WWE’s Saturday Night Main Event — and John Cena’s career — is officially over. That means, in part, as “WWE Raw” heads into the chilly climes of Hershey, Pennsylvania, starting with a tribute to “Never Seen 17” and the arrival of his successor.
Ultimately, the show ended with a revelation that left WWE in a confusing position.
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The crowd becomes mellow
Another “WWE Raw” main event, another interference end. This week, the Masked Man once again came to the aid of Logan Paul, stomping on Rey Mysterio, ensuring Paul’s victory. This time, however, Austin Theory revealed himself to be the man behind the scenes at Survivor Series: War Games, helping the Heels to victory.
Well, first of all, Mysterio and Paul have great chemistry and that builds to a potentially interesting ending. CM Punk knocked Vision away with a chair, so the interference was mocked regardless. As for the revelation of the truth, it has been reported that Theory is the mysterious man, however, it is still unknown whether he will be revealed.
Unfortunately, WWE stuck with this and Hershey fans couldn’t care less, as one would expect. Presumably, that’s why it wasn’t revealed at Survivor Series.
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I have nothing personally against the theory, but he has almost never been involved in any aspect of professional wrestling. However, objectively speaking, he is not a big shot worthy of this surprise reveal at all. Could this be an opportunity to move on to greener pastures? One would certainly hope.
A rocky start for “General of the Ring”
No idea what was going to happen after Gunther defeated John Cena, but what we got wasn’t good.
I thought Gunther’s “You’re out” chant would go away with Cena’s win, but with the former world champion’s arrival, my theory immediately went away. The folks in Hershey grasped at straws. There’s no denying they did a great job making this moment reminiscent of the night Roman Reigns defeated The Undertaker at WrestleMania.
Gunther was met with boos and simply commented that he did what he promised, causing Cena to give up and click “like ab****.” Subtle, insubstantial heel work.
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When Gunther finally walks backstage with the camera, the whole sequence becomes incredibly silly and ridiculous. He briefly interacted with Alpha Academy and R-Truth, who were rather unhappy with him, and then Gunther met “Raw” general manager Adam Pearce, who was also unhappy. Then he forces Gunther leave.
What?
So Gunther is being punished for rightfully enjoying a win in a game he earned through a tournament? There’s no other way to describe this kayfabe “logic” as bafflingly stupid because it makes no sense.
Finally, the segment has been a little benefited by the banter between Gunther and AJ Styles, who claimed earlier this year that he would be retiring next year. Having the man who was just part of one of the biggest moments on screen this year leave the show before it even begins is a “brilliant” way for WWE to capitalize on Cena’s retirement.
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This is actually maddening.
👑 Uncrowned Night Gem👑
Man, it’s great to have CM Punk back.
Sometimes it’s good to have a little reminder every now and then. After Bron Breakker did a great promo on the post-Survivor Series Punk show, “The Voice of the Voiceless” returned to the counter in retro fashion to fight back. This is Punk at his best on the mic, and surprisingly unbothered.
Thankfully, Punk is better than most at using common sense in his promos. As he cuts to Breakker, he mentions the stupidity in Breakker’s comment that he was disappointed in being able to overpower him so easily. Well, that’s because Breakker got all the help, including help from the masked man Punk mentioned. This is all before cutting to Steiner’s father and uncle himself who raised Blake and raised him. It’s classic punk style that seems to be fueled by a newfound feud.
We had some nice refinements to this earlier in the evening when the Visions were in the locker room. Paul Heyman emphasized that it’s great to see them getting help considering the enemies they’ve made, and the need to be careful after last week’s win over the Los Angeles Cavaliers. Especially for Breakker, who wanted to attack Punk tonight, but Heyman begged him not to be stupid and ruin their upcoming championship match. These are small details of reality.
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👍 Monday Night Money 👍
1. WWE Raw begins with a highlight reel video package of Cena’s final match in Saturday night’s main event. The company always has a knack for making some movies when they feel they need to go all out, and this is one of those movies.
2. The Usos defeated The New Day with 1D. It was a game with some sloppy moments for career rivals, but they haven’t interacted in a long, long time. The Usos will never lose that, and it’s solid because the chemistry between the two is still there. However, Xavier Woods kicked out an Uso splash for two, which was very surprising.
Also, Jimmy Uso’s spear is clearly better than Jey Uso’s, which is kind of interesting considering how rarely we see Jimmy use the move.
3. Maxxine Dupri successfully defended her Intercontinental Championship for the first time against Ivy Nile. First and foremost, this match should be a squash match against the champion, as she’s been through an incredible hiccup in training, while Nile hasn’t competed on “Raw” since losing a match in June. Instead, they engaged in a pretty solid physical fight that ended with Dupree relentlessly pursuing an ankle lock until the snap came. It’s obvious that WWE is using this to keep building Dupree into a championship force, but a squash title defense would be better from a story perspective.
🤷♂️It happened 🤷♂️
1. “RhIyo” enter specifically so that the kabuki samurai can attack them. This might be the most “happened” moment ever.
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Finally, Iyo Sky protected Rhea Ripley from an In-Sane Elbow from Kairi Sane. I expect – and hope – that this just adds a nice touch to their title run next month, leading to Asuka refusing to protect Sane and costing them the title. After all, the latter two’s promos do much to celebrate the family dynamic. It also perfectly illustrates Asuka’s role as a heel abuser. Predictability can be great. Don’t let me down, WWE.
👎Original Transaction👎
1.n Stephanie Vaquer defeated Raquel Rodriguez by disqualification after Nikki Bella disrupted the match with an interference attack. I’m not even going to spend time on that because Bella being left in the title picture without winning is pretty bad. She has a 2-7 record since returning and has not won since July. There’s no reason to care about this.
2. The whole Bayley-Lyra Valkyrie angle is officially tired, especially since they’re repeating the same matches. I really don’t understand why WWE refuses to put them in a more important position where they are so needed right now. yes i said that each World title picture.
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👑 WWE feels more lost and disoriented all week and something needs to change. My crown rating for this show is: 4/10. 👑
