Raw: The new era begins

Arin De Castro

Cody Rhodes showing off his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Photo: WWE
Cody Rhodes showing off his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Photo: WWE

With an absolute theatric WrestleMania, here comes Monday Night Raw to continue feeding us with professional wrestling from Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA.

Luckily, for fans watching from home, the first hour of tonight’s show was commercial-free — something I wish they do more often. Adam Pearce also teased that anyone can show up in today’s episode — very exciting!

With belts changing, the WWE world has entered a new era; there is no telling what is in store for the future.

Now, let us get into what happened.

To start the show, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque makes his entrance to the center of the ring. The crowd chants, “Thank you, Hunter.” The Cerebral Assassin responds by saying that he wants to thank the fans and that it was the biggest WrestleMania ever.

Levesque claims that we have entered a new time and introduces the new Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes to Monday Night Raw’s audience for the night.

“You deserve it,” chants fill the arena in the presence of ‘The American Nightmare.’

Before Levesque leaves, he tells Rhodes there was something made for him. It was a video compilation of his WWE journey. In the sight of the video, Rhodes is full of emotion and cries tears of joy and hard work.

Rhodes bows his head to the canvas in respect to everyone in the crowd. He then finally gets his chance to speak.

“Philadelphia, what do you want to talk about?” Rhodes said.

He then asks Samantha Irvin for one more introduction, and she obliges. I’m not going to lie; I thought he was going to mention how she cracked up when she announced him as the winner last night.

Rhodes acknowledges Roman Reigns’ title run and even says Reigns could be the most important WWE superstar of his generation, leading to the crowd chanting, “Thank you, Roman!”

Rhodes then explains that he managed to do what he did because of his daughter. He said he went from unwanted to undeniable to undisputed.

That’s when ‘The Final Boss’ had something to say about that. Wearing the People’s Champion belt, The Rock makes his way towards the man who defeated his tribal chief.

The crowd begins to troll The Rock by chanting The Undertaker’s name. The Rock is given the ‘Dirty’ Dominik Mysterio treatment, and in heel Rock fashion, he remains unfiltered, dissing the crowd back.

Surprisingly, ‘The Final Boss’ credits Rhodes for completing his story, even mentioning how Rhodes’ parents would be proud. He then asks Rhodes if The Rock could hold the title. Rhodes is confused but offers a deal to hold each other’s titles, and The Rock agrees. They swap and have a moment before swapping back.

The Rock says he will now have to leave but that when he eventually returns, he will be coming back for Rhodes. ‘The People’s Champion’ reminds him that he beat Reigns, but The Rock beat Rhodes, and their story had just begun.

Rhodes reminds his literal boss that he is both the people’s and The Rock’s champion. That’s when The Rock gives Rhodes something; only the two know what it is. The Rock tells ‘The American Nightmare’ never to break his heart again.

NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

We finally get the first match of the night. Nakamura vs. The NXT Champion. Ilja Dragunov has declared to be part of the WWE Draft, which is confirmed by Michael Cole and an X post by WWE.

Nakamura gets the first hit, but the momentum changes to Dragunov dominating for the first few minutes.

In an attempt to take flight, Nakamura uses his veteran experience to take back the driver’s seat. The former WWE Intercontinental Champion soars through the air and almost ends the match. After a submission attempt, Dragunov powerbombs Nakamura, opening a way to display his arsenal. He ends the match with a Torpedo Moscow. It was a big win for Dragunov; he is most definitely game.

Winner: Ilja Dragunov via pinfall

This was a fairly short match, but it was entertaining.

Two-on-Three Handicap Match (or is it?): The Awesome Truth vs. The Judgement Day (Finn Balor, JD McDonagh and Dominik Mysterio)

The Judgement Day makes its way to the ring. Finn Balor takes the microphone and tells the doubters to cry in a corner. ‘Dirty’ Dom then does his best to introduce ‘Mami,’ but he can barely be heard.

WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley makes her entrance and immediately claims that she remains on top and that it’s a new era for Judgement Day. JD McDonagh introduces ‘Señor’ WWE World Heavyweight Champion Damien Priest.

Like Rhodes, he is greeted with “You deserve it,” chants.

As Priest makes his speech, one-half of the WWE Raw Tag Team Champions, R-Truth, pops out of nowhere. He claims he can bring the titles back into The Judgement Day. That’s when the other half, The Miz, makes his entrance, claiming he doesn’t want to be part of Judgement Day.

Balor then challenges Awesome Truth for their titles. But R-Truth says he can’t do that because there are three people, suggesting having a six-man tag team match. The Miz questions R-Truth asking if he was talking about Lil’ Jimmy, but R-Truth claims the third person is real, but you can’t see them. That’s when R-Truth tries to announce the third member of their match but is interrupted by Judgement Day with boots and strikes.

Returning from a commercial break, the match has started. ‘Dirty’ Dom and McDonagh take turns beating up R-Truth.

After struggling to tag his teammate, The Miz is finally put in the match and instantly takes control of the match. The Miz sets up his finisher, but ‘Dirty’ Dom distracts the referee, leading Balor and McDonagh to beat up The Miz outside the ring.

They find themselves back in the ring. The Miz tries to tag R-Truth, but it’s no good. He gets taken out.

Then comes the man you can’t see: R-Truth’s childhood hero, John Cena, enters the match.

The 16-time world champion makes his presence known and takes charge immediately. Awesome Truth and Cena set up a 15-knuckle shuffle, leading to all three doing an Attitude Adjustment. This ends the match, with a happy moment, basically confirming Cena is back and here to stay a little bit longer.

Winner: Awesome Truth and John Cena via pinfall

After the match, Bronson Reed, the winner of the Andre The Giant Memorial match, is given the video stage and claims he will win the shot at Damien Priest in the main event.

