WWE Raw
Ovo Hydro
Glasgow, Scotland
March 24, 2025
Commentators: Michael Cole and Pat McAfee
Ring Announcer: Alicia Taylor
We're 26 days from Wrestlemania 41 and last week in Belgium established John Cena's heel turn....sort of. He had an epic rant against the fans he's probably wanted to go off on for years but he never revealed why he joined The Rock or attacked Cody for that matter. Tonight may shed more light on the subject since they're supposed to both be here. We also got a men's Intercontinental title showdown between Bron Breakker and Penta, a women's IC title match between Lira Valkyria and Raquel Rodriguez along with Dragon Lee vs Chad Gable.
We're shown CM Punk, Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, Lira Valkyria, Rey Mysterio Jr, Penta, Bron Breakker and Dragon Lee all ariving. After an unusually long silence, here comes John Cena. Let's see if Glasgow can get as loud as Belgium....and its not even close. The "John Cena sucks" chant is loud but not THAT loud. Cena stares at a little kid in Cena merch waiving at him and blows him off to walk to the ring. Maybe now we'll get an answer why he joined The Rock. Cena says the crowd seems like it has something to say. Cena says they're ready to do their worst because the spotlight has been turned on them. He says he can pick apart anyone and no one is safe and last week he put a kid on blast. He laughs that his face was everywhere and the crowd loved it. The "Fuck you Cena" chants start as McAfee is glad to hear it. Cena laughs and says he's the one guy that actually the truth and everyone else just uses profanity. Cena says they're all horrible people for laughing at the little kid and he's going to make them pay for the 25 years of abuse. Cena says he paid attention as the crowd chants "Shut the fuck up" and says they make it so easy. Cena says he's been paying attention, learning and putting up with their childish nursery rhymes. John says they know nothing about him and he knows more about them then they do, their lives are sad. John says this is the best they're gonna get but to him, they're just an experiment, rats in a cage. John says pick out any moment of his career and he'll tell you how he played the crowd and shoots down the "what" chant by saying fans desperately want to matter. He said April of 2005 he gave the crowd the WWE Championship spinner belt and they ate him alive. He goes on to say the fans weren't happy he turned the championship belt into a toy and he remembers it. He says he's going to ruin wrestling for every fan (McAfee "What?") and everyone at Wrestlemania by winning his 17th championship. Cena says he's going to make everyone forget about Ric Flair and forever remember John Cena, even worse, he's going to win the championship and retire with it. Cena says he's taking the belt home with him and leaving them to create a toy belt because he's bringing it home, promising to be the last real champion. Cena says his final revenge will be ripping the fans hearts out by walking away with their title and there's nothing anyone can do to stop him. Right on cue, here comes Cody Rhodes. Cody gets in the ring and the crowd chants "Cody, Cody Rhodes" much to Cena's visible dismay. Cody "I'm sorry, what did you say?" Cody says Cena claims he's going to take the belt from the fans, but he has to go through him first. Cody says he made a mistake last week saying he wanted the old Cena, but this IS John Cena. Cody says John made a massive mistake, not hitting him but saying what he just said while Cody was in the building. The crowd chants again before Cody asks if the chanting bothers him because he doesn't have to unpack their history. Cody says Cena of all people knows how hard Cody had to work just to win the title one time and Cody mocks John saying the history of wrestling hangs in the balance because of his vanity. Cody puts the belt down and says come and take it, disrobing. Cena tosses the mic and goes to square up before walking away to a chorus of boos. Cody picks up the mic and screams "JOHN!" He takes his suit coat off and Cena walks away for a second time. Cody "One thing John, I cannot let you do it." Cody says he wants Cena to see him & the fans and his psychotic need to take the title doesn't outweigh the fans & his desire to keep it. Cody says the champ isn't walking away, the champ is here in the ring. He finishes by saying Cena walking empty ended right now will be Cena walking away from Wrestlemania and WWE the same way. Not as epic as last week and more of the same, really. Cena still hasn't explained why he joined The Rock. Its as if The Rock was never there. Hopefully they explain it soon because we're getting closer to Wrestlemania.
