Posted on 3/11/125 by Bob Magee
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. )