntyre said there were more important things going on. McIntyre again spoke about Roman Reigns and said he would be the reluctant hero. McIntyre declared for the Rumble so he could get his hands on the title before Reigns could. 

******** 

Damian Priest, Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh, Dakota Kai & Iyo Sky, and Lyra Valkyria were shown arriving earlier. 

******** 

Penta defeated Chad Gable (13:25) 

Penta entered as Gable’s surprise opponent, and Michael Cole called it the worst-kept secret in the business. 

They had a WWE-style match. They went back and forth early on, Gable got the heat, Penta came back, and they traded big moves until Penta got the win. 

Penta wore black, white and red. He went to do the zero miedo taunt right away, but Gable cut it off. They had a back-and-forth exchange, which led to a “Penta” chant. Penta messed up a springboard leg drop and set up for a dive, but Gable cut him off and hit a suplex. 

Penta came back with a superkick and corner handstand into a dropkick. Gable ducked a right hand and gave Penta a German suplex on the apron. Gable smashed his leg against the ring post and continued to work his leg over. The crowd gave Gable “You suck” chants. 

Penta avoided a diving headbutt and hit a superkick, but Gable cut him off again, suplexing him into the turnbuckles. Penta came back with a slingblade, flip dive and backstabber for two. Gable responded with a German suplex for two. 

Penta came back with a Canadian Destroyer for a nearfall. Gable took an amazing bump on the destroyer, and the crowd chanted, “This is awesome.” Penta did the zero miedo taunt before kicking Gable in the head, but Gable hit a dragon screw and applied an ankle lock. 

Penta got out of it and hit The Sacrifice (hammerlock into an armbreaker) and Penta Driver for the pinfall win. 

— Jackie Redmond interviewed Penta post-match. He thanked her and the fans. He called this his new home. He said everyone had been waiting for this, but the truth was, he had been waiting for this moment. He spoke in Spanish and shouted out his family in the front row (some of whom were in tears). This was a new era in WWE, but this was the Penta new era. The crowd cheered. 

It certainly wasn’t perfect, but I would call this a successful debut in the end. The crowd was behind him. 

(I have the ad-free feed, so the match continued through whatever break they took. It was sort of odd seeing the heat last as long as it did, even though it was a normal amount of time, because it normally occurs during a four-minute commercial break. So it felt like a longer heat sequence, even if it wasn’t.) 

******** 

Judgment Day met in the back. Finn Bálor sarcastically told Liv Morgan that she would be champion again. Morgan said she was at least successful at taking a piece of Rhea Ripley with her. Dominik showed up, so Bálor let them sort their issues out. 

Dom had flowers and tried to explain what happened last week. Morgan acted like she wasn’t upset and told him to go grab her bags and have the valet ready for later. Morgan tossed the flowers to Carlito. She left with Raquel Rdoriguez. Dom was blissfully unaware and told Bálor everything was good. He offered Bálor his help in tonight’s street fight. Bálor told him to worry about his girl and to go get her bags. 

*******

Cathy Kelley interviewed PCF. They said what they did to Kairi Sane was a message to everyone in the division, including anyone considering moving over via the transfer portal. They each wanted to become the IC champion. 

Daniel Cormier and Bron Breakker were shown in the crowd. 

******** 

Sheamus defeated Ludwig Kaiser (8:48) 

This went to break early on, which took us to the top of the hour. 

Kaiser grabbed a shillelagh, but Sheamus nailed a knee strike for two. Kaiser cut him off and went back on offence, but Sheamus nailed a Brogue Kick for the pinfall win. 

— Sheamus saw Bron Breakker in the crowd, and they went face-to-face. Bron shoved him but a referee got between them before it could escalate. 

********

Kelley asked Rollins about McIntyre (the two men have a match next week). Rollins owed him one for WrestleMania and said next week would be fun. 

Sami Zayn approached Rollins and offered an ear if he wanted to talk following his tough loss. Rollins said last week was rough for him, but it was great for Zayn. His boy Reigns got the Ula Fala back. Zayn helped him last week just like he did at WarGames. Rollins wondered if Zayn would keep helping Reigns until he won the title—or if he would help himself. 

********

Redmond interviewed McDonagh and Carlito and asked about the tension growing between Morgan and Bálor. McDonagh called her a spin doctor like the rest of the media. Redmond wasn’t trying to cause drama and asked about Dom being in the doghouse. McDonagh dismissed her again, and Carlito acted like he couldn’t hear her questions. (This may have just been a segment during commercials because it felt very pointless.) 

********

A disgruntled Karrion Kross informed Miz that the Wyatt Sicks had been moved to Smackdown. Kross hoped Miz had nothing to do with it. 

Zayn approached and asked if Adam Pearce was in his office. Kross said he overheard what Zayn said earlier. Kross and Miz joked about the idea of Zayn winning another title. Zayn said Miz had been Kross’ lackey lately, and nobody was even thinking about him. 

Miz reminded Zayn that he’s been world champion twice, which is two more times than Zayn. Zayn said had a few things to discuss with Pearce, and now one of those things was to get a match against Miz tonight. (Kross made sure Miz knew he was on his own against Zayn.) 

******* 

Oba Femi was shown in the crowd. 

********

Gunther and Jey Uso segment 

Gunther entered in a suit with his world title belt. He was impressed with the spectacle of last week’s show, but “when it comes to the performance in the ring, I was less impressed.” Aside from him, he wished they had a roster that could fulfill his high expectations. Everyone fought over drama like who was “the head of the table” or “best in the world,” but the only thing that mattered was the World Heavyweight Championship. 

Jey Uso entered (wearing a San Jose Sharks Yeet shirt) to a big reaction. Jey said McIntyre and the Bloodline were behind him now, and he wanted a title match at Saturday Night’s Main Event. 

Gunther said he knew he wouldn’t hold the title forever, but Jey wouldn’t be the guy to take it. They wrestled twice over the IC title, and Gunther beat him both times. Gunther knew what Jey was capable of and it was a lot less than him. Jey was entertaining, but Gunther would expose him as a really talented tag team wrestler. “Main event” was a nickname to Jey, but it was where Gunther belonged. A match at SNME sounded good to him, but he advised Jey to consider his choice. Gunther left the ring. 

Jey said everything Gunther said was true. Jey spoke about all the doubters, and he admitted he was scared to do it alone but he woke up every morning trying to earn respect. So at SNME, Gunther would respect Jey when he beat his ass for the world title. Jey led the crowd in chanting, “Yeet.” Gunther was amused. 

Jey was good here. 

(Cole said Jey winning the world title would be his first singles championship in WWE, which is incorrect.) 

********

There was a good video package for Lyra Valkyria and Dakota Kai. 

Kelley interviewed Bayley in front of her hometown crowd (during an ad break). Bayley spoke about how much this building meant to her. She put over Penta and spoke about her title match against Tiffany Stratton on Friday. She also put over Valkyria and Kai (despite their history). She poked fun at Cole and had the fans yell, “Michael Cole’s an idiot.” 

******** 

Lyra Valkyria defeated Dakota Kai to become the first-ever Women’s Intercontinental Champion (8:31) 

Valkyria gave Kai a vertical suplex off the apron to the floor, which got a good reaction (this led to an early break). Kai fought back after the break, hitting a running boot in the corner and flipping backstabber for two. Valkyria blocked GTK and hit a running sit-out powerbomb for two. Valkyria followed with an axe kick off the ropes for two. 

Kai responded with a scorpion kick, diving foot stomp, and GTK, but Valkyria rolled out of the ring before Kai could make a cover. Valkyria dodged a running boot and hit a slingblade (Kai landed right on top of her). Valkyria followed with Nightwing for the pinfall win. 

— Pearce and Kai each raised Valkyria’s hand post-match. Valkyria posed with the title belt as fireworks went off. 

(This was fairly good for the time they had, but it felt rushed. Based on the pace they were going, you could see the result coming once Kai failed to get a cover after her finisher.) 

********

Kelley interviewed New Day (during a break). They were pissed at Rey Mysterio, and Kofi Kingston said his mother still won’t talk to him. Xavier Woods said they would return to action next week and Kingston told everyone to be careful what they wish for. Kelley was about to follow up, but Woods told her that they were out of time. 

******** 

Sami Zayn defeated The Miz (4:08) 

They had a basic match until Zayn killed Miz with a Helluva Kick, followed by a Blue Thunder Bomb for the pinfall. 

(Cole yelled out, “Folks, Sami Zayn just got a win with the Blue Thunder Bomb!” It’s good Zayn won with his secondary finisher, but we could’ve done without Cole yelling about it.) 

******** 

Two title matches were made official for SNME on January 25th: 

  • Gunther vs. Jey Uso for the World Heavyweight Championship 
  • Bron Breakker vs. Sheamus for the Intercontinental Championship 

******* 

Rhea Ripley segment

Ripley entered to a strong reaction, and she declared, “Mami is back on top!” She knew she sounded like a broken record to some, but she wanted to remind those who forgot that she was Rhea bloody Ripley. She was “one of” the most dominant women in WWE, and she was once again the Women’s World Champion. (She probably misspoke there.) 

Nia Jax interrupted. She was loudly booed. She informed us that she would win the Rumble and would take whatever title she wanted. Stratton and Ripley might think they’re on top, but Jax was the only woman on top of the division. Jax had a few words for Bayley, who was still in the crowd, so she jumped the barricade and entered the ring. 

Bayley confronted Jax. She said this wasn’t her show, but this was her city. She called Jax a “big, ol’ dumb idiot,” so Jax shoved her down. Ripley headbutted Jax, so Jax headbutted her to the ground. Bayley and Ripley worked together to dump Jax from the ring. 

Bayley was about to grab Ripley’s title belt for her, but Ripley grabbed it instead. They hugged, but Bayley stared at the belt as Ripley held it up. 

******** 

Next week on Raw in Dallas: 

  • The New Day return to action 
  • JBL appears 
  • Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre 

******** 

There was a video package for tonight’s street fight. Priest entered for the main event at about 10:10 pm ET. 

