Posted on 4/08/125 by Bob Magee
– Michael Cole welcomed everyone into the show as shots of
Allegiant Stadium aired. The scene then cut to Minneapolis,
where Raw is being held tonight.
– Gunther, The New Day, War Raiders, Judgment Day, Penta and
Paul Heyman were all shown walking backstage.
– A recap of last week’s IYO SKY/Bianca Belair/Rhea Ripley
developments aired.
– RAW GM Adam Pearce was in the ring for the first segment.
Pearce welcomed IYO SKY to the ring.
The IYO SKY/Rhea Ripley/Bianca Belair segment
There wasn’t too much to this and if anything it put an
exclamation point on the fact that the build for this match
has been lackluster and on top of that, there’s a growing
number of people who subscribe to the notion that this
shouldn’t even be a triple threat to begin with. Ripley vs.
Belair would have been great. Ditto for SKY vs. Ripley.
Ditto for all the other combinations. Instead, this feels
like a triple threat for the sake of being a triple threat.
The match will probably be pretty good, but what could have
been would have been better. I hope Ripley is OK. That
dropkick she took from SKY forced her to konk heads with
Belair and Ripley appeared to take the worst of it.
Pearce began by taking responsibility for what happened last
week. Pearce said he was wrong to think any of them could
handle things like professionals. Pearce then announced to
right the wrong, he’s going to make the WWE Women’s
Championship match at WrestleMania a triple threat between
Belair, SKY and Ripley. Pearce presented a contract for
everyone to sign.
Belair hopped on a microphone and said she would normally be
mad that Ripley just walked in, did whatever she wanted and
is now added to the match. These days, Belair said, she’s
not mad, though, because she’s not scared of Ripley. Belair
said she will walk out of WrestleMania as the new WWE
Women’s Champion and she wil go through Ripley to get it.
Ripley started talking and Belair told Ripley to shut up and
pushed the contract into Ripley’s chest, telling her to sign
the document. Ripley through the contract back at Belair.
SKY intervened and the women pushed her away. SKY was
annoyed, threw down her mic and walked out of the ring.
Pearce stopped her and SKY dropkicked Ripley into Belair
before signing the contract for WrestleMania. Ripley and
Belair were left lying as SKY’s music hit and SKY left to
end the segment.
**********
– Finn Balor vs. Penta vs. Dominik Mystero vs. Bron Breakker
for the Intercontinental Championship was made official for
WrestleMania.
– The Judgment Day were shown backstage and Live was
attempting to convince Balor it’s best to have two members
of their group in the Mania match. Balor noted how some
think Dom doesn’t have a killer instinct and is a loser.
Things got weird and Balor walked away. Carlito stepped in
and said he has Dom’s back.
Lyra Valkyria defeated Bayley to retain the WWE Women’s
Intercontinental Championship [13:24]
There were some clunky moments, but the crowd really came
around by the end of it and the women worked really hard to
get there. Plus … my God, those knees that Bayley laid in
were something to behold. The first one, especially, felt a
little personal, but thankfully, Valkyria seemed OK. The
post-match stuff was odd in that Valkyria seemed surprised
that Bayley first shrugged her off and then hugged her. If
anything, Valkyria looked confused. Either way, this is one
of the better women’s I.C. title matches to date. Not that
there have been a lot, but this felt like these two had a
point to prove. It wasn’t perfect, but it seemed like they
got to where it needed to be by the time it was all said and
done.
The two wrestled for control to start things out with
Valkyria getting the best of it for a quick moment. Valkyria
rolled up Bayley for a two-count and the match reset. Bayley
rolled through to pin Valkyria, but Valkyria kicked out at
two. Bayley knee’d the hell out of Valkyria’s head and
things looked dicey for a couple seconds but Valkyria
bounced back and went for a pair of pin attempts to no
avail.
Valkyria worked what Pat McAfee called an Irish Swing, which
stretched Bayley out. Valkyria eventually got a two-count
because of it. Valkyria went to kick Bayley, but Bayley
moved and went to the outside. Valkyria landed a dropkick
through the ropes onto Bayley. Back inside the ring,
Valkyria hit a cross-body from the top rope for a two-count.
