Rhode Island, are you ready to Yeet? OK, there’s going to be more than that in store tonight on WWE Raw. But Jey Uso is one of the superstars shown entering the arena before tonight’s show starts in earnest, along with Penta and The Judgment Day.
One of the major themes of this episode will be Seth Rollins and his underlings dealing with the rising number of enemies they are accumulating, mostly in singles matches tonight. Rollins will clash with Penta, Bronson Reed will face off against Uso, and Sami Zayn had the unenviable task of battling Bron Breakker.
Let’s not waste any time, then. Here’s how the night unfolded, with live impressions throughout the show.
Seth Rollins and company deliver a warning for the rest of the night
The whole Rollins crew (since it doesn’t have an “official” stable name) heads to the ring together, and even though this is a heel group, the fans sing along with Seth’s theme as passionately as ever. It’s Breakker who gets the mic first, claiming that Rollins and Paul Heyman have a vision for the future that establishes him as the face of WWE for the “next two decades.”
Breakker’s own vision involves a WWE without Zayn, someone who clearly gets under his skin in every possible way. “For the life of me, I cannot figure out why you people cheer for someone who has the athletic ability of a dead fish,” Breakker says, his words dripping with exasperation. He promises to put an end to Sami tonight, which only gets the fans to chant for Zayn a little more.
I have to hand it to Bronson Reed, who uses his time to explain that hitting Rollins with six Tsunamis built up a level of respect that led to Seth inviting him to join his nameless group. He plans on earning Uso’s respect in similarly painful fashion tonight.
Paul Heyman gets to talk as well, promising that the empire will strike back first tonight. He namechecks Roman Reigns indirectly but mostly just promotes his guys beating up their enemies again. Props to Heyman for delivering a message to Penta in Spanish before promising in English that Penta won’t be able to do his hand signs ever again. No mas cero miedo?
Got to pass the mic to Rollins as well, though all he does is wait out a “CM Punk” chant and welcome everyone to Monday Night Rollins.
In the Judgment Day clubhouse, Raquel Rodriguez is dismayed to see what appears to be a memorial to Liv Morgan. She’s not dead! Raquel does make the Sign of the Cross when she leaves, which is humorous, but not as funny as Dominik Mysterio learning the “get well soon” cake in there is not from Finn Balor or JD McDonagh, but from AJ Styles … and he’s lurking behind a clothing rack to watch the revelation. Heh.
Kairi Sane vs. Roxanne Perez
Lots of cool counters and mat wrestling reversals in the first few minutes. If this was an indie show, feels like a “this is wrestling” chant would have broken out.
Sane’s spinning headscissors doesn’t look completely convincing, but damned if her more direct strikes don’t appear plenty painful. Perez responds with an attack on Sane’s arm as Michael Cole puts over the fact that Kairi has had wrist injuries in her career.
Rodriguez is on the outside and getting involved as well, though she may regret it when Sane dives to the floor and takes her out. And since we’re discussing regrets, Perez may have some soon as well too, as Sane rolls her up and sends her to defeat.
After the bell, the Judgment Day duo wants to keep attacking Sane, but her former Kabuki Warriors partner Asuka (with a big knee brace over her left pant leg) comes roaring to the rescue. Asuka also holds Perez in place to take an Insane Elbow, which can’t feel too good.
Winner: Kairi Sane by pinfall
Jackie Redmond checks on the still banged up Zayn, wanting to check on his mental state as well as his taped up midsection. Sami admits he can’t think about Karrion Kross or anything else going on because he needs to lock in on Breakker since he’s one of the most dangerous people on the planet. He’s not wrong.
Jackie isn’t done, however, as Scarlett wanders over as well. But she declines to talk and just looks off in the direction that Zayn just left.
American Made wants to talk to Adam Pearce about El Grande Americano, but really about Ivy Nile entering the battle royal at Evolution, a request Pearce grants. He is also receptive to the Kabuki Warriors getting added to the four-way tag team title match, which works for me.
As Cole and Corey Graves talk about the Evolution card, they also put over the return of a Hall of Famer … and they’re talking about Nikki Bella. She was going to take on Morgan, we think, but now as she explains in a video promo, she’s going to enter the battle royal instead.
Sami Zayn vs. Bron Breakker
Or maybe not? While on his way to the ring, entrance theme still playing, Zayn is attacked from behind by Kross wielding a metal pipe. Not welding a metal pipe, though perhaps he could do that as well.
This is Sami we are talking about, though, so after a commercial break, we see him insisting to Pearce that he is good to compete. Cole can’t believe it and thinks this is a bad idea. I tend to agree.
“Look at him!” yells an incredulous Breakker once the bell rings, calling Zayn pathetic and questioning again why the fans cheer for him. Maybe it’s because he’s definitely going to get in some offense against all odds, which he does. Alas, he goes airborne and is hit by a Breakker spear in midair. Oof.
“Pearce, get somebody out here!” Cole yells as Bron’s assault continues on the outside. “Chad, stop the damn match!” The sickos in the crowd call for one more spear, and Breakker mercifully ends it a moment or so later. Cole says he admires Sami’s heart but what he’s gone through the last two weeks just isn’t worth it.