During a break, Redmond put over Penta’s win and interviewed Rey Mysterio. Rey said he’s known Penta for a long time, and WWE was his true home. Rey also had a few words for New Day. 

********

Street Fight: Damian Priest defeated Finn Bálor (17:15) 

Priest entered with a kendo stick. Bálor’s music hit for his entrance, but he attacked Priest from behind with a kendo stick. (The ref saw this coming and called for the match to start even though Priest was about to be attacked from behind.) 

Priest fought him off anyway, and they battled near the announce table as the crowd chanted, “We want tables.” Priest gave him a flatliner onto the table and chucked him over it. Priest grabbed a table from under the ring, but Bálor attacked him, and they fought into the crowd. Bálor hit Priest with a trash can, but Priest fought back and hit him hard over the head with the trash can. 

There was a great spot where Priest gave Bálor a falcon arrow off some equipment boxes (about 10-15 rows up) through some tables. Officials checked on both men as they went to break. The crowd’s applause turned to booing when they brought out a stretcher for Bálor (because they thought the match might be called off.) 

Medics put a soft brace around Bálor’s neck and placed him on the stretcher as Priest gingerly made his way to the ring. Pearce, Carlito and McDonagh checked on Bálor. 

Back from break, Priest ran out of the ring to attack Carlito and McDonagh. Priest hammered away at the helpless Bálor. (Bálor was out of it and was tied down.) Priest untied Bálor from the stretcher, rolled it down the ramp and it collided with the side of the ring—and Bálor rolled right off the stretcher and into the ring. 

McDonagh and Carlito attacked Priest to help their friend, who was still in a neck brace. McDonagh gave Priest a moonsault. They helped Bálor to his feet and onto the top rope. Bálor ripped the brace off and hit a Coup de Grace for two. 

Carlito and McDonagh set up a table, but the War Raiders ran down to take them out. 

Bálor hit a slingblade while still selling his neck. Bálor hit Priest repeatedly with a steel chair. He placed Priest seated on a chair and wrapped a chair around his neck. He looked for redemption for Priest trying to kill him, but Priest avoided his dropkick attempt and hit South of Heaven for a nearfall. 

Priest tried a Razor’s Edge through a table outside the ring, but Bálor slipped out of it. Bálor placed Priest on a table and hit a Coup de Grace through it. Priest responded by driving Bálor through the barricade. 

Priest hit a Razor’s Edge through a table and hit a South of Heaven in the ring for the pinfall win. Priest posed for the crowd as the show ended.

(The show wound up being about 2 hours and 35 minutes, about 30 minutes shorter than last week’s debut. 

Paul Levesque and Lee Fitting’s names were shown again as executive producers.)

WWE Raw live results: Netflix debut, CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns vs. Solo Sikoa

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: January 6, 2025
Location: Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California 

********** 

The Big Takeaway —

CM Punk beat Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns beat Solo Sikoa, The Rock embraced Cody Rhodes, John Cena declared for the Royal Rumble, Rhea Ripley won the women’s title, and Hulk Hogan was booed out of the building. 

Penta did not debut but seems to be debuting next week as Chad Gable’s mystery opponent. 

Raw’s Netflix debut seemed to go off without a hitch, aside from some minor production stuff.

***********

Show Recap — 

Seth Rollins, CM Punk, Judgment Day, and Rhea Ripley were shown arriving at the Intuit Dome. Michael Cole welcomed us by stating, “I am proud to say, for the first time ever, welcome to Monday Night Raw live on Netflix!”

They aired the “cold open” video you may have seen online earlier, narrated by Triple H. (I guess they wanted to use TV terminology, but this is not what a cold open is.) 

Large curtains surrounding ringside dropped to reveal Triple H standing in the middle ring. He received a large ovation, and he wanted to hear from the 17,000-plus fans in attendance because the world was watching. He welcomed us to the Netflix era, and fireworks went off. 

********

The Rock entered to a huge reaction. He high-fived some fans, embraced some executives in the front row, shook hands with Cole and Pat McAfee, and handed his People’s Championship title belt to two of his young daughters (who were with Ata Johnson). The fans chanted, “Rocky.” 

Rock said he travelled these roads when he was young with his dad, Rocky Johnson. The only way to watch “WWE” back then was to buy a ticket or watch it on Saturday morning. You can still buy a ticket, but watching it now was a totally different story. People were watching worldwide on Netflix. 

He also announced tonight was the largest arena gate in WWE. He spoke about the need for great partners and gave a shoutout to Netflix executives in a suite. 

There was someone else he wanted to acknowledge. A man whom he spilled blood with and a man who carried this company on his back for the past year. 

Rock thanked Cody Rhodes. They cut to Rhodes, who was randomly standing in the front row in a suit. (He was getting chants as the show started.) They acted friendly, and Rock jokingly told Cody to say hi to Mama Rhodes. Cody laughed. 

Rock also wanted to acknowledge his cousin, Roman Reigns. Rock called him the Original Tribal Chief. The world would be watching Reigns’ match against Solo Sikoa — and he would be watching closely, too. Rock closed with his catchphrase. 

Rock hugged Rhodes.

(This was total babyface Rock, who was also in exec mode making sure the partners were happy. It sort of felt like this was the “real” part of the show, and the rest that follows will be Raw as usual.) 

******** 

Alicia Taylor is the ring announcer. Paul Heyman did Reigns’ introduction. 

The referee wore a dark grey shirt with black striping. 

The ring canvas is dark in colour with sponsors added. (Hulk Hogan’s beer company is among them.) The ring ropes are white. 

They went to a commercial break for the first time after the ring introductions. (I have the ad-free version of Netflix in Canada, which meant I saw a video package for the upcoming match.) 

Tribal Combat: Roman Reigns (w/Paul Heyman) defeated Solo Sikoa (21:29) 

The crowd chanted, “F**k you, Solo” as the two men faced off before the match. (Cole gave a lot of background throughout the match, particularly for Sikoa, perhaps to benefit new viewers.) 

They were having a fairly even match until Sikoa gave Reigns a Spinning Solo onto the announce table. Sikoa also hit him with a monitor and chucked the steel steps at his face. 

They went to break for a second time tonight at 8:37 pm. Some viewers would get commercials here, while for others, the match continued. (About three minutes later, the feed faded to black for a second, meaning we were back from break. This continued throughout the show.) 

Sikoa repeatedly attacked with a steel chair. Sikoa tried a running hip attack with Reigns’ head wrapped in a chair, but Reigns moved and attacked with the chair. Sikoa avoided a con-chair-to and hit a low blow and a Spinning Solo for a nearfall. Sikoa grabbed a table, but Reigns hit him with a drive-by dropkick. 

Reigns set up the table in the ring, but Sikoa hit him with a kendo stick. Sikoa choked him with the kendo stick and taunted him, but Reigns hoisted him up and hit a powerbomb through the table. 

Reigns had it won, but Tama Tonga yanked the referee out to break up the cover. The crowd buzzed as Jacob Fatu appeared behind Reigns. He laid out Reigns as the crowd chanted, “Yeet.” Fatu hit a moonsault. 

Sikoa hit the Samoan Spike for a good nearfall. Referee Chad Patton tried to reason with the Bloodline, but Sikoa spiked him. 

Sami Zayn and Jimmy Uso ran out to Zayn’s music to take out Fatu and Tonga. Jimmy superkicked Sikoa, Zayn hit a Helluva Kick, and Reigns hit a spear. There was no referee, but a new one quickly ran down—only for Sikoa to kick out. 

The crowd chanted, “This is awesome,” before Zayn and Jimmy wiped out the Bloodline and fought them to the back. As Reigns fired up, Cole said, “This, ladies and gentlemen, is what World Wrestling Entertainment is all about!” 

Before Reigns could go for a spear, Kevin Owens appeared and gave him a stunner, but he still kicked out. Rhodes entered to his music (from the back) and fought Owens through the crowd. 

Reigns and Sikoa traded counters until Reigns hit a spear. Reigns fired up and hit another spear for the pinfall win. The crowd popped big. 

— The Rock walked to the ring as Reigns got to his feet. Heyman was about to present him with the Ula Fala, but Rock asked for them instead. Rock placed the Ua Fala over Reigns’ head, and they hugged. Reigns posed for the crowd as Rock stood to the side, nodding. 

********

CM Punk warmed up in the back. Cole said he was getting ready for one of the biggest matches in wrestling history. 

*******

The New Day segment 

Jackie Redmond interviewed Kofi Kington (sporting a new beard) and Xavier Woods, who requested this time. Kingston said they were supposed to have a match tonight, but they told Triple H that they didn’t really want to be there because LA didn’t deserve to see them wrestle. The crowd booed, and Woods noted they were just booing the truth. 

Woods said Los Angeles was the one who had bad taste because they elevated that trash rapper Kendrick Lamar. Kingston said they were mad because Drake won the beef. 

They went on for a bit until Redmond cut them off because they were out of time. (In fact, the screen went black immediately.) 

********

Penta’s logo appeared on the screen. 

They announced the location of Royal Rumble 2026. 

********

A few Smackdown wrestlers were shown in a suite. 

Gabriel Iglesias, Ashton Kutcher, Michael Che, and Wale were shown ringside. (Two of these three have something on Netflix to promote.)  

Rey Mysterio, LA Knight, and the War Raiders were also ringside. Rey showed off his Eddie Guerrero shirt, which got a big pop. 

******** 

John Cena segment

John Cena entered (wearing LA Dodgers colours). As Rock did earlier, Cena put over Netflix and the magnitude of tonight’s show. He thanked Netflix. 

Cena was honoured to stand in a ring wearing jorts in LA for the last time. He couldn’t think of a better place to kick off his farewell tour. He slept in his car when he worked at Gold’s Gym Venice, trained to wrestle in UPW in Orange County, and rented a place in Inglewood. It was where Prototype was born and where he won his first world title. He thanked the LA fans, and they chanted, “Thank you, Cena.” 

