Posted on 4/22/125 by Bob Magee
There was a 4-minute video package recapping the “wonderful”
WrestleMania weekend. It included a questionable headline
from ESPN stating that the event added to “Las Vegas’ rise
as a premier sports city.”
Paul Heyman and Seth Rollins arrived at T-Mobile Arena
together. As did Lyra Valkyria and Becky Lynch, who will
defend their newly won tag titles against Liv Morgan and
Raquel Rodriguez tonight. Judgment Day arrived together,
minus Finn Bálor, with new Intercontinental Champion Dominik
Mysterio leading the way. Jey Uso was shown, too, and he
received a big pop.
John Cena segment
Serious-face John Cena entered, and a huge fireworks display
went off as he posed with his Undisputed WWE Championship.
Cena called ring announcer Mark Shunock into the ring.
(Alicia Taylor has the night off.) Cena handed Shunock a
piece of paper. Shunock was told that his introduction was
deemed disrespectful, so he read a new introduction off the
paper.
Cena said winners write history, and the fans were not
worthy. They bullied him on Friday, but now that he had gold
and they cheered, he was not suddenly going to forgive them.
That’s not how a functional relationship works. Cena told
the fans to go to hell. They all owed him an apology, but
they lacked the courage to give it.
He called tonight’s show the sacred ticket because this is
the night they get to hijack the show, but they’ve gone
soft. The crowd chanted, “We aren’t sorry.” Cena called them
the sorriest lowlifes he’s ever seen. (Cena said they were
chanting, “We aren’t sorry,” but it sure sounded like, “We
are sorry.”)
The crowd called him an assh*le while he told them that they
don’t mean anything to him. He wasn’t impressed with their
chant because they’ve called him so much worse over 25
years, and he never cracked.
They didn’t mean anything to him. The only thing that
mattered was the number on the screen. “36 dates.” 36 dates
and he was gone. (That number began in the new year.) That
number was now down to 27 dates after this weekend’s shows.
That wasn’t the number of matches he had left, only
appearances.
They thought he couldn’t wrestle, but he didn’t even have
to. When that number reached zero, the professional
wrestling timeline stopped cold. He knew that the show would
continue. But the title held by Bruno Sammartino, Roman
Reigns, CM Punk, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Steve Austin
came home with him.
He was the last real champion in WWE. Winning the belt was
the hardest part, but the rest would be easy. The best they
had to save themselves was Cody Rhodes. A few people booed,
and Cena called them heartless bastards. They put him on
their shoulders a year ago, but they went back and forth
between booing him and cheering him all weekend. That’s what
was wrong with them.
That’s also why Rhodes was outshone, outwrestled, and
destroyed. The truth was that no one in WWE with the
strength, speed, wisdom, or ruthless aggression of John
Cena. Unlike them, Cena had a heart, so he wanted to do
something nice. He invited the fans to pull out their
cameras for a five-second pose so they could take a picture
of the last real champion.
Randy Orton appeared from behind and laid out Cena with an
RKO.
(Cena received a mixed reaction here. It was probably more
booing than cheering. Not that it really matters.)
********
Shown in the crowd were Gabriel Iglesias, Rana Daggubati,
and guys from Pat McAfee’s show.
Also in the crowd were Tatum Paxley and Gigi Dolin. They
face the winners of this match on tomorrow’s NXT.
Lynch and Valkyria entered together to Lynch’s music.
Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez defeated Becky Lynch & Women’s
Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria to win the Women’s
Tag Team Championships (11:57)
The heels beat up Valkyria throughout an early commercial
break, and Lynch made the hot tag as soon as they returned.
Morgan caught her with a Codebreaker, but Lynch blocked
Oblivion and hit the Man-handle Slam. This won the match
last night, but Rodriguez broke up the cover this time.
Lynch and Valkyria tried a double superplex on Rodriguez,
but Morgan brought Lynch down with a powerbomb before
Rodriguez gave Valkyria a powerbomb off the middle rope for
a nearfall. Everyone was down, so the crowd chanted, “This
is awesome.”
Valkyria hit a tornado DDT and a Nightwing, but Morgan put
Rodriguez’s foot on the bottom rope. Lynch and Morgan
brawled on the outside before Valkyria dropped Morgan with a
baseball slide. Rodriguez smashed Valkyria with a big boot
for a near fall.