The show then went to a commercial break.
The show went to a commercial break and Bayley was working a
half-crab. The two traded forearms after Valkyria worked her
way out of the submission. Bayley hit a neck-breaker and
Valkyria fell to the outside. Bayley followed up with a
baseball slide, but Valkyria moved when Bayley went for a
suicide dive. All of this ended up with Bayley giving
Valkyria a Bayley-To-Belly on the outside of the ring. Both
wrestlers barely beat the 10-count to get back inside the
ring.
Bayley lfited Valkyria, but Valkyria countered with an arm-
drag. Valkyria landed Night Wing, but Bayley kicked out at
two. Cole sold the fact that Valkyria “didn’t get all of
it.” Valkyria lifted Bayley again, but Bayley worked out and
landed another stiff knee to Valkyria’s head. Bayley placed
Valkyria on the top and went for a super-plex, but Valkyria
fought out and lifted Bayley, but that amounted to nothing.
As a result, Bayley came back with a Sunset Flip Bomb into a
corner.
Bayley kicked Valkyria a few times and went to the arpon.
Valkyria cut her off and dragged her back into the ring for
a Tornado DDT-Fisherman’s Suplex combination and earned a
good near fall because of it. Valkyria went to the top, but
Bayley caught Valkyria and worked a Boston Crab. The crowd
woke up at the thought of Bayley beating Valkyria. Bayley
let go of the hold and set up for a Rose Plant, but Valkyria
rolled Bayley up and escaped with the win.
After the match, Valkyria went for a handshake, but Bayley
pushed her away. Bayley started to walk away, but turned
around and hugged Valkyria.
**********
– Cathy Kelly interviewed comedian Burt Kreischer backstage,
but Chad Gable interrupted him. Otis then walked in and
ripped his own shirt off. Kreischer did the same to himself
and Otis and Kreischer hugged.
– Jackie Redmond interviewed AJ Styles backstage and
mentioned how Logan Paul “did a lot of things” last week.
Redmond asked Styles where his head was at. Styles said it’s
in a good place because he’ll get an opportunity to
embarrass Logan Paul. Karrion Kross showed up and asked
Styles to explain the situation to him. Kross said he can’t
let Styles lose at Mania because if he loses, they all lose.
Styles said he’ll give Kross a taste of the better AJ Styles
next week on Raw.
American Made (El Grande Americano, Julius Creed & Brutus
Creed) defeated the LWO (Dragon Lee, Cruz Del Toro & Joaquin
Wilde) [10:28]
A fine TV match for what it was. I’m sort of agnostic on the
Americano bit, and I’m not sure they got the most out of
Gable being in his home state, but this was fun in its own
silly way. Wilde and Del Toro deserve better. Shoot. Dragon
Lee deserves better. Having covered the SmackDown beat for
this site the last few years, I can attest to the fact that
the LWO spun its wheels on Friday nights and, now taking
this in, it appears the wheels seem to be spinning again on
Monday nights for them. All three guys are talented and
unless WWE decides to heat Mysterio up, which they haven’t
in a while, the LWO feels like a non-starter. That in mind,
this was a quality television six-man that had a few
memorable spots. So it goes.
Brutus grounded Del Toro to start the match and followed it
up with a strong shoulder block. Julius tagged in and Del
Toro hit an arm-drag before tagging in Wilde. Wilde spun
Julius around with his legs and went for an arm-bar, but
that only led to things breaking down as all six men brawled
inside the ring. The LWO team stood tall and hit a trio of
dives onto their opponents on the outside of the ring. Back
inside the ring, the LWO trio went to separate top ropes,
but the heels cut them off and landed a series of super-
plexes. The show then went to a commercial break.
The show returned and Julius was working over Lee. The two
fought on the second rope and Lee turned things around with
a double-stomp. Del Toro received the hot tag as Brutus
tagged in and Del Toro ran over American Made with a series
of fired-up moves. Del Toro briefly stopped to throw his
shirt into the crowd. Del Toro kept up the momentum until
Americano got involved. Lee tagged in and lifted Americano.
I’m not quite sure what happened, but Americano got up and
went face-to-face with Lee, who powerbombed Americano.