Cena said it was all about making moments. There was a lot of noise and headlines from experts about his final WrestleMania opponent. They threw out all kinds of names like Drew McIntyre, CM Punk, Logan Paul, Gunther, and Cody Rhodes. (Punk and Rhodes were both cheered.) People were also asking when Cena would become the record-breaking 17-time world champion. The crowd cheered that, too and chanted, “You deserve it.” 

Cena said the fans have always been honest with him, so he wanted to be honest with them. He didn’t see it happening, and it was because of his streak. It’s been 2,446 days since he’s won his last match. (That’s very untrue.) Speaking of the wrestlers in the back, Cena said, “My time is up, their time is now.” The crowd booed. He said it would take a miracle to win the title. 

With a streak like that, the only way to even get a title shot was to win the Money in the Bank briefcase, survive the Elimination Chamber… or win the Royal Rumble. The crowd cheered. Cena said he should be in the Rumble because there was no next year. The best way to say ‘thank you’ was to win the Rumble and make history at WrestleMania. 

It sounded impossible, but if you knew anything about him, it was that nothing was impossible. The only time we say “never” around here is when we say, “Never give up.” Cena ended with, “I’m not just going to the Royal Rumble, I’m going to win the Royal Rumble.” 

********

There was a Logan Paul video, and he was shown in the front row. Seth Green, Macaulay Culkin, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Danielle Fishel, Bianca Belair, Naomi, X-Pac, and Shinsuke Nakamura were also in the crowd. 

******** 

Our second match of the evening began at 9:30 pm (1.5 hours into the show).

Rhea Ripley defeated Liv Morgan (w/Dominik Mysterio & Raquel Rodriguez) to win the Women’s World Championship (11:41) 

This was originally advertised as a Last Woman Standing match, but they just had a standard match. 

Ripley wiped out Rodriguez early on with a cannonball but failed to get her hands on Dom. Ripley powerbombed Morgan onto the announce table (which didn’t break), but Morgan took over moments later after hitting a Codebreaker on the ring apron. 

Ripley made a comeback following a break and hit a Rip-tide for a nearfall. Ripley couldn’t believe Morgan kicked out. Dom slid a chair into the ring, and as the ref yelled at him, Ripley knocked Rodriguez off the apron. The distraction allowed Morgan to hit an Oblivion onto the chair for a nearfall. Morgan followed with three amigos and a frog splash for two. 

Morgan went for another Oblivion, but Ripley just caught her in mid-air and slammed her. Ripley hit consecutive Rip-tides for the pinfall win. Ripley is the new champion. 

— Dom tried to attack Ripley from behind, but she caught him. He then acted like he wanted to embrace her. She faked hugging him but kicked him in the nuts instead. She gave him a Rip-tide. 

(This was good, but the title change and the Rip-tide on Dom would’ve gotten bigger reactions if they had done this months ago.) 

— As Ripley left up the aisle, Undertaker entered to his Kid Rock theme. He drove around ringside on his motorcycle and posed with Ripley. 

********

Cathy Kelley tried interviewing Adam Pearce after he met with Bayley, but they were interrupted by Chad Gable and American Made. Gable said he single-handedly destroyed Alpha Academy, and he planned on winning a singles title in 2025. 

Gable wanted to dispel any rumours that he couldn’t beat luchadors and wanted a match against the best luchador in the world next week. Pearce said he would make a phone call. 

********

Redmond interviewed The Miz. He feigned excitement over Cena entering the Rumble. He was interrupted by a pissed-off Karrion Kross (with Scarlett). Kross wanted to know if he was with them in facing the Wyatt Sicks. Miz said no. Kross ran down Miz’s accomplishments and tricked him (like Bugs Bunny) into agreeing to fight the Wyatts. 

********

There was cell phone footage of Rock walking to the back after his segment. He embraced Jimmy Uso, Roman Reigns and Triple H. He continued to the back and embraced Rhodes. 

Rock also plugged tomorrow’s NXT and said, “See you there.” 

(Rock took a swig from a tequila bottle, his brand, before driving off.) 

********

They showed us Bill Simmons, Netflix execs, Vanessa Hudgens, Michelle McCool, Lyra Valkyria, Iyo Sky, and Dakota Kai in the crowd.  

Travis Scott was shown in the crowd as “FE!N” played in the arena. He appeared to take a hit of something (McAfee tried to tell us it was sage.) The crowd cheered, and they cheered even louder when Jey Uso entered. Scott accompanied Jey down to ringside. 

Drew McIntyre entered for our third match of the evening at 10:07 pm. 

Jey Uso defeated Drew McIntyre (10:16) 

Jey hit a suicide dive before McIntyre entered the ring. Jey went for another one, but, of course, McIntyre caught him and hit him with a suplex. The match began when they entered the ring. 

McIntyre was in control until Jey hit a sit-out powerbomb out of the corner. Jey followed with strikes, a running hip attack, and a flying crossbody for two, but McIntyre responded with a neckbreaker. McIntyre went for a Claymore, but Jey hit a superkick. McIntyre came back with a spinebuster for two and a sit-out powerbomb for two. 

They traded counters until McIntyre hit a Future Shock DDT for two. McIntyre went for the Claymore, but Jey countered again, this time with a spear for two. Jey hit a superkick, but McIntyre hit a Claymore Kick for a nearfall. 

McIntyre went for another Claymore, but Jey simply collapsed before he could. McIntyre decided the best thing to do was wait in the corner again for Jey to get up again. McIntyre went for the kick, but Jey dropped down and applied a crucifix pin for the win. 

This was an ordinary match, and a quiet crowd didn’t help. 

********

There was a Gunther video. 

Kelley tried interviewing Gabriel Iglesias, but they were interrupted by New Day. Iglesias said he liked them better when they had cereal. Kelley said they were out of time as Woods was about to respond, but the segment continued when Alpha Academy arrived. Iglesias left with them. Kelley assured New Day that they really were out of time. 

********

Heyman asked Reigns when they should give him the acknowledgement celebration he deserved. Reigns said January 27th. (Raw in Atlanta.) They entered a room with the WWE 2K25 logo posted on the door. 

********

Redmond interviewed Ripley and Damian Priest. Ripley said Morgan took everything from her. She cut an ordinary promo and said Mami was back on top. 

Priest was dying to be done with Judgment Day, and his beef with Finn Bálor would come to an end next week. Priest announced the match would be a street fight. Priest told everyone to rise for the new women’s champ. 

*******

Seth Rollins was shown getting ready. 

Richard Gadd, Tiffany Haddish, Stephen Amell, Bron Breakker, Tiffany Stratton (who got a big pop) and Nikki Bella were shown in the crowd. Stephanie McMahon was also shown later. 

*******

Hulk Hogan entered with Jimmy Hart, and the crowd booed him out of the building. 

Hogan began with his usual catchphrase, and the crowd booed as if he had just turned his back on Big E. He tried to put over the fans, and they kept booing. He tried to put over his beer, and they kept booing. He tried to put over Netflix, and they kept booing. He ripped his shirt (to reveal a Netflix Gets Raw shirt) and posed as Jimmy Hart waved the American flag, and they kept booing. 

This was incredible. 

********

Next week on Raw in San Jose: 

  • Dakota Kai vs. Lyra Valkyria for the new Women’s IC title 
  • Sheamus vs. Ludwig Kaiser 
  • Damian Priest vs. Finn Bálor in a street fight 
  • Chad Gable vs. TBA 

******** 

The main event began at 10:43 pm. I think Seth’s music played for 8 straight minutes. 

Punk seemed to be wearing the “XXX” sweater he could be seen wearing in the infamous AEW All In backstage footage.

CM Punk defeated Seth Rollins (18:57) 

They brawled into the crowd as the fans chanted for Punk. This was followed by duelling chants that were louder for Punk. 

Rollins went for the stomp when they entered the ring, but Punk ducked it and set up for GTS. Rollins slipped out of that and hammered away at Punk with elbows. Rollins repeatedly drove his boot into Punk’s face in the corner, and the referee had to back him off. Rollins argued with the ref until Punk booted him. Punk hit a neckbreaker off the top, which led to a break. 

Rollins took over and dismissively smacked Punk. Punk responded with running knees in the corner, clotheslines, and a swinging neckbreaker. Punk also hit a neckbreaker over the top rope and a dive. Rollins rolled through Punk’s flying crossbody attempt and hit a GTS, but Punk fell out of the ring. Rollins taunted Punk and told him, “I built all of this.” 

As they re-entered the ring, Punk hit Rollins with a curb stomp for two. Rollins ducked a GTS and hit another GTS of his own for a nearfall. Rollins went for a stomp, but Punk rolled out of the ring. Rollins taunted him for running away, just like he did ten years ago. 

They fought on the announce table, which led to Rollins hitting a Pedigree. Rollins sold his knee on the landing. Rollins hit another Pedigree in the ring for a nearfall.

They exchanged strikes until Rollins hit a buckle bomb and curb stomp, but Punk got his foot on the rope. The crowd chanted, “This is awesome,” as we approached 11:00 pm. (The following “Fight forever” chants were not as loud.) 

Rollins hit a superplex and tried to transition into a falcon arrow, but Punk countered and nailed a GTS. Rollins stumbled into the ropes and fell back onto Punk’s shoulders. Punk hoisted him up and hit another GTS for the pinfall win. The crowd was happy. 

The executive producers tag showing Paul Levesque and Lee Fitting aired on the screen as the show ended, shortly after 11:00 pm.

*********** 

(I had no issues with the Netflix stream during the show. There were some minor production mistakes during the show like the announcers randomly going quiet or maybe missing their cues and the camera/director showing the wrong celebrity or wrestler in the crowd, but that’s all stuff that will be sorted out. This was sort of paced like a PPV with tons of time between matches, and the matches themselves relied a lot on finishers and kick-outs. Following shows won’t be paced like this…hopefully.)

WWE Raw live results: Final episode on USA Network

Posted on by Marc Quill

Before moving to Netflix next week, WWE Raw has one final episode on USA Network.

