WWE Raw (4/20/26)

WWE Raw

T-Mobile Arena

Las Vegas, NV

April 20, 2026

Commentators: Michael Cole and Corey Graves

Ring Announcer: Mark Nash

Its the Raw after Wrestlemania and what a weekend it was. Roman Reigns is the new World Heavyweight Champion after defeating CM Punk clean with no interference. Brock Lesnar lost to Oba Femi and promptly retired, Liv Morgan is still the World Women's Champion after the Judgment Day helped her beat Stephanie Vaquer, The Usos and LA Knight knocked off the watered down Vision when IShowSpeed joined the Usos for the beat down. Gunther defeated Seth Rollins after the returning Bron Breakker interfered, Rhea Ripley is the new WWE Women's Champion after taking out Jade Cargill, Finn Balor defeated Dom Mysterio and Penta is still the Intercontinental Champion after winning the ladder match. Rumors are rampant about releases and call-ups so let's see what happens.

We begin with a recap of Wrestlemania as Roman Reigns is announced to be here. We're shown Judgement Day entering the arena as well as Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky. First out of the gate is Oba Femi in coat and tie. He stands in the ring as the crowd doesn't even let him talk, they chant his chant and name. He says "The ruler has arrived" and drops the mic. That's it, no 20 minute soliloquy, no big speech, he's here and deal with it. We cut to a vignette of The Kabuki Warriors with Asuka telling everyone in Japanese that Iyo is nothing without them and they carried her. Asuka says that she'll always be Iyo's Sempai and Iyo's not ready for Asuka. Time for our first match.

Match 1

The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka and Kairi Sane) vs Iyo Sky and Rhea Ripley

Rhea will be on her way to Smackdown after this so this will be the final time we see Rhiyo for a while. Bell's gone and Iyo starts with Kairi. They roll around to start as the announcers say Iyo is trying to take Kairi away from Asuka. Kairi grabs Iyo by the hair and tries to throw her but Iyo flips away. Kairi charges in the corner and Iyo flips her to the apron. Kairi comes off the top but Iyo runs through it. Kairi tells Rhea and Iyo to kiss her ass then stomps on Iyo's foot. Kairi hits a head scissors and goes to tag Asuka but Iyo rolls her up for 1...2...no. Iyo and Kairi trade punches until Iyo hits a double underarm backbreaker. Iyo tags in Rhea Ripley and they double team Kairi then covers for 1...2...no. Kairi slaps Rhea and Ripley faceplants her. Rhea hits a dropkick and Asuka tags in. Asuka and Ripley miss kicks but Asuka misses the backhand punch. Asuka then does it again along with savate kicks and a dropkick. Rhea hits a kick of her own and covers for 1...2..no. Rhea grabs Asuka who kicks at Iyo and eats a kick to the face. Kairi distracts Rhea and Asuka kicks her outside of the ring. Kairi tags in and hits a clothesline to the floor. She grabs the camera and starts shaking as we go to break. Back from commercial the Kabuki's double team Rhea and Kairi covers for 1...2...no. Cole asks how much Rhea has left after going to war with Jade Cargill last night. Rhea ducks under a flying Kairi and kicks her in the head. Iyo gets the hot tag who cleans house of Asuka and Kairi tries to kick her, but Iyo catches the leg and swings it into Asuka's face.  Iyo backflips over the double clothesline and hits one of her own. She cleans house with running knees to both of them then roundhouse kicks Asuka. She covers for 1...2...no. Rhea tags in who hits Razor's Edge on Asuka. Iyo comes off the top with a missile dropkick and Rhea covers for 1...2...no. Asuka wiggles out of riptide and hits a codebreaker. Kairi tags her self in for the double kick. Kairi covers for 1..2...no, Iyo breaks up the count. Iyo victory rolls through Asuka and stomps on her stomach. Asuka rolls outside and Kairi accidentally sends Iyo through the ropes into Asuka. Kairi turns around into a headbutt from Rhea and a Riptide. Iyo tags in and hits Over The Moonsault, covering for 1..2...3 to win the match. Good opener between four vets with good chemistry. Essentially this was it for Rhiyo.

Time of match: 11:43

Winners: Rhiyo by pinfall

After the match Rhea and Iyo celebrate while Asuka berates the fallen Kairi outside. We cut to a useless Wrestlemania graphic although we do get Back In the Saddle by Aerosmith playing over it. Raw GM Adam Pearce is with IC Champion Penta and congratulates him for winning the previous night. Pearce doesn't know how Penta can follow that and Je'Von Evans walks in shaking hands with them. Evans congrats Penta but says he's going to be champion one day and he's not going away. Penta says his title isn't going anywhere and he leaves. In walks none other than "All Ego" Ethan Page from NXT. Adam says he's Raw's newest star and Je'Von Evans gets instant flashback to NXY Vengeance Day from the previous year. Ethan says why should Evans get another title shot when he himself wants to be champion and he won't need a second chance. Evans gets in his face and Pearce says they will settle this in the ring tonight. The crowd loved that and Evans says no one's taking his spot, especially not Page. Pearce and Page shake hands as Cole says coming up next, a lookback at CM Punk.

Apparently during the broke, an exclusive promo was shot by Los Americanos with El Grande Americano saying in Spanish he's going to unmask the original El Grande Americano. When TV resumes, naturally Cole and Graves send things to the Spanish announce desk. Royce Keys is shown in the crowd and Cole says catch him on Smackdown.

Here comes CM Punk for a philosophical discussion and apparently his new entrance is waiting until Its Clobberin Time to play Cult of Personality. CM Punk gets in on the mic and says he dealt with a lot of loss lately. His MMA trainer Duke Rufus died in October and his dog Larry died in November and then every two weeks WWE family lost one guy after another including Kerwin Silfies and the crowd cheers the fallen. Punk says on April 1st he lost his friend Harm's Way guitarist Bo Leuders and he lost the previous night to Roman Reigns. Punk says the personal losses matter more than losing the title and he thanks the fans for staying behind him no matter what. He says being champion was like having an anchor keeping him sane and the fans will help him get through last night. He says he was never supposed to be champion after he survived Gunther only to get cashed in on by Seth Rollins. Punk says "You know, being world heavyweight champion for 3 minutes at 46 years old is a hell of a Sunday". Then he could have stayed home but instead he stayed ready and put everything he had. Then Seth gets hurt and Punk got an opportunity. He says if he didn't stay ready, they'd be here right now yeeting and Jey Uso would be in the ring. The crowd boos and Punk asks why because he likes to yeet (BURN!). Punk says he's smiling because he's still the best in the world and the baddest ass. Punk says his childhood dream was to prove it on the biggest stage and it just wasn't his night. He says he's not going anywhere and he's going to stay ready when you never know when a title shot will fall out of the sky.

Right on cue, here comes WWE Champion Cody Rhodes supporting a massive shiner and a limp after his war with Randy Orton the night before. As Cody gets in the ring, Punk checks out the shiner and screams "Woahhhh" with the song (Hahahaha!). Punk asks if he went over his time and Cody says don't leave because its Raw and its his time as well. Cody sounds downtrodden as he says this isn't what he expected out of Punk and Punk waives his arms saying "Did you think I was gonna freak out?" Punk asks "You thought I was gonna crash out?" Cody says "Yeah. You know who I am and I know who you are and how you like to handle things. You're buttoned up and I'm glad Vegas gave you the flowers that they did because you deserve them." Cody says he's glad Punk is handling it like this because Cody himself feels like a loser. Punk "Wait, you think I should feel like a loser?" Punk tells the crowd "Stop it, we're friends." Punk says its okay to think that but he doesn't feel like a loser. "I have a tattoo of a marshmallow on a stick. I know, its weird." Punk says Cody isn't a loser as he beat a first ballot hall of famer and it was hard because he beat a friend and a mentor. Punk says he fought someone he hates and its easy to stomp "his stupid face" and make fun of his sweet pepper necklace but Cody was the real challenge. He says Cody is the winner and in a word, he's the loser. Punk says Cody feels like that because heavy is the head that wears the crowd and now he's free as a bird. Punk says his path is to stay ready and look directly at Cody's belt. He says "You never know when a championship opportunity is going to fall out of the sky." Punk leaves but Cody says "Hey Punk, just say when." The crowd roars as Punk nods his head in approval.