Julius appeared out of nowhere for a Shooting Star Press on
Lee. “This is awesome!” chants began.
Wilde jumped 5,000 feet in the air onto American Made on the
outside. Wilde followed that up with a Corkscrew. Ivy Nile
gave Americano something to put into his mask and Americano
headbutted Rey Mysterio, but Lee intervened. That led to
Americano headbutting Lee and hitting a diving headbutt –
complete with the steel plate in his mask – from the top
rope on Lee for the win.
**********
– A recap of what happened between Gunther and the Usos last
week aired.
The Gunther/Jey Uso segment
This was really good. Really, really good. The touch of Jey
motioning for the crowd to not Yeet along with him because
of how serious the moment was turned out to be quite
effective, most so because the crowd actually kind of/sort
of listened and settled down. I’m not sure I’ve seen more
fire ever come from Jey Uso in a promo and Gunther played
his part perfectly, grinning until he didn’t, feeling at
ease until it was clear he was unsettled. I’ve been
wondering all these weeks about how they’d keep heat on this
program, considering how early in the season the match was
announced, and while there was a lull, this was fantastic in
terms of adding another layer to the match. Kudos to both
guys. If nothing else, they made this viewer care.
Gunther walked out all smiles, laughing a bit, even. Gunther
stood on the commentary table and held up his title as the
crowd booed. Gunther was given a microphone on the outside
of the ring and Gunther then entered the ring. “We want
Jey!” chants broke out. Before Gunther could talk, Jey Uso’s
music hit and the arena started to Yeet. Uso walked through
the crowd not Yeeting and looking quite angry. Gunther
smiled in the ring and took off his suit coat. Gunther
rolled up his sleeves as Uso took his time going through the
crowd.
Uso entered the ring. He was in all black and he continued
to look angry. Gunther continued to giggle. Uso knocked the
microphone out of Gunther’s hand with force. Uso took off
his all-black sunglasses to show hurt. “Ohhh-Sooo!” chants
broke out. Uso spoke in hushed tones and asked Gunther if he
had a mom. Gunther looked confused. Uso asked Gunther if he
talks to his mom and asked Gunther what they talk about –
“Family stuff? How’s the wife? How’s the grandson?” Uso said
he has a mother, too, and he had to tell his mom that her
son is in a hospital bed.
Uso said Jimmy got 15 stitches in his head. Uso said his mom
asked Jey, “Why didn’t you protect him, Joshua?” Jey said he
wasn’t going to lie to his mom and he told her that it was
because he was afraid of Gunther. Jey said Gunther was
playing chess and he had Jey, but it wasn’t enough for
Gunther. Gunther had to get Jey’s family involved, Jey said,
and recalled how he watched Gunther wipe his brother’s blood
all over his body. Jey said he never felt so hopeless,
helpless, pissed off, etc. Jey yelled at Gunther and said he
violated his twin in front of him and made his heart stop.
Jey said in his darkest moment, a lightbulb went off for
him. Jey said he realized he’s not afraid of Gunther no
more. “Yeet!” chants broke out. Jey said before
WrestleMania, he’s going to lay his head down and say a
prayer for Gunther and he’s going to ask the lord to forgive
him for the man he’s about to become. Jey said at
WrestleMania, he’s going to get Gunther for himself, for his
Jimmy and his whole damn family. Jey said he’d take the
World Heavyweight Championship and threw the microphone.
Jey’s music hit and Jey slowly got himself out of the ring,
no Yeeting involved.
**********
– A video recapping what happened between Roman Reigns, Paul
Heyman, CM Punk and Seth Rollins on Friday aired.
– Natalya and Maxxine Dupri were shown talking to Adam
Pearce backstage and Rey Mysterio walked in. Mysterio was
angry and said Americano is making a mockery of everything
he’s ever loved. Mysterio said he wanted to face Americano
at WrestleMania. Pearce and Mysterio shook hands.
– Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe joined the commentary team at
the desk. He’s hosting the Roast Of WrestleMania, remember?!
Yeah. All right.