Raw says goodbye to its longtime television home with tonight’s show from the Toyota Center in Houston. The final Raw of 2024 will feature a face-to-face with CM Punk and Seth Rollins as they get ready for their main event match on next Monday’s Netflix premiere.

The semifinals of the Women’s Intercontinental title tournament will also go down tonight with Dakota Kai vs. Zoey Stark and IYO SKY vs. Lyra Valkyria both taking place.

A six-man tag match is set with Judgment Day’s Finn Balor, JD McDonagh & Carlito taking on Damian Priest & The War Raiders. Two weeks ago, Erik & Ivar defeated Balor & McDonagh to become the new World Tag Team Champions.

A grudge match between Otis and Chad Gable is scheduled for tonight as well. Plus, R-Truth takes on Pete Dunne.

Join us for live coverage starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

**********

– Following the WWE “Then, Now, Forever, Together” signature open, we were welcomed to the 1203rd episode of Raw by the voice of Joe Tessitore. Shots of Seth Rollins and CM Punk arriving at the arena followed, as we then took a look around inside the sold-out Toyota Center.

– Tessitore & Wade Barrett were at the commentary table talking about tonight’s Raw being the final show on USA Network, to be presented with no commercial interruption for the first 90 minutes. Before Barrett could welcome Jey Uso, the maligned New Day duo of Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods interrupted.

The New Day open Raw

Kingston demanded that their theme music be shut off as the crowd chanted “New Day Sucks” at the two. Woods tried to talk, but was drowned out by the loud jeers of the Houston crowd. The “New Day Sucks” chants continued as Woods & Kingston walked towards the ring. Woods asked “what did we even do to you?” incredulously at the crowd, while Kingston tried to speak. He was once again cut off by the increasingly-louder jeers from the Toyota Center crowd.

Before Kingston could say anything, the theme of “Main Event” Jey Uso interrupted, as Uso himself made his way from the crowd to a raucous ovation of cheers.

Woods complained how the fans liked Jey Uso more as the fans continued to boo him further. He asked Uso to tell the crowd to quiet down so he could speak. Even with Uso’s suggestions, the crowd continued to hate on the New Day.

Uso said that he and the New Day did go way back, but he only had one thing to say to the two: “New Day Sucks”. Woods stepped up to Uso and tried to confront him, but Kingston got his partner to back down for the time being. As the New Day left, Uso redirected his focus on the New Bloodline and Drew McIntyre, as he challenged the latter to face him now. He was interrupted by Solo Sikoa on the Titantron.

Sikoa said that Jey and Jimmy made a big mistake by siding with Roman Reigns. He promised that he would remain the Tribal Chief after next week’s Tribal Combat match on the Netflix premiere of Raw. Then everyone would have to no choice but to acknowledge him.

As Jey tried to respond, Drew McIntyre snuck up on him and proceeded to assault Jey with a sneak attack. McIntyre tried to size Uso up for a Clamymore kick, but he got met with a superkick. A Glasgow Kiss headbutt gave McIntyre the upper hand as the crew of officials and referees stepped in to stop him. McIntyre ran back into the ring and struck Uso with a Claymore Kick.

**********

– Cathy Kelley was with American Made ahead of Chad Gable’s match with Otis. Gable said that tonight he’d start checking off his bucket list by beating Otis tonight. Gable promised that the final lesson will be taught to Otis: with the master remaining the master.

Chad Gable (w/ American Made) def. Otis (w/ Akira Tozawa & Maxxine Dupri)

Gable started off by clubbing Otis with chops, but with little effect on his foe. Otis responded with a shoulder block that left Gable rattled in the corner. Otis lifted Gable over his head for the gorilla press drop, which sent Gable out of the ring.

Outside the ring, Gable yelled at Tozawa and Dupri, which gave Otis an opening to throw his former mentor around. Once the action returned to the ring, Gable’s attempt at a comeback was snuffed out as he got thrown into the corner hard. Otis rolled under a Gable clothesline and answered with a clothesline of his own.

Gable created an opening for himself by avoiding a shoulder charge from Otis, which sent the big man into the ringpost. Otis’ left knee was targeted by Gable after that misfire. Gable’s leg lock on Otis didn’t last long as an attempted big splash by Otis was dodged at the last second.

On the top rope, Gable’s own diving headbutt was missed as Otis rolled out of the way. Gable tried to run away, but Otis caught him and unleashed his flurry of offense. Gable got rattled by a freight train spear from Otis, which led to the Caterpillar Elbow. Pinfall stopped as Gable’s foot was on the rope. The Creed Brothers attacked Tozawa at ringside, which promted Otis to get involved. Maxxine tackled Ivy Nile. As Otis re-entered the ring, Gable locked in the ankle lock on him. After a long struggle, Otis managed to power his way out of it to push Gable out of the ring. The Creeds entered the fray and got taken out by Otis tossing Gable into them. Otis ripped out his shirt and locked in an ankle lock of his own on his former teacher.

Gable escaped and nailed an impressive deadlift German suplex on Otis. Gable went up top but was met by Otis clotheslining him. Nile tried to grab at Otis from ringside, which created a momentary distraction and another ankle lock by Gable. Grapevine applied on the leg created enough pressure for Gable to get the win via submission.

Fantastic opening match. Though the feud between Gable and Otis went cold a few months, back, I found myself enjoying this quite a bit. Not a bad way to kick off the in-ring action on Raw tonight, and the match unfolding with no commercial interruption helped keep things easy to follow.

**********

– We got a promo from Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan ahead of their Women’s World Title match next week on the Netflix Raw premiere.

– Backstage at the Judgment Day clubhouse, they commiserated amongst themselves with where Liv Morgan was. Finn Balor tried to passive aggresively change the subject on the tag match against War Raiders & Damian Priest, as he then told Raquel Rodriguez to tell Liv that he wishes her good luck on her title match next week.

R-Truth versus Pete Dunne

Dunne interrupted Truth’s entrance by attacking him from behind. The incredibly-busy staff of officials and referees ran in to stop the attack. “I’m nobody’s Butch!” shouted Dunne as the segment ended, presumably meaning that this match would not take place.

– Backstage, Cathy Kelley talked to IYO SKY and Dakota Sky about their matches in the Women’s Intercontinental Championship Tournament later tonight, as well as the prospect of the two Damage CTRL members facing each other in the finals.

Women’s Intercontinental Championship Tournament Semifinal #1: Dakota Kai def. Zoey Stark

Kai started off with a boot to the face of Stark, as she attempted a monkey flip from the corner. Stark landed on her feet, but she couldn’t avoid a knee to the face from Kai. On the apron, Stark and Kai had a dogfight as the latter got the upper hand. That upper hand lasted for all of a few seconds as Stark nailed a dropkick on Kai. We headed to picture-in-picture at this point in the action.

We returned to Raw with Stark still in full control of the match as she taunted Kai with lackadaisical kicks to the head. Kai fired back with an offensive assault that capped off with a rolling backcracker. Across the ring, Kai cracked Stark with a boot to the head that lead to a near-fall.

Stark answered with a back exploder suplex and a big knee to the head of Kai. One, two… not quite. Kai rolled through on a powerbomb attempt by Stark and got yet another near-fall. Big kick by Stark is followed by mounted fists to Kai’s face. Attempted springboard attack by Stark is caught by a superkick from Kai, who finished things off with the fireman’s carry and Pele kick to punch her ticket in the Women’s Intercontinental Championship final.

A solid match with an intriguing result that could potentially pave the way for the all-Damage CTRL Women’s IC Title final if IYO SKY wins later tonight.

**********

– We got a highlight package commemorating the best moments of WWE Raw on the USA Network throughout the years. Notably, clips of Chris Jericho and Bryan Danielson (fka Daniel Bryan) were shown in the package. We also learned that John Cena will appear on next week’s Netflix Raw premiere.

Damian Priest and the War Raiders (Erik & Ivar) def. The Judgment Day (Finn Balor, JD McDonagh, Dominik Mysterio)

Judgment Day entered to a brand new theme song ahead of this match, eschewing “The Other Side”, which was their former theme.

Priest and Balor started off for their teams. McDonagh got the quick tag as Balor avoided Priest in the corner. Priest got the tag to Erik, who nailed consecutive slams on the Judgment Day trio. The War Raiders nailed a unique double team move on McDonagh as Erik lifted Ivar up and trhrew him onto the prone McDonagh.

Balor saved McDonagh from a War Raiders double team, but he and his former co-World Tag Team Champion partner were sent flying onto the commentary table by a double charge from Erik and Ivar, which gave us a break in the action.

We returned to Erik attempting to fight this way out of the Judgment Day corner, but he got put down by a neckbreaker from Balor. Erik tried to power out of Balor’s rest hold to make the tag, but couldn’t. Balor kicked away at Priest, which gave Erik an opening to ram his foe into the corner as Ivar entered the fray and was a house of fire.

Ivar missed on the Bronco Buster as Balor got outof the way at the last second. Ivar leapt to his corner to make the tag to Priest, who proceeded to clean house on the Judgment Day trio. He had Dominik in his sights for the fierce clothesline. South of Heaven attempt was interrupted by Carlito, who provided a distraction long enough for Dominik to clip Priest in the leg.

Action outside saw Balor and McDonagh taken out of the equation by the War Raiders. In the ring, Priest put an end to the action with a South of Heaven on Dominik for the win.

After the match, Balor got the jump on Priest and attacked his knee. Erik and Ivar stepped in before Balor could do any more damage.

Standard six-man tag match here. Not much to say, but the Judgment Day vs. Damian Priest feud has kinda run its course. It’s honestly hard to get invested in a feud that’s been rather one-sided.

**********

– Adam Pearce informed an irate Jey Uso that since Drew McIntyre got escorted from the arena tonight, he’ll get his match against the Scotsman next week on the premiere of Raw on Netflix.

– As we headed to break, a teaser for Penta aired, this time showing the Ø icon, followed by his mask design being shown briefly.

