WWE is still in Las Vegas, Nevada, after the two-day WrestleMania 41 event that was highlighted by a record-breaking 17th title win by John Cena. The new champion appeared on Pat McAfee’s show earlier in the day, made his intentions clear before his WrestleMania title win. He has only doubled down since Sunday night, where he, alongside rapper Travis Scott, stood tall over Cody Rhodes.
The RAW after WrestleMania is a yearly tradition with the liveliest crowd of the year, many times more hyper than the actual WrestleMania crowd. The free-spirited nature of the post-Mania crowd has been ‘tamed’ by WWE over the years, warning fans that the ‘Raw after’ crowd is known to “boo the good guys and cheer the bad ones.”
The ‘anything can happen’ feeling might not exist anymore, but the show is still one of the best with its NXT call-ups, WWE debuts, and long-injured returns that help shape the storylines for the new WWE season—that started tonight.
Paul Heyman And Seth Rollins Breakk The WWE Landscape
Seth Rollins was given top billing tonight, two nights after his star-rising win over Reigns and Punk in their night one triple threat. In that match, Paul Heyman pulled the double swerve, first on Punk for (we thought) Roman, then again on Roman at the behest of the newest ‘Heyman guy,’ Seth Rollins. Rollins came out and recapped the Mania finish, but the heat was difficult to gauge as fans willfully continued singing along to his theme music.
It didn’t take long for CM Punk’s music to hit, and he made his way to the ring taping his right hand—he was seen walking into the arena earlier in the evening, so not having both his hands wrapped was odd. They started exchanging blows the second Punk entered the ring, putting Rollins in a ‘daze’ before setting his sights on his ‘former best friend,’ Heyman. As he grabbed ahold of Heyman’s lapels, Rollins regained composure and took advantage of the sneak attack on Punk.
Rollins hit Punk with the curb stomp, and Heyman started to deliver his classic promo for a new guy in Rollins. During his spiel, Roman Reigns’ music hit, and the fight was on again. From the moment his music hit to his first appearance, quite a bit of time passed and the anticipation added to the moment.
Roman and Rollins battled it out, but this time, he disposed of Rollins well enough to put real hands on Paul. He hit Heyman with the ‘Superman punch’ before setting up for the spear, and it seemed like nothing would prevent Paul from getting his receipt.
As Roman charged up, he took his first couple steps and was speared by a man in a black hoodie (do wrestlers pass the same black hoodie around when in need of an ‘unexpected’ run-in?). The man revealed himself to be Bron Breakker, the former IC champion who was dethroned without being pinned at WrestleMania 41 Night Two.
Breakker spent most of Mania week getting over as a face whenever in front of a crowd with a mic in hand. So, to see him turn in this way was shocking, but the mere idea of Breakker being the newest ‘new’ Heyman guy was enough to send fans into hysterics (not to mention lowly streamers with the tendency to mark out). If there was any doubt as to what this turn of events meant, we were assured on commentary when Joe Tessitore, replacing the injured McAfee, verbally confirmed Breakker as ‘the new Heyman guy.’
Rollins and Breakker, both title-less, would be a formidable team with just each other, evident by the way they dominated Punk and Roman—delivering curb stomps to both men to close the show. But with Heyman in their corner, this new grouping is easily one of the more dangerous pairings on the roster. Depending on whether or not Heyman is currently taking applicants, the addition of ‘the right’ third man could turn this into a formidable faction the likes not seen since The Bloodline’s “Hey(man) Days.”
John Cena Rekindles His Oldest Rivalry
After his McAfee appearance earlier in the day, everyone in attendance was clear on Cena’s intentions of fully retiring the WWE UNDISPUTED World title—explaining on the show that the belt’s lineage that connects current holders to legends like Bret Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Bruno was ‘coming home with him’ because he’s ‘earned that.’
It was the complete reset we were told to expect, and just like Marvel and DC’s own ‘universe resetting’ events, not much is known about what the future holds [Abe Gonzalez of FightsATW said earlier today on a live stream that a potential ‘solution’ WWE could be considering is making this year’s Money in the Bank the match that determines the new (and first) belt holder—as opposed to guaranteeing a shot at the champ like past events].
