Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show that very, very occasionally features RomanReigns! The WINC staff has an abundance of opinion to provide this week, with Reigns getting involved in the main event cage match just being the tip of the iceberg there's a new challenger for the women's Intercontinental title (and also the men's, though we're not getting into that even though Finn Balor gave DominikMysterio the sweetest hug), Logan Paul seemingly set his WrestleMania direction in stone via a segment with AJ Styles, and Chad Gable returned wearing a luchador mask ... or did he?
Admittedly, we didn't give much focus to Cody Rhodes' promo on Monday night, mainly because the entire "JohnCena turned heel" thing feels like it got put on hold until this upcoming European tour, which features Cena. If there's anything else we missed, you can doubtless find it on our "Raw" results page, which is for making sure we have detailed record of everything that went down. This column, however, is for the WINC staff to express our opinions about those same events. From GUNTHER choking out Jey Uso (again) to Bianca Belair bringing the drama back to the red brand, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 3/10/25 episode of "WWE Raw."
I didn't think I'd ever get to the point where I'd tire of Jey Uso being the Royal Rumble winner and GUNTHER holding the World Heavyweight Championship going into the biggest night in wrestling, but now, I'm starting to get worried since I'm already getting tired of these two ahead of WrestleMania 41. For the past few weeks, we've seen brawls between the pair and GUNTHER already pulled out the Uso big entrance fake-out, so I'm not sure what else there is for these two to accomplish with five more weeks until WrestleMania to go. They also always seem to open up the show, which is really not giving this feud any variety.
I think even a closing angle brawl could do this feud a lot of good, even if it's similar to what they're doing to kick off the show. But instead, clear out the locker room to separate these two, don't just get security involved or backstage officials. Let things get so heated that a locker room clearing brawl happens on the last two or three shows leading up to 'Mania. Anything to spice this up and make it different. GUNTHER not appearing in the main event segments and opening the show all the time, or just appearing in Uso's show-opening segments is getting old fast for a man who holds the World Heavyweight Championship.
Tonight, I realized it kind of feels like WWE has given up a bit on this already. I realized that by the time the past few episodes of "Raw" have ended, I haven't been thinking about GUNTHER versus Uso at all. There are bigger matches on the red brand yet to be made for WrestleMania, and I'm far more interested in those than the top championship of the show.
I'm also curious as to why WWE thought to bring in the Alpha Academy of all people to play backup to Uso. I guess it's because they're all loveable underdogs? No matter how much I love Otis, it's not really working for me and it's coming across a bit silly. If you want Uso to play the underdog, let him do it all by himself. Overall, with the likelihood that we're getting a triple threat match involving Roman Reigns, CM Punk, and Seth Rollins on top of Cody Rhodes versus heel John Cena, there's a lot of work to be done to get me excited for Uso versus GUNTHER, and sadly, I'm not sure I see any of that work happening.
Written by DaisyRuth
There is a time and place in professional wrestling for a company to intentionally mislead their fanbase when a storyline or segment originally advertised for a show calls for a major, unexpected swerve (see: Mark Henry's fake retirement speech from the early 2010s). When a company misleads their fanbase for the sake of doing so without a good swerve in a storyline or segment, then it becomes a different conversation.
Considering that Logan Paul spent most of his segment tonight talking about being on the same levels as John Cena and The Rock when it was originally AJ Styles that was advertised to appear and call out Paul, there was absolutely no good reason to switch around who was set to cut the initial promo. Paul and Styles were both going to be part of the same segment regardless, but if WWE had stuck to what they'd been advertising since last week and had Styles call out Paul, then it would've been much more beneficial in keeping the focus of everything on their storyline. The end goal of either segment would've been the same in demonstrating Paul's character as a cowardly heel who talks a big game, but instead of choosing the route that would've helped to build something up between him and Styles, the focus on everything became about John Cena, The Rock and a rather random appearance from actor Andrew Schulz (which felt even more baseless with just how many celebrities have been appearing on WWE programming and were in the crowd alone tonight).
Written by Olivia Quinlan
Just three weeks ago, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez defeated Bianca Belair and Naomi to become the tag team champions. You would think they'd be looking forward to defending the titles. Not Rodriguez. Apparently one title isn't enough. She has her eyes on the women's IC title. With the assistance from her tag team partner, she defeated Bayley to advance to become the Number 1 contender against Lyra Valkyria.
There's already discourse around how the IC title has been presented. Following Valkyria becoming the inaugural champion, she wasn't seen on TV the following week. She defeated Dakota Kai to become champion and has continued to feud with her. Her only other challenger has been Ivy Nile. No one else really has expressed an interest in a brand new title that's only a couple months old.
It doesn't make sense for her next challenger to be a woman who currently holds another title. Even moreso when there are women in the division reportedly upset with creative and the way things are being booked on the road to WrestleMania. Why not have some of the less featured women contend for the title? It's a midcard title that needs other women vying for a shot at it. Why aren't other women who were in the tournament to crown a champion trying to get their shot now?
The women's tag titles have struggled to have significance since they're creation. Instead of having one half of the current champions challenging for another title, focus on building up your title. Take it to other brands and defend it. Let other women without titles who are less featured get shots at the IC title to build it up too. By featuring more women and building up two titles, you can begin to try to correct some of the issues and maybe start to improve the morale in the women's locker room.
Written by Samantha Schipman
Chad Gable has returned from learning the dark arts of lucha libre, or whatever he claimed to be doing while giving $500 to a mysterious man for a mysterious box, and he's brought an interesting new angle back to WWE with him.Tonight, we were all convinced that it was Gable behind a red, white, and blue luchador mask that even had "American Made" embroidered across the forehead. The masked man took out Dragon Lee during the tornado tag team match pitting The New Day against Rey Mysterio and Lee tonight, and it seemed like something strange, but super interesting, was going on after the fact.