Ludwig Kaiser in-ring promo; Sheamus returns

Kaiser talked about how he was A+ everything and that he was European Elegance. He demanded that Bron Breakker face him now, but was met by Sheamus instead. The Celtic Warrior didn’t waste any time and stormed the ring to attack Kaiser with vicious ferocity. Kaiser tried to take advantage with a rake to the eye, but that didn’t last long as he found himself on the wrong end of a Brogue Kick from Sheamus.

**********

– Backstage, Rey Mysterio gave Otis encouragement after his great effort against Chad Gable earlier tonight. As Alpha Academy left, the New Day approached Mysterio and began to condescendingly mock him. Mysterio issued a challenge to Woods and Kingston for a tag match, which was promptly accepted by the New Day.

Women’s Intercontinental Championship Tournament Semifinal #2: Lyra Valkyria def. IYO SKY

The match started off with neither woman getting a clear advantage as they exchanged holds and armdrags early on. Fast-paced dodges and rollup pins from SKY and Valkyria kept things fast-paced here. Valkyria finally gained control with a dropkick to SKY’s knee. She applied a unique pendulum submission hold on SKY to keep the advantage. SKY went up top, but got slammed knee-first by Valkyria as we got a break in the action.

Raw returned with SKY in pain as Valkyria looked on from the opposite corner. SKY mounted a rally as she left Valkyria flatfooted with her comeback. Off the top rope, SKY soared with a missile dropkick on Valkyria that got a close two. SKY looked to continue the momentum, but she was intercepted by Valkyria at the top rope. Standoff up top ended with Valkyria escaping SKY with a flip, followed by a shotgun dropkick. Tornado DDT and suplex by Valkyria on SKY was not enough for the victory.

O’Connor Roll by SKY turned into a bridging German suplex on Valkyria. One, two… kickout! Spinning heel kick from Valkyria couldn’t get it done as she headed up to the top rope again. SKY met her there and began to batter Valkyria with strikes before she hit an incredible avalanche rolling victory powerbomb for the 2.999999 count.

SKY headed up to the top rope and hit a moonsault on Valkyria at ringside. With Valkyria stunned, SKY looked to have the match won with her moonsault, but she couldn’t connect. SKY’s O’Connor Roll was reversed into a bridging pin by Valkyria and that’s it, over. Lyra Valkyria advances to the Women’s Intercontinental Championship Finals.

A fun little match we had here. SKY and Valkyria have impeccable chemistry and it’s always a real treat seeing these two go at it in the ring. Valkyria getting the win was a genuine surprise and I can’t wait to see her and Dakota Kai battle for the Women’s Intercontinental Title in two weeks time.

**********

Seth Rollins & CM Punk Face Off

Rollins entered first and after the commercial break, he welcomed Houston to Monday Night Rollins. He went through his “I am a Visionary” spiel before he said that it was time to go out with a bang for the final episode of Raw in 2024. He called CM Punk the “self-proclaimed” Best in the World before boasting that he himself was the true Best in the World. Rollins said that he’d be here every Monday fighting because that’s what he does and that if things don’t go Punk’s way, he’ll whine and cry about it.

At that point, the static of CM Punk’s theme interrupted Rollins’ tirade, which brought out Punk himself. He walked down to the ring with a purpose and entered to stare down Rollins before he started with his own promo.

Punk said that “took his ball and go home” was the biggest industry bootlicker cliche planted lie he had ever heard of. Punk asked did Stone Cold Steve Austin take his ball and went home? He also took a jab at Becky Lynch, asking Rollins if she took his ball and went home, and that Rollins is crying because of him. Punk said that both he and Rollins made their own decisions and he did not regret making them.

Punk asked Rollins how his neck and knee were. He asked Rollins how his insides were after Bronson Reed crushed him, and how his pride was after he was denied of getting revenge on Reed, while Punk broke the big man’s ankle at WarGames.

Rollins fired back by saying that Becky took a break to take care of his kid, something that Punk does not know how it feels like. Rollins continued by taking a dig at Punk going on Colt Cabana’s podcast to complain about WWE, and then signing with AEW (calling them “the competition”), asking him how it worked out for him. Rollins stated that he stayed in the trenches and helped win “the war” because that’s how revolutions are made and that he will not be “little brothered” by Punk because he is the big brother now.

Punk shot back by saying that he left the place because of the guy in charge, someone who loved Rollins. He said that when he left, Rollins turned around and betrayed Roman Reigns and played victims for years. Punk stated that he came back because for seven years, fans chanted his name (mostly during Rollins’ time, Punk noted). Next week, Punk said, the same arrows that were supposed to do him in, he now holds and he’s going to jam them right down Rollins’ “corporate throat”.

Rollins responded by saying that maybe Punk was a pioneer once upon a time, but he’s now become a cancer, and that the only way to defeat the cancer is to cut it out. Rollins promised to burn Punk to the ground next week on Raw on Netflix.

The final Raw on USA Network (and broadcast television) closed out with a final tense staredown between Rollins and Punk as the former’s music played us out.

**********

A rather intense way to close out the final Raw before the dawning of a new era, and Punk and Rollins gave as good as they got in a rather heated promo segment. Their showdown didn’t need any physicality ahead of next week, but the shots both men got in on one another made for a hell of a parting shot for Monday Night Raw on the USA Network. In fact, I enjoyed this two hour show from start to finish and if WWE was wanting to get people hooked for the first episode of Raw next week on Netflix, I’d say they did a great job based on the closing segment with Punk and Rollins alone.

WWE Raw live results: Drew McIntyre kicks off the show

Posted on by Steve Khan

Air Date: December 23, 2024 (taped Dec 16)
Location: TD Garden in Boston, MA

**********

Show Recap — 

(Reminder that this show was taped last week.) 

Drew McIntyre entered to kick off the show. As he entered, Joe Tessitore said that McIntyre is “continuously showing us a dark side like we’ve never seen before.” 

McIntyre said his back was almost broken from landing on the steel steps at HIAC. He went home to Scotland, but he hasn’t talked about it publicly because a close family member passed away. Some may feel sympathy right now, and maybe some guys in the back felt bad because they didn’t know. But if they cared, they would have asked. Only one person reached out to him while he was gone. (He didn’t say who it was.) 

After all these years, we were meant to think they were all one big happy family backstage because they spent more time together than their actual families. But that was all BS. His brother, John, wouldn’t stab him in the back to take his spot, but Sami Zayn, Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso all would. The crowd chanted, “Yeet.” Jey claimed to be a changed man after all the terrible things he did, but the fans moved on because he had a fun hand gesture. 

McIntyre has given and given and given over 17 years, but the fans turned on him. He kept fighting for the fans because deep down, he believed they believed in him, but he bled out in the ring at HIAC, and they instantly forgot about him. (They added some terrible fake booing here that sounded like the early 2000s Smackdown days.) 

He would continue to tell the truth. The true villains in WWE were Roman Reigns and CM Punk. He issued a warning to anyone who kept propping them up (The Usos and Zayn). 

Zayn interrupted. He said he didn’t know what happened to McIntyre while he was in Scotland. Everyone thought he was recovering from HIAC, whether McIntyre wanted to believe it or not. Zayn said McIntyre might’ve had 17 years in the business, but Zayn had 22. All the sacrifices McIntyre had, Zayn had too. He put unnecessary stress on his wife and kid but that’s the life they chose. 

They did it because they were “WWE superstars.” They were lucky to be WWE superstars. It wasn’t just their story. Every single person in the crowd and watching from home had these stories. They still got up every day and did what they had to do to get through it without pointing the finger at everyone else. McIntyre had the gall to point his finger at the fans, but they didn’t forget about him—they made him. 

Once upon a time, “someone” told McIntyre he was the chosen one, and he thought the world revolved around him because of it. What Jey and Jimmy and Sami did had nothing to do with him. Zayn said McIntyre could continue to have a problem with the Bloodline, so Zayn could be his problem tonight. 

McIntyre said he didn’t doubt Zayn’s sentiment, but Zayn had a way of spinning things. Zayn could fly to his family every week, but McIntyre didn’t have that luxury. McIntyre wondered why Zayn would want to fight, considering he’s never beaten him. McIntyre saw Zayn’s family backstage and heard he wasn’t 100%, so he suggested leaving with his family. Out of everyone from the Bloodline, Zayn was the least of his worries. 

Zayn admitted that McIntyre had his number in the ring. It would be smart for him to go home and recover. Zayn then attacked McIntyre mid-sentence, but McIntyre headbutted him. Jey ran out to make the save and teamed with Zayn to knock McIntyre from the ring. 

*******

Pure Fusion Collective approached Adam Pearce to the sound of fake booing. Sonya Deville wanted Kairi Sane’s vacant spot in the tournament (after they laid her out). Pearce said no because it was obviously them who took her out. He made Iyo Sky the replacement already. (There was even more fake crowd throughout this.) 

Women’s IC title tournament first-round triple threat match: IYO SKY defeated Natalya and Alba Fyre (8:18) 

They went to break 40 seconds into this important tournament match even though the show was taped (the opening segment still went about 20 minutes). Natalya put both women in a Sharpshooter following the break. Tessitore acted befuddled by this even though she’s done it before. Sky wiped out everyone with a dive moments later and hit Natalya with a moonsault for the win. 

*******

There was a backstage Judgment Day segment. Finn Bálor and Liv Morgan argued like kids. Bálor was on one side with JD McDonagh and Carlito, while Morgan was with Raquel Rodriguez and Dominik Mysterio. Bálor and Morgan had their backs turned to each other and wouldn’t actually speak to each other. Instead, they tried to speak through McDonagh and Rodriguez. Dom had enough of this and offered to go get a match with Damian Priest. Bálor was offended, but Dom told him that he had a plan. 

********

Zayn thanked Jey for having his back. Jey wanted payback against McIntyre tonight, but Zayn wanted his own payback against him first. Jey conceded but said he would get McIntyre next. 

******** 

They aired clips from the Raw Netflix kickoff show.

