Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show that came toEurope specifically so JohnCena's first appearance post-Elimination Chamber heel turn could happen in front of an unreasonably rabid crowd! We'll touch on both those things here the crowd and the Cena appearance, which was by far the most newsworthy segment of the day(aside from maybe Corey Graves showing up). We have a lot to say on that subject, as the WINC crew was unusually mixed on it, as if to demonstrate the subjectiveness of our opinions before this boilerplate introduction was even constructed!
As always, while we attempt to cover as much of the show as possible, our "Raw" results page is the place to go for comprehensive coverage of the program as a whole. If you're here for our thoughts and analysis on this strangely early (for the Americans among us) red brand Netflix offering, look no further! From Rhea Ripley ruining a contract signing to Bron Breakker facing off with Penta to close the show, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 3/17/25 episode of "WWE Raw!"
I feel weird saying I expected a lot more from John Cena's promo seeing that many of us here at WINC liked it though I have yet to check the response of the IWC to see if I'm really in the minority about it. It's not that I necessarily hated it, I still think Cena is going to do an excellent job as a heel (even though he told us directly that he's not a heel or a babyface, he's just a human), but this just really didn't do it for me. I didn't have Cena cutting a "YOU PEOPLE!" promo on my 2025 bingo card.
Hearing it from him was really jarring after months of people being really excited that he was coming back for an extended run, albeit the run is his retirement tour, and months of people betting on him winning the Royal Rumble, then the Elimination Chamber. In his announcement that he was going to be in the Chamber, he was quite serious about winning his 17th world championship. His promo mentioned nothing about title reigns; he really just reamed in to the fans not being behind him over his 25 years. As someone who literally grew up watching Cena over the years, from owning the "Word Life" DVD to Cena's rap album and all, I can tell you that's absolutely not the case.
He didn't go after his WrestleMania 41 opponent, Undisputed WWE ChampionCody Rhodes, until the fans started chanting his name. It was a good 20 minutes of Cena at first attempting to speak over the raucous crowd, and then when he could, running them down to the point he said he was breaking up with all of us even his supporters. I guess this was meant to try and turn people against him, but to me, it just felt forced and weird, to the point it seemed like WWE took the easiest way to tell the story going with the "YOU PEOPLE!" angle.
Neither Rhodes or Cena mentioned anything about the involvement of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Not so much as his name. I found that extremely weird, as it seemed like Rock was the catalyst behind all of this, maybe goading Cena into thinking the fans didn't care about him behind-the-scenes or something. Or maybe convincing him he could get him there to break the record. But, nope, no explanation given for his involvement nor Travis Scott's, but I'm just going to assume we'll never get any more about the rapper other than him just... being there.
Cena and Rhodes are set to be under the same roof next week. Maybe that's when we'll get some more about Rock's involvement, or it's just going to be dropped like it's nothing and we're meant to forget about it if Johnson doesn't want to work 'Mania. I'm still interested in all this, however, I just think today could have been a little more intriguing and less cliche.
Written by Daisy Ruth
John Cena has broken his silence.
Weeks after his betrayal of Cody Rhodes and the WWE Universe at Elimination Chamber, Cena reappeared on WWE programming to open Monday's European-based episode of "WWE Raw" with a tell-all. Man, was the wait for this Cena turn worth it.
The Brussels crowd was buzzing with energy, and all of us watching at home were on the edge of our seats to see just what a heel version of Cena would be like to the crowd. After several minutes of chanting, Cena was finally able to address the WWE Universe, and the presence of a villainish John Cena promo in 2025 makes me wiggle with excitement, even now. To be fair (and my beloved colleague will touch on this later), it's a touch disappointing that we got a "you people" promo from Cena when he has had twenty years' worth of time to marinate on a heel persona. However, I do think that the raw emotion Cena showed made it digestible, and I'm kind of glad that they didn't shock us with the ice cold waters that would have been a wholly villainous, irredeemable Cena.