Moving on to Cole & McAfee at the announce desk shilling Raw Recap tomorrow before hyping up tonight's IC title match. We're shown last Monday where Bron Breakker defeated Finn Balor with Finn upset with Judgment Day. Its the Damian Priest face turn all over again only with Finn. Now its time to yeet as Jey Uso makes his way to the ring for the tag team match against A-Town Down Under. He was supposed to have a mystery partner but there's no mystery. Jimmy Uso comes out with him for a reunion of The Usos as we go to break. Back from break we're shown Stephanie McMahon chilling with various WWE stars & legends for her upcoming ESPN show.
Match 1
A-Town Down Under (Grayson Waller & Austin Theory) vs The Usos (Jimmy & Jey)
Not like an un-anounced reunion of one of the greatest tag teams in WWE history to take on Waller & Theory. Bell's gone and Jey starts with Theory. Jey starts with a shoulderblock on Theory as Cole says this is the Uso's first tag team match just the two of them since Money In The Bank 2023. Jey blocks an arm-drag and hits a clothesline, forcing Austin to retreat to the corner to tag in a reluctant Waller. Waller goes for a kick but Jey uppercuts him in the corner. Hey hits a dropkick and tags in Jimmy to a big pop. A double elbow followed by a double elbow drop and double clothesline over the top to the floor. The Usos's throw Theory over the top as well. Jimmy dives over the top onto Waller & Theory before Jimmy throws Waller inside. Cole says Jimmy was victorious in a tag team match this past Friday in Italy. Jimmy uppercuts Waller and covers for 1...2...no. Jimmy chops Waller as Cole brings up Jey should be feeling good about having Jimmy in his corner against Gunther.....which may not be the case since it was Jimmy that cost Jey at Summerslam two years ago. Jimmy chops Waller as Theory blind tags in. Jimmy punches Waller on the floor but Theory hits a loud forearm to Jimmy. That looked REAL as we go to break. Back from commercial Waller has a chinlock on Jimmy. Jimmy fights out of it but Waller sends Jey off the apron. Waller dives inside the ring and runs into a Samoan drop by Jimmy. Theory tags in but Jey gets the hot tag. Jey cleans house of both heels and slugs away at Theory, hitting the Yeet Punch. Jey hits a step up enziguiri and yeets, hitting the Umaga to Theory. He superkicks Waller then Theory, covering Austin for 1...2....no. Jey's samoan drop is blocked and Waller makes a blind tag. Jey eata a double forearm and double punch. Waller covers for 1...2...no. Waller hops up on the second rope but misses the elbow drop. Jimmy gets the tag and they hit a double samoan drop before Jimmy goes up top. He kicks Theory away but gets crotched by Waller. Waller walks into a superkick but Theory tags in. Waller gets speared by Jey and Austin runs right into 1D. Jey covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Waller & Theory are glorified jobbers at this point but the match was at least watchable. The Uso's having a one night reunion was fun as they celebrate in the ring.
Time of match:
Winners: The Uso's by pinfall
The celebration is shortlived as Gunther hits the ring, shitcanning Jimmy outside. Jey cuts him off and they slug it out in the center of the ring. Jey catches Gunther with two superkicks to send him into the corner. Jey trips up on the spear attempt and Gunther dives on top of him, hitting forearm after forearm. Jimmy grabs a chair and chases off Gunther as Cole says that Jey has been slipping up lately. Either Jey botched again and Gunther thought very fast on his feet or that was supposed to happen to try to hide the fact Jey has been a botchfest lately. Either way a lot of fans aren't happy on social media with Jey getting the push despite his botches.