******** 

Chad Gable (w/American Made) defeated Akira Tozawa (w/Alpha Academy) (2:09) 

Gable and Otis had an argument outside the ring, so Gable slapped him and quickly slipped into the ring. Tozawa tried to take advantage with a cradle for two. Tozawa tried a diving senton, but Gable got his knees up and hit repeated German suplexes, a powerbomb and an ankle lock for the submission win. 

— Gable wouldn’t let go of the hold, so Otis broke it up. Otis was ready for a fight, but the Creed Brothers stepped in with Gable. Otis still wasn’t backing down, but American Made left. 

********

Dom bumped into New Day backstage. Kofi Kingston was happy to see him, figuring he would know what they were going through. Dom said he didn’t like Big E, but what they did to him was crazy. Xavier Woods called him a broke-ass Tom Selleck. Dom responded, “Tom Selleck wishes.” Dom chuckled and left. What an odd reference. 

Damian Priest defeated Dominik Mysterio via disqualification (2:52) 

Priest was all over Dom and noticed a conspicuous man dressed as Santa Claus in the front row. It was McDonagh. Priest chucked him over the announce table and pulled an unsuspecting Carlito out from under the ring, but Bálor attacked Priest for the quick DQ. 

— Judgment Day put the boots to Priest until the Viking Raiders made the save. Priest, Ivar and Erik laid out Judgment Day, and this ended with Priest giving Bálor a chokeslam. 

******** 

Seth Rollins sit-down interview 

Jackie Redmond interviewed Seth Rollins to follow up on her interview with CM Punk. (The audio was really off here, as it has been in recent weeks on Sportsnet with some of these pre-taped segments for whatever reason.) 

Rollins called Punk a hypocrite. It was appropriate to call their match on January 6th a fight, not a match, and it was the biggest fight in their industry right now. Rollins needed this fight, especially after seeing Punk standing toe-to-toe with Reigns. Rollins wanted to throw his remote at the TV when he saw that. 

The Netflix debut was the perfect time to fight Punk because the world would be watching. It would be raw, visceral and violent. Rollins needed to extract this demon out of his soul and cut this cancer out of his brain. He couldn’t wait for January 6th. 

(If this interview showed anything, it’s that Rollins is certainly not the interview that CM Punk is.) 

******** 

Dexter Lumis defeated The Miz via disqualification (2:24) 

If you watch a lot of modern wrestling, it’s easy to conclude that there are few bad wrestlers and even fewer bad matches. But then there’s this. 

This was a nothing match, to be kind, and it ended quickly when AOP and Karrion Kross attacked Lumis for the DQ. Scarlett joined them, and they surrounded him in the ring. 

Lumis wasn’t worried. He raised his arms, and the lights went out, which brought out the Wyatt Sicks. They cleared the ring and powerbombed Nikki Cross out of the ring to wipe out Final Testament. 

(This was the second DQ in a row and the third match in a row under three minutes. According to the results they aired later, these two matches were considered no contests, even though they were obvious disqualifications.) 

********

Priest thanked the War Raiders for their help earlier. Ivar said they’ve known each other a long time. They haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, but there’s always been “honour” among them (a nod to their time in ROH). Erik said they may not have been friends, but Priest had their back in a big way last week, and they appreciated it. Priest said they were at war with Judgment Day, and he was happy to go to war with them. He wished them luck with the tag titles. 

******** 

The “Ø” logo, presumably for Penta, aired again. 

********

The New Day segment 

Tessitore and Wade Barrett recapped what happened with New Day and Big E two weeks ago. Kingston and Woods interrupted. (They appeared ringside without music.) They wondered where the announcers’ unbiased journalism was. (They were completely drowned out by booing.) 

Woods said Barrett and Big E had something in common: neither was man enough to lace up their boots and step foot in the ring again. (Barrett said he was retired). 

New Day entered the ring. They said they could have laid out Big E, but they didn’t, so they wondered why the fans were so upset. Kingston said tonight was meant to be a homecoming for him. It was also meant to be a homecoming for his mom, who flew all the way from Ghana. Elizabeth was shown in the front row. 

Kingston said she flew for 20 hours in the middle seat to be there, and they were ruining her experience. (Barrett was appalled he got her a middle seat.) Kingston said she raised him to become the man he is today and didn’t deserve to see her son get booed. Woods said they gave the fans 10 years of their lives. 

Kingston approached his mom and said she didn’t deserve this. He offered a hug. She got to her feet but did not accept the hug. She asked what was wrong with him. She grabbed her stuff and left. The fans cheered and chanted, “Kofi sucks.” 

This was good. 

********

Next week on the final USA Network edition of Raw:  

  • Six-man tag: Damian Priest & War Raiders vs. Finn Bálor, McDonagh & Carlito 
  • Dakota Kai vs. Zoey Stark  
  • IYO SKY vs. Lyra Valkyria 
  • Chad Gable vs. Otis 
  • CM Punk and Seth Rollins “under one roof” 

********

New Day bumped into Rey Mysterio backstage. Rey thought about what Kingston said last week and apologized for his response. He wanted to help them as much as he could. What they did to Big E was foul, and they should start by apologizing. Kingston said they didn’t do anything wrong, and Woods said Rey was as bad as everyone else.  

Rey said they couldn’t accuse him of not trying to help, and now they were on their own. He told them to get used to hearing, “New Day sucks.” 

******** 

Drew McIntyre defeated Sami Zayn (16:35) 

Zayn lost clean, and it didn’t feel like he deserved any better. 

Zayn had McIntyre off-guard, leading to a first commercial break, but McIntyre took over and hit a side slam onto the apron, leading to a second break (less than 10 minutes into the match). 

Zayn countered a reverse Alabama Slam into a victory roll for two. Zayn dodged a charge, and McIntyre went shoulder-first into the ring post, but McIntyre came back with a White Noise off the middle rope for two. 

McIntyre went for a Claymore but Zayn fought back with a clothesline and an exploder into the corner. Zayn couldn’t hit a Helluva Kick because his back was hurt, so McIntyre nailed a Claymore Kick for the pinfall win. 

— McIntyre hammered away at Zayn after the match until Jey ran out to make the save. Jey speared McIntyre and set up for a splash but was attacked by Tama Tonga, flanked by Soloa Sikoa and Jacob Fatu. 

The new Bloodline entered the ring and had a brief staredown with McIntyre. He left the ring. 

The new Bloodline attacked Jey but he fought them all off until the numbers finally caught up to him. Zayn tried to make a save, but they beat him up too. Sikoa gave Zayn the Samoan Spike. Fatu placed the ula fala on Sikoa, and they all stood tall over the babyfaces.

WWE Raw live results: CM Punk responds to Seth Rollins

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: December 16, 2024
Location: TD Garden in Boston, MA 

********** 

Show Recap — 

Judgment Day, Bron Breakker and Ludwig Kaiser arrived at the arena. 

There will be a medical update later on Cody Rhodes following Kevin Owens’ attack at the conclusion of Saturday Night’s Main Event. 

CM Punk and Seth Rollins segment 

CM Punk entered to kick off Raw and there was a nice wide shot to show the packed TD Garden. The crowd chanted for Punk. He told them to be careful because some people might be mad if they chant his name. He pointed out a guy wearing a New York sports jersey so the fans could boo him. 

Punk admitted he was in a bit of a bad mood. He told Seth Rollins two weeks ago that he didn’t think about him at all. Over the past two weeks, however, his mind wandered back to Rollins. It put him in a bad mood because Rollins was right. There was something going on between them and it was only a matter of time before they went at it in the ring. 

He knew that no matter what, at some point, Rollins’ stupid music would hit, and he would tip-toe out in clogs like the Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak dressed like Liberace. And, for all the sensitive people, that wasn’t an insult because Punk thought Liberace was cool as hell. Just because Rollins wore Elton John’s shades didn’t make him Elton John. Just because Rollins grew up idolizing him, putting on a pair of wrestling boots didn’t make him CM Punk. 

Punk said it was true that he ghosted Rollins. But Punk wasn’t here to litigate the past. He looked forward to the future. Rollins painted Punk out to be the bad guy. Punk wasn’t denying he was a bad guy and had the fans give a show of hands if they were ever considered the bad guy. There weren’t bad students, only bad teachers, so Rollins was Punk’s failure. Punk wanted to try it again, so he offered to give Rollins a wrestling lesson for free. 

The last guy who went down this road was Drew McIntyre, and Rollins had to ask himself if he was tougher than McIntyre. There weren’t enough staples in the world to put Rollins back together when Punk was done with him. 

Rollins appeared in the crowd (not dressed like a clown). He wanted to see Punk from the perspective of the fans but concluded, “You’re still an asshole.” 

Punk was glad Rollins didn’t come out to his stupid song. Punk said Rollins was where he belonged, with the rest of the CM Punk fans. 

Rollins said he was not embarrassed to be with the fans. Rollins was a fan, and this was his place. Punk wanted it to die when he left, but Rollins put it on his back and made it stronger than ever. Rollins had more WrestleMania main events than Punk ever would, “And that’s a fact, Phil.” 

That was enough for Punk. They met in the crowd and exchanged fists as officials stepped in. Their pull-apart brawl continued for a while (and they exchanged a few swears) until officials were finally able to separate them. 

********

Judgment Day met backstage. Finn Bálor was miserable. Liv Morgan wondered why his mantra (“listen to Finn, and you win”) worked for her at SNME but not him. Bálor wondered where everyone was during his match. Morgan said they believed in him and didn’t think he needed help. 

Morgan suggested he focus on his tag title defence because they were all banned from ringside. Morgan said Raquel Rodriguez would win her match tonight. Rodriguez repeated his mantra and said she would win. Morgan sarcastically wished luck to Bálor and JD McDonagh. Morgan said she had something special planned, so she left with Rodriguez and Dominik. 

******** 

They aired a video of Triple H unveiling the new Raw on Netflix logo. 