Backstage, Ripley is ranting to ‘Dirty’ Dom about getting even with Andrade, as Mysterio goes to find Pearce, Liv Morgan throws a chair at Ripley and starts to get mauled. Morgan flees the scene as security comes.

NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez vs. Indi Hartwell

Another surprise tonight: Perez gets a match. In what seems to be a handshake, Perez slaps Hartwell and gets right into it. Perez starts assaulting Harwell with no sight of slowing down.

The champion tries to ankle-lock Hartwell but gets up-kicked. Hartwell then gets her momentum and starts to pop off on Perez … until Candice LeRae involves herself and holds onto Perez’s foot. Hartwell sees this and gets upset with LeRae, that’s when Perez takes her chance and pins Hartwell.

I have to say, I love the building of LeRae as a heel.

Winner: Roxanne Perez via pinfall

WWE Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn and Chad Gable vs. Imperium (Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser)

After the previous match, the new WWE Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn gets a moment with ‘Main Event’ Jey Uso before he makes his way to the squared circle.

Zayn acknowledged the singing crowd earlier tonight, like the previous champions; he also received the “You deserve it” chants. He then gave credit to ‘The Ring General,’ Gunther. He thanked the crowd, his family, and Kevin Owens. Right before he mentions the fourth person (revealed to be Chad Gable). Imperium comes in and discredits him.

Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci threaten to teach Sami Zayn a lesson; luckily for the Canadian, Chad Gable comes to even the odds.

The match was made official during the commercial break. Right away, the skill difference was obvious, as Gable was doing whatever he wanted to Vinci—until he was met with a sudden impact.

Kaiser gets tagged in and taunts Gable. However, another tag is made, letting Sami Zayn loose. The WWE Intercontinental Champion takes on both Imperium members, kicking them out of the ring, which sets up a flying clothesline by Gable.

Gable is then double-teamed and gets forced into the ring; Imperium takes the wheel. After heated exchanges by Kaiser and Zayn, Gable and Vinci get tagged in, which leads to a flying headbutt by Gable.

Vinci and Kaiser then take advantage of their numbers and double-team Gable once more; Zayn comes for the save. Gable and Zayn retake the momentum and perform three German suplexes on the Imperium members. There was non-stop action in this match, ending with Zayn’s Helluva kick and Gable’s Chaos Theory.

Winner: Sami Zayn and Chad Gable via pinfall

‘Main Event’ Jey Uso then hypes up the crowd for his number one contender fight.

Andrade and Chelsea Green are seen speaking to all three general managers (Adam Pearce, Nick Aldis and Ava Raine). Green is then gifted a match after asking to prove herself.

For those who have missed ‘The Celtic Warrior,’ he will be returning very soon; I am very curious how Sheamus will look,

Chelsea Green vs. Jade Cargill

Green got the match she asked for, but not the opponent she was hopeful for. She is facing Jade Cargill — yes, the match goes as you expect, a complete one-sided mauling.

Green stood no chance, and she knew it before the match started. She complained and asked for the match to be cancelled. Cargill gave her a boot and a chicken wing facebuster, Jaded.

Winner: Jade Cargill via. pinfall

After the match, Zayn finds Gable with Alpha Academy. Zayn knows what he wants; he offers Gable a shot in Montreal for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. Gable said he can’t wait, and neither can I.

Another thing announced is Andrade will take on Dominik Mysterio next week.

Number One Contender Match for WWE World Heavyweight Championship Title: Jey Uso vs. Ricochet vs. Bronson Reed vs. Drew McIntyre

Before the match, Drew McIntyre was pissed, and he lost the WWE World Heavyweight Championship Title. He calls the Money in the Bank bad for business, gives credit to Seth Rollins and claims to get revenge on CM Punk. Mid-sentence, Jey Uso makes his entrance — not to say anything, but just to get the match started faster.

As the commercial break ends, a trailer for a documentary about how the WrestleMania XL story was built up behind the scenes is shown — I am definitely watching that.

All potential contenders are in, and nothing but chaos happens once the bell has rung. Ricochet takes charge of the ring and then takes flight out of the ring, landing on all his opponents.

Something to note is Jey Uso being bandaged around his ribcage and left bicep, a result of his war with his twin brother, Jimmy.

Returning back into the ring, there is a table, and McIntyre is in charge before Jey Uso takes him out, who is taken out by ‘Big’ Bronson Reed. The winner of the Andre The Giant Memorial match continues to pick on Uso and slams him into the table.

Ricochet regains control and takes on both Reed and McIntyre. That’s when the two somewhat tag team Ricochet; they both take turns tossing him. Once they got rid of Ricochet, the two heavyweights exchanged blows, with McIntyre getting the upper hand.

Uso stops the match from ending; then he has his own tag team with Ricochet against Bronson Reed.

Chaos continues as no one has an advantage at all. Bronson tries for a Tsunami but gets distracted by the former WWE World. Heavyweight Champion. Uso gets involved with the two heavyweights, who gets distracted by Ricochet. He takes out Uso and decides 450 splash Reed on the commentary table.

McIntyre squares off with Uso in the ring, and he sets up for a Claymore, but CM Punk gets in the way once more as he holds McIntyre’s leg. Uso takes advantage and earns his shot against Priest using the Uso Splash. Dare I say CM Punk is the biggest hater this year?

Winner: Jey Uso via pinfall

That wasn’t what I thought was going to happen but it happened. Am I upset? Hell no! I am extremely happy CM Punk is back in action, and you should be, too.

It was not a bad show at all. It set up future stories and had a summary for those who missed WrestleMania XL.

That’s all from me, see you next time!

TOP PHOTO: Cody Rhodes showing off his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Photo: WWE

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