RAW was live from Kansas City with the BackLash PLE dead in sight. After last week’s RAW After Mania show, the entire landscape of RAW has shifted now that Paul Heyman has helped to align Seth Rollins with the firecracker upstart Bron Breakker. Rumors have emerged that a third member could be added to this group before revealing an official name for the Heyman-led faction.
Jey Uso received his flowers last week with a hint of potential long-term storylines, but the hope was that tonight he would receive his first title challenger or, at least, the likely direction. With plenty of fresh options to pair Jey with, an important first feud was booked for the Jey Uso reign.
Heyman, Rollins, And Breakker To Add A New Member? Evolution 2.0?
RAW kicked off with Seth Rollins on the mic, and both Bron Breakker and Paul Heyman backed him up for his promo. Seth could always cut a promo, but it is interesting to see Paul on the sidelines despite his best attribute being mic work. Rollins does not need Heyman to speak for him, but the faction needs a single voice. Why would you involve Paul if you weren’t going to let him do what he does best?
Breakker was dressed in a black suit while Seth was dressed like a moron—he wore a dope navy blue matador jacket, but it was his glasses with eyeballs that killed the entire vibe. Without picking apart every decision they’re making early on with this new partnership, it seems like Breakker is best ‘suited’ to be the “badass in the black throwback leather jacket” as opposed to a ‘fashionable’ pairing to Rollins.
Sami Zayn Turning Heel???
Zayn came out to confront Rollins about his recent actions, but after last week, many are questioning where the lovable ‘Sami Uce’ stands based on small details from last week. He congratulated his friend Jey on his title win, but he wore all black while constantly looking over his shoulder at Jey—almost contemplating his own jealousy.
Tonight, he played the face, but later in a backstage segment with Heyman, the two spoke about ‘reasons’ for leaving ‘The Bloodline,’ and Paul said he hoped Sami would one day respect The Wiseman’s decision.
“I had to do what I had to do,” Paul told Sami before admitting that Breakker wants him one-on-one tonight. That is when Paul gave Sami an offer he may not be able to turn down, considering his options.
Heyman said that he and Seth could keep Breakker on a leash while guaranteeing Sami a shot at the Undisputed WWE World Championship against the winner of Cena-Orton. He specifically said if Sami accepts a trade to Friday Night SmackDown this week, he will become the instant number-one title contender. “Sami, you can live in the future, or you can die in the past. Think about it,” Paul said to Sami before meeting up with Breakker in the hallway.
The Decision
It is great storytelling using traditional literary elements like Cena’s ‘countdown’ narrative or the ‘favor-gate’ that Mania night one’s main event was built around—tonight was no different as Sami was given a ‘choice’ with major consequences.
Sami told Seth to ‘kick rocks’ and said he should have known him better than to think ‘he’d run’ from the fight. Immediately after making his decision, Breakker’s music hit, and the spotlight focused on him with Heyman in his corner. It was an incredible sight, and the decision to go right into the match was excellent storytelling as it showed the immediate repercussions of Sami’s decision.
Sami and Breakker have a history—Sami gave Breakker his first title shot and subsequent title loss, the first to pin Breakker. Then, when they rematched at SummerSlam, Breakker picked up his first title after beating the then-IC champ Zayn.
This match was as close as all the others, but midway through it, Breakker was in full control as Seth screamed in Sami’s ear it was ‘not too late to take the deal.’ Bron delivered a match-ending spear a moment later, and even though he was never pinned, Sami lost the match when he could no longer continue due to his busted ribs.
The crowd was cheering on Breakker the moment he exited the ring because they knew what was coming. Breakker ran around the long side of the ring to build up enough momentum so that when he delivered his second, out-of-ring spear, you just knew Sami was done.
With Heyman by his side, Seth started screaming in Bron’s face that ‘some people deserve our respect’ as he grabbed his ‘rabid dog’ by the face. He then said Sami made his bed before delivering a curb stomp to send RAW off air as Seth, Heyman, and Breakker stood in the frame before the fade to black.
Two-Face Becks Is Not Two-Feuds Becky
Becky Lynch continued her character dance in ‘High Heel’ but took it up a notch in her promo on RAW. After the last ‘who did it’ angle in the female division involving Jade Cargill went on too long, Becky decided to make it easy on investigators and admit to beating Bayley to steal her spot at Mania.
Becky started talking about Bayley in typical heel fashion, but then she started talking about some personal things beyond the ring. She said Bayley wonders why she isn’t a bigger star when she walks around putting everyone else over. When it was announced that Bayley was unhappy with her Mania direction, it was speculated that she could be on the outs with the company as AEW’s Mone’ (former Sahsa Banks and Bayley’s best friend) put out a social media post that asked for Bayley to call her.
The storyline is flirting with a shoot-work, and that could be really fun, but it is not what is next for Becky. Lyra Valkyria eventually came out to set up a match at BackLash with ‘The Man.’ This was the actual person she ‘turned on’ last week following their tag team title loss to the former, now new, tag team champs Liv and Raquel.
The challenge was clunky as Lyra jumped to put the title on the line without Becky asking, but Becky did deliver a great line when she said she would ‘make the IC title relevant’ like she made Lyra relevant. Lyra snapped back and even finished the segment standing tall after delivering a dropkick onto Becky, but Becky is right about the women’s IC title—which wasn’t even defended at Mania this year (you have to imagine it would have been a feature match around the waist of Becky Lynch).
This title needs an injection of relevancy because it has been a non-factor thus far—Chelsea Green did great work with the U.S. title in her inaugural run, but her booking was nearly as limited.