Adam Pearce confronted Rollins backstage. Rollins wanted Pearce to make a match with Punk immediately. Pearce told them to stop trying to tear each other’s eyes out (perhaps a reference to Rollins’ eye-for-an-eye match against Rey Mysterio), and maybe he would be able to do his job. Pearce left. 

McIntyre approached Rollins. McIntyre reminded Rollins that he once told him to get over his issues with the Bloodline. After watching Smackdown, it was clear that Roman Reigns was still the same person and everyone involved—Sami Zayn, Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso—needed to be taken out. 

Rollins laughed at him. He told McIntyre they did not have a common cause. Zayn and the Usos were his friends. He respected them, but the jury was out on McIntyre. Rollins planned on doing something McIntyre couldn’t and that was end Punk. 

******** 

Bron Breakker defeated Ludwig Kaiser to retain the Intercontinental Championship (18:12) 

They went to break 90 seconds in. Bron was in control after the break despite Kaiser’s efforts to target his shoulder. Kaiser poked Bron’s eyes and attacked his shoulder, but Bron hit a leaping clothesline over the announce table. That did further damage to Bron’s shoulder, and Kaiser targeted it again after poking him in the eye again. 

Kaiser continued on the shoulder following a second commercial break. Bron came back with a knee strike and strikes with his right arm (while still selling the left shoulder). Bron still managed to hit a leaping Frankensteiner for two. Kaiser avoided a spear and hit a Finlay Roll for two. Bron missed a tackle and went shoulder-first into the turnbuckle. 

With Bron leaning against the steel steps, Kaiser ran around the ring for a dropkick attempt, but Bron was gone. Bron ran up behind Kaiser and hit a shoulder tackle, followed by a gutbuster and super spear for the pinfall win. 

(This was fine except for all the time they spent clearly communicating spots with each other.)

********

New Day arrived backstage, and they bumped into Rey Mysterio. Rey blocked the locker room door. Xavier Woods wondered if he had a problem with them, too. Rey said it was everyone in the back. Kofi Kingston wondered if suddenly nobody had their backs after ten years of sharing the locker room. 

Kingston said Rey was supposed to be a locker room leader and suggested he do something. Rey said they crossed the line with Big E, and it was in their best interest to find somewhere else to change. Woods said they didn’t want to share a locker room with them anyway. They left. 

********

There was a Rhodes/Owens video package. This was followed with a “Did you know?” factoid stating: “All the post show videos of Saturday Night’s Main Event across all of WWE social platforms have combined for more than 45 million views!” 

It was funny seeing them celebrate this fake achievement over an image of Rhodes being stretched out with a potentially serious neck injury. 

Joe Tessitore said Rhodes’s x-rays were negative for a fracture, and he was resting at home. 

********

There was a War Raiders video package. That was good. They spoke of the severity of their injuries over videos of them recovering at the hospital. They said their injuries should have ended their careers—but it didn’t. 

Judgment Day tried to end their careers and cheated them out of the titles. The Raiders were stronger than ever. Every match could be their last, and their moment had to be now. Erik said his sons needed to know that all the pain was worth it. The only way to prove that was by bringing them the world tag team titles. 

******** 

Adam Pearce announced to Cathy Kelley that CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins will happen on Raw’s Netflix debut on January 6th, 2025.

******** 

Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley segment 

Morgan entered with Dom and Rodriguez. Dom was loudly booed before he handed things over to Morgan. She used a megaphone to announce she was the greatest Women’s World Champion ever. She said 2024 was the year of Monday Night Morgan, and they were just getting started. There were a lot of changes coming in 2025 and there was nobody better to lead this company into the future than her. 

Rhea Ripley interrupted. Morgan kept talking, so Ripley told her to shut the hell up. Ripley said this had gone on long enough, so it was time to settle it. Ripley informed Morgan that Pearce named her number one contender. 

Ripley said, “I will be the new Women’s World Champion, and all that you’ll be left with is your little chicken tender slut.” She dropped the mic and her music played. 

(They didn’t announce a date for the match.) 

********

Jackie Redmond tried interviewing Rollins. In the background, you could see McIntyre making a beeline toward Rollins, but he was suddenly attacked by Zayn. They brawled as officials tried breaking it up. (Rollins vanished.) 

******** 

Miz met with Final Testament backstage. He tried to get out of their arrangement now that they beat the Wyatt Sicks. Karrion Kross said things weren’t over between them. He was still pissed about what they did to Scarlett. Kross told Miz he would be facing Dexter Lumis next week. Miz wasn’t happy, but Paul Ellering said he owed them. Kross tried to encourage Miz by reminding him that he’s won 22 titles in his career. Miz left. 

Rezar asked if Kross thought Miz could take Lumis. Kross wasn’t sure, but he wanted to keep testing the Wyatts. He also wanted Miz to learn that you couldn’t back out of a deal with the devil. (He also gave Ellering a stern look when saying this, and Ellering looked a little concerned.) 

******** 

Tessitore congratulated Chelsea Green on winning the Women’s United States Champion. 

Women’s IC title tournament first-round triple threat match: Zoey Stark defeated Kayden Carter and  Raquel Rodriguez (9:21) 

Carter wiped out her opponents with a dive before a break, and Stark returned the favour after the break. Rodriguez set up Carter for a Tejana Bomb, but Stark dropped them with a missile dropkick. That knocked Rodriguez out of the ring, so Stark gave Carter the Z-360 for the pinfall win. 

Stark advances and will face Dakota Kai in the next round. 

This wasn’t much, and it came to a crashing end when Stark messed up her own finisher. 

*******

R-Truth met with Alpha Academy until he was confronted by Pete Dunne, who was still pissed about being called “Butch.” Truth responded, “Butch, please!” Dunne got in his face, but Otis stepped between them, so Dunne left. Truth left, too. 

Chad Gable and American Made approached Alpha Academy. Gable called them a clown show that ruined his Academy. He called them a joke, and their commercial was pathetic. He ran them all down until Otis told him to shut up. Gable said it was time to kill his darlings, and he would start with Tozawa. 

********

Redmond interviewed New Day backstage. They were still without somewhere to change, and the disrespect continued because the interview was quickly interrupted by yet another commotion. This time it was PCF taking out Kairi Sane. (They trapped her arm in a heavy equipment box.) 

******** 

A red logo flashed on the screen. It appeared to be a zero, perhaps teasing Penta. 

******** 

The War Raiders defeated Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh to win the World Tag Team Championships (16:11) 

The War Raiders were in control through an early break until McDonagh used Ivar’s beard to yank him down over the top rope as Bálor distracted the referee. Ivar responded by knocking down both men with a handspring double back elbow, which popped the crowd. Erik tagged in and was in control until Bálor tripped him from outside the ring. Bálor and McDonagh twice drove Erik into the steel steps, leading to another break. 

They worked over Erik until Ivar made the hot tag. Ivar gave Bálor a seated senton and McDonagh a cartwheel kick. Ivar gave McDonagh a world’s strongest slam off the middle rope for a nearfall. They gave McDonagh a pop-up powerslam combo, but Bálor broke up the cover. They went for War Machine, but Bálor dropped the top rope to knock Ivar out of the ring. 

Bálor gave Erik a slingblade and dropkick. McDonagh hit a moonsault, and Bálor followed with Coup de Grace, but Ivar broke up the cover. 

McDonagh distracted the referee as Bálor went for a chair, but Damian Priest suddenly appeared (in exactly the right position) to prevent him from grabbing it. Priest knocked Bálor into the barricade. 

Bálor rolled back in the ring, and Erik and Ivar gave him War Machine for the pinfall win. They got a nice pop and a big fireworks display as the show ended.

WWE Raw live results: Ripley vs. Rodriguez anything goes match

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: December 9, 2024
Location: Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, KS

**********

Show Recap — 

Raw started with technical issues (at least, that was the case on Sportsnet in Canada). You could hear everything starting as usual, with various wrestlers arriving, but the actual video feed was frozen on an establishing shot of the city and then a still shot of Gunther from his match against Dominik Mysterio last week. 

The live stream was fixed as Gunther entered to start the show. Gunther said Finn Bálor has made a grave mistake. Bálor had his attention, and Saturday Night’s Main Event would not end up like Survivor Series. 

Judgment Day (minus Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez) interrupted. Bálor didn’t appreciate that Gunther passed over him for a title match to instead face Dominik Mysterio, who didn’t deserve it. (Dom looked over at him but didn’t react too much.) 

Bálor said he was the only reason Gunther was still champion. SNME wouldn’t be like Survivor Series because Gunther wasn’t retaining the title because of him—he would lose the title because of him. After eight long years, Bálor would walk out as World Heavyweight Champion. 

Gunther said Bálor didn’t earn his title shot. Bálor did become the first Universal Champion eight years ago and Gunther looked up to him. That respect faded away over the years because Bálor began cutting corners. He took shortcuts and aligned himself with weirdos in a clubhouse. He chose to play second fiddle to Damian Priest. 

There was no respect left and now Gunther looked down on him. Bálor was the best in the world eight years ago—for one night. Gunther was the best in the world right now and for thousands of days to come, and his title proved it. Bálor would not win on Saturday because he was not on Gunther’s level. 

Judgment Day took offence, so they hit the apron but stopped what they were doing upon hearing Priest’s music. They ran after Priest instead, and he laid everyone out by himself. Bálor tried attacking from behind, but Priest chucked him into the ring. Gunther and Priest took turns attacking Bálor. 

They were not on the same page, though, because Gunther clotheslined Priest. Gunther was about to powerbomb Priest onto the announce table, but Bálor attacked Gunther before going after Priest. 

Bálor gave Gunther a Coup de Grace off the apron. Priest attacked the rest of Judgment Day in the ring until Bálor attacked him from behind. Bálor hit Priest with the Coup de Grace three times as Gunther looked on. Judgment Day stood tall. 

(Bálor stood tall but this segment didn’t make him look like any sort of threat. He and his buddies got beat up by Priest alone and only stood tall after Gunther attacked Priest. He’ll probably get a nearfall with his finisher on Saturday, and that’ll be that.) 

