CM Punk Starts the Show, Bron Breakker VS Ludwig Kaiser: Intercontinental Championship
Monday Night Raw kicked off this week with CM Punk as The Second City Saint talked about how despite he doesn’t want to face Seth “Freakin” Rollins, he knows The Visionary won’t go away until he does! Punk also said he failed Seth Rollins as a teacher before Seth appeared in the crowd to try and gain a different perspective of CM Punk! However, Rollins made it very clear what he thinks of Punk before the two stars brawled throughout the arena, eventually being separated by security! This was a fine way to start the show, both Punk and Seth said some good things, but it’s not like we haven’t seen this before!
Grade: C+
Finn Balor was not very happy with the rest of his Judgment Day stablemates in the Clubhouse before we got a great backstage interaction between Seth “Freakin” Rollins and Drew McIntyre! It was then time for the first match of the night as Bron Breakker put his Intercontinental Championship on the line against Ludwig Kaiser! This was a long match, they got a lot of time to do their thing, and I thought it was pretty good! Bron Breakker is having the best year of his career to date whilst Ludwig Kaiser is more than good enough to be a singles Champion! There were some really good spots throughout, and the story was that Bron could barely move his shoulder after all the damage that Ludwig had done! However, in the end, Breakker was able to retain his IC Title after dropping Kaiser with a Super Spear!
Grade: B
Rhea Ripley Interrupts Liv Morgan, Kayden Carter VS Raquel Rodriguez VS Zoey Stark: Women’s Intercontinental Championship Tournament (Round 1)
Rey Mysterio told The New Day that they weren’t wanted in the Men’s Locker Room before The War Raiders cut a promo about needing to win the World Tag Team Championships so that they know that the injuries were worth it! Adam Pearce then announced that CM Punk and Seth “Freakin” Rollins will go one-on-one on Raw’s debut on Netflix before Liv Morgan headed down to the ring to bask in her greatness! The Women’s World Champion gloated about her terrific 2024 whilst also saying that she’s only just gotten started before Rhea Ripley arrived to tell Liv that she is now the Number 1 contender to the Women’s World Title and that she’s going to soon be Champion once again! Why? Why is this feud still going on?!
Grade: C
Seth “Freakin” Rollins was walking backstage when a brawl broke out between Drew McIntyre and Sami Zayn before Karrion Kross made it clear to The Miz that they aren’t done with The Wyatt Sick6! It was then time for another match in the Women’s Intercontinental Championship Tournament as Kayden Carter, Raquel Rodriguez, and Zoey Stark clashed in a Triple Threat Match! This was alright, Kayden Carter did really well I thought, and Zoey Stark is a really good in-ring wrestler. However, I do feel like this should’ve been a match that Raquel Rodriguez dominated, but she really didn’t! And even more shockingly, she didn’t win as Zoey took out Raquel with her sniper-like dropkick before Stark nailed Carter with the Z360 to get the win and advance to the Semi-Finals! I did not see this coming at all!
Grade: C+
World Tag Team Championships: The Judgment Day VS The War Raiders
After R-Truth angered Butch, Chad Gable got in the face of the Alpha Academy, and Pure Fusion Collective took out Kairi Sane, it was Main Event time as The Judgment Day looked to retain their World Tag Team Championships in a match against The War Raiders! This was a good match, both teams are very good, and the crowd were well behind Erik and Ivar! There weren’t any particular standout moments, but that’s not a bad thing as the whole match simply flowed well! We got a near-fall following a Finn Balor Coup de Grace (Ivar broke it up), and we then got the turning point of the match when Damian Priest made his presence known to stop Finn from using a Steel Chair! This ultimately played into the finish and allowed Erik and Ivar to drop Balor with War Machine to pick up the win meaning The War Raiders are your brand-new World Tag Team Champions! I’m very happy for those two guys, they’ve suffered a lot of horrible injuries, but Erik and Ivar are more than capable of taking this Tag Team Division forward!
Comments