Rodriguez powerbombed Morgan onto Valkyria, but Valkyria
dumped Rodriguez from the ring. Valkyria blocked Morgan’s
Oblivion and set up for Nightwing. Rodriguez grabbed
Valkyria to block her from doing it, and Lynch tried making
the save, but Rodriguez shoved her aside.
Valkyria knocked Rodriguez off the apron anyway, but Morgan
caught her with Oblivion for the pinfall win.
(The story towards the end of the match was that Valkyria
was really fighting both women off on her own, and Lynch was
thwarted each time she tried to help.)
Morgan and Rodriguez are 4-time champs, and they will defend
the belts on NXT tomorrow against Dolin and Paxley.
— Lynch turned on Valkyria after the match. She hugged her
before dropping her with a clothesline. Lynch was livid at
Valkyria and attacked her a second time. Valkyria was so
shocked she didn’t even defend herself.
Lynch returned to the ring to drop her with consecutive Man-
handle slams. The crowd chanted, “One more time,” and Lynch
did it again. That was probably a dumb idea because, of
course, people cheered.
********
New Day walked through the back and stopped for a moment
upon seeing Karrion Kross.
During a break, Chad Gable entered with American Made for a
quick promo. He said Rey Mysterio faked an injury and put
over El Grande Americano.
They showed the “fact” of the night: WrestleMania 41 was the
most socially viewed WrestleMania of all-time, generating
1.1 billion social views across all social platforms.
********
The New Day segment / Rusev returns
New Day entered. Xavier Woods told us to get on our knees
and thank God for the New Day. Kofi Kingston said there was
no team, alive or dead, who were better than them.
Alpha Academy interrupted. Maxxine Dupri reminded us that
Alpha Academy beat New Day in 60 seconds the last time they
wrestled. She told New Day to put the titles on the line
tonight. Woods said no. Dupri asked if the minute men were
scared. That was enough to convince New Day, because
Kingston accepted.
A referee ran out, and the teams got ready, but the lights
went out.
Rusev entered to a new theme song. New Day bailed as Rusev
hit the ring. Rusev laid out Otis and Tozawa. Otis tried
firing up, but Rusev dropped him with a thrust kick and put
him in an Accolade.
(Rusev got a good reaction and some “Rusev Day” chants.)
********
Judgment Day celebrated in the back with their titles. Finn
Bálor entered and got in Dominik’s face. Morgan immediately
tried to settle him down. Bálor smiled and said, What
happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Bálor said he would be
with Dom tonight. After some Carlito comedy, Bálor took a
good look at Dom’s IC title belt.
During a break, they aired the closing moments of Iyo Sky’s
successful title defence.
Survivor Series 2025 was announced for Petco Park in San
Diego.
********
IYO SKY segment
Sky entered to a good reaction. She called last night the
best night of her career. She was over the moon because she
beat the best there is—and that meant she was the best there
is. (The crowd chanted, “You deserve it.”) Rhea Ripley and
Bianca Belair tried to forget her, but now nobody would
forget her. She was the genius of the sky, and she was the
Women’s World Champion.
Stephanie Vaquer entered. Vaquer congratulated Sky. Vaquer
introduced herself as the NXT Women’s Champion, and the
crowd chanted, “La Primera.” Vaquer called Sky amazing and
wanted to show her respect. Vaquer wanted to fight the best
of the best. Sky said if she wanted to fight, then she
accepts.
Sky suggested they do the match right now. People cheered,
but they loudly booed when Adam Pearce entered. He asked if
the fans wanted the match. They cheered louder this time, so
he made it official for right now.
Women’s World Champion IYO SKY defeated NXT Women’s Champion
Stephanie Vaquer via disqualification in a non-title match
(13:59)
I believe this was a first-time-ever match.
Sky got the better of an early exchange after hitting a
suicide dive, but Vaquer followed with a dive off the
barricade before they went to break. Vaquer had control
through the break, but Sky came back after the break and hit
a missile dropkick.
Vaquer avoided a moonsault and hit a deep dragon screw and a
running meteroa for two. Sky avoided Vaquer’s finisher and
hit a double foot stomp for two. The crowd popped as Vaquer
hit Devil’s Kiss (leg scissors head stomps) for two. The
crowd chanted, “One more time,” which seemed to amuse
Vaquer.
