John Cena Starts the Show
This week’s edition of Monday Night Raw, live from Brussels, Belgium, kicked off with John Cena making his first appearance since his shocking Heel turn at Elimination Chamber! Cena said that the crowd has treated him terribly for 25 years, booing him no matter what he did, and only caring about their own personal gains rather than John as a human being! Cena said that the fans have lost their right to talk, to influence the show, and he doesn’t care what they think anymore! Cody Rhodes’ music then hit as The American Nightmare made it clear that he has no interest in facing this guy at WrestleMania, and is simply only interested in facing the real John Cena! Rhodes then left the ring emphatically as Mr. Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect stayed in the ring before he eventually left to a chorus of boos! This was terrific, John Cena’s delivery here was absolutely superb, but he was also telling plenty of truths! Cody Rhodes also did well, even if he didn’t add much to the segment, and yeah, Cena as a Heel has ruled so far!
Grade: A-
Ludwig Kaiser VS Penta: No Holds Barred, Dakota Kai VS Ivy Nile, Women’s World Championship Contract Signing
The first match of the night saw Ludwig Kaiser try and take out Penta in a No Holds Barred Match, and I thought this was a good match, it flowed well, I really enjoy watching Ludwig do his thing, and Pent definitely got better the longer this match went on! There were also a couple of tough-looking shots, especially when Penta delivered a Canadian Destroyer onto a steel chair, and in the end, Penta was able to drop LK with a Penta Driver to get the win as he signaled his intent about going after the Intercontinental Championship!
Grade: B-
American Made and The LWO got into an argument backstage that resulted in a match being set up for later in the night before Finn Balor got extremely mad at Dominik Mysterio for suggesting that they should recruit Penta to join The Judgment Day! Dakota Kai then got a big pop as she was ready to clash with Ivy Nile! These two have been fighting over recent weeks, so this was about Dakota trying to get some revenge on Ivy, and I thought they both did a decent job here, I mean Ivy’s power game is particularly impressive! When American Made tried to get involved, The LWO ran down to take them out, and this distracted Nile to the point where Kai was able to nail her opponent with a boot before King Kota hit the GTK to get the win!
Grade: C+
We then arguably got the biggest pop of the night as Iyo Sky arrived as both she and Bianca Belair had to sign the contract for their Women’s World Championship Match at WrestleMania! The crowd were so behind Iyo here, they were going absolutely berserk for her to the point where they actually started to boo Bianca! Both women actually managed to sign the contract with no issues, but this is when Rhea Ripley stormed down and got into another argument with Belair, resulting in a brawl that saw Rhea powerbomb Iyo onto Bianca who was lying on top of a table! Ripley then signed the contract herself as she stormed off with it, and this definitely means that we’re getting a Triple Threat at Mania 41!
Grade: C+
Jey Uso VS Austin Theory, American Made VS The LWO, Seth “Freakin” Rollins Speaks
After Yeeting for about 5 minutes, Jey Uso was ready to go one-on-one with Austin Theory! However, this match barely lasted 40 seconds as Jey managed to pick up the win very early on with a Spear before Gunther arrived to try and deliver another sneak attack, only for Uso to send him out of the ring! I’m not really sure what the point of this was, I certainly don’t like Austin Theory being booked as a jobber now, but at least the crowd enjoyed it!
Grade: C
After a great video package hyping up tonight’s Main Event between Bron Breakker and Finn Balor, Adam Pearce demanded Rhea Ripley give him the Women’s World Championship Contract before Bianca Belair and Iyo Sky arrived to cause a backstage brawl! We then got a Tag Team match between American Made and The LWO, and this was decent for what it was, The Creeds are great, and Dragon Lee is always fun to watch! My only issue with this match is it didn’t feel that important, and it just ended after Rey Mysterio delivered his 619-Splash combo! After the match, the same masked Luchador from last week attacked Mysterio and Lee before he ran off once security arrived! The bit I liked about this is I’m not sure that that actually is Chad Gable!
Grade: C+
Seth “Freakin” Rollins was the next Superstar to get a big reaction as Seth arrived to talk not only about CM Punk, but also about Roman Reigns! Seth said Roman messed up last week, that attacking him then wasn’t the right time as he was about to get rid of Punk for good! Rollins also mentioned the fact that both men will be at SmackDown this Friday, and that it might be worth him taking a little trip down to Bologna to see them both at the same time! I thought Seth delivered his promo well here, but not everything he said was as effective as it maybe should’ve been!
Grade: C+
Intercontinental Championship: Bron Breakker VS Finn Balor
After Karrion Kross once again tried to get into the head of AJ Styles, it was Main Event time as Bron Breakker and Finn Balor clashed with the Intercontinental Championship on the line! This was a decent match, both guys went at it, but it never felt like there was any true jeopardy here! Finn tried to get one over on Bron, and it especially helped to have the rest of The Judgment Day at ringside, but ultimately, Breakker was just too strong as he delivered a Spear to get the win! After the match, Dominik Mysterio and Carlito tried to ambush Breakker, but Penta ran down to make the save as the show ended with Penta coming face-to-face with the Intercontinental Champion!
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