We cut to Finn Balor saying last night Dom brought out the Demon and the Demon put Dom down. He says he's not finished with Judgment Day because Dom drew first blood but was only the first to fall. He expected Dom to betray him but not from JD McDonough. Finn remembers JD as a 12 year old and how he trained JD when McDonagh was 16. Finn says he helped JD become one of the greatest performers on Earth and when he needed someone to have his back, it was only going to be JD...but JD made a choice. Finn says he brought JD in but tonight he's going to take JD out. Very good stuff from Balor here. On to the next match.

Match 2

"All Ego" Ethan Page vs Je'Von Evans

The battle of the NXT guys as Cole says they've met 3 times including a street fight. Graves say he called that match. Page gets a headlock in and shoulderblocks Evans down. Evans hits a leapfrog roll up for 2 then backflips out of trouble. Evans kips up into a stunner and Page bails to the apron only to cheapshot Evans down. Page executes a side backbreaker but Evans chops him in the chest. Evans lands left hands but Page hits a big right. Page drops Evans with a back elbow smash and covers for a deuce. Cole says Evans isn't 100% after last night as Graves says he needed a bodycast and he wasn't even in the match. Ethan gets in another headlock but Evans rolls out of it, hitting a dropkick. Evans hits a hurracarana and tells the camera "We at". Evans dives over the top rope to the floor on Page as we go to break. Back from commercial we get another Evans suicide dive to the floor. Cole says Graves wrestled Page before and Graves said he knew then Ethan would be special. Evans rams Ethan's head in the buckle and land a kick to the back. Evans hits a springboard crossbody for 1..2....no. Evans cathers to the crowd as Cole says it must be nice to be young. Page catches Evans on the middle rope and throws him onto the middle of the ring. Ethan hits a powerslam for 1...2..no. Ethan taunts the irate crowd by pointing at Evans as if to say "This your boy?" Ethan rips Evans shirt off to show the athletic tape on Evans body, the scars of last night. Outside the ring Evans sends Page into the ring post and a superkick puts Page on the Spanish announce table. Out of nowhere Alexander Rusev appears and takes a swing at Evans. Je'Von ducks and clocks him. Evan dives over the barricade on top of Rusev then runs into the ring. Evans goes for Tiffy Time but Page knocks him off the turnbuckle. Ethan hits Twisted Grin and covers for 1...2...3 to win the match. Damn good match showcasing the classic heel tactics of Page and the high flying Evans. Relatively clean win too as the Rusev distraction didn't prove that fatal.

Time of match: 10:15

Winner: Page by pinfall

After the bell Rusev runs in and starts stomping Evans. Ethan Page laughs at Evans and just exits the ring. Rusev stomps on Evans' back and hits the Accolade. Ruh roh....here comes Penta to even the odds. Penta chops and kicks away at Rusev. Penta superkicks Rusev and goes up to the top rope...only for Page to throw him off. Rusev superkicks Penta in the face and Page applauds him. Page says "all yours" and leaves. Rusev locks Penta in the Accolade for a little more heat. The crowd chants Rusev sucks as he holds the IC strap on his shoulder. 11 years ago he was the US Champion going into Wrestlemania and never fully recovered his heat. This might be a last ditch effort to get something out of him.

We get a vignette advertising the upcoming Hulk Hogan Netflix documentary on Wednesday and cut to Cole saying this was the first Wrestlemania without Hulk alive and Graves says he was immortalized in a different way. Loved him or hate him, he's still one of the most talked about wrestlers ever. Here comes Judgment Day heading to the ring as we go to break. Back from commercial here comes Judgment Day for a conference. Dom Mysterio, Roxanne Perez, Raquel Rodriguez, JD McDonagh and of course World Women's Champ Liv Morgan.

Morgan does a victory lap around the ring holding the mic to the crowd and the men start chanting "You deserve it" and she says that's the smartest thing they've said all day. Liv calls herself the greatest world champion of alllllllllllllllllllllllll time. She wants to thank a few folks first including Judgment Day for helping her and Stephanie Vaquer for helping her remind herself she's the most talented woman in WWE. Liv says its her ring, her show, and her women's championship. Liv goes to say something else when none other than Sol Ruca from NXT walks out. She gets in the ring and says "Hey Liv" getting a pop. She apologizes for interrupting and she says Liv is an inspiration to her and it taught her that Liv is the top woman in the division. Sol says she deserves it and Liv says thanks but she has SOME NERVE interrupting. Liv says since Sol was nice to her she'll be nice too in saying Sol is no Liv Morgan. Liv says if Sol wants to make it to the next Wrestlemania then she'll leave her ring right now. Sol says this is a misunderstanding since she's not here to pick a fight....but she's not gonna back down from one. They go to throw down when Adam Pearce walks out saying "Hold on, hold on." Pearce says he knows the crowd wants to see a fight and he brings out Jessika Carr for an impromptu match right now....after commercial that is.

Match 3

Sol Ruca vs World Women's Champion Liv Morgan (with Judgment Day)

Non title match and as the bell rings, Sol handstands and kips up out of clothesline trouble. Ruca hits a superkick but Liv slugs and kicks away at her. Liv victory rolls for 1...2, Ruca reverses for 1...2..no, Ruca carthweels out of trouble then dropkicks her. Cole apologizes for making a mistake on commentary as Ruca back elbows Liv in the corner. Ruca goes for a standing moonsault but Liv gets the knees up. Ruca rolls to the apron and goes for a springboard but Liv kicks the rope to cause Sol to go crashing. Liv pounds away on Ruca as Cole says Sol will face Zaria tomorrow night on NXT. Liv stands on Ruca then hits a back elbow in the corner as Cole brings up Ruca's victory on Saturday Night's Main Event. Liv hits a running knee in the corner and a dropkick. Cole says Tatum Paxley will take on Blake Monroe tomorrow night on NXT as well. Liv covers Sol and sticks her tongue out at the camera for 1...2...no. Liv charges twice right into kicks but she blocks and O'Connor Roll attempt. Sol rolls out of a scoop slam and hits a waistlock. Liv rerverses into a front head lock. Liv knees Sol in the ribs but Sol carthweels into an X-Factor on Liv. Liv bails to the outside and Sol hits the apron moonsault as we go to break. Back from commercial  Liv hits a snap supex...and goes for the 3 Amigos to chorus of boos. Sol Ruca blocks the third suplex and hits one of her own. Liv's face is priceless. They trade punches for "yay boo" with Ruca getting the yays. Ruca hits an uppercut and a back elbow smash. Ruca hits a second one before sending Liz into the corner for a released German suplex. Up to the second rope, Sol hits a missile dropkick and a kip up. Sol hits a running knee and covers for 1..2...no. Sol sells her lower back and goes back to the top rope. She jumps off into a codebreaker by Liv. She covers for 1...2...no. Sol backflips out of ObLivion and hits a superkick. Sol hits Sol Snatcher but Liv rolls to the floor in front of Roxanne and Raquel. Ruca does a handstand backflip to the floor on top of the interlopers and throws Liv back in. Out of nowhere Zaria appears and shoves Sol into the ring post, of course. Zaria hits a spinebuster onto the floor, yells at her as Cole says they have a Last Woman Standing match tomorrow night. Jessika Carr turns around to see Zaria leaving but didn't see what she did. Sol slides in at nine but Liv catches her with ObLivion, covering for 1...2...3 to win the match. Damn good effort by Sol to use her athleticism to put Liv on the run. It took a run in from Zaria to help Liv retain.