They traded counters until Vaquer applied a cradle for two,
and Sky followed with a backbreaker for two. Sky hit a
German suplex, but before she could follow up, Vaquer hit
her with a German. They went to the top, and Sky hit a
Spanish fly.
Sky set up for a running dropkick, but Roxanne Perez decked
her for the DQ. (She was a little late getting in, so Sky
had to run in place and wait for her.)
— The crowd booed and booed some more when Giulia entered to
attack Vaquer. The heels did their thing until Rhea Ripley
ran out to make the save.
Ripley (who has a black eye) got rid of Perez before having
a face-off with Giulia. They circled each other until Giulia
left the ring. Giulia left with Perez.
Ripley handed Sky her world title belt and backed out of the
ring.
(This match was quite good until the finish. It built as it
went, but of course, it was cut off by the DQ. The crowd
liked both women, and they were into it. It was sorta
refreshing to see two good wrestlers just having a good
match for the hell of it on Raw.)
Match result: IYO SKY defeated Stephanie Vaquer via
disqualification
********
McAfee announced a crowd of 19,262 during a break.
Jey Uso celebration
This opened with a terrific Jey Uso video package set to
“Chant” by Macklemore and Tones and I.
Jey entered to a big reaction with his newly won World
Heavyweight Championship. He also wore gold accessories to
go along with his gold title belt. The crowd wasted no time
in chanting, “You deserve it.” They also chanted, “One more
time,” so Jey had the music played again, and they all
Yeeted.
Jey opened with: “The World Heavyweight Champion is now in
your city.” He continued, “I’m here. I’m here now. I’ve been
wanting it since I was a kid. I’m here now.” It was a long,
hard road. The road wasn’t easy. He gave it all he had to
beat Gunther at Mania, “and I made him tap.” The crowd
chanted, “He tapped out.”
Jey was grateful, so he would show up every day and put the
work in like he always had. He told them to say, “Yeet,” if
they were happy to see him as champion, so they did.
Sami Zayn entered. Zayn hugged Jey. The fans chanted, “Sami
Uso.”
Zayn said it was hard being away for the past 8 weeks or so
while Jey was going through everything with Gunther. Missing
WrestleMania this year was hard. Neither of them did well
being on the sidelines, and to be honest, Zayn almost didn’t
come to Vegas at all.
But Zayn had to come because he had to make sure he was the
first one to stand in the ring and tell Jey how proud he was
of him. Jey was his brother, and he deserved it. Every
single person knew that Jey deserved it. (Everyone cheered.)
Zayn didn’t want to get all sentimental on the Raw after
Mania because it was time to celebrate, so he told them to
hit Jey’s music. They posed on the corners and Yeeted along
with the fans.
Zayn got off the ropes early and stood behind Jey. The fans
assumed Zayn was about to turn on Jey because we’ve seen so
many turns lately, but Zayn just hugged him instead.
Jimmy Uso entered next, and they all did their special
handshake. Jimmy and Sami raised Jey’s hand, and they played
Jey’s music again. They Yeeted for a while longer and left
the ring together.
(This was a nice segment for Jey, even if it did go a little
long.)
********
Metro Boomin, Chelsea Gray & Kiah Stokes, and Chase Briscoe
were in the crowd.
AJ Styles and Karrion Kross backstage segment
Jackie Redmond interviewed AJ Styles. He called his loss to
Logan Paul a tough pill to swallow, but he was moving on and
planned on bouncing back.
Karrion Kross and Scarlett were interrupted. (Kross got a
pretty good reaction.) Kross wasn’t happy about this. Kross
called Styles the best of them, so his loss just legitimized
Paul.
Styles said he didn’t want to go back to being the guy he
was a year ago because he hated that guy. Beating Paul with
the brass knuckles would’ve been a meaningless victory. He
didn’t want Kross to bring him down with him, and told Kross
to deal with it himself.
********
During a break, A-Town Down tried cutting a promo, but they
were cut off by the War Raiders. Erik and Ivar were pissed
at New Day for stealing the titles, but reminded them that
Raw was War.
Gunther segment
Gunther marched out next as the break came to an end. The
fans chanted, “You tapped out.” Gunther got in Michael
Cole’s face and knocked off his headset. McAfee tried to
interject, but Gunther shoved him down.