The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) defeated The War
Raiders (Erik & Ivar) via DQ [9:27]
This was flat. Admittedly, I lost a minute or two due to a
bad Netflix stream issue, but the finish was nonsense and it
appears we’re on our way to the War Raiders vs. New Day at
Mania for the tag titles. That’s fine. Trying to heat it up
with less than two weeks to go by having the New Day attempt
to kill Erik feels a bit rushed, but we are where we are. I
like the New Day as heels and I root for the War Raiders to
work, considering how they were once on the short end of the
booking stick when it comes to the company’s former booker.
But does this have any juice behind it? No. It does not.
Ivar and Kingston began the match. Kingston quickly rolled
to the outside after Ivar got the upper hand. Woods tagged
in and teased getting in the ring until Kingston distracted
Erik and from there, Woods and Kingston beat Erik down.
Eventually, Erik regained control and slammed both Kingston
and Woods. Erik bodyslammed Ivar onto Kingston. Wood was
thrown outside and Woods grabbed a chair, but Erik cut him
off with a punch. Ivar worked over Kingston on the other
side of the outside of the ring and Ivar then hit a splash
on Woods on the outside. The War Raiders posed for the
camera and the show went to a commercial break.
After returning to action, chairs got involved and the War
Raiders were DQ’d because of the chairs. After the match,
The New Day set up Erik and ran him into a chair perched in
the corner. The heels then sent Ivar into the timekeeper’s
area. Woods grabbed another chair and New Day went to work
on Erik’s surgically repaired neck. Officials ran out to
stop Kingston from coming off the top onto Erik’s neck,
which was draped on a chair.
**********
– A video recapping the John Cena/Cody Rhodes program aired.
Penta defeated Dominik Mysterio [8:17]
The winner felt like it was never in doubt. The post-match
angle felt like it was never in doubt. Meh. Much like the
women’s title match that I whined about earlier, I don’t
know why we can’t have a simple one-on-one bout for some of
these titles, but Mania is about getting everybody on the
card, right? Maybe? How else do you explain those battle
royals? Anyway, my preference would have been Penta vs.
Bron, but we probably all agree that this is set up for the
single reason to give the kill shot to the Judgment Day for
good in Vegas. Finally. Mercifully. Hopefully? Whatever it
ends up being, this match tonight was predictable and bland.
Dominik had control early, at one point posing on the second
rope. Penta ultimately came back with a backbreaker and a
kind of/sort of Slingblade. Penta went to the top and landed
a cross-body on Dominik and Carlito, who were on the
outside. The show went to a commercial break after that. The
show returned and Penta jumped into a kick from Dom, who
then landed the Three Amigos for a two-count. Dom dropkicked
Penta and set up for a 619, but instead ran into a super-
kick from Penta .
Penta landed the double-stomp onto Dom in a corner, but Dom
got the shoulder up at two. Penta went for his finisher, but
Dom countered and hit a Destroyer of his own. Dom then hit
the 619 and went for a Frog Splash, but Penta got his knees
up to stop Dom’s momentum. Penta tried for a pin, but Dom
got out of it and went for a clothesline, but Penta took Dom
down and hit the Sacrifice into the Penta Driver for the
win.
After the match, Carlito attacked Penta, complete with a
Backstabber. Bron Breakker’s music hit and Breakker slowly
walked out and speared the hell out of Carlito. Bron did the
same to Dirty Dom inside the ring. Finally, the completed
the trifecta by spearing Penta. Finn Balor appeared out of
nowhere and took out Bron. Balor then picked up the I.C.
title and held it high. Bron tried to spear Balor, but Balor
rolled out of the ring. Bron’s music hit to end the segment.
**********
– Next week, AJ Styles will take on Karrion Kross. Also next
week, Roman Reigns is set to appear.
The Paul Heyman/Seth Rollins segment
This was really kind of good, but my biggest quabble comes
in the form of this: Why the hell did it take CM Punk so
long to rush out to the ring? Rollins said more than enough
and left more than enough space to allow for Punk to stop
everything Rollins was doing. The final straw was Heyman
snapping at Rollins? I’m not so sure about any of that. The
entire build to this match has felt absentminded and when
you combine that with the fact that nobody really wants to
see it and it’s going to headline a night at WrestleMania …
the world is against Punk, Reigns, Rollins and Heyman, but
maybe they can pull a rabbit out of a hat. Time will tell.