Cena reminded the crowd of just how much he sacrificed for them, just how much of his life was dedicated to the WWE Universe, and here we can see the same face promo that Cena cut, but cast in an entirely different light. The highlights of his career that were built up by the fans became the darkest shadows, and the phrase of "never give up" that molded the round, happy babyface Cena we all knew chiseled and contoured him into the scowling, sniveling figure who would, indeed, "never give up" his last year to the fickle whim of the audience. Cena came after everyone detractors, bystanders, and fans were all subject to his wrath, and for different reasons. It truly felt like it was Cena against the world, and for a "you people" promo, it was very complex and very well-thought out. We might not have gotten "The Doctor of Thuganomics" heel entrance music, but Cena showed us that he is still a masterful orator.
Rhodes' entrance was met with thunderous acclaim by the Brussels crowd, and after the audience quieted down enough for Rhodes to listen, the WWE Universal Champion put the veteran in his place. Rhodes criticized the self-serving and "whiny" persona Cena was putting on, and invalidated Cena's attempts to humanize his actions. It was almost like a role reversal, with Rhodes doing the tearing-down to what Cena had attempted to build up, but done in a way that elevated both sides of the babyface/heel coin. I also love when Rhodes gets aggressive, so the growl in Rhodes' voice when he told Cena he had had enough absolutely did it for me.
Is it a touch disappointing when Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was nowhere to be seen or heard? Kind of, but don't let that dissuade you. This was the promo segment of the day.
Written by Angeline Phu
If there's one thing about me, it's that I can appreciate an understated and simple contract signing in the world of professional wrestling that usually ends up with somebody going through the table. While the contract signing for the Women's World Championship match at WrestleMania 41 between IYO SKY and Bianca Belair certainly delivered on that front, it still felt incredibly lackluster and disappointing with nothing really happening other than the pair telling each other that they would be the victor of the match.
There was a large portion of the fanbase (myself included) that already expected Rhea Ripley to be inserted into the WrestleMania 41 Women's World Championship match already thanks to SKY being the one to dethrone Ripley and Ripley was unable to let go of Belair only being seen cheering for SKY. Because of this, having WWE play off this segment like it was some huge, groundbreaking surprise made it come off a little bit kitschy when a less over the top reaction of surprise would've been more impactful in terms of bringing in more of an element of realism. It created something of a confusing segment overall, and did nothing beneficial to create more hype around a match that has plenty of star power and talent in it.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
One of the more hit-and-miss aspects of WWE that largely falls outside of its control is whether or not the crowd is audibly into the product, with many of the stops on the domestic schedule coming off as flat and spotty in their engagement with what unfolds before them; sometimes a very good show can feel the effects of this, just as anything considered underwhelming.
But Monday was an example on the other end of the spectrum, with WWE making the second stop of its European tour with "Raw" in Brussels, Belgium, and the crowd more than ready to get involved in the affair. The opening segment kicked things off with a bang, with John Cena coming out for the much-awaited addressing of his heel turn at Elimination Chamber and genuinely having the rampant Belgian crowd doing half of the work for him. Not only were they continuous and thundering as they unanimously chanted "Cena sucks!" which in itself added to his first entrant as a heel, but they continued to play into the promo he was cutting about the way he had been treated by fans. Time and time again have we heard a mega-face turning, attempting to blame the crowd for turning on them only to be met with adulation anyway, but this time felt different because the audience was genuinely reacting to everything he said, creating a sense of dynamic between them to dance around one another. At times, it even felt like he was in a promo exchange with the crowd itself.