Time of match: 11:57

Winner: Morgan by pinfall

Nice to see WWE using Raw to further NXT storylines like Zaria/Ruca. As Liv celebrates with her girls, here comes Stephanie Vaquer. They stare each other down and Liv holds up the title. This feud is NOT over. After awkward silence, we're shown celebs at ringside. Fabulos...who hasn't had a hit in 25 years, Maino, Dave East and Jim Jones....did they pay for a plug? Cole at ringside sends us to a Brock Lesnar career vignette set to I Stand Alone by Godsmack. 

Speaking of Brock, his manager Paul Heyman comes out with the World Tag Team Champions Logan Paul and Austin Theory....after commercial. Paul gets on the mic and the crowd boos. He says he had a speech prepared but the program threw him off. He says his favorite part of Wrestlemania is expect the unexpected and he starts getting teary thinking about the Lesnar impromptu retirement. He then snaps  and says the WWE production team still has Brock in the "Now" part. He says the stupid bitches need to take him out of Now and put him into Forever because he'll forever be the baddest motherfucker (he doesn't actually say those two words but implies it) that will ever be in a WWE ring. That beasts name....is BROCKKKK LESNARRRRRRR. The crowd pops and chants "Thank You Brock" before Paul gets back in character. Paul says the Now is Austin Theory and Logan Paul, your heavyweight tag team champions of the world. Paul passes the mic to Logan Paul and the crowd lets him have it. Logan soaks in the boos and tries to say the only reason the Usos won at Wrestlemania is IShowSpeed but the crowd won't let him speak. Logan says he's sick of Youtubers and Streamers thinking they can come into the business and do what they do, he hates those outsiders. (Ha, clever!) Logan says nothing at Wrestlemania matters because Speed got punched in the face and they're still the champs. Logan hands the mic back to Paul and the champs pose. Paul says its only fitting that they take a moment to give thanks to Guther for taking out Seth Rollins and he owes him one. Paul says the best moment of the weekend was Seth Rollins getting cut in half by Bron Breakker. Paul introduces Bron as he heads to the ring. Bron takes the mic and crowd does his father's dog chant.

Bron says one year ago in this very same arena, he became the leader of the Vision because Seth Rollins was too weak. More like six months ago but anyway. Bron goes on to say he ruined everything for Seth as the crowd starts singing Seth's song. Bron says he hopes Seth is watching because he's going after him every single day. Seth's music hits and Seth appears from behind, whacking Bron in the back with a chair. Seth takes down Logan but Theory catches him with a left hand. Theory and Paul beat down Rollins when out of nowhere THE STREET PROFITZ hit the ring for the first time since October to even the odds. Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford clean house of The Vision and Montez flips outside. The duo take out Theory and Paul as Rollins superkicks Bron. Rollins punches away at Breakker and kicks, busting him wide open. Breakker hits the spear and takes his shirt off. Breakker says all these people will remember Seth as a shel of who he used to be. Bron runs the ropes and hits another spear to keep some heel heat. Graves "Who can stop Bron Breakker?"  This was a great segment with Paul tearing up paying tribute to Brock, Logan drawing massive heat, the return of Breakker & the Profitz and Bron keeping his heat intact.

We cut to a JD McDonagh vignette and tells Finn Balor that he brought him in and taught him that Judgment Day is family. He says put the others to the side and says Finn changed by taking his cues from CM Punk getting in his head. JD says he's been behind him for 20 years and what about him? He says he defended Balor while Balor talked down to him like he was the leader. People asked him how he could do that to Finn and he says it was easy, he'd do it again. He claims he's going to step out of Finn's shadow and the Finn we knew and loved is dead. Normally Balor vs McDonagh would be cucka so I at least appreciate them making this a big deal.

We cut to WWE US Champion Trick Williams at ringside for a "Whoop That Trick" chant.

Match 4

Finn Balor vs JD McDonagh

We all know the story by now. Finn Balor was kicked out of Judgement Day and now he wants revenge. He brought back the Demon to take out Dom Mysterio at Wrestlemania and now he's after his protégé McDonagh who comes out alone. Finn doesn't wait for the bell to clothesline him to the floor. They brawl on the floor and then into the crowd. Finn beats JD all around the arena as Graves on commentary says he can see Dom turning on Finn but not JD. Eventually Balor throws JD inside for the official bell ring. Balor chops JD in the corner but catches a back elbow smash. JD punches away at Finn and sells his taped ribs from last night's ladder match. Finn goes for the Coup De Gras early but JD rolls out of the way. JD knees Balor through the ropes to the outside as we go to break. Back from commercial Balor powers out of a chin lock and hits an Eye of The Hurricane. Finn punches away at JD, trips him up and hits a big stomp. Finn hits the slingblade and his mouth is visibly bloodied. He calls for the shining wizard but misses. JD jacknife covers for 1..2...no. JD hits a headbutt and covers for 1...2...no. JD's top rope moonsault eats knees. Balor hits a dropkick, goes up top and hits Coup De Gras. He covers for 1..2...3 to win the match. Balor takes out both members of Judgement Day 24 hours apart. Not the best worked match but this was Balor out for revenge, holds be damned.

Time of match: 6:14

Winner: Finn by pinfall

After the match here comes Dom Mysterio for the beat down. Cole calls him a sore loser and Dom calls for the 619. Balor counters with a clothesline and a dropkick. Finn goes for the Coup De Gras but JD pulls Dom out. This feud isn't over either. We cut to Jackie Redmond with a very pleased looking Gunther. She asks how he feels after his big win and he says he feels fantastic. He says he was right about Seth Rollins and she asks if he knew about Bron Breakker. Gunther says there's no "me" and Paul Heyman, only that Paul owes him a favor. She asks what it is and he says he's going to be World Heavyweight Champion very soon. LA Knight shows up and says from one Wrestlemania winner to another congratulations. Knight goes on to say he beat Rollins but Gunther knows he's not the only one who wants the World Championship and Gunther needed 3 guys to help him win. Knight says he deserves the title shot and leaves. Graves "How dare ANYBODY interrupt the ring general"

Cole runs down next week's card in Laredo, Texas as new Women's Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch will be there, Joe Hendry will be in concert (seriously?) much to Graves' chagrin. We cut to Rhea Ripley and Iyo sky looking sad. Rhea essentially says goodbye as she's off to Smackdown and they hug it out. Rhea walks down the hall past Liv Morgan. Liv "Guess I'll see you around." Rhea "I'm looking forward to it." We get a fact that this was the first time Roman Reigns has won the World Heavyweight Championship and right on cue, a limo pulls up with him coming out. He's on his way to the ring as the crowd chants "Roman...Roman Reigns". Once he gets to Gorilla there's Jimmy and Jey Uso to greet him. The original Tribal Chief theme hits and the trio make their way to the ring. Thank god they brought that back.

Inside the ring Roman soaks up the crowd cheering before asking to acknowledge him. He says he was going to keep it short tonight but he ran into his cousins and wanted to discuss family business. He says he misses "this" and Jey says "Yeet." Roman misses having their trust, respect, love and admiration. He misses doing business with them and right now they're separated and scattered. He says separated CM Punk can run his mouth and disrespect them and some 90's rapper can disrespect Jey. For those that don't know, Jey got in a worked argument with Cam'ron....who hadn't had a hit since Hey Ma in 2002. Roman says he's Main Event Jey Uso the Yeet Man and right on cue the crowd chants Yeet. Roman says Jey changed the environment and he's got washed rappers running their mouths. Roman holds up 5 fingers and says that's because we're like this, this ain't us.  Roman makes a fist and says THIS is us and this is the power. He says combined they ran the business for 4 years straight. He's not asking them to serve him but to be his blood and stand with him. Jimmy says he speaks for Jey and he'll always be their OTC and any city they go to, they're the two and they the ones. Jey and Jimmy does the Bloodline signal but as Roman goes to put his finger up, here comes Jacob Fatu. If there was ever a time to recruit Jacob to fight the MFT's for WWE dominance, it would be now.