We cut to Raquel Rodriguez warming up for her title match with Liv Morgan next to her. Carlito and Dom Mysterio show up with Dom looking down. Apparently Finn isn't happy but Liv says that's just him being himself. Liv says things are looking up because she beat Jade Cargill and Raquel is about to be IC champion. Dom "Double champ!" Carlito says its his turn to challenge for the IC title as Liv tells Dom to talk to Penta again. Dom says Finn doesn't want him and Liv says Finn didn't want her either and it worked out. Liv butterfly kisses his nose and she walks off with Raquel. Carlito says Dom brought him in as well and it worked out, but doesn't have another apple for Dom. Carlito is trying to play the dumbass like R-Truth did last year but its not funny most of the time.
Cole says tomorrow night Stephanie Vaquer is pulling double duty tomorrow night on NXT as she faces Jaida Parker for the NXT Women's title and Fallon Henley for the Women's North American title as well. We cut to Lira Valkyria getting some last minute love from Bayley as she heads to the ring. Adam Pearce is shown talking to Rey Mysterio and Dragon Lee as we go to break. Back from commercial we get a fake vignette of the history of lucha libre before highlighting El Grande Americano as the greatest of all time from the Gulf of America. He was blackballed by jealous promoters and disappeared. Now he's back to bring Lucha Libre back to its former glory. We cut to Adam Pearce with a disgusted Dragon Lee and Mysterio. Rey asks what the hell was that and Pearce rolls his eyes saying that's the newest member of the Raw roster, El Grande Americano. Rey says that's just Chad Gable but Chad himself walks in saying he's wrong. Gable says he's physically similar but he doesn't have the energy to argue because he's sick. He hands Adam Pearce a doctor's note and Pearce says its legit. Rey says they don't need a match, they'll see him in the parking lot. Chad says he has a replacement, El Grande Americano and Rey doesn't like it. Pearce says his hands are tied but Lee says he'll take the match anyway. Rey calls Gable a jackass and Pearce mocks him for the doctor's note. Gable coughs and Cole says he should be wearing a mask, not the luchador kind.
Actor Richard Gadd from Baby Reindeer is in the crowd as Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez are in the ring, time for the next match. Liv Morgan's bodyguard gets a crack at the IC champ and this has all the vibes of Razor Ramon vs Diesel with Shawn Michaels from 31 years ago only in female form.
Match 2
Raquel Rodriguez (with Liv Morgan) vs Lira Valkyria for the WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship
Bell's gone and Lira gets a quick go-behind. Raquel flings her across the ring then does a modified giant swing. Cole says Lira has a problem with bigger women as she gets heaved into the corner by Raquel. Lira's up and over is blocked but she does dropkick her in the left knee. A northern lights suplex is blocked by Raquel but Lira sunset flips her. Lira ducks under the elbow and sends Raquel through the ropes to the outside. Lira's baseball slide is blocked but she still headscissors Raquel into the announce table. Cole says Liv is failing as a coach as Lira throws Raquel in the ring. She jumps right into a big boot as McAfee says "HOLY HELLLL WHAT...A..BOOT!" as we go to commercial. Back from break Raquel grabs Lira by the hair and delivers a Blanchard Bomb for 1...2....no. Raquel pushes Lira's face and drags her to the corner. Raquel taunts the crowd but misses the skytwister press. Lira hops up on the top rope and hits a legdrop. She rolls Raquel over and covers for 1...2..no. Lira picks up Raquel but she slides out of it, clotheslining Lira in the back. Raquel hits the skytwister press and covers for 1..2....no. Raquel throws Lira head first into the buckle before placing her on the top rope. Lira's crossbody is caught in midair, but Lira turns it into a tornado DDT. She covers for 1...2...no, Liv puts Raquel's foot on the rope. Lira points at Liv and goes for Nightwing but Raquel blocks it. Lira blasts Liv with a baseball slide then counters the Tejana Bomb with a victory roll for 1....2....3 to win the match. Lira survives with an upset victory over the much larger Raquel. Lira's beaten Ivy Nile and Raquel Rodriguez, eventually she's going to run out of opponents.
