Seth “Freakin” Rollins Starts the Show, The War Raiders VS The Judgment Day: World Tag Team Championships
Monday Night Raw kicked off this week with Seth “Freakin” Rollins as Seth talked about his tough start to the year, but how that’s all about to change this Saturday when he wins the Men’s Royal Rumble Match! Seth listed a bunch of names he’s going to eliminate, including CM Punk and Roman Reigns before he talked about which Champion he could challenge. This brought out Gunther who told Rollins that he hopes he wins the Royal Rumble so the two can face at WrestleMania meaning that when the World Heavyweight Champion retains, he will be synonymous with the Title forever! Logan Paul’s music then hit as Logan cut a promo on both men whilst also being booed out of the building! Logan said it’s his time to win the Royal Rumble and Main Event WrestleMania, and this made Gunther laugh to the point where he is now rooting for Paul on Saturday! This show started with 3 big names, and I think that sets the tone for the rest of the week!
Grade: B-
CM Punk was speaking to Cathy Kelley backstage before Sami Zayn interrupted to remind Punk which one of them is a WrestleMania Main Eventer! Sami then walked off and bumped into Karrion Kross who told Zayn that he needs to focus on his goals rather than his friends before A-Town Down Under cut a promo about how they’re going to win Gold on Netflix! Speaking of Gold, it was then time for the first match of the night as The War Raiders put their World Tag Team Championships on the line for the first time against The Judgment Day. This Judgment Day consisted of JD McDonagh and Dominik Mysterio, and the whole feeling around the match changed pretty early on after JD took a nasty bump to the back of his head. However, McDonagh was able to carry on, and I thought all four men did really well here! This was a strong opening match, The War Raiders are rolling right now whilst Dom and JD worked really well together. Carlito also arrived at one point to try and help his stablemates, but Erik was able to break it up before Erik and Ivar eventually delivered the War Machine to get the win and retain their World Tag Team Titles!
Grade: B
Rey Mysterio VS Xavier Woods, Bianca Belair and Naomi VS Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez, Drew McIntyre VS Sami Zayn
Ludwig Kaiser approached Pete Dunne about taking out Penta before The New Day hyped up the fact that Xavier Woods’ family is going to be at ringside for his match with Rey Mysterio. That match was next, but it took quite a while for the Woods Family to arrive. The match itself was solid, both men got in some decent offense, but this was simply all about the ending as Woods’ Family arrived to reveal that they were wearing “New Day Sucks” t-shirts which angered Xavier and Kofi Kingston before Rey Mysterio managed to take advantage and deliver a 619 followed by a Splash to get the win. The New Day have to stop losing!
Grade: C+
Seth “Freakin” Rollins caught up with Sami Zayn backstage to tell him that whilst he knows that last week was an accident, he won’t be so sure if it happens again! Jey Uso then arrived to YEET around Atlanta before Jey said that he’s going to win the Royal Rumble because he knows he can beat Gunther! Lyra Valkyria then declared herself for the Women’s Royal Rumble as Ivy Nile made her intentions clear when it came to the Women’s Intercontinental Championship before it was time for Bianca Belair and Naomi to take on the duo of Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez! This was not a good match, it was just far too sloppy and slow, and I just didn’t think any of this worked. There’s no real need for any of these women to be involved in the Women’s Tag Team scene, and I honestly don’t rate the duo of Bianca and Naomi at all. Also, the ending wasn’t great either as after Dominik Mysterio caused a distraction, Raquel was able to drop Naomi onto the ring apron before Liv just pinned her to get the win!
Grade: D
Rhea Ripley spoke about the Women’s Royal Rumble before Bayley said that she may well see the Women’s World Champion at WrestleMania! We then got a cool stare-down between Bayley and Iyo Sky before Penta declared himself for the Royal Rumble whilst also making it clear that he’s interested in Bron Breakker and the Intercontinental Championship! Paul Heyman was then out next to reveal Roman Reigns as the cover superstar for WWE 2K25 whilst Paul also said that Roman Reigns is going to win the Men’s Royal Rumble this weekend and recapture his Undisputed WWE Championship! This brought out Drew McIntyre who reminded Heyman that he's sort of the reason why this whole Bloodline Era has happened before he asked The Wiseman to tell “his boy” that he’s coming for him on Saturday! However, in what was an interesting turn of events, McIntyre was talking about CM Punk, not Roman Reigns! This was a well-executed segment from both men, and this then led into the Main Event match of the night as Drew McIntyre went one-on-one with Sami Zayn. Whilst we have now seen this match a little too often, this was pretty good action that was heightened by Sami Zayn busting himself open early on. Sami and Drew clearly work well together, and it was pretty 50/50 as to which one of them was going to come out on top. In the end, though, it was McIntyre who beat Zayn yet again with a roll-up (whilst also putting his feet on the ropes) before The Scottish Psychopath continued his beatdown, only for Cody Rhodes to run down and make the save. However, in another great moment, Sami Zayn “accidentally” connected with a Helluva Kick to the face of The American Nightmare as questions continue to surround what exactly Zayn’s true intentions are!
Grade: B+ (Heyman Segment, Match, and Post-Match Combined)
CM Punk Interrupts Cody Rhodes
After Michael Cole and Pat McAfee filled time for a little bit, Cody Rhodes got back onto his feet to speak about how he can’t wait to move past Kevin Owens and focus on WrestleMania! However, CM Punk interrupted this to ask Cody if he was okay, but also that he could tell that the weight of being the Undisputed WWE Champion is starting to take a toll on The American Nightmare. Punk then said unfortunately for him, he’s going to win the Royal Rumble and take that World Championship off of Cody, but Rhodes laughed this off, saying he wants him to catch up because as of right now, Punk is the chaser, not him! What I like about the Royal Rumble this year is there are multiple ways that WWE can go in terms of their Main Event Match, and that’s terrific!
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