If you’re like me and a longtime comic book fan, the words “The Vision” conjure up only one thing: the android Avenger. That’s not exactly what WWE had in mind for Seth Rollins and his group of badasses, instead taking (presumably) inspiration for one of his monikers, The Visionary.
In fact, WWE has kind of tiptoed around the group’s name and only now seems to be committed to the bit. The Vision it is, and WWE Raw tonight from Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia is promoting an appearance by the group that has been running roughshod over most of the good guys on Monday nights ever since Rollins revealed his latest scheme and became world champion again.
It’s possible that many fans are more interested in hearing from another champ: Naomi. The Women’s World Champion was supposed to defend her title against Iyo Sky last Monday but was said to be not medically cleared to compete. Those in the know suggest something else was going on. Will WWE lean into real life or storyline tonight when Naomi speaks?
Also on the card for tonight are an Intercontinental title defense by Becky Lynch against Natalya, as well as a showdown between Jey Uso and The Vision’s Bron Breakker. We’ll be following all the action and recapping it here, so dive in and take a ride along with us for the night.
Speaking of The Vision, Raw begins with a video recap of the end of last week’s show, which ended with Adam Pearce telling Rollins he’d be defending his title in a Fatal Four-Way at Clash In Paris. And some more hijinks from Rollins and company, naturally.
The Vision wants to get Extreme with Jey Uso
Other than Alfred E. Neuman, no one embodies the “What, me worry?” attitude better than Rollins. Sure, he wasn’t happy about Pearce’s decision on the Clash In Paris match, but he’s oozing confidence tonight. So is Paul Heyman, who says that in this city, “I am God” and also says he is the GOAT.
But The Vision is a group full of GOATs, says Heyman, putting over Breakker and Bronson Reed in turn. Of course he lavishes praise on Rollins as well, even though Seth is wearing a shirt and pants that appear to be made out of my grandma’s old drapes.
Just as The Visionary lifts the mic to his lips to speak on his own behalf, Uso’s music hits and people begin to yeet. Jey lets some kids take the mic to yeet, but he makes it clear he’s tired of Seth’s entire group. Uso calls Breakker a puppy dog, which is all the fuel Rollins needs to start using some basic psychology to whip Bron into a frenzy. Not that it takes all that much.
Heyman is incredulous that Uso would try this in Philadelphia and says that men used to settle their differences in a bingo hall not that far away in the kind of match that has very specific rules. Extreme Rules, that is. Bonus points for Paul calling Tommy Dreamer “the late, great” before saying “yeah I know he’s not dead, but he should be,” followed by Breakker acting surprised Dreamer is still alive.
But anyway, Uso accepts the challenge and says the only rules he needs are Extreme Rules. So at least we won’t get another DQ finish tonight.
As a quick replay reminds us, Sky and the Kabuki Warriors weren’t exactly on the same page last Monday. So what now? Asuka apologizes to Iyo and the Warriors offer their help again tonight, an offer to which Iyo appreciates but says she needs to do this alone. That seems to go over well, but we thought that a week ago too.
Iyo Sky vs. Raquel Rodriguez
Michael Cole does a nice job setting the stage for this match, recalling the history these two had in NXT, where Rodriguez once defeated Sky in a championship match for one of the biggest wins of her career. Rodriguez has Roxanne Perez to support her for this match too, while Sky by her own desire has no one in her corner.
That isn’t hampering the Genius of the Sky much, though she overplays her hand a bit and Rodriguez catches her coming in with the Bullet Train attack to slam her down for a near fall. Iyo fires right back with a double stomp but finds no one home for a moonsault. Other cool spots include Sky’s tornado DDT and Rodriguez catching Sky on a suicide dive, rolling backwards and then standing to throw Iyo into the post.
Sky rallies to connect on the Bullet Train and Over the Moonsault, and thanks to a suicide dive that took out Perez earlier, no one is around to prevent her from getting the three count.