Jacob enters with a mic and the crowd chants Fatu. Roman says its been a while and there can only be a few reasons he'd come out. Roman says the first is he's there to acknowledge him but Jacob says "Naw, that ain't it." So much for the MFT war. Roman says its because Jacob wants a title shot. Jacob says he doesn't want the title, he needs it. Roman sighs and rolls his head around as Jacob says he's not there to be tribal chief. He needs everything that the tribal chief has. He needs the shoe deal, the private jets, a rolex, vehicles, a bigger house and his children in better schools even if he has to go through Roman. He says at Backlash Roman will know Jacob is all gas and no breaks with it. The crowd chants Fatu as Roman says he agrees with Jacob that he wants those things for him too. He says maybe Jacob can beat him but asks if he can handle the burden of being champion. Roman says if he can't beat him, can he handle the burden of acknowledging him. Roman says its thin air at the top and he'll give him a week to think it over "little cousin". Roman and the Uso's leave as Roman tells Jimmy to talk some sense into Jacob.

All in all if you were looking for pure wrestling, you got 40 minutes of actual wrestling. But between Sol Ruca and Ethan Page's debuts, Jacob Fatu putting Roman Reigns on notice, the return of the Street Profitz and Breakker vs Rollins forming....at least it was eventful. A lot of people say Oba's short and sweet speech rivaled Roman Reigns the night after he beat The Undertaker at Wrestlemania 33 where its his yard now. The funny thing is, that's a LOT of potential main event talent. If its gonna be Roman vs Jacob at Backlash, now you have Punk, Rollins, Oba Femi and Gunther hanging around. Liv vs Vaquer isn't over yet and Rhea leaving opens the door for Iyo vs Kabukis. Maybe she can get Kairi to turn face or overcome both to beat Asuka. All in all there's a lot of good things on the horizon if you can look past the nonstop commercials and unnecessary celeb shoutouts. As Cole mentioned, tomorrow night's NXT featuring Sol Ruca vs Zaria is up next. I'll see you there. 

WWE Raw (3/24/25)

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.

WWE Smackdown (3/21/25)

WWE Smackdown

Unipol Arena

Bologna, Italy

March 21, 2025

Commentators: Joe Tessitore & Wade Barrett

Ring Announcer: Alicia Taylor

Last week in Barcelona we crowned new WWE Tag Team Champions as the Street Profitz upset DIY to take the straps. Gunther defeated Axiom in his native country and its all but assured it'll be Damian Priest vs Drew McIntyre. This week Zelina Vega takes on Chelsea Green's bodyguard Piper Niven, CM Punk, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns will have a powwow, Jacob Fatu takes on Braun Strowman and we'll get more Wrestlemania hype for sure. Let's get the show started.

Joe Tessitore welcomes us to Bologna, Italy and we're 29 days away from Wrestlemania 41. Jade Cargill is in action against Liv Morgan (with Raquel Rodriguez in tow) and we also get Jacob Fatu (with Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga) against Braun Strowman. CM Punk is here too but before anything happens, here comes Randy Orton for a conference. The crowd sings his entire song as he makes his entrance. We get a highlight of Randy Orton defeating Carmelo Hayes last week and lining up to give him the punt until he spotted Kevin Owens. Before Randy can say anything, here comes Owens himself in an RKO t-shirt. Owens says he's there to say he was wrong for attacking him. He says that Orton didn't deserve it the same way Sami Zayn and Cody Rhodes did. Owens says he was mad that Orton took Cody's side and it made him angry and Orton knows all about letting anger get to them. Owens says he can forgive him for picking Cody's side if Orton can forgive him and he wants to move on. KO goes on to say he pulled Melo out of the ring last week to protect Randy from himself because he didn't want Orton to go back to 2009. Owens says to look to the future and at Wrestlemania they should go after the tag team championships together. Orton says he should come out there and kick his ass all over the arena and tells KO to shove his apology up his ass. Orton says Owens deserves a kick to the head and he went from "Fight Owens, Fight" to "Bitch, Owens Bitch". Orton says he hears voices in his head, they counsel him, they understand and whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas because at Wrestlemania, Orton's going to kick his head clean off his shoulders. Interesting promo as Kevin Owens pretty much figured out he unleashed a dormant monster and tried to stop it before it got worse. Wade Barrett on commentary confirms that Owens has no idea what he's done.

We're shown a highlight of Drew McIntyre attacking Damian Priest last week during his match with Shinsuke Nakamura. We got a tag match out of it and its next.

Match 1

Damian Priest and Jimmy Uso vs Shinsuke Nakamura and Drew McIntyre

Priest doesn't wait and attacks Drew in the aisle way but Shinsuke joins in for a two on one. Jimmy dives over the top and lands on both heels with Damian moving out of the way. Priest rolls Drew inside and the bell rings. Jimmy rallies with right hands and a superkick to the ribs. Jimmy upercuts Drew, ducks a line and chops Drew into the corner. Drew catches Jimmy in mid-air and hits an overhead suplex. Drew chokes Jimmy with his boot but Jimmy hits a jawbreaker. Nakamura tags in but Jimmy drops Shin off the apron. Nakamura trips Jimmy up and jump kicks Uso over the announce table before putting him on the apron. Shin hits a running knee on the apron and a knee to the ribs back inside. Shin covers for 1...2..no. Nakamura tags in Drew who chops Jimmy in the corner. Drew stomps on Jimmy's hand and applies an arm-bar. Drew throws Jimmy down and knocks Priest off the apron before delivering a suplex. Jimmy rallies with chops but gets dropped with a back elbow smash. Drew re-applies the arm-bar but Drew stops to drop Priest off the apron again. The distraction helps Jimmy hit a Samoan drop, forcing Drew to tag Nakamura. Shinsuke eats an enziguiri and Priest gets the hot tag. Priest goes to town on Shinsuke dropping him several times. Priest walks the top rope and hits a cross body. Priest calls for South of Heaven but Nakamura hits a spinning heel kick. Priest clotheslines Nakamura out of his shoes and covers for 1...2..no, Drew makes the save. Jimmy superkicks McIntyre out of the ring but Jimmy is sent flying by Shinsuke. Shinsuke turns around into South of Heaven and Priest covers for 1...2...3 to win the match. Formulaic but the crowd loved Priest's comeback. Shinsuke and Jimmy were just window dressing as its Priest/McIntyre going into Wrestlemania.

Time of match: 7:43

Winners: Uso and Priest by pinfall

The celebration is short lived as McIntyre attacks Priest from behind after the bell. McIntyre punches away at Priest and says he's coming for him every time he sees him. Drew pounds away at Priest and calls for the Claymore. Drew hits it and says he's going to put Priest down until he stays down at Wrestlemania.

We cut to Braun Strowman working out before his match and WWE United States Champion LA Knight walks in to wish him luck. LA says they have the numbers advantage so he's got Braun's back in the match. Braun says the match is a number one contender's match for the US title and Knight says "YEAHHH". Was wondering what LA Knight was going to do at Wrestlemania, here's our answer.