Time of match:
Winner: Valkyria by pinfall (still IC Champion)
Liv attacks Lira after the bell and Bayley hits the ring for the save. Bayley naps Liv off the second rope but Raquel goes for the Tejana Bomb. Bayley and Valkyria block it and dump Raquel over the top rope. Possible tag team match next week perhaps? Back to Cole and McAfee who shills Pat's new show before Pat stands up wearing a kilt. Pat says he's only renting the kilt and he's going old school in it...yuck. Cole hypes up the Clash In Paris this coming August before we get a recap highlight of the ongoing drama between Rhea Ripley, Iyo Sky and Bianca Belair. Last week Rhea Ripley powerbombed Iyo on top of Bianca and signed the contract to make it a triple threat match much to Adam Pearce's chagrin. Adam Pearce is on his way to the ring to make a decision on this as we go to break.
Back from commercial we get a highlight of HHH's rivalry with The Rock over the IC title at Summerslam 98. The Uso's are sitting on the stairs together. Jimmy asks him what's up because he's been botching left and right. Jimmy says he's out here slipping and if that keeps up, he won't win Wrestlemania. Jey says he knows and he's reminded every week that he's 3-0 (he meant 0-3) against Gunther. Jimmy says he can't beat Gunther the way things are going, but the right hand man, Main Event Jey, the Royal Rumble winner, HE can beat Gunther. Jimmy says he's got him and spots Gunther walking by. Jimmy walks up to him and says he wants him next week. Gunther says as long as he doesn't trip and fall like his brother, sure. Jimmy slaps him across the face and walks off leaving Gunther smiling.
Adam Pearce is in the ring saying they're officially on the road to Wrestlemania. Adam says the match is between Iyo Sky and Bianca Belair and the crowd boos. Adam says Rhea scribbled her signature and he assures the crowd that Ripley is not in the match. Adam says the match is Iyo and Bianca and he's been trying to get Rhea her re-match with Iyo for weeks but Bianca winning Elimination Chamber put her as number one contender. Pearce says Rhea only wants it on her time and therefor....and here comes World Women's Champion Iyo Sky. Iyo with a mic says she doesn't care about contracts and will take on both Rhea & Bianca because she's World Women's Champion. Cole "Yeah you tell em Iyo". Pearce goes to say something but here comes Bianca Belair to interrupt. Bianca says she earned the number one contenders spot and says she's not going to let Rhea into the match because she didn't earn it. Pearce goes to answer again but here comes Rhea Ripley. Pearce "Good god almighty!" Pat "Mami's here!" Rhea says she doesn't give a damn about Wrestlemania or who she has to go through to get her title back. Rhea wants her rematch and Adam goes "Oh NOW you want a rematch." Bianca says Rhea waited 3 weeks already so she can wait three more. Bianca goes nose to nose with Rhea and Iyo tries to butt in, only to get piefaced by Rhea. Here we go again! Iyo throws the belt down and goes after Rhea but Adam holds her back and says "ENOUGH!" He says that next week on Raw Rhea will face Iyo for the title and the winner faces Bianca at Wrestlemania. He tells them to have a good night, throws the mic down and storms out. Bianca kicks the mic out of the way and Iyo hits a tornado DDT on Rhea. They brawl in the ring and Iyo hits a head scissors to Rhea out of the ring. Bianca does a KOD on Iyo over the top onto Rhea and stands tall at the end. The interesting thing is the crowd booed Bianca here, but that could have been just a Scotland thing. The crowd was behind Iyo there but let's see how that looks when we get back to the States.
We cut to Penta warming up for his IC title match when Dominik Mysterio walks up to recruit him for Judgment Day. Penta goes to answer but Dom cuts him off to say he could be IC champ tonight. We get a graphic for the match as we go to break. Back from commercial we get a vignette on the World Tag Team Champions the War Raiders just to let us know they're still there. Love how Smackdown's tag team division is featured every week but the War Raiders are barely ever on TV. We cut to New Day demanding Adam Pearce for a tag team title match at Wrestlemania. The already irate Pearce goes off saying if they came in asking for a match next week to prove himself, that would have been fine. Instead "Don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya." Woods says check your blood pressure and Adam says bring him a glass of water. Suddenly Bianca walks in and asks who she's facing at Wrestlemania and Pearce makes her the special guest referee. Bianca "I don't know how to referee" Pearce "You got a week to figure it out, thank you for dropping by. Drive safe." Cole "Pearce has lost it." Hahahaha Pearce has been the best part of the night hands down.
