The clock counting down the final match in John Cena’s career appeared in the corner of tonight’s episode, live from Kansas City at the T-Mobile Center. Typically, around this time of year, WWE RAW and SmackDown are used to wrap up the rest of the year, with little time left for any major bookings—celebrating the year that was while offering flowers to those with genuine accomplishments.
This year, however, WWE has plenty to keep pushing as this weekend’s Saturday Night’s Main Event in Washington, D.C. delivers on the multi-week tournament designed to offer up Cena’s final foe. Gunther, the tourney favorite since it was announced, defeated LA Knight in the finals on SD Friday night.
The card, as it stands, offers three matches, with rumors that Cena could launch the show—giving way to the younger talent who will feature on the card. Oba Femi defeated Ricky Saints for the NXT championship this weekend in a match that earned him a one-on-one showcase against WWE world titlist Cody Rhodes.
GUNTHER SEES JOHN CENA GIVING UP THIS WEEKEND
Cena was a guest on The Joe Rogan Podcast last week, and among the conversation headlines was the criticism that Cena’s father, John Sr., has offered up as it relates to his son’s final opponent, Gunther. Rogan’s podcast is known for its off-the-cuff moments, and the lack of formality on the show once infamously led to Elon Musk being lambasted for consuming cannabis on air, so it was not surprising to see Cena ‘get real’ (he seemed comfortable, actually).
Unfortunately, Gunther utilized nothing of Cena’s major media appearance and instead delivered a trite, even uninspired promo ahead of what he accurately referred to as a ‘major opportunity.’ He used the same line he had prepped and ready following his victory over LA Knight, something along the lines of being the one to finally ‘make Cena give up.’
Cena’s famous catchphrases have been emblazoned on many t-shirts, but his ‘Never Give Up’ motto best captures his character’s essence. Gunther, at this stage, is the foreign heel to Cena’s face and nothing more. There is no question that Gunther is one of the top heels in the company, and he earned his spot in the tournament by not just winning each match but putting up banger after banger.
Yet, this Saturday’s match is being completely carried by the ‘A-side’ in the match, Cena, and the only real selling point for the match is that the winner is anybody’s guess.
(For the record, FightsATW is rocking with Cena for the ‘super’ win).
LOGAN BACK UP WITH HIS NEW BACKUP… ROLLINS? JERICHO? ANOTHER THEORY?
Logan Paul has been an interesting experiment from within the sports entertainment medium, and he has passed many of the tests that a superstar is expected to on his way to the top of the card. When he joined The Vision, it felt fresh and different, adding to his heel character with the sh**-eating grin.
Finally, after weeks of mostly schmoz work, we received a faction segment led by Paul. Steaming from the embarrassment Rey Mysterio Jr. caused him last week, he insisted to Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker that tonight was the night to ‘handle’ the future hall of famer. Paul pulled Heyman aside to demand that Mysterio be dealt with tonight.
There was an interesting moment just before Haymon handed Logan the brass knuckles, in that he wanted his manager to know that he is just as capable of backing up Reed and Breakker as they are backing him up. Looking at the size of the Brons compared to Paul, you would assume this was a comedy angle not to be taken seriously.
Then, as Rey was making his entrance for his singles match with Finn Balor, Logan Paul came out to attack but was outpaced by the lucha legend. As Rey turned the tide, the masked/hooded figure, allegedly the same one who interfered in WarGames, attacked Mysterio. He ran out through the crowd as WWE officials chased after him, and that is when Paul hit Rey with the knucks.
LA Knight came out unexpectedly in defense of the legendary luchador to eventually challenge Paul to a one-on-one affair for tonight.
MAIN EVENT: LOGAN PAUL VS LA KNIGHT
Even with ‘The Vision’ being booted from ringside, you knew that Knight was getting the shaft in the evening’s main event. Sure enough, the masked man made his second appearance on the night, making WWE officials look super incompetent. He stomped Knight onto the commentary desk just when Knight had gained momentum on the outside.
Paul hit the Frog Splash for the victory, and that is when the dogs ascended as one by one, each member of The Vision gained their piece of flesh from Knight. Reed hit a Tsunami following multiple spears from Breakker in the post-match, and WWE ended up going to break while the officials cleaned up the mess.
When we returned from break, Paul Heyman was on the mic offering up an intro for Breakker, who called out Punk and the KC crowd for their loss to the Texans last night. Breakker called Punk a fraud while suggesting that the legendary “CM Punk” never returned to the ring. The bumbling promo was terrifically delivered while also poking fun at Punk for ‘looking like a crackhead’ despite being ‘straight edge.’ Vowing to destroy Punk if he does not return to form, he threatened to ‘take Punk’s wife’ while he was at it.
That is when the main screen showed LA Knight getting up and refusing aid, so Logan and Reed ran down to finish the job—putting Knight through a table before hitting another Tsunami, this time atop a car, to close out RAW.
AJ STYLES & DRAGON LEE (c) VS WAR RAIDERS—WWE Tag Team Championship
Styles and Lee last week volunteered to defend their tag titles against the former champs, the War Raiders, who never received their tag title rematch. This voluntary was off the heels of another title defense, so when they defeated War Raiders in a short but stellar affair, it was not surprising to see The New Day make their way out for a title match challenge after weeks of lobbying.
What was surprising was seeing the USOs, both Jey and Jimmy together, interrupt New Day’s bid before they even grabbed the mic. Seeing The USOs and The New Day in the ring together pressing the champions in AJ and Lee with the straps around their waist; what was confusing was seeing Jey ‘Yeeting’ up a storm after a depressing post-match interview last week.
Jimmy was the first on the mic, and he immediately addressed the need for a change after a rough year for both in the singles division. Jey looked a bit dejected as Jimmy announced they were officially back in the tag division, but he eventually took the mic and appeared fully bought into the idea, screaming, “We need gold, Uce.” The segment ended with Jey and Jimmy putting their hands on The New Day before claiming they were coming for Styles and Lee’s tag belts.
Other Tibits/In-Ring Action
- The John Cena interview with Tom Rinaldi drops tonight on WWE’s YouTube channel following the conclusion of RAW. Based on the snippets we received over the past couple of weeks, this is a MUST-SEE.
- Iyo Sky defeated Kairi Sane in singles action tonight with both Rhea Ripley and Auska in separate corners. Rhea took out Auska after the other half of the tag team champs interfered in the match, but the division is as competitive as ever, even with this singles victory potentially elevated “Rheo’s”
- Stephanie Vaquer got her next title challenger in the form of Raquel Rodríguez, interrupting the champ’s promo in the process. No date yet for the title match; stay up to date with FightsATW for developments.
- The Rock was nominated for a Golden Globe based on his performance in the “Smashing Machine.” The ‘Best Lead Actor’ nom acknowledges the terrific work that “The Final Boss” did alongside his co-star Emily Blunt.
- The Judgment Day was supposed to ‘run RAW’ after Liv Morgan returned and declared as much last Monday. Tonight, the faction was reduced to a single match after The Vision ruined Balor’s singles scrap with Rey, and that was Roxxane Perez versus Lyra Valkyria. Both Bayley and Liv were out ringside for support, and the two women put on a very fun match. Perez pulled off the win with the assist going to Liv.
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