The mystery man we assumed was Gable took out Lee with a hurricanrana, but hit Mysterio with a suplex, then hit Gable's signature "THANK YOU!" pose before running through the crowd from security. I thought that was a bit goofy for Gable's current character, but thought maybe he had lightened up during his lucha training. I also thought to myself he seemed REALLY fast, but then again, I figured I'd never seen Gable actually sprint before and just kind of shrugged it off. A new, goofier Gable definitely wasn't the case backstage when Cathy Kelley caught up with him, and even though he was wearing the same dark clothes that the mystery man had been wearing to interfere in the match, someone wearing the American Made luchador mask appeared behind Gable and Kelley, which got an audible pop from me.
I love this because I'd assume it's leading up to the WWE debut of Fenix. Even if it's not, it's got me thinking about that and intrigued, which is a nice thing for a mid-card storyline not involving a championship. Rumors and reports were swirling at the end of last week that Fenix was set to get checked up by WWE doctors, a standard procedure when signing, and that he could be debuting soon. Hearing that, then finding out it wasn't actually Gable (or, at least, he could be working with someone who then put on the mask backstage) was an exciting little aspect of "Raw" tonight. WWE is definitely hyping up the debut of Fenix, whether they're trying to or not, which is smart business. Gable is also a great actor, so I have faith that this angle and story is going to be good in future weeks, and I'm excited to see where it leads. American Made may not have championship gold like Gable demanded before he left, but now, they've got a mysterious luchador to deal with, and that's an excellent story.
Written by Daisy Ruth
Disclaimer: I loved the Bianca Belair/Naomi/Jade Cargill segment on "WWE SmackDown," so if you didn't, you might not agree with me here, either. I just really enjoy Belair, both as a wrestler and a character, and she suddenly has so much to work with now as the common link between two major WrestleMania builds. She's over here on "Raw" trying to forget about all the interpersonal drama over on Friday nights, but not only is Rhea Ripley prepared to not let her do that, but Rhea has her own beef with Belair, blaming Belair for Ripley's Women's World Championship loss last week.
There's such a strong dynamic here, and it's actually the reason Belair vs. Ripley vs. IYO SKY works better as a WrestleMania 41 match than just Belair vs. Ripley. The night after WrestleMania 39, when both Belair and Ripley were singles champions, they teased a standoff in the ring. They haven't interacted at all in the two years since, and it hasn't been the easiest two years, either. Ripley has managed to build herself into a top-tier wrestler who almost never loses, but she's had to struggle through injury and lost all that remains of her former family (even Damian Priest is on "SmackDown" now). Belair continues to hold the record for longest women's title reign in modern WWE history, but she's been stuck in the tag team division for a year now and has seemingly dealt with wave after wave of intrigue and betrayal that's left her heartsick and slow to trust. In other words, both characters are trying to cope with the insecurity of maybe not being the unstoppable forces they were a couple years ago neither currently holds a title while dealing with all sorts of messy interpersonal feelings that are also tied up in their championship ambitions. They're tired, stressed, paranoid, and high-strung, which is why they're a few seconds away from getting into a fistfight not because one is a face and one is a heel, but because they're characters that make sense.
Meanwhile, IYO SKY is over here holding the actual title, being the actual champion, because she beat Ripley last week and is about to go into her second consecutive WrestleMania as a singles champion. She's 4-0 against Ripley all-time and 3-0 in her last three singles matches with Belair, and both those stretches include instances of SKY taking their titles. Rhea and Bianca can get messy about their feelings all they want SKY is the wrestler here; she doesn't care who she faces at Mania, but you don't disrespect her unless you can keep her down for three in the ring (of course she also used moves honoring the other members of Damage CTRL in her title win last week because she is also not-so-secretly an emotional sap who definitely still wants to be friends with everyone).
So many emotions. I love it. Inject it into my veins. This is wrestling.
Written by Miles Schneiderman
"WWE Raw" this week felt like a gradual build to match fans were actually looking forward to between CM Punk and Seth Rollins, with their vitriolic feud getting an installment bespoke for WrestleMania on the close of a TV show so there was always the question of how and whether this would be extended to WrestleMania. That question in itself was answered after a bout of bumps, finishers, and kick outs aplenty, with Roman Reigns emerging to turn the bout upside down and remind his Shield-brother that there is always a receipt when you come at the "Tribal Chief." Much had been said about the purported favor owed to Punk by Reigns' "Wise Man" Paul Heyman after their WarGames team up, but that again appeared to be turned upside down during the Royal Rumble as Punk took the opportunity to eliminate both Reigns and Rollins allowing Rollins to then stomp Reigns' head into the ground and the ring steps.
So it was somewhat cathartic for Reigns to return tonight, plucking Rollins from the cage and screwing Punk out of the win just to return the favor and land a pair of stomps to the ground. He would have closed the circle completely and driven Rollins into the steps, but per the "Raw" custom Adam Pearce and his band of merry officials prevented that from happening. But that was when his attention was turned to the ongoing in the ring, as Heyman appeared to console Punk in his defeat by technicality. We know Reigns to be immensely protective of his "Wise Man" especially in the face of torn loyalties to his former Heyman Guys, so it was cool to see that sustained as he caught onto Heyman and Punk's interaction in the ring. Equally, Heyman has always maintained his sense of duty to Reigns and The Bloodline so again it made sense that he would stand by and watch powerless to stop Reigns from taking out his dear friend; though he was visibly horrified by the final dissolution of their marriage of convenience. All in all, "Raw" was very much a show looking to advertise the next spate of shows, but this closing period between the actual in-ring action of Rollins and Punk and the Reigns return was more than worth the wait.
Written by Max Everett