Judgement Day (McDonagh and Balor) vs. War Raiders
A returning JD McDonagh was in action alongside Balor against the team that was in the ring with JD the night he was injured—RAW’s debut on Netflix. It was a scary injury, but JD got a huge pop after helping Dom retain the IC title last week on RAW against Penta. Still, Balor was surprised to see JD and even made it a point to comment on it during a backstage segment. He admitted he was surprised to see JD and wished he’d informed the ‘leader’ of TJD, but JD said he thought Dom would inform everyone and that it was all a misunderstanding.
The seeds for a Balor breakup with TJD have been planted, but the match helped to push two completely different narratives altogether. First, on commentary seated ringside, the 12-time tag team champions, The New Day, were there ‘to watch’ the former champs they beat at Mania—War Raiders.
The two teams mixed it up ringside, eventually, while the second angle played out with Penta interfering in the match by knocking JD off the top buckle. The interference led to the Raiders picking up the victory, as they will likely rematch New Day for the straps while Penta looks to keep his feud going with anyone wearing Judgement Day colors.
If only there were someone who could help Penta overcome the odds, someone who is like a brother to him. If only…
Logan Paul vs. Jey Uso For The Title?!?!
Jey Uso came out tonight and received the face ovation that typically surrounds his hyped entrance. On this night, he came out through Gorilla and not through the audience as is standard for Jey’s RAW entrances. He walked over to a kid sitting ringside with a sign that said, “YEET for Cancer,” held by a child without hair—a side effect of chemotherapy. The child’s guardian was shocked and barely holding back his tears as he gifted the child his ‘Yeet’ glasses (a Bret Hart nod for sure).
Even if the child was an impromptu moment, it was still very much in line with what we have come to expect from Jey Uso’s title run. What was different was that this was not ‘the champ’s segment’; in fact, it was Logan Paul who came out first and delivered his promo, which Jey reacted to. As a face champ, you are expected to stand on business against any challenger, but the segment was designed to make Paul feel stronger—or at least just as intense as the champ.
Logan was left looking lame while Jey declared RAW his domain, but the structure gave us the idea that Logan is calling the shots.
After a less-than-stellar program that ended in an explicable tap-out win over Gunther, WWE should try to elevate the title as much as possible, especially since Cena has the other ‘on ice.’ But perhaps putting Jey in a program with Paul is a way of raising his popularity outside of the WWE Universe©, and if that is the case, then the hope is that Jey and Paul put this feud over on platforms beyond weekly WWE programming.
If this is the direction they’re going to go, then nothing they can do will convince the wrestling purist that this is the right ‘first title feud’ for Jey. So, it should be sold on mediums meant to reach youthful eyeballs, such as Logan’s podcast Impaulsive or, better yet, perhaps Jake Paul’s podcast.
This is WWE’s chance to put Jey on the map while allowing Logan to prove himself as a legitimate challenger, so why not incorporate both men’s famous brothers into the mix? In fact, given the history of both siblings, it could work for the storyline if both Jimmy and Jake were in the opposite corners of each other’s brother.
Penta-Gable/Vaquer-Nile
Ivy Nile faced off against Stephanie Vaquer in a highly entertaining match, but before they made their entrances, we got a backstage segment that offered Penta another feud on the roster. After already reigniting his rivalry with The Judgement Day, Penta decided to step up for his brother Fenix after Chad Gable began ridiculing him for his brother’s loss at Mania—the first loss for Fenix, and a day later, Penta would lose his first singles match.
Penta laid out Chad, setting up a feud somewhere alongside JD, Dom, and Balor.
The Nile-Vaquer match ‘slapped’ (as the kids say) with a versatile assault of offense from both superstars. This is the second week in a row that Vaquer has received a prominent place on RAW, and for the second week in a row, she delivered huge numbers. Vaquer picked up the win and was booked strong, but Nile continues to impress in these positions and should get her shot by summer if she continues to exceed her booking.
What could be interesting is a mix-tag match between these four, and it could be the show stealer on any card. If you are unfamiliar with Penta’s work beyond mainstream platforms like WWE and AEW, then it may surprise you that he has put on bangers in mixed-gender matches against Chelsea Green and Iyo Sky, respectively.
If anyone can get that match over, it is someone like Penta, and you just need to visit YouTube and type in Penta/Lucha Underground to be convinced. The WWE has avoided inter-gender matches since the ‘Attitude’ days, but the rest of the IWC has leaned into them and created a draw. It is not for everyone, but the crowd that would enjoy it is a large demographic.
Tidbits/In-Ring Action
- AJ Styles could be next in line for the IC title against Dom Mysterio after a backstage segment where Liv Morgan requested ‘time off’ to shoot a ‘major Hollywood film. Liv recently filmed her part in the movie The Kill Room with Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson, and it was reported that she impressed many within Hollywood. There is no word on the role; it is just that it is ‘big enough’ that WWE is happy to give her time off, which means this role is likely to skyrocket Liv’s ‘out of the ring’ portfolio.
- As for AJ, he was standing next to the JD crew as Dom requested time off for himself but was denied. The segment ended as Aldis and AJ were seen discussing an idea for ‘new goals’ that AJ has sights on—this could be referencing a multi-man number one contender’s match.
- Pat McAfee called out RAW GM Adam Pearce but got Nic Aldis in his place (Aldis was covering for Pearce on tonight’s episode). Pat gave an incredible promo before Alids came out as he asked for a match with Gunther. Pat was not happy that Pearce suspended Gunther, so Alids agreed to set up a ‘sanctioned match’ between Gunther and Pat McAfee at BackLash.
- It was announced that Rusev will make his in-ring debut against Otis next week on RAW.
- Also announced for next week, Penta will be in action with JD McDonagh.
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