The last time is indeed now. This weekend, John Cena will make the move of his career when he takes on former World Heavyweight Champion Gunther in Saturday night’s main event. WWE Raw travels to Kansas City to set the stage for the big showdown and the mystery of The Vision’s Survivor Series mystery man.
(never give up
WWE Raw opened with a mini-panel from John Cena, focusing on the match that would determine his final career match against Gunther in this weekend’s Saturday Night Main Event. Honestly, it makes the whole aspect of this game that much more interesting. Cena’s words were loud as he said he always wanted the same finals opponent: whoever takes the opportunity to start his career just like he did against Kurt Angle.
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Well, news flash, WWE. Gunther is nowhere near the status of Cena who debuted over 20 years ago.
This particular line only makes the decision to choose Gunther over someone like Carmelo Hayes that much more wrong. That being said, Gunther’s unique promo cut in the opening scene quickly established a super simple, quick narrative for their match: He promised to make the man who never gives up give up.
Hey, that’s all this needs to be noticeable. Let Gunther insist on forcing Cena to tap out as the only way he’s going to win, and voila, we could have a magical match. Cena has only been knocked out three times in his career, the first and last time being against Angle – and the last time in 2004.
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What is the vision?
There’s so much going on in The Vision right now that it’s almost hard to keep up.
First up, Logan Paul is still upset about his interaction with Rey Mysterio last week. So much so that he ran to his fellow Visions in the locker room and asked them to solve his Mysterious Man “problem.” I mean, Paul initiated their exchange and all Mysterio did was slap him in the face, so it was funny and portrayed like it was a big ongoing problem. At the same time, it does make sense for a character like Paul to feel dissatisfied.
Things got messy after that, though. Mysterio was supposed to have a match with Finn Balor, but Paul attacked him in the entrance. He got the upper hand and looked for knuckle punches until Mysterio countered with a 619 – but Mysterio from Survivor Series made the save again.
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Nothing disclosed. It was just another superkick and stomp that allowed Paul to finally land the punch, and the Browns were nowhere to be seen, even though they said they’d take care of it.
Balor didn’t show up either, which seemed odd. Instead, an angry LA Knight chased Paul away after Gunther’s epic performance on SmackDown. He praised Paul’s alliance with the Visions and set up their game later that night.
Can you guess how it ends?
Yes, that’s right. Interference from the Brown Brothers and the Mysterious Man.
It was a great match, but it completely killed the momentum Knight had built up after his great match with Gunther. It’s like that never happened. There’s no reason Knight needs to be in this position, but presumably he’s been written off TV now because I don’t know what other purpose the continued beating served.
Breakker cut another very strong promo on CM Punk in the ring. He was begging old World Champion Punk from the early 2010s, and then, the backstage video oddly flashed back to Knight being taken away. “Superstar” insists he’s okay, prompting Bronson Reed and Logan Paul to go back and the tsunami pins him on the roof of the car.
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The whole scene had a very old-school WWE vibe, but it felt very casual considering the separation of the feuds between all these guys.
👍 Monday Night Money 👍
1. Iyo Sky soundly defeated Kairi Sane with “Climbing the Moon Rope”. There was the Asuka shenanigans you’d expect outside the ring, but they were ultimately negated by Rhea Ripley in Sky’s corner. Anytime you mix and match any of these four, it’s going to be a very solid match, and this is no exception – the distracting elements can still be annoying, though.
2. Jey Uso and any character or storyline he had teased in recent months was completely thrown out the window on WWE Raw. It’s annoying and not great, but the good thing is that he and Jimmy Uso are officially back in the tag team division, which is necessary. They’d been apart long enough that even old rivalries – like the one with New Day – felt new again. It’s time.
3. Maxxine Dupri once again joins “Low Down Legend” Nattie Neidhart looking like an absolute monster in another incredible Hart’s Dungeon vignette. In short, these are movies that, at their best, will lead to a serious Dupree run because she’s being built grandly.
🤷♂️It happened 🤷♂️
Roxanne Perez defeated Lyra Valkyria with a Pop-Rox after the referee missed interference from Liv Morgan. This game was great and a repeat of their recent games. Once again these shenanigans are getting tiresome. But the worst part is that since losing the Intercontinental Title, Valkyria has been completely thrown into a situation where booking is irrelevant. WWE clearly doesn’t know what to do with her and Bayley, which is an incredible shame considering their talents. Forget that this whole thing happened and put Valkyria and Bayley into separate world title pictures. Everyone can use them now.
👎Original Transaction👎
1. AJ Styles and Dragon Lee successfully defended the World Tag Team Championship against the War Raiders when AJ Styles hit Ivar’s Phenomenal Forearm. This is very sloppy and pointless. A lot of WWE booking has turned into: “Well, the champion wants it.” I don’t know the last time the War Raiders won on TV, so there’s no reason to care, and they never will. Lee also made several serious mistakes.
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👑 Uncrowned Night Gem👑
WWE Raw may have taken the most unintentionally hilarious turn of events ever. Triple H, if you’re reading this, well done. Because you made me happy with that.
Stephanie Vaquer’s promos are always fun because she uses bilingual elements in English and Spanish. But they were always particularly effective, and her confidence came through beautifully through her delivery. It gets to the point where she almost feels like a heel, but the world just loves her, so technically, she’s not. All in all, as she laid out, it works.
Then Nikki Bella came out and demanded a rematch and I almost broke my monitor because of the madness.
Raquel Rodriguez, who has become my spirit animal, followed and Turf rushed Bella into the ring where she was completely unconscious. It’s stunning in the best possible way. Pure comedy of the highest order, and a legitimate transition for someone like Rodriguez who is chasing a big belt.
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Rodriguez is in charge, so I’ll be here no matter how long this program lasts, and the Judgment Day dynamic that comes with Liv Morgan’s return makes it all the more compelling. They then had a minor altercation backstage, with Morgan questioning why this was happening. The seeds are being planted, folks.
👑 My crown rating for this show is: 5.5/10. 👑