As for this, it was a solid talking segment that put
everything about Heyman into question, which is a good
thing. Rollins did a nice job antagonizing not just the Wise
Man, but the situation, writ large. With one Monday left,
I’m interested to see how they tie a bow on this heading
into the Big Show.
Paul Heyman was in the ring back from commercial and Heyman
did his regular introduction. Heyman launched right into it
and said he will always be loyal to his Tribal Chief, Roman
Reigns. Heyman said he will always be loyal to his best
friend in the world, CM Punk. Heyman said just because he is
loyal to both of them, it doesn’t mean he will ever be
disloyal to either of them. Heyman said when it comes to
WrestleMania, he wanted to get one thing perfectly clear …
until Seth Rollins’s music hit and cut Heyman off.
Rollins grabbed a microphone and went right up to Heyman
before screaming, “Minneapolis!” Rollins welcomed everyone
to Monday Night Rollins. “Tonight, it’s not about me,”
Rollins said, because tonight “is about Paul Heyman.”
Rollins called Heyman out for talking about loyalty and
asked Heyman whose side Heyman is on. Rollins asked Heyman
if he will be the very best friend to CM Punk or if he will
be the wise man to Roman Reigns. Rollins said Heyman is
trying to convince everyone he can do both at the same time,
but it occurred to Rollins that Heyman is neither thing.
Rollins took off his glasses and told Heyman that Roman
Reigns doesn’t give a damn about Heyman. Rollins said Reigns
uses Heyman and he said Reigns doesn’t respect Heyman.
Rollins brought up WrestleMania last year and said Reigns
lost his title thanks to Rollins. Rollins noted how Reigns
left Heyman after Mania last year and left Heyman in the
hands of Solo Sikoa, who did not treat Heyman well. Rollins
said everyone wondered when someone would come save Heyman
and brought up how Reigns did not come to save Heyman.
Instead, Reigns left Heyman to get massacred in his
hometown, in front of his children.
Rollins said CM Punk, his best friend in the world, was also
not there to save Heyman. Rollins recalled how Punk walked
out on everybody in WWE, Heyman included. Rollins said Punk
tried to tear down everything Heyman created while he was in
WWE. Rollins talked about how Punk and Heyman love to
reminisce about War Games. Rollins brought up the fact that
Punk was not the first choice to join Heyman’s team at War
Games; instead, it was Rollins and Rollins declined the
invitation. Rollins said Punk was the last choice and he
said Punk only did because he knew he could get a favor out
of Heyman. Rollins said Punk loves nobody but himself and he
is not Heyman’s best friend.
Rollins said he feels bad for Heyman because he is between a
rock and a hard place. Rollins said it would easier if
Heyman just removed himself from the equation and let Punk,
Rollins and Reigns battle it out “for the soul of this
industry.” Rollins wondered aloud about a way to remove
Heyman from the situation. Rollins told Heyman it would be
for his own good. Rollins said he would take it as a
privilege to remove Heyman from the situation “right here,
right now.” Rollins said it’d be quick and easy – one quick
stomp and it’s all over. Rollins said nobody was there to
save Heyman.
Rollins asked Heyman how much he was worth and slightly
pushed Heyman. Rollins asked Heyman how much he was worth
and slightly slapped Heyman. Rollins pushed Heyman
repeatedly. Heyman broke and yelled, “Don’t put your damn
hands on me again.” Heyman threw his microphone and Rollins
pie-faced Heyman. CM Punk’s music hit and Punk ran out to
brawl with Rollins. Punk threw Rollins into the ring stairs.
Punk put Rollins’s head on the ring steps, but Rollins moved
and Punk rolled into the ring, where Rollins gave Punk the
stomp. Heyman tended to Punk and Rollins tried to Stomp
Heyman, but Heyman moved slightly. Rollins pulled back
anyway and grabbed the microphone to say that Heyman now
owes Rollins a favor. The show ended with Rollins standing
tall and Heyman looking confused at Rollins.