Winner: Bron Breakker by pinfall
Neither The New Day nor Becky Lynch are big fans of Pearce and his ideas. Just getting that on the record.
Becky Lynch is confused, but one of her two opponents gets the last word
Now we get to the gist of what Lynch didn’t like from Pearce. It’s because she beat Bayley and Lyra Valkyria, then they lost to each other, so why should she have to face them both at Evolution?
Yes, she can understand that Pearce knows she is the best women’s wrestler ever, but since the other champs got to pick their opponents for Evolution, The Man should as well. This can only mean that Bayley and Lyra are working together, Becky thinks out loud.
That brings both of her challengers out, with Valkyria bumping past Bayley on her way to the ring. Of course they don’t see eye to eye, something that Lynch can’t help but try to exploit.
It appears to be working too, as Lyra tells Bayley that since she doesn’t value friendships over championship gold, that makes her just like Becky. Bayley fires back by telling Valkyria she raised Lynch’s hand after losing “like a little bitch.” Lyra fires a right hand that misses Bayley and lays out Becky, and a short brawl breaks out that sees Valkyria the lone woman still standing.
Rollins wants to know why Breakker looks a little down, and it’s because he wants to know what they should do about Kross. The mood picks up when Heyman visits and tells them that Zayn is out indefinitely. Reed is laughing too, but Rollins challenges him since Uso is perfectly fine. “He won’t be when I’m done with him,” Reed says before leaving for his match.
Jey Uso vs. Bronson Reed
Considering he’s already seen how badly it went when Sami tried to be a hero earlier in the show, Jey should know he shouldn’t go toe to toe with Big Bronson. He needs to stick and yeet. No, I don’t feel bad about typing that even though I probably should.
But perhaps Reed never intended to win this match, because when Uso goes for a suicide dive, he’s greeted by a thrown announcer’s chair. The ref calls for the bell, but Reed simply carries on with his mission, delivering two Tsunamis before Pearce and a gaggle of WWE officials come to stop him. Maybe a group of WWE officials is called a rafter. Or a murder. But the match is over regardless.
Winner: Jey Uso by disqualification (but his body is the real loser)
Defiant as ever, L.A. Knight gives a vivid description of what he plans on doing to Rollins on Saturday Night’s Main Event.
There’s other wrestling to promote this coming weekend as well, including Evolution. To that end, Rhea Ripley narrates a look back at her history with Iyo Sky and the fact that she knows all too well she’s never defeated Sky in a one-on-one matchup. We also hear from Sky and see the two of them agreeing to this title bout at Evolution.
El Grande Americano vs. Dragon Lee
Not only is Cole beside himself because this is clearly a new person behind the mask, he also wants to know why the mask itself is way too small for this guy. Graves won’t accept the “he doesn’t have a tattoo” argument as he retorts that tattoos can be removed.
Cole is really triggered by this, heh. He doesn’t get his wish as Americano uses the loaded mask, same as ever, and manages to get the win. So that means Cole won’t get his wish and see Americano unmasked either.
Winner: El Grande Americano by pinfall
Heyman has another message in Spanish for Penta, who doesn’t back down even when Breakker arrives. I enjoy how Bron is just beside himself in disbelief that people are trying to stand up to him. That’s fun.
Stephanie Vaquer hype videos are always welcome here. Timely too, since she’ll be in the Evolution battle royal.
Gunther gets one more chance to hear Goldberg chants
It’s hard to decide if WWE is doing a great job of promoting Gunther vs. Goldberg or just annoying us, something that Gunther sort of references when he notes that he’s continuously run Goldberg down on the mic while his SNME opponent has done nothing about it.
That might change here, though, as Goldberg is shown pulling up to the arena in a muscle car and stomping through the back of the arena on his way to the ring to huge “Goldberg” chants.
A “holy s–t” chant follows as the two men stand face to face in the ring, with Goldberg dropping the Ring General with a right hand. A spear is on deck, but Gunther slithers away to save his bacon.
Penta vs. Seth Rollins
Will it be three up, three down like baseball for the men opposing Rollins, as Breakker suggested earlier? One thought: Seth faces L.A. Knight on Saturday, so perhaps the Megastar has something cooking to screw Rollins over.
Penta definitely didn’t get the memo if he’s supposed to drop this one, though he soon finds himself in the timekeeper’s area. But he recovers quickly and takes to the air successfully right before what one hopes is the night’s final commercial break.
Whoever has the “sold my car 2 be here” sign, I hope you’re not being literal. Penta might be the greatest performer in WWE right now in getting fans to buy into the idea that he might win a match he’s definitely not going to win. That’s a superb skill to have as a face.
Penta connects on the Mexican Destroyer and is feeling good even after a near fall, but Rollins changes that with an “accidental” headbutt to the groin. The Stomp follows and that’s all she wrote.
Winner: Seth Rollins by pinfall
After the bell, Heyman yells “now, now!” into his phone, summoning the troops for more damage. But Knight appears from the crowd, delivers a BFT to Rollins and quickly gets to the relative safety of the crowd before Breakker can get him. An enraged but dazed Rollins has to be restrained as Raw fades to black for another week.