We cut to Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte Flair's brawl lest week and we go to a split screen interview with Charlotte and Tiffany after a commercial. Tessitore asks Tiffany first what her mindset is and Charlotte says "the queen speaks first" and Charlotte says she had a hard time buying Tiffany as a threat. Charlotte says Tiffany is compared to her but she only THINKS she compares to her, she's not that special. Tiffany says she's the champ and Charlotte non-chalantly says "By cash in?" Charlotte calls her delusional and at Wrestlemania 41 it will be the pinnacle of Tiffany's career but just another stepping stone for her. Charlotte calls her undeserving and Tiffany says Charlotte was her supporter and she looked up to her. Tiffany says she saw the real Charlotte as Charlotte mocks her saying she almost had a tear. Charlotte says she was a star in the making but said that because she had to. Tiffany says Charlotte has a habit of finding the hottest thing and throwing water on it and Charlotte says Tiffany has never been across from her, only underneath struggling. Tiffany says Charlotte is struggling because fans don't want her and Charlotte nonchalantly says wooing or booing they still react. Tiffany says she has her whole career to match Charlotte's accolades and Flair counters she'll be lucky to have a job at her age (she turns 39 in April). Tiffany says she's going to cement that the Universe runs on Tiffy Time and we cut here. Tiffany got absolutely SPANKED here and Charlotte countered everything she said like it was nothing. If Tiffany had to read off a script, that was totally unfair because Charlotte was ready. Still, it adds to the underdog vs queen storyline. Jacob Fatu makes his way to the ring alone (for now) for the next match. Tessitore says this is a match fans will drool over as we go to break. Back from commercial Wade Barrett shouts that Strowman is "ONE BIG S.O.BBBBBBBBBB"

Match 2

Braun Strowman vs Jacob Fatu

This is going to be a hoss fight and a half. Strowman gives him the crotch chop as the bell rings. Joe says January 25th on Saturday Night's Main Event was the start of this as Braun bumrushes Jacob into the corner to start. Braun headbutts him to no avail but misses a charge in the corner. Fatu shoulderblocks him in the corner and hits a headbutt of his own. Braun shoulderblocks him down but a charge in the corner eats boot. Braun backdrops Jacob and clotheslines him over the top rope to the floor. Braun throws Jacob inside and boots him in the head as Barrett says keep Fatu away from him. Strowman sends Jacob into the corner as Tessitore calls Braun the conductor of an Italian opera. Fatu bails and Strowman goes for the pain train, only for Fatu to throw him over the empty announce desk. Jacob hits a jumping clothesline from the apron and rams Braun into the announce table. Fatu headbutts Strowman outside but Braun rallies with a right hand. Strowman sends Fatu into the ring steps and rolls back inside to cater to the crowd. Fatu limps around before being thrown back in the ring. Fatu's Samoan drop is countered but Fatu hits a dropkick to the knee followed by a running clothesline. Fatu taunts him to get up and applies a nerve hold. Braun powers out of it but Jacob headbutts him down. Jacob hits a superkick, pop-up Samoan drop and a running senton. Fatu covers for 1...2...no. Braun crawls to the corner and Fatu hits the Umaga. He splashes Strowman in the corner but Strowman rallies with a big clothesline of his own. Strowman rallies with right hands, two clotheslines and a Samoan spike (!!) of his own. Braun rips his own shirt off and calls for the Pain Train. Braun runs over Fatu who goes spiraling over the announce table. Braun rolls Fatu inside, ducks the line and hits a spinebuster. Uh oh, here comes Tama Tonga who Braun cuts off. Solo Sikoa comes from behind to hit the Samoan spike for the DQ. That was a fun hoss fight but monumentally stupid of Solo & Tama to run in since it cost Jacob a US title shot. Guess Jacob doesn't care.

Time of match: 9:21

Winner: Strowman by DQ

Post-match beatdown has Solo and Tama beating down Strowman but Jacob doesn't like it. Solo orders Jacob to join in and Jacob reluctantly joins in. Help is on the way as here comes LA Knight. Knight knocks down Tama and punches away at the others. Jacob misses a charge in the corner and Strowman cleans house as Knight & Braun stand tall. Tessitore says Strowman is now number one contender for the title and they're going one on one next week. In the ring Strowman reminds Knight he's coming for the belt and Knight is just fine with that.

We cut to Cathy Kelley with the women's tag champs Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan. Cathy asks why she still has an issue with Jade when Naomi was the attacker. Liv says all this time Jade let everyone believe they attacked her when she could have told everyone a while ago (true). Liv runs down Bianca Belair and Jade then says she'll finish the job that Naomi couldn't. Raquel messes with Cathy's hair as she leaves...ha!

We get a graphic for the conference between Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and CM Punk later as Piper Niven makes her entrance for the next match as we go to break. Back from commercial we get a graphic of the end of the last match before cutting to an irate Jacob Fatu kicking things over. Fatu is mad they cost him a title shot and Solo says they're just trying to help. Fatu tells him he's taking care of himself "Uce" and to watch it. Ooooh, dissention in the ranks. It would make sense to have Solo vs Jacob at Wrestlemania to finally split the new Bloodline. We cut to Italian rapper Anna in the crowd as Zelina Vega enters to no pop.

Match 3

Piper Niven (with Alba Fyre and Chelsea Green) vs Zelina Vega

Vega wants a piece of Green but Piper said she had to go through her first, so here we are. Bell's gone and Piper towers over her. Zelina gets in the first slap and Piper throws her into the corner. Piper misses a charge and Zelina goes for an O'Connor Roll...bad idea. She does avoid an elbow drop and sends her into the corner. Zelina goes for Code Red but Piper shoves her off. Piper no-sells a whip and drops her twice with shoulderblocks. A third shoulderblock drops Zelina as Barrett brings up Chelsea's victory over Sol Ruca on NXT on Tuesday. Niven throws Zelina outside but Zelina jumps on her back inside with a sleeperhold. Piper just heaves her down and stomps on her. Piper goes for the Vader Bomb but Zelina pulls her off and rallies with forearms. Zelina hops on the second rope and hits forearms, taunting Chelsea and Alba. Zelina runs into a Bossman slam as we go to break. Back from commercial, Vega rolls up Piper for 1...2..no. Piper shoves her down then sends her into the corner. Piper heaves Zelina into another corner as Barrett says Vega is an anime fan. Niven taunts the irate crowd as Barrett pledges allegiance to Chelsea much to Joe's dismay. Barrett "She's the Champion of the United States, including us." Niven applies a Million Dollar Dream and a Glasgow Kiss. Joe mocks Chelsea and Barrett as Niven taunts the crowd again. Niven goes for a powerslam but Zelina slinks out of it. Niven hits a big right hand and goes for a gorilla press slam. Zelina reverses it into a chinlock until Niven backs her into the corner. Zelina goes for an Octopus hold according to Barrett then sunset flips for 1..2...no. Zelina hits a forearm and covers for another two count. Zelina hits a spinning back elbow and double knees into the corner. Zelina goes up top and hits the double knees to the ground, covering for 1...2...no. Zelina goes for the code red but its blocked. Zelina then hits a tornado DDT and covers for 1...2..no. Chelsea hops up on the apron and gets decked for her trouble. Zelina hits 619 on Piper and kicks Fyre in the head. She turns around right into a crossbody by Niven for 1...2...3 to win the match. Not the best cat and mouse match but hell of an effort for Zelina to essentially fight 1 on 3. She might be in the plans for a push.

Time of match: 12:15

Winner: Niven by pinfall

Back from commercial we get our road to Clash In Paris this coming August. Then we get a long recap of John Cena's epic promo from Monday and Cody's response. The best was the little kid that Cena singled out, there's a future villain arc. We get breaking news that Randy Orton will indeed face Kevin Owens at Wrestlemania 41. We cut to Jade Cargill with Cathy Kelley who apologizes for last week and asks if she's ready to face Liv. Jade says Liv wants to try it but she'll show her, and then when she's done with Liv she's coming for Naomi. Jade says tonight is a preview of what she does to Naomi.

Back from commercial we get the number 4 in the smoke vignette but at the last second the smoke reveals a 3 behind it. If this is a countdown, we got 3 weeks to figure out what this all means. On to the next match.