We cut to the ring with Dragon Lee in the ring for his match with "El Grande Americano" and the most stereotypical Mexican music hits. Here we go.
Match 3
Dragon Lee vs El Grande Americano
That's definitely Chad Gable under the mask and he's billed from "Gulf of America" to really rub it in. Cole "Google has everything and they've never heard of this guy." Dragon rushes him but Americano Olympic wrestles circles around him, yeah we know who this is. Lee gets knocked off the apron and Gab....Americano runs into a hurracarna. Lee hits a suicide dive through the ropes and rolls him inside. Lee goes for the mask but Cha....Americano chops him. Grande hits a hurracarana and a headbutt before covering for 1...2...no. The crowd chants Ole as Lee hits a knee to the head on the apron. Americano htis a Taz-plex from the apron to the floor, ouch! Back from commercial Lee fights his way into a victory roll for 1..2...no. Lee hits a big high knee and goes for a superplex to the floor, but Americano fights back. Lee hits a coup de gras on the top rope onto a hanging Americano, hurting his knee in the process. Between the Taz plex on the floor and now that, they're playing with fire here. Both men get back in the ring at the count of nine and they play "yay/boo" in the center of the ring. They chop each other and Lee hits a german suplex followed by a superkick on Grande. Lee is overhead suplexed into the buckle and Grande covers for 1...2..no. Gable goes for the moonsault but lands on his feet and Lee counters with a sitout powerbomb for 1...2..no. Lee puts Grande on the top rope but suddenly Grande rips Lee's mask off. Lee rolls around on the floor holding his face and Chad Grande applies the ankle lock. Lee taps out and this one's over. That was a dangerous match but a lot of fun. Definitely didn't see that ending coming.
Time of match: 8:55
Winner: Americano by submission
McAfee says if Americano keeps this up, he'll be hall of fame bound. Cole wishes Gable recovers before we get a clip of Gunther ripping on the LFG recruits in character. We then get a recap of the recent Seth Rollins/Roman Reigns/CM Punk drama. Reigns stood tall at the end of Smackdown and its official, a triple threat for Wrestlemania has been signed.
Here comes CM Punk for a conference as we go to break. Back from break Punk is in the ring and gets a big pop. Punk says its great to be in Glasgow but he's not in a good mood. He claims he's jet lagged and hasn't slept well mostly due to his road to Wrestlemania. Punk says what he wants, he's not getting...or is he! He wanted to win the Rumble, he didn't. He needed to win the Chamber, but he didn't. He says the more things change, the more things stay the same "I work with children". For those that don't know he infamously said that line when describing the AEW booking team while he was there. Punk calls Seth Rollins a diaper baby and he screwed him at Elimination Chamber which doesn't get him what he wants. Punk says its personal between Rollins and Reigns but for him, its just business. Punk says they gotta go and Rollins has been crying since Punk's shadow belittles him. Punk acknowledges Roman is taking things too personal and its because his wise man isn't just HIS wise man. Punk says this is just business and business takes him to London this Friday for a contract signing. The crowd boos and Punk asks why. He then says they wanted it here tonight and the crowd cheers. Punk says he did too and that's why he's here. He doesn't want to wait to read the fine print and says this better be a stepping stone to what he wants or else it'll be just another rug pull from the powers that be. Punk says Seth and Romans to fuel their jets and he'll see them in London. Punk says listen to two things. First, neither of them have ever beaten him without the other's help. The second thing is he brought them into the business and he can't wait that takes them out of it. He signs off saying "Best in the world." Bottom line is Punk wants a WWE Championship title shot and if they do decide to have Cena beat Cody, Punk makes the perfect opponent to possibly take it from Cena. He also brought up some continuity as it was Punk who brought The Shield to the main roster in 2012.