After a break, Adam Pearce informed Bálor that the world title match at SNME was now a triple threat with Priest. Bálor was fine with this because it would be even more satisfying when he beat them both. 

Bálor was less happy when Pearce told him that he and JD McDonagh would defend the tag titles against the War Raiders next week with Judgment Day banned from ringside. They were pissed. Liv Morgan (sarcastically) asked Bálor if he had any advice for their matches tonight since he had everything under control. Bálor was stunned and couldn’t find the words.

******** 

Professional bull rider Koltin Hevalow was shown at ringside. 

Eight-man tag team match: Karrion Kross, AOP & The Miz (w/Scarlett) defeated The Wyatt Sicks (9:02) 

Kross pinned Uncle Howdy. 

This was the first match for the Wyatts since September. Bo Dallas wrestled in his Uncle Howdy mask. The other members wrestled without masks. 

They seriously went to commercial 25 seconds into the match (after Miz saved Kross from a Sister Abigail). After the break, Final Testament was randomly in control of Joe Gacy until he quickly made a hot tag to Erick Rowan. Rowan had Miz pinned, but AOP broke up the cover, so Dexter Lumis and Gacy got rid of them with dives. 

Uncle Howdy tagged in and beat up Miz until Kross tagged himself in. Uncle Howdy went for a dive, but Scarlett tripped him. Nikki Cross appeared out of nowhere to take out Scarlett. (Cross didn’t enter with her team, so you knew she’d show up as a “surprise” at some point.) 

Howdy went for Sister Abigail on Kross, but Miz saved him again. As Kross distracted the referee, Howdy went after Miz but the returning Paul Ellering chucked powder in his face. Kross gave Uncle Howday a Final Prayer (F5 variation) for the pinfall win. 

This wasn’t good. 

********

CM Punk sit-down interview 

Jackie Redmond had a pre-taped sit-down interview with CM Punk. Punk said they would fight if she asked about the Chicago Blackhawks. He laughed when she responded, “No, I’m going to ask you about something much more relevant.” (That was good.)  

Redmond asked about the favour. Punk said it wasn’t the right time to talk about it. He went back many years with Paul Heyman and it would stay between them for now. 

Remond asked about Seth Rollins. Punk said he wouldn’t shy away from a fight but was confused about Rollins’ hatred. He didn’t hate Rollins at all, and they had a long history. A 16-year-old Rollins went to Punk and asked for wrestling training—for free. That entitlement has carried over into the adult Rollins. 

Rollins wanted to be on everyone’s ten top list of best wrestlers of all time, but there was a time when he was on a top ten list to be fired from WWE. Punk “shielded” him from that. Punk would hate Punk, too, if he had to live in his shadow. Everything Rollins did, Punk did already and did it before him. 

Rollins did a fantastic job while Punk was gone to fill the void, but the starter was back, and the second-string guy could now go back to the bench. 

********

Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan defeated Dakota Kai in a non-title match (approx. 6 minutes) 

They went to break 45 seconds into this one. Morgan was in control after the break, and Pure Fusion Collective marched out to watch from ringside. Morgan tried three amigos, but Kai countered the last suplex and made a comeback but became distracted dealing with Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark at ringside. 

Morgan responded with a Codebreaker but Kai countered a missile dropkick into a powerbomb. Kai was distracted again, this time by Sonya Deville on the apron, and Kai knocked her off. The referee was fine with all of this. Kai went for a running boot but Morgan avoided it and hit Oblivion for the pinfall win. 

(This was another nothing much with too much going on outside the ring.) 

PFC attacked Kai post-match but Iyo Sky and Kairi Sane made the save. Sane wiped out PFC with a dive. Sky had her back turned, so Morgan laid her out with Oblivion. Morgan stood tall. 

********

Drew McIntyre video 

There was a Drew McIntyre pre-taped video promo. McIntyre called HIAC the most violent match of his career, and he suffered massive blood loss. He had to return to Scotland after that because his family needed him. While he was away, he wondered if he was wrong and wondered if everyone else was right. Maybe people could change. 

But then he watched Survivor Series. Roman Reigns teamed with Punk. Sami Zayn and the Usos were right there with them, even after everything Reigns did. At least Punk took a bribe. The rest of them sold out for nothing. That’s when he knew he had to return to take out Zayn and Jey Uso. He can’t change the past, but he can change the present, “and I will change the future.”

******** 

[SECOND HOUR]

Joe Tessitore gave a shout-out to Barry Sanders, a native of Wichita. He also gave a shout-out to another Wichita native, MrBeast of all people. 

There was a video recap of the New Day angle last week. 

Cody Rhodes was shown leaving a meeting with Pearce. He bumped into Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods. Rhodes said he’s known them a long time. He’s known Woods since they were kids. But they should both be ashamed of themselves. Kingston and Woods left. 

(I believe Woods and Rhodes were both high school wrestlers and faced each other representing different schools.) 

********

Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn segment 

Rollins entered. He said Punk had a career as a politician in his future because he knew how to spin the truth. Punk spun the truth and played the victim. He’s been doing it his entire life. He was a fraud and a con man. 

Rollins told his version of the story. He did go to Punk and asked for training. Punk helped him get in the door. They were friends. The part of the story Punk left out tells you why Rollins hated him. 

When Punk walked out of the company, Rollins called him as a friend. Punk never responded. It wasn’t just Rollins. Punk did it to everyone. If your priorities didn’t line up with Team Punk, you were evil. For the next ten years, all Punk tried to do was tear this company down. He took any shot he could. 

Punk finally came back because he failed at everything. He burned every bridge—and the money was right. The crowd chanted for Punk. 

Rollins used to respect Punk. He wanted to be just like him. But he realized Punk was a fraud and wanted to be better. Whatever Punk has done in this ring, Rollins has done it twice. Rollins also did the one thing Punk never did and that was main event WrestleMania. 

Sami Zayn interrupted. Zayn admitted it was wrong of him to accuse Rollins of attacking Jey. Zayn knew him better than that. Zayn apologized. Rollins spoke about how close they were and that their kids played together, so he wanted to know why he was the first person Zayn thought of when Jey went down. 

Zayn said Rollins was out of his mind last week. He was pointing his finger at everyone else and acted like the only person with moral clarity. He sounded less like Rollins and more like McIntyre. Rollins was a better person than McIntyre but this thing with Punk brought out the worst person in him. 

Zayn admitted he shouldn’t have gotten involved. The issue with Punk was Rollins’ business, and he could handle it however he wanted. Rollins appreciated it. Zayn asked if they were good. Rollins said yes. Rollins said Zayn now had his own issues with McIntyre to deal with. He left. 

Zayn wanted to end things with McIntyre as quickly as they’d started, so he spoke to Pearce and got a match against McIntyre at SNME. “Drew, I will see you Saturday.” As Zayn left, McIntyre blindsided him. McIntyre hammered away at him until officials stepped in. 

********

Women’s IC title tournament first-round triple threat match: Lyra Valkyria defeated Ivy Nile and Zelina Vega (7:46)  

Continuing the trend, they went to break 47 seconds into this. As Valkyria and Nile traded counters, Vega nailed them both with a senton. Vega took a page out of Rey Mysterio’s book and gave Nile a sliding powerbomb outside the ring. Later on, Nile simultaneously gave both women a German suplex. Vega hit Nile a Code Red, but Valkyria broke up the cover. Valkyria gave Nile a Nightwing for the pinfall win. Valkyria advances. 

********

New Day segment 

Cathy Kelley tried interviewing Kingston and Woods backstage. They were loudly booed and greeted with “New Day sucks” chants. Kingston and Woods were dismissive of her unbiased questioning and decided they should go to the ring. Woods grabbed a camera away from the cameraperson and went to the ring with Kingston. (He put the camera down once they entered.) 

The crowd continued to chant, “New Day sucks.” They loudly booed as Kingston spoke. He said after the ten years of positivity that the two of them gave the fans, “You’re this mad over one day?” Woods couldn’t speak because the crowd kept booing. Fans chanted, “We want Big E.” Woods responded, “We didn’t even do anything to E!” 

Kingston said they could’ve taken a steel chair to E’s back or a sledgehammer to the back of his head. Kingston may have had more examples but stopped because of the crowd. They chanted for Big E again. Woods had more to stay but was drowned out again. They both dropped their mics and left. 

This was great. 

********

SNME card: 

  • World Heavyweight Championship triple threat match: Gunther vs. Finn Bálor vs. Damian Priest 
  • Sami Zayn vs. Drew McIntyre 
  • Women’s World Championship match: Liv Morgan vs. Iyo Sky 
  • Women’s United States Championship Tournament final 
  • Cody Rhodes vs. Kevin Owens 

******** 

Anything Goes Match: Rhea Ripley defeated Raquel Rodriguez (8:07) 

Ripley attacked Rodriguez during her entrance, and the match began once they entered the ring. Ripley was all over Rodriguez and grabbed a table, but Rodriguez grabbed her and gave her a fallaway slam onto the announce desk.  

They dropped each other with big boots after a break. Ripley went on offence and (safely) dropkicked a chair into Rodriguez’s face. Rodriguez dumped Ripley face-first onto the top turnbuckle for two. They messed up whatever spot they had planned involving a chair, so Ripley nailed her with another chair to make up for it. 

It was time for more interference, so Morgan ran out. Ripley yanked her into the ring, but Rodriguez booted Ripley and slammed her on some chairs for two. Ripley avoided a Tejana Bomb and headbutted Rodriguez. Ripley set up for Rip-tide, but Morgan saved Rodriguez. Ripley fought them off initially, but Morgan gave her an Oblivion. 

Sky ran out and took out Morgan with a springboard dropkick and suicide dive. 

Rodriguez set up a table but Ripley drove her shoulder-first into a chair that was wedged in the corner. Ripley followed with a Rip-tide through a table for the pinfall win. The crowd was happy. 

This was a perfectly cromulent street fight. 

— After the match, Sky and Ripley both grabbed the title belt. They stood face-to-face as the show ended.