Match 4

Liv Morgan (with Raquel Rodriguez) vs Jade Cargill

Morgan interrupted Jade's interview last week and we got this showdown this week. Tessitore and Barrett bicker during Jade's intro about Liv & Raquel. Bell's gone and Liv runs right into a big boot. Jade caters to the crowd and taunts Raquel, backing her down. Liv from behind gets a right hand and is sent into the barricade. Jade heaves Liv into the ring and poses for the crowd. ObLivion is blocked and Liv misses an enziguiri. Jade misses a pump kick but blocks the Codebreaker. Jade hits a fallaway slam as Joe says Jade hadn't had a singles match since August 9th. Liv and Raquel go to leave but Jade chases after them and knocks Liv down. Jade throws Liv in the ring but misses a charge in the corner. Liv runs right into a powerbomb and Jade stacks her for 1...2...no. Raquel distracts Jade who hits the backstabber before sending her into the ring post. Jade falls out of the ring as we go to break. Back from commercial Liv has Jade in a chinlock, until Jade powers out of it. Tessitore says Liv Morgan had an amazing 2024 and she hits the 3 Amigos. Liv does the Eddie Guerrero pose and hits a shining wizard, but Oblivion is blocked. Jade german suplexes Liv and kips up. Jade rallies with shoulderblocks and a siperkick. Jade hits 2 running back elbows and a spinebuster, but doesn't cover immediately. Jade pulls Liv up and hits the F-5 (!!!) and covers for 1..2...no. Wade says Jade took too long to cover but here's Naomi for the distraction. Jade blocks ObLivion as Raquel hops up on the apron, allowing Naomi to clock Jade with a tag belt with the ref distracted. Liv hits ObLIvion and covers for 1..2...3 to win the match. That was Jade's first pinfall loss since her debut at the 2024 Rumble. Good cat and mouse act but just like Zelina, the numbers game is too much.

Time of match: 10:11

Winner: Morgan by pinfall

Naomi beats down Jade after the match as Wade says "Since 2008 I have never once seen this side of her, what the HELL??" Guess he missed her 2015 heel turn. Naomi throws Jade off the apron into the announce table in a call back to Jade getting thrown into the car. Naomi poses to a chorus of boos and that was desperately needed to make Naomi look strong for once. 

We get a highlight of McIntyre's attack on Priest before we cut to him leaving. Cathy Kelley walks up and asks what he's doing and Drew says Priest was a vulture picking at the bones the past year. Drew says Priest is as tough as he is stupid and if they want to fight, he'll be in London next week. Drew goes to leave but Seth Rollins walks up and smiles at him. 

We cut to a highlight of the Street Profitz winning the tag straps last week and they're up next for a pow-wow. We're shown "Signs of The Night" and Barrett wants to see the Liv-A Lisa as we go to break. Back from commercial, here come the Street Profitz for a soliloquy. The crowd chants "You deserve it" and Joe agrees. Ford says he's got news, the Profitz are the champions for the first time in four years.  Ford starts an "Ay, ay, ay" chant and Dawkins says its about damn time. Dawkins says they've been doubting themselves, questioning each other and....."you deserve it" breaks out again. Dawkins says it was all worth it and Ford says he can always count on him. Uh oh! That's usually a kiss of death. They hug it out and Legada Fantasma comes out. Santos Escobar cuts a promo in Italian much to the crowd's delight and congratulates them in English. Escobar says Los Garza are pissed but they're ready to take the titles off the Profitz. Cue Pretty Deadly where Kit Wilson says Santos can run his mouth but they're the number one contenders. Elton Prince tells them to step aside but Santos refuses. He says this is personal and to stay out of it. Ford "Woah woah woah woah woah woah". Ford says Deadly has their title shots but if Los Garza wants to go, let's go. Ford and Dawkins want the smoke much to the crowd's delight as we go to break. Back from commercial we get the orange luchador vignette which is clearly Ray Fenix about to make his debut.

Match 5

Los Garza (Angel Garza and Humberto Carrillo) with Santos Escobar vs Street Profitz (Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins) for the WWE Tag Team Championship

We're joined in progress with Ford hitting a rolling frog splash and covers for a 1 count on Garza. Ford hits a running knee but Garza chops out of it. Carrillo tags in who hits a dropkick and taunts the irate crowd. Berto chops Ford and tags in Garza for the Unit Slam. Garza taunts the crowd and tears his pants off, throwing them at Dawkins. Joe "He may regret that." Garza puts Ford on the second rope and pounds away with forearms then puts him in the tree of woe. Berto tags in to kick away before Ford gets the hot tag to Dawkins. Angelo hits the stinger splash on Berto but Escobar pulls the top rope down to send Dawkins to the floor. Carrillo hits a suicide dive as we go to break. Back from commercial, Garza has Dawkins in a surfboard as Escobar poses on the floor. Garza dropkicks Dawkins and covers for 1...2..no. Garza and Berto double team Dawkins and Berto covers for 1...2...no. Berto hits a scoop slam and taunts Ford. Carrillo hits a standing moonsault and tags out to Garza. Angel kicks him in the inner thigh and cheap shots Montez for good measure. Garza and Berto hit a Garza Special (Gory Special/Diamond Dust) and covers for 1....2..no, Ford stops the count. Dawkins drops Berto and gets the hot tag to Ford. Montez drops both members then clotheslines Berto down. Ford punches Berto on the apron and goes up top. He misses a top rope splash but hits a spinebuster, covering for 1...2..no. Ford goes up top again but Garza is kicked off. Berto kicks Ford and all three men go up top. They go for FTY but Ford just lands on his feet and turns slowly to look at them with the crowd in a frenzy. Here comes Dawkins to drop Garza with a big right hand as Ford hits a superplex on Carrillo. Ford covers for 1...2..no. Berto tags in Garza but Dawkins tags in as well. Dawkins hits sky high on Garza and backdrops Berto to the floor. Escobar hops up and is sent off for his troubles. Dawkins hits a hilo over the top onto all three members of Fantasma. While he was in mid-air, Ford made a blind tag. Garza rolls into the ring unaware and Ford hits the frog splash, covering for 1..2...3 to win the match. Decent match with the Profitz possibly heading into Wrestlemania as the tag champs. I said it before but when the inevitable split happens, Carrillo would be a heck of a babyface against Angel Garza.

Time of match: 14:32

Winners: Profitz by pinfall (still Tag Team Champions)

We're shown Paul Heyman arriving to the arena who pats the cameraman as we go to break. Back from commercial we're shown HHH's Hall of Fame video with his quad tear/MSG comeback highlighted. Its been debated for the last 24 years what his role would have been in the Alliance angle. We cut to DIY giving Pretty Deadly shit. Kit and Prince says they got a title shot next week in London. DIY says they'll help them win the titles for a title shot in return. Wilson and Prince tell them no and walk off. Motor City Machine Guns walk up and says welcome to the back of the line. Sabin and Shelley say they want DIY before they leave with DIY arguing.

Next week it'll be the Street Profitz against Pretty Deadly and LA Knight defends the US title against Braun Strowman. Here comes Roman Reigns with Paul Heyman in tow. The Italian crowd sings a football chant and Roman waits for them to stop before they go into an "OTC" chant. When that stops, Roman wants his acknowledgement and says he loves the crowd. Roman says Punk screwed him at the Royal Rumble so he screwed CM Punk in the cage match. He says Seth Rollins tried to kill him and he tried to kill him in return. Way to admit attempted murder on national television. Roman says he's going to be here for 20 minutes so if anyone wants some, come get some. Right on cue here's Seth Rollins wearing one of the finest blue sleeping bags you'll ever see. Rollins grabs a mic and conducts the crowd like he's Arturo Toscanini. He says Reigns messed up because he doesn't understand how dangerous CM Punk is. Seth says Roman should have let him finish Punk when he had the chance. Seth says it was never about him to Roman, it was about the two of them just like always. Seth says they can't co-exist at the same space and their story has a lot of pages written, and its about time they added another chapter. Seth opens his jacket but here comes CM Punk for a rebuttal. Punk climbs to the top rope and says this right hand isn't taped up to hold the mic but its time for facts. He calls them Chief and Grimmace and says neither of them have beaten him without the other's help. Punk says the Rumble was every man for himself and Heyman should have told him that. He says he saved his families ass in Wargames and is still owed a favor by Paul. He thanks Heyman for delivering Roman on a silver platter and Roman looks at Heyman. Punk attacks Roman from behind and they roll around before Rollins gets him some of Punk. Roman heaves Rollins off and its a three way brawl. Referee Ryan Tran tries to separate them as Wade Barrett says there's no way one man can stop this. Here comes the refs, security and Suit Brigade to stop them. Punk stands on the announce table with Hurricane Helms telling him to back off. Punk points to the Wrestlemania sign which causes Heyman to say no. Rollins bumrushes Punk but Roman Reigns uses the steel steps to drop both of them. Its utter chaos as the show comes to an end.