Cena came out with the lack of enthusiasm we have come to expect, and he used the enthusiasm of the ‘Raw After Mania’ crowd to his advantage. Knowing the crowd is likely to cheer the moments they’re expected to boo, Cena pointed out how they’re cheering him and booing Cody tonight after they booed the former champ on Friday’s episode of SmackDown only to cheer him on at Mania. It was a perfect moment to amplify his criticisms of the WWE fandom with an example IRL (in real life).
He counted down his dates, starting with 36 and now down to 27 following both his Mania and Raw-After Mania appearances. Counting dates in your promo is about as heel as it gets in today’s wrestling landscape, and he would attempt to conclude his promo by giving fans and the world one last look at THE title before it goes away forever.
That is when, out of nowhere, Randy Orton delivered an RKO to Cena as the crowd erupted. Randy then picked up the belt and gave it a look as to say, ‘Oh, I remember this.’ And just like that, the weak finish to his program with Cody is washed away by the potential of an epic feud based on a legendary rivalry.
During WWE’s early PG days, Cena and Orton feuded countless times for the title—their feuds included straight-up matches, gimmick matches, and even matches that involved others, typically HHH. During this era, Cena was solidified as ‘the guy’ while attempting to build his legacy, and Randy was in the midst of fully fleshing out his character beyond the ‘legend killer’ gimmick.
It was always a battle of good (Cena) versus evil (Orton), and the outcome usually involved Cena ending up on top, with Randy furthering his heelish legacy. Today, those roles have reversed in a way nobody could have ever expected. Now, Randy’s entrance is the one that fans gleefully sing along to, while Cena’s entrances are hijacked to highlight his level of ‘sucker.’
This is storytelling at its finest, with the legacy of WWE on the line, and its only potential avenger is the man whose family name helped to solidify that history. It is off-the-charts irony combined with a rivalry of biblical proportions, and hopefully, this feud gets the chance to creatively tap into this conflict’s continuity.
Cena called himself ‘the last real undisputed champion” just before calling the fans heartless bastards for their flip-flop nature—specifically calling out fans for booing Cody on Friday and then cheering him at Mania before booing him, yet again tonight. Cena made the crowd responsible for the sins of another, but it was perfect timing, and regardless of whether it was off the dome or prewritten, to know your audience so well that you can predict what they’re going to do next makes you one of the greatest.
Sami Uso Is Jey’s “Day One” Feud? Uce No!
Jey Uso received a truly powerful video package with a Macklemore song as the ‘backtrack’ to a visual story of destiny and the power of perseverance. Unfortunately, his actual segment was not nearly as inspiring and played out like all of his “promos” leading up to Mania. Jey came out from the crowd, Yeeted with the kids, and entered the ring only to run the whole thing back, this time from inside the ring.
He gave a nothing promo, and then Sami “Uce” Zayn’s music hit. He was dressed in all black, and Zayn was there to give Jey his flowers. But it felt like it could be more as Sami delivered an incredibly impassioned promo about how much ‘Jey deserved’ his moment. Sami requested a Yeet party, and even then, it seemed as if Zayn was biding his time while constantly looking back at Jey’s place in the ring. Then, Jimmy’s music hit and the band was back together. At that point, it was clear that this was a ‘flowers only’ segment.
Gunther Puts Pat McAfee Out
The Jey segment was the sweet topping for the very cold and impromptu high-jacking of the show after the return from commercial break. With Gunther already out, seemingly after Jey and co. made their exit, we saw him screaming at Michael Cole for reasons that were not actually made clear—though Cole was later heard on TV with Adam Pearce saying, “We have to be able to do our job” which leads viewers to believe that Gunther was simply upset that Cole was ‘telling the truth.’ Propagandizing the truth is a very meta storyline for these days, so clearing this up would best serve everyone.
Still with his headset on, Cole could be heard telling Gunther, “I’m not the one that tapped,” and that comment was enough to make Gunther snap. He grabbed Cole after shoving Pat McAfee out of the way and slapped a sleeper on him. Pat quickly jumped in to break the hold, and that is when Gunther set his sights on Pat.
