Jey Uso Starts the Show, Ludwig Kaiser VS Penta
Jey Uso arrived to start this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw as the 2025 Men’s Royal Rumble Winner talked about how much this moment means to him! You could tell that Jey was properly emotional too which only added to the promo, and things only picked up when Gunther arrived to tell Uso that the thought of facing him at WrestleMania isn’t very appealing at all! In fact, for this to be appealing, The Ring General would have to destroy Jey Uso every single week so the World Heavyweight Champion advised Jey to pick his options carefully! WWE will definitely do Gunther-Jey Uso at WrestleMania, and I’m all for it!
Grade: B-
It was then time for the opening match of the night as Ludwig Kaiser looked to gain a measure of revenge on Penta! This was a fine match, both men did some decent manoeuvres, but I don’t know, I’m still not sold on Penta yet. Ludwig Kaiser’s role here was also just to put over his opponent, but he did that well. In the end, Penta got the win with the Penta Driver before Pete Dunne’s music hit as The Bruiserweight made his way down to the ring, only for Kaiser to attack the Luchador before he could!
Grade: C+
Charlotte Flair Speaks, The New Day VS The LWO
Finn Balor returned to The Judgment Day Clubhouse to vent his frustrations at Dominik Mysterio for helping Liv Morgan and not him! However, Dominik confirmed that he’s the person who’s gotten Finn an Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match in a couple of weeks’ time before Charlotte Flair came out to cut a promo about how difficult her recovery was, but that’s exactly why she earned and deserved to win the 2025 Women’s Royal Rumble! The crowd didn’t agree one bit as they booed Charlotte throughout before Rhea Ripley arrived to remind Flair of how their last WrestleMania clash went! The Queen then also reminded MAMI of what happened the first time they faced off at WrestleMania before Charlotte called Rhea a kid, resulting in Ripley demanding that Flair chooses her so she can beat some respect into the 14-time Women’s Champion! Overall, I thought this was alright, I’d say Charlotte’s character has been established which is a good thing, but I can’t see us getting this match again.
Grade: C+
Sami Zayn spoke to Jackie Redmond about his huge Main Event clash with CM Punk before Sami found Jey Uso and congratulated him for winning the Men’s Royal Rumble! This annoyed Karrion Kross who expected more from Sami before Rhea Ripley bumped into Iyo Sky! Rhea then left and this opened the door for Liv Morgan to attack Iyo before Raquel Rodriguez wiped out Ripley! The New Day then finally had brand-new entrance music as it was time for them to clash with The LWO! This was a decent match, Dragon Lee is always fun to watch, and I like “The New” New Day a lot, I think they’re excelling in their roles. Before the ad break, Logan Paul made his presence known as the “hometown hero” came down to ringside to watch on as both teams went back and forth! Ultimately, it was Logan who played into the finish as he pulled Rey out of the ring and onto the floor before Kofi Kingston nailed Mysterio with a Trouble in Paradise to get the win! Finally!
Grade: C+
Women’s Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Iyo Sky VS Liv Morgan, Seth “Freakin” Rollins Promo
CM Punk once again cut a promo saying that Sami Zayn isn’t on his level before we got a video package hyping up a Women’s Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match that will take place next week between Lyra Valkyria and Bayley! Speaking of Qualifying matches, we had one next as Iyo Sky went one-on-one with Liv Morgan! This was a good match, I thought both women did really well, and I enjoyed it! Iyo was selling her injured shoulder throughout too which only protected her more, and Raquel Rodriguez was also hanging around to ensure a Morgan victory! Ultimately, that’s exactly what happened, but not in the way you might expect as Rhea Ripley blasted Liv away which resulted in the referee calling for a Disqualification and potentially putting an end to Iyo Sky’s WrestleMania dreams! This was well done!
Grade: B-
The War Raiders were talking backstage as American Made came up to them to say that they want a shot at the World Tag Team Champions! Erik and Ivar were more than happy to accept their request before Chad Gable said he’s going to be away for a bit to master “the dark arts of Lucha Libre”! Adam Pearce then announced that AJ Styles has officially moved to Monday Night Raw before Bron Breakker made it clear to Pearce that he doesn’t feel like the Intercontinental Championship is respected enough. Honestly, I agree! Seth “Freakin” Rollins was then the next man to cut a promo on this show as Seth talked about how satisfying it was that neither Roman Reigns nor CM Punk ended Saturday Night as the Royal Rumble Winner! However, Seth also knows that he lost to which is why his focus turns to the Elimination Chamber, but before that, Rollins needed to bring out Sami Zayn to fire Sami up about how great he is and that CM Punk doesn’t deserve to be in that match! I liked everything that Seth Rollins did here, he was clearly manipulating Sami in a way, but he was also covering it up just because he hates Punk so much!
Grade: B
CM Punk VS Sami Zayn: Men’s Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match
And in the Main Event, CM Punk and Sami Zayn collided for the right to enter the Elimination Chamber in Toronto, Ontario, Canada! This was a fiercely contested match with both men going back and forth with each other, and I got more and more invested in it as the match went on. CM Punk continued to talk trash to Sami, making it clear what he thinks of him before I thought Zayn was going to win with a Helluva Kick, but Punk was able to get out of the way! Sami then came close to winning again with a roll-up, but in the end, Punk was able to grab the victory with a GTS before Kevin Owens attacked Sami Zayn after the match to leave his friend laying after a Package Piledriver!
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