Cole says next week's show will be at 3 PM Eastern since London is five hours ahead. Logan Paul pops up to say he's going to be in London and he wants AJ Styles for embarrassing him at Madison Square Garden. Also next week we get Jimmy Uso vs Gunther and yet another Cody Rhodes and John Cena promo. Hopefully this time John will explain The Rock's influence. Iyo Sky defends the World title against Rhea Ripley with Bianca as the special guest referee.
We cut to Cathy Kelley with IC Champ Bron Breakker and asks what he thinks of Judgment Day recruiting Penta. Bron says that doesn't concern him because he's going to beat Penta for one reason, because the dogs are barking. He heads to the ring for our main event as we go to commercial. Back from break, its time for the match.
Match 4
Penta vs Bron Breakker for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
Penta hasn't officially joined Judgment Day so this may be on the level. Bell rings and Penta gets a go-behind as Cole says Penta lasted the longest at 42 minutes in the Royal Rumble. Penta ducks a line and kicks Bron in the leg twice. Breaker runs the ropes like a freight train and runs over Penta with a clothesline. Breakker shoulderblocks Penta in the corner but eats a hurracarana. Penta caters to the crowd as Bron bails to the apron. Penta jumps into a knee and falls to the floor. Bron hits a Steiner Line from the apron to the announce table but here comes Carlito and Dom Mysterio as we go to break. Back from commercial Penta chops Bron in the chest and he no-sells it. Bron forearms Penta down and Penta rallies with forearms of his own. Penta runs right into a right hand but Bron runs into a superkick. Breakker gets a knee up but runs right into another superkick. Penta kicks Bron in the head and back before doing a modified bulldog. Penta runs into a big right hand and Bron goes for a fireman's carry, but Penta hits a backstabber much to Carlito's delight. Penta calls for the Mexican Destroyer but Bron turns it into a military gut buster, covering for 1....2..no. Bron says its over and calls for the spear, running into a superkick. Penta puts Bron on the second rope but Penta hits a top rope hurracarana. Penta hits a hilo to the floor as the crowd chants this is awesome. Penta calls for the Destroyer and hits it, covering for 1...2....NOOOOO. Penta spots Dom and Carlito on the floor but doesn't look like he wants them out there. Penta goes to the second rope and Bron scales the rope for the Frankensteiner, hitting it. He covers for 1...2...no. Breakker pulls his straps down and says this one's over. Dom hops up on the apron to distract the ref so Carlito hops up on the other side. Bron heaves Carlito in the ring and spears him. Dom chopblocks Bron for the DQ finish and this ones over. Good match but the BS finish was to establish Judgment Day as a threat. Penta will get another shot down the road for sure.
Time of match: 11:26
Winner: Breakker by DQ (Still IC Champion)
Post match Dom beats on Bron until Breakker starts fighting back. All of a sudden Finn Balor appears out of thin air and waffles Bron in the back with a chair. Finn clocks Bron with the chair, teases hitting Dom and tosses him the chair. Dom pounds Breakker with the chair as Penta is confused. Dom hands the chair to Penta and tells him to hit Bron. Penta teases hitting Breakker and tosses it to Dom. Penta superkicks Dom to a massive pop but Balor puts the boots to Penta. Balor hits Breakker with the chair again, goes up top and hits the coup de gras. Balor pulls Dom to his feet and they stand tall over Penta as we end the show.
Really not liking these four match cards this close to Wrestlemania with 3 hours to work with, but at least the matches are good and treated as important. We're 26 days away and most of the card is set, especially on the Raw side. Logan Paul vs AJ Styles is all but official but it'll be interesting to see how the World Women's Championship will play out. All signs point to a triple threat but you never know. Again, the matches tonight were great but the Cody/Cena thing just didn't hit the same this time. Hopefully they do something different next week. Chad Gable pulling a Mr. America is starting to get over one way or another and Penta turning down Judgment Day means a possible Penta/Balor match soon. All in all it wasn't a bad show, just too much down time. The next show after this is tomorrow night's NXT. I'll see you there.