The excitement hardly died down throughout the day, with "Sacrebleur" chants littered across the in-ring action and a tangible level of excitement towards pretty much everything. It made for an exciting show even if there was very little to take away from it on the road to WrestleMania. Jey Uso had a quick squash match with Theory book-ended with an insane entrance for Uso, where-in the entire venue had lit up their phones to YEET along, and then for the final three-count with the crowd cheering like he had just won the title. Granted, personally it's becoming a bit jarring to see albeit impressive but the crowd also continued the karaoke tour for Seth "Freakin'" Rollins' entrance, rivaling that of a pay-per-view. They just kept up an immense level of energy throughout a show which wasn't always the most exciting, and it was a testament to the international support for the sport we all love.
Written by Max Everett
He is a visionary, he is a revolutionary, and he has been talking for far too long!
I cannot understate what a waste of time Seth Rollins' promo on Monday's episode of "WWE Raw" was. Time is money, and while I get that Rollins has more cash in his bank account than I'll ever see in my life, I did not need "The Visionary" to come out and talk for fifteen minutes just to direct us to the upcoming March 21 episode of "WWE SmackDown."
To be honest, I would've been upset at this promo even on a quiet day, where segments were just breezing by, but Monday especially was not the day to spend more than five minutes on a "go tune in to "SmackDown"" announcement. This show was already going to be far longer than usual with all of the chants coming from the Brussels crowd (we love you Brussels, but holy moly). By the time we got to Rollins' pregnant, "let it soak into the crowd" pauses, I was creating a will, because I was so certain that I would die of old age before this promo was over.
Long promos in and of themselves are not death sentences. If you are saying things of substantial value things that cannot be expressed in a social media post, or an in-ring moment, or an announcement then long promos can offer a wrestler with the opportunity to really sink their teeth into their characters and show the crowd just why we should care about them. This commitment to a character and spoken passion for the stories hosted on the canvas stage are why great mic workers get as over as they do, even if they are not the best in the ring. However, time on the mic is only as good as you make it, and when long promos get used to discuss things that could have been a social media post, an in-ring moment, or an announcement, it is felt.
Rollins did not make any moves with this promo. It is almost intriguing how little Rollins actually moved the needle or shook the table with his words, because he is typically great on the microphone. However, when Rollins, who feels like the odd man out in this upcoming feud between CM Punk and Roman Reigns, was left without CM Punk or Roman Reigns to bounce off on during his promo segment, he absolutely flopped. The TL;DR of the whole promo was "Punk and Reigns aren't here, but they will be on Friday! See you in Italy!"
Like, that couldn't have been an announcement? That couldn't have been a social media post? I fail to see what the point of that promo was I fail to see why we had to sit through Rollins make a card announcement for fifteen whole minutes. By the time Rollins left, we were no further in the Punk/Reigns/Rollins storyline than we were at the top of the show.
His outfit wasn't even good!
Written by Angeline Phu
Obviously WWE doesn't have a strong history of presenting luchadors in a positive way, but they've really knocked this Penta thing out of the park so far, and this week was no exception. Penta won what was probably the match of the day against Ludwig Kaiser, and he got another post-match promo in front of a rabidly excited crowd. For someone who first encountered him 10 years ago on "Lucha Underground," it's pretty awesome to see Penta do the "cero miedo" taunt and have a massive WWE arena say it along with him. He even got to close the show with a staredown against Bron Breakker, IC title in hand. He's been booked like a star from day one, and it's incredibly refreshing to see from a masked wrestler not named Rey Mysterio.
Speaking of, Rey was also in action on this episode of "Raw," and he also won. More importantly, Dragon Lee won (his first "Raw" win since November) and is at least in play for a WrestleMania spot one year after he was bizarrely written of "The Show of Shows" in favor of Andrade. To be clear, none of these people have firm Mania plans as yet Breakker has been dancing around a variety of opponents before Monday's clear lean toward Penta, and it's unclear how many seats will be filled between the LWO, American Made, and the New Day before the music stops. But the luchadors at least have a shot (especially with Penta's brother Fenix set to make his own debut sooner rather than later) and their strong presence on WWE's flagship TV broadcast was greatly appreciated.
Written by Miles Schneiderman