Gunther put Cole in a sleeper, but unfortunately, McAfee
made the save. McAfee hit Gunther with a forearm, and the
crowd cheered. Officials ran down to get between them as
McAfee backed off. McAfee made the mistake of turning his
back, so Gunther put him in a sleeper.
Officials desperately tried to stop Gunther, who held this
sleeper for a long time. The fans chanted, “F*ck you,
Gunther,” and he eventually let go. Some referees followed
Gunther to the back.
I assumed McAfee would be out for a while because of this,
but he actually got to his feet. He sold it really hard as
he was checked by officials. (Some of McAfee’s friends
jumped the railing and I think they were actually blocked by
security until they were allowed to join Pat.)
The camera stayed on McAfee through a commercial, and they
followed him up the ramp. He kept stumbling over, but
eventually made his way to the back. After the break,
officials followed as he made his way to the trainer’s room.
Cole, who feared he suffered a broken nose, told Pearce that
he needed to do something about this. Cole said the
announcers shouldn’t be afraid to give their opinions or
have fun.
Pearce said he would take care of it, but first told Cole to
take the rest of the night off. Cole said no. He wouldn’t
allow a bully to stop him from calling the Raw after Mania.
Cole returned to ringside as the crowd loudly cheered Cole
and sang his name.
(Joe Tessitore was at the desk to fill in for McAfee.)
This was well done, and it helps that they haven’t gotten
the announcers, particularly Cole, involved in something
like this in a while (in WWE).
********
Cole called the next match while periodically coughing to
sell the sleeper.
Dominik Mysterio (w/Finn Bálor & Carlito) defeated Penta to
retain the Intercontinental Championship (8:01)
Dom had control through a break, but Penta came back after
the break and hit a Canadian destroyer. Bálor tried to
encourage Dom, but Penta wiped out Bálor with a hurricanrana
off the apron.
As Carlito distracted the referee, the returning JD McDonagh
shoved Penta off the top rope. Dom hit Penta with a 619 and
a frog splash for the pinfall win.
— Morgan and Rodriguez joined the rest of Judgment Day in
celebration on the ramp. Bálor seemed surprised to see
McDonagh but reluctantly celebrated along with them.
Penta has one win in his last six matches.
Match result: Dominik Mysterio defeated Penta
********
CM Punk was shown backstage earlier in the show.
Seth Rollins & Paul Heyman segment
Rollins and Heyman entered to Rollins’ usual music, so of
course, the fans sang along.
Rollins stood still in the ring for a while as the fans
settled down. They didn’t seem to know what to do with
themselves while Rollins just stood there, so there was a
smattering of chants for Punk and Roman Reigns, followed by,
“F*ck you, Heyman” chants.
Rollins said he took a wise man from Reigns and stole Punk’s
best friend. He was the winner of the WrestleMania main
event.
Punk stormed out (to his music). Punk attacked Rollins and
got the better of their brawl. Punk grabbed Heyman, but
Rollins grabbed Punk from behind and poked his eyes before
hitting a curb stomp.
Heyman said they would conclude WrestleMania 41 weekend by
propelling the news all the way to WrestleMania 42. “There
is a new reigning, defending, undisputed, number one top
star in this entire industry. Ladies and gentleman: Seth
freakin’ Rollins.”
Rollins posed, and it seemed like the show was over because
they already showed the trademark graphic, but Roman Reigns
entered (to his music). (Rollins dumped Punk from the ring.)
Reigns hit the ring and speared Rollins before punching
Heyman.
Reigns was about to spear Heyman, but Bron Breakker suddenly
speared Reigns. Rollins acted surprised, but it was a
swerve. Punk got back in the ring, and Breakker speared
Punk. Rollins laughed and embraced Bron.
Breakker set up for a spear outside the ring, but Reigns
punched him. Bron instead ran around the ring and speared
Reigns through the barricade.
Bron held down Reigns and forced him to watch as Rollins
stomped Punk again before stomping Reigns.
Rollins, Breakker, and Heyman stood tall as the show ended.
(They really needed to elevate someone to the top scene, so
it was good to see Bron join this act. Hopefully, it doesn’t
take two years for him to usurp Rollins.)