Triple H Welcomes Out Cody Rhodes
This year’s Raw after WrestleMania started with Triple H coming down to the ring to announce that WrestleMania 40 was indeed the “Greatest Mania of All Time”. Hunter then welcomed out Cody Rhodes who got a big ovation before we got a great video package highlighting the journey of The American Nightmare. Cody then talked about Roman Reigns before he said how proud he is to now be known as the Undisputed WWE Champion before amazingly, The Rock’s music hit which was quite a surprise. The Rock rambled on a lot about Rhodes, Reigns, and the Philadelphia crowd before he made it clear that whilst Cody’s story with Roman is finished, their story is only just beginning! The segment then ended with both men holding each other’s Championships before The Rock handed something to Cody Rhodes. This was a really long segment, but it did plant the seeds for a Rhodes-Rock match down the line. Also, the video package for Cody Rhodes was excellent.
Grade: B-
Ilja Dragunov VS Shinsuke Nakamura, Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest Celebrate, The Awesome Truth VS The Judgment Day
Shinsuke Nakamura made his way down to the ring for the first match of the night, and his opponent was revealed to be none other than the reigning NXT Champion, Ilja Dragunov! I genuinely popped at this because this was a real surprise, and what I really liked about this is the Philadelphia crowd knew who Ilja was and they also cheered for him which is a great sign! As a match, it was totally fine, it definitely could’ve been better with more time, but it served its purpose of showcasing Dragunov and it was The Czar who picked up the victory courtesy of a Torpedo Moscow.
Grade: B- (Because it was such a cool surprise)
The Judgment Day’s Finn Balor, JD McDonagh, and Dominik Mysterio were then in the ring next as they brought out Rhea Ripley to celebrate her win at WrestleMania 40. Rhea talked about her dominance before Damian Priest arrived with new music to some “You Deserve It” chants which was really nice to hear. Priest looked great here, his look is so unique, and I’m genuinely just happy for him as he’s been so good for a while now! For some reason, R-Truth then showed up thinking he’s still in The Judgment Day before The Miz arrived and we somehow got a 6-Man Tag Team match! However, it was just 5 men as you couldn’t see the other guy (literally), and this allowed Balor, Mysterio, and McDonagh to control proceedings. However, John Cena’s music then hit as the 16-time World Champion arrived to be The Awesome Truth’s partner before all three of the Babyfaces hit stereo AA’s to score the victory. Whilst R-Truth didn’t need to be here and he certainly didn’t need to disrupt Damian and Rhea’s celebration, Cena showing up was good fun.
Grade: C+
Roxanne Perez VS Indi Hartwell, Sami Zayn and Chad Gable VS Imperium, Chelsea Green VS ?
Bronson Reed gave reasons as to why he’s going to win tonight’s Main Event, but the more interesting thing about this was the screen glitched during Bronson’s promo. It’s worth keeping an eye on that! Rhea Ripley was then walking backstage before she got a chair thrown at her by Liv Morgan before Roxanne Perez made a surprise appearance as the NXT Women’s Champion was about to go one-on-one with Indi Hartwell. What I really liked about this match is they played into their history, with Roxanne even saying “You never deserved my Title”. This also furthered a storyline as Candice LeRae’s involvement sort of cost Indi Wrestling the match as it set up Perez to hit Pop Rox to score the victory. I’ll keep saying this, but Roxanne Perez is doing some great work right now.
Grade: B-
Sami Zayn and “Main Event” Jey Uso embraced backstage before Natalya told Roxanne Perez that she’d see her on NXT tomorrow night. Sami Zayn then came out to a massive reaction as the brand-new Intercontinental Champion wanted to thank the crowd for believing in him. Sami also put over Gunther as the “Greatest IC Champ of All Time” before Imperium’s Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci arrived to trash-talk Mr. Zayn. This brought out Chad Gable which ultimately set up a fun Tag Team contest. Imperium are a superb Tag Team whilst both Sami and Chad are also Tag Team veterans. In the end, it was the Babyfaces who got the victory, but it was actually Master Gable who got the pinfall win with the Chaos Theory after Sami tagged him in.
Grade: B- (Overall)
Jey Uso was fired up as always backstage before Andrade was speaking to the General Managers of both Raw, SmackDown, and NXT. Chelsea Green then walked in demanding her own WrestleMania moment, so that’s exactly what Adam Pearce, Nick Aldis, and Ava gave her. After Chelsea made her entrance, Jade Cargill’s music hit as Cargill arrived and squashed Green in about 15 seconds. I don’t know how to feel about this, as whilst it made Cargill look dominant, it still doesn’t make it clear how good she actually is in-ring-wise. I just hope we’ll properly find out sooner rather than later.
Grade: C
World Heavyweight Championship Number 1 Contender’s Fatal 4-Way: Drew McIntyre VS Jey Uso VS Bronson Reed VS Ricochet
After Sami Zayn gifted Chad Gable a shot at the Intercontinental Championship for next week’s Raw in Montreal (Sami’s hometown), Drew McIntyre stormed to the ring in a vile mood as Drew fired massive shots at both Damian Priest and CM Punk. Interestingly though, Drew was quite kind when talking about Seth “Freakin” Rollins. This then led perfectly into a Number 1 Contender’s Fatal 4-Way as McIntyre, Jey Uso, Ricochet, and Bronson Reed collided for the opportunity to face Damian Priest for the World Heavyweight Championship. This was a pretty decent match, all 4 guys brought it, and what I liked here is all four guys being here made sense. Drew was screwed out of the Title, Jey won at WrestleMania, Bronson Reed won The Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal whilst Ricochet is 3-0 against The Judgment Day in recent weeks. After The One and Only pulled out a ridiculous springboard-450 onto Reed through the announce table, it left McIntyre and Uso to fight it out in the ring. Drew looked to have the match won, but CM Punk arrived to grab hold of The Scottish Psychopath’s leg which allowed “Main Event” Jey Uso to hit a Superkick followed by a Spear to score the important victory! Once again, Punk screwed McIntyre, and Priest-Uso should be a lot of fun!
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