Gunther slapped a sleeper on Pat as the crew from his podcast—seated ringside behind commentary—jumped the guardrail and attempted to help their leader and show’s host. Gunther was eventually pulled off McAfee and sent to the back as medical worked on Pat.
McAfee was done for the night at that point, beautifully selling the stunt, but Cole, who followed his friend to the back, decided ‘the show must go on’ and went back out to finish the night. It was a powerful segment and a great way of bringing Gunther back to form after suffering another title loss at Mania. The ‘you tapped out’ chants really set Gunther off, and this could end up helping him draw heat—especially if he annihilates the entire Pat McAfee panel… set included, if you really want to build this right.
New Day Or…. Rusev Day!!!
‘Thank God for the New Day’ is the current catchphrase for the team that has nearly as many title runs. They came out touting the same dialogue as they have since their turn, but this time with the WWE tag titles in hand.
It did not take long for a team on the roster to call them out, and the first ones up were the last to beat New Day—Alpha Academy. Maxxine Dupri reminded the crowd of that very point when she challenged the New Day for the titles. Of course, the heels were apprehensive, and as the teams were on the verge of getting physical, the lights cut.
The next thing we saw once our eyes adjusted was the stage screen displaying the name RUSEV. With his original music playing, the crowd went nuts for the return of Rusev, and New Day quickly exited the ring and the scene. Rusev, now in the ring with the faces, turned on both Otis and Tazawa, eventually laying out Otis to slap on the ‘camel clutch’—his finisher from both WWE and AEW.
Rusev went without a promo, but look for his story to begin shortly—the hope is that he will get more opportunities than some of the more recent ‘returns’ outside of Cody.
Becky Two Faces
The opening match for RAW after Mania was a tag title defense for the new champs, Becky Lynch and Lyra Valkyria. They owed a rematch to the team they took the belts from on night two: Liv and Raquel of The Judgement Day. The immediate rematch felt like it would continue where it left off, with the faces working in unison to fend off the heels.
In the end, Judgment Day worked better as a team and was able to capitalize off a double interference spot that led to Liv pinning Lyra.
After the match, Becky and Lyra appeared to hug it out, but then Becky attacked Lyra before going back to further humiliate her—screaming in her face and laying savage shots. Lyra, the current IC champ, looked scared and came off weak. It was odd, or advantageous, for Becky to turn heel one day after returning to a Mania crowd as the ‘hot tag’ portion of a baby face tag team, but WWE gave the Mania crowd its moment before setting up Becky’s creative.
Hopefully, this feud ends with the women’s intercontinental title getting a hefty Becky dose of relevance—no offense to the very talented Valyria, but WWE clearly was never willing to book her as strong as the title needs.
Champion vs Champion: Only On The RAW After WrestleMania
Iyo Sky came out to get her flowers, and then NXT champion Stephanie Vaquer came out to show respect to the winner of the night two triple threat openers. The show of respect led to the Babyface world champ to challenge NXT’s champ to a ‘champ vs champ’ non-title match. This was a terrific surprise for both the live audience and the at-home crowd ‘in the know’ as this match represented two of the best female wrestlers in the world for the last half-decade.
The match was given a decent amount of time, and both women showed the kind of quality matches we can expect from these two one day. To protect both champions, the whole thing ended in a schmoz that was started by Roxanne Perez and former NXT women’s champ Julia (TNA is probably wondering where their courtesy went at Mania).
Rhea Ripley would come out to help the champs, but her stare-down with Julia may have tipped us off to her next feud.
Dom Mysterio(c) vs. Penta—Intercontinental Title
Dom was made to defend his newly won IC title, and his first opponent was Penta. The match was okay. They were not really given the ‘time to go’ because it was all set up to highlight the returning JD McDonagh, who helped Dom retain even though both Carlito and Finn were ringside.
The complications between Dom and Finn were washed away when Finn said, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” but this was prompted by Liv stepping in and saying a win for one is a win for all. Still, Finn was seen staring at the IC title, and he also noticed how the returning JD and Carlito rallied behind Dom despite him being the ‘leader’ of the TJD faction. This story is unfinished, and you can count the days until Finn’s exit from the faction—by choice or force.
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