Winner: Iyo Sky by pinfall
The Judgment Day ladies lay into Sky after the bell, and the Kabuki Warriors aren’t coming since Sky told them to stay out of it. So who might save the day? None other than Rhea Ripley, who may consider Sky a rival but isn’t going to let this foolishness go unchecked.
Backstage, Jackie Redmond talks with LA Knight when CM Punk arrives to try to clear the air. Despite their differences, Punk pleads for them to watch each other’s backs so they don’t fall to the numbers game. That plea seems to be falling on deaf ears, though.
Let’s do the AAA TripleMania highlight package, shall we? Corey Graves says it was the most viewed TripleMania ever, with Cole quipping, “Graves, you’re a ratings juggernaut.”
Ripley explains her actions to Sky but ends up arguing with Asuka, and poor Kairi Sane can only look on in dismay as tensions run high.
Xavier Woods vs. Penta
Never thought The New Day would need any help getting over, but their heel turn has been pretty flat so putting them against Penta may actually work to their benefit. Not as crazy about Grayson Waller out here in overalls but nothing else, but to each their own.
Nice camera angle from the floor catches Penta coming off the ringpost for a cross body onto Waller and Kofi Kingston. That makes it look like he jumped from 20 feet up.
Penta also gets the victory, staying one step ahead of Woods down the stretch and finishing him off with a Mexican Destroyer.
Winner: Penta by pinfall
Dominik Mysterio isn’t happy about AJ Styles making the difference in his loss at TripleMania. He will get a one-on-shot at El Hijo del Vikingo next month at Worlds Collide, though AJ could potentially stick his nose in that one too.
The Judgment Day (Finn Balor and JD McDonagh) vs. Dragon Lee and Mr. Iguana
My wife is impressed Mr. Iguana gets the full head paint treatment every time. Hadn’t considered that but yes, that is impressive. The crowd reaction should be an interesting gauge of how many people in this crowd watched TripleMania. It is Philly, which knows its wrestling, so maybe a lot.
Iguana playing dead is a funny reaction to taking some offense from Balor, though Cole is perplexed about whether real iguanas do that. Both Lee and Iguana take to the air side by side, which gets a decent response from the fans.
Come for that, stay for some offense from La Yesca. Dirty Dom also gets involved while the ref is otherwise engaged, allowing Balor to hit the shotgun dropkick and Coup de Grace on Dragon Lee to win it.
Winner: The Judgment Day by pinfall
Lee and Iguana take a post-match beating from The Judgment Day, with Dom clearing off the announce table as well. But whatever Mysterio has planned is disrupted by the arrival of Vikingo, who seems more popular here than he is in his home country. Alas, Vikingo’s triumph is short lived, as The Judgment Day regroups and Mysterio nails Vikingo with a frog splash, holding up his AAA Mega Championship.
Backstage, Redmond gets to speak to Lynch, who claims Natalya attacked her and not the other way around. The Man vows to prove Natalya doesn’t belong in the ring with her when they meet tonight. Oh, next, actually.
Cole and Graves discuss the struggles Bayley has been going through and we see her internal debate play out in pretty direct fashion. Maybe she could speak to Randy Orton about the voices that talk to me. Er, him.
Natalya vs. Becky Lynch (c) – Women’s Intercontinental Championship Match
Nattie has actually fared pretty well in her career against Lynch, winning four of their previous nine meetings. If Lynch had a feud going with someone else, I’d suspect maybe that person would cost Becky here, but that isn’t the case, so that doesn’t bode well for Natalya.
So how can they keep her looking strong even in defeat here? An early bump she takes provides a possible answer, as Cole says she might be favoring one shoulder. Lynch keeps her focus on her opponent’s left arm, much to the consternation of Natalya’s Alpha Academy buddies.
Both Maxxine Dupri and Akira Tozawa end up catching strays from Lynch, who quickly regains her focus when Nattie tries to capitalize. Becky locks in the Disarm-her and Natalya taps, so here’s hoping she is alright.