We're getting closer to Wrestlemania and now we're getting matches. Kevin Owens vs Randy Orton is confirmed with Priest vs McIntyre as well as the triple threat all but assured. We might get Jade vs Naomi as well. These 5 match cards for 3 hour shows are brutal but its Wrestlemania season. Next week we got Pretty Deadly vs Street Profitz and LA Knight vs Braun Strowman. As for this show, the crowd was hot except for Zelina Vega and the matches were good....just too much talk around them. Still, its all about Wrestlemania and the matches look great. The next show after this is Monday's Raw in Glasgow, Scotland. I'll see you there.

WWE Evolve (3/19/25)

WWE Evolve

WWE Performance Center

Orlando, FLA

March 5, 2025

Commentators: Robert Stone and Peter Rosenberg

Ring Announcer: ???

Last week's Evolve saw the beginnings of a hell of a hoss fight between badasses Keanu Carver and Harlem Lewis. Somewhere down the line they're going to go at it. The tag team of Carlee Bright and Kendal Gray have had a hilarious Al Snow/Steve Blackman thing going on while Gal Barkay is establishing himself as Evolve's version of The Miz. Also at the end of last week, Gallus from NXT was here to cause some chaos. Let's see what tonight has in store.

Brinley Reece makes her way to the ring for our opening contest and her backstory is shown. She was an accomplished gymnast and says we're going to see more of her than meets the eye in Evolve. Her opponent is Masyn Holiday. Holiday puts on a mean looking scowl so we know who's face & heel here. Masyn's backstory is she graduated as class valedictorian at THE Howard University where she broke 3 school records. She says she's a superstar, clock it. The real life Darci Khan is a hell of a lot nicer but she really did have a hell of a track career at Howard. On to the match.

Match 1

Brinley Reece vs Masyn Holiday

Its the Evolve debut of Brinley Reece who's doing a fitness aerobics instructor gimmick not unlike Sunny. We got an acrobat against a track star here. Bell's gone and they tie up to start with Pete and Robert bickering with each other. Masyn gets an arm-ringer in and Brinley flips around and out of it. Masyn screams but Brinley ducks the line and goes for the headlock. Brinley gets her own arm-ringer going before hitting a shoulderblock. Brinley gets an arm-drag that has Masyn crawling to the corner. Brinley splashes her in the corner and covers for a one count. Masyn's fireman's carry is reversed but she still throws Reece down by the hair. Masyn kicks Brinley in the corner and stomps her down in the center of the ring. Stone likes Masyn's ruthlessness as she hits a side backbreaker on Reece. She covers for 1....2...no. Masyn applies a body scissors but Brinley leans back for a pinfall attempt 1...2..no. Brinley fights out of it, ducks the line and drops Masyn with a shoulderblock. Reece rallies with another shoulderblock and a scoop slam. Brinley hits a front cartwheel clothesline and shouts that it should have been here in that first match. Does she mean the tag team match two weeks ago? Brinley hits Reeces To Pieces and covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Interesting match as Brinley's attitude is very heelish but clearly was the babyface against Masyn in this one. Still, her acrobatics were on display here, as well as Holiday.

Time of match: 3:36

Winner: Reece by pinfall

Chuey Martinez hits the ring for the post-match interview. Brinley says her active mindset helped to win and Chuey asks what she was yelling about earlier. Brinley replies the match speaks for itself and she walks off. In other words, she wants to be top dog around here. Suddenly Pete Rosenberg is with Tyson Dupont and Tyriek Igwe. Apparently they've been demoted from NXT as well. Dupont and Igwe are here to take chances and win championships. Dupont says they want someone to step up and catch a beating. Gallus makes their way to the ring and naturally don't take kindly to Dupont and Igwe shouting at them. Who are their opponents? Let's find out after the break. Jordan Oasis says he's been wrestling for 10 years now and was trained by none other than Rikishi. One day he was looking in the mirror and didn't know who he was so he grabbed a backpack and decided to go find out. Interesting. The truth is he's an ID prospect known as "The Global Nomad" for wrestling in both the US and Japan, also appearing on AEW Dark. Sam "Hardway" Holloway says he's from Akron, Ohio and had to deal with bullying as a youth. Then he grew taller than everyone and he has no remorse for what he did them. He enjoys striking fear into other people and football wasn't doing it, but this will. The truth i, he's s a 6'9 beast from AIW Academy in Cleveland that started wrestling 2 years ago. The kind of guy Vince McMahon would have loved.

Match 2

Gallus (Mark & Joe Coffey) vs "The Global Nomad" Jordan Oasis and Sam "Hardway" Holloway

Holloway tries to look menacing and Oasis comes to the ring with a backpack. Unless he has some mace in there, its kind of a goofy gimmick. Holloway tells Oasis to get lost so he can start with Joe Coffey, so much for team chemistry. They tie up to start and Joe no-sells a shoulderblock....are you kidding? They slug it out in the center of the ring until Joe hits a headbutt and works the left arm. Mark tags in and continues to work the left arm. Mark hits a European uppercut but falls due to a big boot. Sam tags out and demands Oasis to get in there. Oasis eats an arm drag and locks in a headlock. Mark no-sells a shoulderblock as Stone says he used to go hiking with a walkman and Source magazine....good grief we're old. Oasis hits a flying back elbow and slug it out in the center of the ring. Mark caters to the crowd and rallies with forearms although Holloway makes a blind tag. Holloway hits a slingshot clothesline as Oasis has no idea he tagged in. Stone says Holloway reminds him of Mike Awesome (WOW....). Holloway tells Oasis to get lost as he knocks Joe off the apron. Sam hits a scoop slam and covers for 1...2...no. Sam locks in a chinlock and Mark powers out of it. Sam makes a hard tag to Oasis who didn't like it. Oasis and ark slug it out as Mark hits the O'Connor Roll for 1...2...no. Oasis hits a running cannonball onto Mark on the second rope and Sam tags himself back in. Oasis shoves him and asks what his problem is. Oasis gets out, makes his own hard tag and comes back in. Oasis runs right into a waistlock by Mark who rams Jordan's head into Sam's, knocking Holloway out of the ring.  The O'Connor Roll is brock but Mark hits a dropkick to the chest. Mark tags in Joe who rallies with right hands before shoulderblocking Jordan down twice. Joe hits a jumping clothesline but misses a charge int he corner. Mark hits a springboard crossbody and covers for 1...2...no, Sam broke it up. Mark and Sam brawl outside with Mark eating ring post. Suddenly Wolfgang of Gallus shows up to yell at Sam. Oasis turns around right into a big left hand from Joe, knocking him cold. The referee calls for the bell and this one's over. This was awful but mostly because Holloway is green as hell and the team not getting along trope isn't what you want in a developmental show.

Time of match: 5:50

Winners: Gallus by stoppage

After the match Holloway just walks off as Gallus celebrates in the ring. Oasis grabs his backpack like he's Dora The Explorer as Gallus taunts him as he leaves. Up next are two PC recruits Chantel Monroe ane Layla Diggs as we go to commercial. Back from break we're introduced to Layla Diggs from California. She's been struggling with self confidence and Shawn Michaels told her she's a great athlete. Fear held her back and was at the Wrestlemania Hollywood tryout. The real life Breanna Covington was a triple jumper at Fresno State before making her way to the PC after Wrestlemania 39. Chantel Monroe is introduced and she's the opposite of Layla. She was an all-star athlete at Auburn University and she's a diva, everything has to be on point. She claims she's obsessed with fashion and confidence s never an issue, she's a showstopper. The real life Derrian Gobourne actually was a great gymnast for Auburn University, winning the NCAA championship. On to the match.

