On one of the final stops before WWE heads to Philadelphia, Monday Night Raw took place in my neck of the woods in Brooklyn, New York! The Pop Break was able to cover the event and boy were we in for a great episode of Monday Night Raw! Let’s go through it!
Main Event Tapings:
Before Raw started two matches were taped for this week’s episode of Main Event. The first one was Chelsea Green vs Natayla and then Jinder Mahal vs Akira Tozawa. Both of these matches were quick and simple and a way to entertain the crowd before WWE went live on USA Network.
The Rock Promo: The Rock kicked off the night by telling us that the beat-down Rhodes suffered last week is what he deserved. He then showed videos of little kids crying while watching the attack and said that even though he is a girl dad and he hates seeing kids upset he does not regret what he did last week. Roman Reigns came out and said that this year’s Wrestlemania was going to be the easiest one he has ever worked on.
After they win the tag match this Saturday and they pick the stipulation for the main event Sunday this will be a walk in the park for him. Seth Rollins came out next through the crowd like he did during the Sheild days. He tells the Bloodline that he is not stupid enough to get in the ring and get ambushed as Rhodes did last week. He challenged any member of The Bloodline to a match in the main event and Solo Sikoa stepped up, however, the match was to be Bloodline Rules. Since the first hour of Raw was commercial free I did not mind this segment being as long as it was especially since it set up what was to come later in the night.
DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tomaso Ciampa) and The New Day (Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston) vs The Judgment Day (Dominick Mysterio, JD McDonagh, Finn Balor, and Damian Priest): I was a little shocked we did not get the rest of the Monday Night Raw tag teams that qualified for the Mania match in this to build more to that six-way ladder match. Gargano took a rough spot early on when he went headfirst into the commentary table (thankfully he is okay), but the rest of this match was fine. Judgement Day stands strong as they head into Mania as a closer unit.
Winners: The Judgment Day (Dominick Mysterio, JD McDonagh, Finn Balor, and Damian Priest)
Roman Reigns Promo: The Rock and Reigns were hyping up Sikoa for his big match. When Reigns walked away Rock asked where he was going and he said he was working on his speech for Friday. It was then announced that Reigns would be inducting Paul Heyman into the WWE Hall of Fame as The Rock congratulated Heyman and they all went their separate ways.
Sami Zayn Training Video: Sami Zayn and Chad Gable were at the WWE Performance Center training for Zayn’s big match this weekend. After Zayn was tired and tapped out to Gable he said he did not want to do this anymore and he was done. Zayn admitted that he was scared of letting his family down and that he was not going to be able to get the job done. Gable convinced him that if anyone was going to do this it was going to be him. They trained some more as Zayn was motivated and he passed with flying colors.
Bronson Reed vs Sami Zayn: This was a rematch from last week as Reed defeated Zayn, but the crowd was really into this one, except the match didn’t have an ending. Towards the end of the match, Gunther came out dragging Gable by the hand and continued to beat him up. Zayn left the ring to attend to his friend and Gunther destroyed him throwing him into the Titantron and beating him down. Gunther stood over both men holding his Intercontinental Championship high and proud.
Winner: N/A
Jey Uso Promo: Jey Uso was walking around backstage when he ran into Lil Wayne. Uso said he wanted to top his entrance from last year and he invited him to the show of shows this weekend. Lil Wayne accepts and says he is excited about the opportunity.
Indi Hartwell and Candice Lerae vs Ivy Nile and Maxxine Dupri: Can we just have Lerae turn full heel already? Don’t get me wrong, I love this storyline but the turn for Lerae is taking a little bit longer than expected. The match was fine as Dupri kept proving that she is learning more every week and she was even able to roll up Hartwell to get the win! Lerae was not happy about this as she stormed away after the match ended.
Winners: Ivy Nile and Maxxine Dupri
Drew McIntyre Promo: McIntrye was standing over a casket praising the fact that CM Punk’s dreams of wrestling on this year’s Wrestlemania were dead. He says that Rollins does not stand a chance of walking out of this year’s Mania the champion and he will do everything in his power to prove that he is a worthy champion.
Ivar vs Ricochet: To me, this match went a little too long, but the crowd loved it. WWE has been using Ricochet a lot more on TV this year which is great, but unfortunately, he is not on this year’s Mania card. He did a lot of cool flips as he does in all of his matches he was able to beat Ivar after hitting a 630 splash.
Winner: Ricochet
Judgment Day Promo: After Santos Escobar and the rest of Legado Del Fantasma had made themselves comfortable in the Judgement Day den they got another surprise. They were not happy that Ricochet had won and Judgement Day had not gotten a hold of him yet. Dom Dom invites Andrade in and says that if he can take care of the Ricochet problem on Smackdown this week, he can potentially be a full-time member of Judgement Day. Andrade seems intrigued by the offer while the rest of Judgement Day do not seem too thrilled.
Becky Lynch Promo: After interrupting Rhea Ripley’s interview on MMA Hour earlier in the day, Lynch wants to finish what she started. Adam Pearce interrupts her and says that he does not want to risk losing the Mania match this weekend and asks her to leave the ring. Ripley interrupts and pushes past the security and Pearce as the two begin to brawl. They fought into the backstage area until Dom Dom had to hold Ripley back as Pearce yelled “Go control your Mami”
Teagan Knox, Zoey Starks, and Shayna Bazler vs Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai, Asuka, and Kairi Sane): Unfortunately, the crowd was not into this match, but I thought it was great. We got to see Damage CTRL look strong as a team before they all head into this weekend’s show in some of their biggest tests yet. The team of Knox, Bazler, and Starks did not stand a chance when Damage CTRL was dominant for mostly the entire matchup.
Winners: Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai, Asuka, and Kairi Sane)
Monday Night RAW 4/1/24 Main Event — Bloodline Rules: Solo Sikoa vs Seth Rollins: This match was truly about one thing, to see how many people interfered throughout the match, After putting Sikoa through a table and delivering the curb stomp Jimmy Uso appeared and delivered a superkick to Rollins. Jey Uso came out and confronted his brother face to face as the two brawled to the backstage area. Rock and Reigns were out next as Rhodes was close behind them, however the numbers were no match for Rollins and Reigns. The match ended with Rock hitting both of them with a weight belt several times as The Bloodline raised the belts high celebrating their work. There was no distinctive winner in this as the bell never rang to end the match, so I guess Sikoa won?
Winner: Solo Sikoa?
Overall: For this being the go-home Monday Night Raw I thought this was a great episode. Although some things went a little long and there were two matches without a finish I thought WWE did a great job building up to their biggest show of the year. This was my first Raw in a long time and seeing a sold-out New York City crowd losing their mind over The Rock and admitting they were Cody Cry Babies was truly a sight to see.