Winner: Becky Lynch by submission
Unsatisfied with merely beating Natalya, Lynch tries to keep the pain going after the bell. But she goes a bit too far and is cut off by the arrival of Nikki Bella, who ends up giving her a Rack Attack 2.0.
Redmond suggests to Sheamus that things between him and Rusev are getting out of hands. Speaking of that, Rusev approaches while he’s doing his interview and violence looks set to break out again. A furious Adam Pearce shows up with a phalanx of officials to declare that they will face off for the final time at Clash In Paris in a Good Old Fashioned Donnybrook.
Cole promotes a special edition of Stephanie McMahon’s podcast that will drop after Raw, with a big announcement from Jimmy Uso and Naomi. New Bloodline member? Wink, wink.
In the locker room, Punk approaches Uso and pledges to watch Jey’s back tonight. His offer is politely declined as Jey doesn’t want to owe anyone any favors, though this discussion ends on a better note than the one with Knight earlier.
Naomi has a good reason for being unable to defend her Women’s World Championship
Pearce welcomes Naomi to the ring, title held aloft. She says she has something hard to say and throws it to the ‘Tron for more from Stephanie’s podcast. “We need ya’ll to proceed with caution, because there is a baby on board.”
Next-gen Bloodline member confirmed as Naomi says it directly: “I’m pregnant, and I’m having a baby.” Pearce congratulates Naomi, but she quickly gets back in character and says “I ain’t handing you s–t” and tells Pearce to back off. Naomi says all the women in the locker room should be thanking Big Jim because without him, they wouldn’t have a chance to take the title off her.
“On the bright side, I guess the Bloodline continues, baby!” The fans start an “OTC” chant in response.
Naomi says she will lay her custom title down as a “baby Uso” chant breaks out. She says she will give the “heffers” nine months and change before coming back to pick up where she left off. And whoever has the title when she does, she strongly advises them to proceed with caution.
The Judgment Day looks ready to leave the venue but don’t know where Dom is and are surprised to find him speaking with El Grande Americano. Mysterio tells them that he just wants to ensure the group always stays on top and not to worry about it, but Balor looks puzzled and tells McDonagh to go ahead and that he’ll catch up. Hmm …
Jey Uso vs. Bron Breakker – Extreme Rules Match
Uso comes out appropriately paying homage to New Jack with his ring gear including a bandana. It doesn’t take long for a shopping cart full of weapons to get involved, with Breakker taking a clothesline over the ropes and landing smack dab in the middle of it.
Bron slowly assumes control of the action, aided by a crapton of chairs, two of which lead to a painful spot for Uso as Breakker drops him on their backs. A wobbly Jey is in trouble over by the announce table, where he is a sitting duck for Bron’s apron leap, this time buffed by a trash can.
Jey rallies and has several chances to win it, but Reed pulls the ref out of the ring and attacks. No DQs tonight, remember?
But that means others can join the party too, and Knight is the first to do so. He lays into Reed and beats him on the outside until he gets jumped from behind by Rollins. Seth gives Jey a Pedigree in the ring and goes to revive the ref.
He’ll need to hurry because here comes Punk. He and Knight happily beat on Rollins, pausing only to make sure Reed doesn’t interfere. Alas, Rollins is able to shove Punk into Knight, driving the Megastar through a table on the floor. Punk and Rollins end up chasing each other out through the crowd.
Oh yeah, the match is still going! Breakker sets up a table in the corner which is almost certain to figure in the finish. Just when I think it might be silly for the crowd to keep chanting “OTC,” Reigns does indeed arrive to aid Uso. He lends a hand and holds one finger aloft as Jey splashes Bron through a table to win.
Winner: Jey Uso by pinfall
Reed and Reigns are exchanging plenty of words as well, including Roman saying “I’ll see you in Paris.” Maybe getting his shoes back. See you next week everyone, at an early start time of 3 p.m. ET/Noon PT.