Match 2

Layla Diggs vs Chantel Monroe

Two different personalities here as the bell rings to start the match. Monroe backs her to the corner and messes with her hair to start. Layla gets a headlock takeover but Monroe gets a knee to the ribs. Chantel hits a shoulderblock and pulls Layla down by the hair. Layla hits a sunset flip for 1...2..no. Layla plays cat & mouse with Chantel, hitting a scissors kick and a powerslam. She hits a standing moonsault for 1...2...no.  Layla misses a charge in the corner and Chantel chopblocks the left leg. Chantel works the left leg in the corner and hits a big right hand. Chantel carthweels ontop of her and covers for 1...2..no. Chantel locks in a half crab but Layla turns it into a pin for 1..2...no. Layla sells the left leg and Chantel hits a dropkick to it. Chantel's charge in the corner eats elbow and Layla goes for a second rope sunset flip, but Monroe hooks the legs for 1...2...3 to win the match. Smart move by Chantel as she gets the duke in a quick match. It was mostly to showcase the athletic ability of both of them, hopefully they can improve on this.

Time of match: 3:27

Winner: Monroe by pinfall

Kali Armstrong is scheduled to face Haze Jameson. We're introduced to Haze and she's from Rockford Illinois. She was the captain of the volleyball team in college and is a wild child. She's the life of the party and Dennis Rodman was her childhood idol.....and we're cut off. Apparently Kali Armstrong is having none of it and she yells at Stone to get Jameson in the ring. The real life Hayley Montoya was the captain of the Volleyball team at Buffalo University. Haze makes her entrance as its on to the next match.

Match 3

Kali Armstrong vs Haze Jameson

Bell rings and Armstrong sizes her up before backing her into the corner Brock Lesnar style. Kali unloads with right hands and tells the ref to back off. Kali heaves Jameson off the ropes and hits a big powerslam. She taunts the irate crowd and runs the ropes like Bron Breakker, hitting a huge shoulderblock called the Kali Connection. She covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Poor Haze....a total squash to put over that Kali is a mean looking lady.

Time of match: 50 seconds

Winner: Armstrong by pinfall

Kali tells the camera she told yall she's different after the match.  Later on our main event will be Luca Crusifino vs Javier Bernal right out of NXT. Up next, Kylie Rae is going to tell us what Wendy Choo's note was about last week. After commercial, Pete Rosenberg brings out Kylie Rae and asks what that was about. Kylie says she's never met Wendy Choo and doesn't want to because she scares her. She has a lot of talented women to focus on and doesn't have time to focus on it. She throws the note down but there's Wendy Choo's face on the titantron. Zara Zakher walks out for no reason and Kylie almost socks her. She brings Kylie back and we're introduced to two more guys. Drako Knox from LFG grew up in Dalton, Georgia to a blue collar family. He played college football and was always a fan of WWE. He says a lottery ticket presents hope and WWE is his ticket. He calls his shots, his own destiny and he's chasing greatness. The real life Drake Starks was a tight end for Mercer University and has been wrestling on NXT house shows since November of 2023. Next up is Tate Wilder, a rancher from Arizona. He grew up with 5 rowdy brothers that were into football and rodeo then walked on to Arizona State's football team. He describes himself as a mixture between Matthew McConaughey and the baddest man to ever ride a bull. He says when he's in the ring there's nothing a cowboy can't overcome. The real life Case Hatch did play at Arizona State University before signing with the Performance Center. Doing a Smoking Gunns kind of gimmick 30 years later is definitely a choice. Drako and Tate make their way to the ring for a tag team match.

Match 4

Drako Knox and Tate Wilder vs Tyson Dupont and Tyriek Igwe

Dupont backs Knox into the corner at the bell before Knox reverses it. Dupont gets a cheapshot as a graphic says Dupont holds the Haitian national shot-put record. Dupont drops Knox with a shoulderblock but Drako hits a flying shoulder tackle of his own. Wilder makes the tag and hits a dropkick that causes Dupont to tag out to Igwe. Wilder goes for a double leg take down but Igwe counters with a knee to the face. Wilder totally botches a springboard armdrag so he does a standard one instead. Igwe hits snake eyes in the corner and tags out to Tyson. Dupon hits an uppercut to send Wilder outside. Dupont throws him inside and tags Igwe back in. Igwe chops and kicks Wilder then Dupont hits a full nelson slam. Igwe covers for 1....2....no. Suddenly Brady Baylor, Ricky Smokes and Zayda Steel wander out to ring side. Zayda picks up the note Kylie Rae dropped earlier as Swipe Right sits at the VIP section. Igwe hits consecutive elbow smashes in the corner as a graphic shows Igwe was an Olympic track star in Nigeria. Wilder backflips over Ogwe and O'Connor rolls him for 1...2...no. Knox tags in to clean house of both guys, hitting a coop slam on Tyson. Knox's charge in the corner misses and Igwe tags in to hit a big boot to the face. Dupont tags in and they execute The Heartstopper. Igwe pounces on Wilder as Dupont covers Knox for 1....2....3 to win the match. Kind of sloppy but mostly it was to put the heels over as mean looking fellas. If Gallus is going to stick around as babyfaces, here's your opponents.

Time of match: 4:10

Winners: Igwe and Dupont by pinfall

Suddenly Tate Wilder wants a piece of Ricky Smokes and has to be held back by Drako Knox while Zayda Steel holds back Ricky. Some really tall dude with hair stands next to them, who the hell is that? I'm sure we'll find out another time. We get a graphic for our main event before we go to break. Back from commercial Oro Mensah is in the VIP section just chilling as we go to our final match.

Match 5

Javier Bernal vs Luca Crusifino

The consigliere of the D'Angelo family makes his entrance as both Pete & Stone don't know how to say "consigliere" properly. The G is silent you strunads! Bell's gone and they tie up to start before chain wrestling. They shake hands as Luca works the left arm with a wristlock. Luca hits a majistrol cradle for 1...2..no. Luca is backdropped to the apron but Bernal runs into a slingshot shoulderblock. Luca splashes Bernal in the corner as we get a graphic saying next week it'll be Kendal Grey vs Zara Zakher. Javier armdrags Luca twice and hits a baseball slide. Outside Luca hits a back suplex on the ring apron and Bernal falls off after a ring hand. Crusifino rams him against the side of the ring then delivers a leg drop on the apron. Javier sells a knee injury and Luca sends him into the corner. Javier rolls him up for 1..2....no. Luca hits a basement dropkick and covers for 1...2..no. Luca gets in a front headlock but Javier backdrops out of it. Javier rallies with clotheslines and a t-bone taz plex. Javier covers for 1...2...no. Javier goes for a springboard but jumps into a codebreaker by Luca. Luca hits Case Closed and covers for 1..2...3 to win the match. Good effort by both guys and you can tell the difference between the veterans and the PC guys, these guys had much better chemistry.

Time of match: 4:41

Winner: Crusifino by pinfall

Crusifino says if anyone wants a piece of him, come out right now. Right on cue Keanu Carver walks out.....and is joined by Harlem Lewis. Luca wants both guys but the credits roll. Awwww come onnnnnn! Luca is pretty much established as king fish here but those two bruisers would be hell on earth in a match. I like it! The show as a whole was another introductory one just like the June 2012 run of NXT's. It'll be a while before a formula is established and a pecking order. Still, this is a great way to weed out the generic as AT LEAST Tate Wilder, Drako Knox, Kali Armstrong and the two fighters have some personality. You can only have so many generic gymnasts and football players before one of them has to stand out. Sam Holloway as a 6 foot 9 goon would definitely work in a bodyguard role if they choose to do that. Otherwise we're still in the introductory phase going forward. The next show after this is Smackdown this Friday night coming at you live from Bologna, Italy. I'll see you there.