The Lone Star state hosts a whole week of WWE programming beginning tonight with Monday Night RAW in Dallas, Texas, at the American Airlines Center. Though the Royal Rumble takes place a week from Saturday, tonight’s show was focused around this weekend’s Saturday Night’s Main Event in San Antonio. There have been many declarations for the Rumble over the past couple of weeks, but tonight’s tone felt like another full reset as announcements of transfers involving Bayley to RAW and Wyatt Sicks to SmackDown underscored the direction.
Excitement and wonder were unleashed on wrestling fans when it was announced last week that WWE and TNA Wrestling have officially entered a partnership that saw several NXT superstars on TNA’s PPV ‘Genesis’ last night. Still, all these monumental achievements have rarely produced major moments within the product. Triple H admitted RAW’s debut on Netflix was booked as a mini-PLE and then claimed that storylines and storytelling would resume after that show.
There was hope tonight would offer more than we have gotten thus far in 2025, but the reset is still in progress. With so many shows, it feels like the build for Rumble is affected by SNME and vice versa.
In fact, the opening of the show was focused on Jey Uso’s heavyweight title match against champion Gunther. They cut promos on each other again, but Gunther cut deep when he called Jey Uso the company’s ‘corporate sponsor.’ The two fought each other for a moment. Jey got the better of it, making Gunther likely to retain on Saturday night.
Sami-K.O.: Good Friends; Better Enemies
Kevin Owens is performing the best work on the roster right now, but it takes an ‘expert’ on 90’s wrestling lore to understand and explain it. First off, taking the winged-eagle belt that represents classic WWF/WWE for so many has created a sort of time portal, storyline-wise. At the Rumble, K.O. will challenge Cody Rhodes for the world title with the wing-eagled belt also up for grabs (unofficially) the two titles; one legit and the other a straight heel counterfeit.
This mirrors the famous WrestleMania X match between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon’s storyline, making the ladder match a staple in WWE. And now, they’re also running the Shawn-Diesel ‘good friends/better enemies’ storyline from after their second split as a group—this off the heights of sharing tag team titles while holding other gold (similar to Owens and Sami).
True, this storyline is nothing new for the premier friendship storyline in WWE, but it is on another level now that Sami has reached the heights he has, and K.O. finds himself getting a title shot at the Rumble. So, when Sami came out tonight to announce himself for the Rumble, he was under the time restraint of Owens poppin’ out. Still, Sami delivered an underdog face promo as only he can, and Owens eventually came out and agreed that it should be Sami’s time in what will be the most competitive Rumble ever.
Owens said after Sami wins the Rumble, they can achieve one of the final boxes to check off on their list of ‘childhood dreams:’ facing off in the main event of WrestleMania for the title. Owens claimed to have Sami’s back and said he knows he’ll win the title against Cody because Sami has his back, too. “If I need you, I know you’ll be there,” Owens said to Sami before just walking off to bring segment to an end.
Rest of the Rumble
The main event between Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre feels like a red herring. These two men have so many more reasons to work together as heels than they do battling one another. Both men have had issues with Punk, and as Roman and Cena plan to flex their legendary muscles in the 30-man over-the-top battle royal, workhorses like Seth and Drew have worked harder than anyone to bring WWE to the position they’re in today.
It feels like they will eventually see they have more in common than that separates them. The match was slow-paced, but both Seth and Drew worked with a level of animosity. For weeks, faces in the back have warned of McIntyre’s place in the back, and Sami Zayn came out to the aid of Seth Rollins after Drew set him up for a dangerous kick. Sami was taken out only to come back into the ring to attempt a Helluva Kick on Drew, but he moved and hit his friend Rollins instead. Look for this ending to cause issues between Seth and Sami just as the match that pits “every man for himself” rolls around the corner.
NOT LIKE THIS! 😲#RawOnNetflix pic.twitter.com/bWjkNymHBW
— WWE (@WWE) January 21, 2025
CM Punk came out tonight and gave an interview in the crowd (a spot that WWE continues to utilize on NETFLIX broadcasts). He hyped himself for the Rumble and claimed he was unbeatable with ‘these people’ behind him, but Punk is awesome at misdirection and one step ahead of everyone. He said he would settle scores and cashing in debts—‘calling in a favor or two’ if he needs to after burying Hulk Hogan’s “old dusty a$s.” The Hogan line brought the crowd alive, even if Cole admitted there’s a reason McAfee hasn’t had Punk on his show.
Giga-Chad Gets Giga-Mad
It is hard to disregard the parallels in ‘American Made’ beefing with nothing but Lucha Libre superstars on the roster with the current undertone of the country, and whether it is intentional or just a lack of optics in the writer’s room, it feels directionless.
Gable was interviewed backstage following the Penta video package recapping what was considered a successful debut last week on RAW. He talked about having issues with Penta and before that Rey Mysterio and Dragon Lee, but that he has linked up with someone that knows a thing or two about handling that specific style: Dom Mysterio. The logic is likely tied to the success Don has had over his GOAT of a father as well as feuding off and on with LWO members, but he himself utilizes very little of the traditional Lucha style—so, his help may come from his ‘Latino Cheat’ strategies.
As for the rest of American Made, the theme of the interview was achieving gold in the form of the women’s IC title for Nile, the tag team title for the Creed Bros, and Gable with heavyweight gold around his waist.
Penta Shows He Ain’t No Butch
As for Penta, he was put in another match to gain him more exposure and experience with WWE TV match styles in front of a live audience. Butch is a nothing opponent, sadly, though there was a time when it would have been an ‘indie dream match’ for many. Penta had the crowd, and by the time he hit the “Penta-Driver” for the win, the crowd had come alive after a lull in action prior to this match. We will likely have to continue to wait until Penta is given a significant storyline.
New Day Heat Starting To Cool Off
NOT how they thought it would go… 😬#RawOnNetflix pic.twitter.com/FQrlBucqFQ
— WWE (@WWE) January 21, 2025
The New Day’s full transition to heels after roasting their friend Big E in front of a live crowd, but the slow play has hindered their heat. Tonight, Kofi squared off with Rey Mysterio after problems with the LWO. Mysterio stood up to Kofi and Woods, kicking them out of the locker room and forcing them to dress in random areas throughout the arena.
New Day had choice words with JBL before the match, who was scheduled to commentate during this match for some reason. JBL trolled them, and Kofi used the heat with JBL to bring out a more aggressive competitor in him. But none of it had any meat on the bone in terms of story. Commentating tried to put over JBL being retired by Rey, but you could barely tell if JBL was being a ‘heel commentator’ or ‘returning legend/face’ (partly because he is easy to hate).
Kofi and Rey were able to work in front of a super hot crowd and they put on a decent show. Rey would get the sneak pin win, but Woods came to take out Rey before the LWO chased them out of the ring.
Other Tidbits/In-Ring Action
Bayley vs. Nia Jax
Bayley was beaten clean last Friday in Tiffany Stratton’s first title defense, but her feud with Nia Jax continued in the form of a singles match on RAW. Both women declared for the Rumble earlier in the show, but Nia was able to take (another) clean victory over Bayley. Rhea’s music eventually hit and she attacked Nia. Security eventually separated them, but it wasn’t over until Rhea received a splash and Nia took a kick to the back of the head. Rhea grabbed the mic and demanded that Nia be given a title match at SNME this Saturday.
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