Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show where it's three weeks before WrestleMania and they're still trying to tell us Rhea Ripley won't be wrestling in Las Vegas! This is, of course, nonsense, and it has not gone beneath our notice actually, there isn't much of anything from "Raw" this week that has gone beneath our notice, as we're essentially covering every major segment in this opinion column. It rarely works out that way, but in this case there really were just kinda six big things that happened, and at least a few of us had strong feelings about all of them!
If you missed the London show that aired in the afternoon for American viewers, you're still strongly encouraged to check out our "Raw" results page. For all the WINC staff's thoughts and analysis, from Cody Rhodes laying out John Cena and Logan Paul laying out a WrestleMania challenge to Tyler Bate' coming back and GUNTHER choking the life and also the blood out of Jimmy Uso, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 3/31/25 episode of "WWE Raw."
This week's show saw the meeting between Cody Rhodes and John Cena that had been needed from the moment the heel turn had happened, with both making their best attempt at tearing one another down to give some meat to the already dense bones that came with the initial attack. Rather than the ambling monologue to the fans about how they had turned Cena to the dark side, he finally turned his attention to the man he betrayed in the first place the WWE Champion. He immediately promised to bury him, and then sought to do so as he drove home the idea that Rhodes was his mediocre replacement.
To begin with, Cena echoed much of what has already been said about Rhodes, remarking on his manufactured sense of perfection and ultimately taking issue with the fact Rhodes was his successor. Surprisingly it was Rhodes that landed the first seriously heavy barbs, suggesting Cena was only considered the guy because of "another guy" (Vince McMahon) put him in that position and they're not allowed to talk about it anymore I don't necessarily like the idea that McMahon was mentioned, all things considered, and it is reductive to frame not being able to talk about it anymore as if it was a minor inconvenience. But otherwise the point itself makes sense, underlining the hypocritical and deluded nature of Cena since turning. He then finally gave the first credence to The Rock since Elimination Chamber, which is such a small yet integral detail that had been omitted thus far, by saying he wasn't the one that sold his soul to the "Final Boss." And then he delivered perhaps the most relatable realization,never meet your heroes, as he told Cena he was still his hero, but he was also a piece of sh**.
That seemed to light a fire under Cena, finally picking up by claiming that he had never been protected from anyone taking their best shot and yet he remained where he is, while Rhodes had to leave and go elsewhere to find success subtle nods are always better than overt jabs because he realized that even at his best he wasn't good enough to wipe Cena's a** (his words, not mine). He then delivered a brilliant line in closing, one that just captures the true essence of what this Cena heel turn could and should be: "I build empires for billionaires. All you've ever done is steal money from their kids." Of course, it was a wrestling exchange and it just had to end in some form of violence, so Rhodes wiped Cena out with just one Cross Rhodes to stand tall from the segment. One Cross Rhodes took Cena out, and he sold it like he had just been shot by Bloodsport (Suicide Squad, not Josh Barnett) again. Wasn't anything technically spectacular but I loved the way it came across.
Written by MaxEverett
I guess I was so distracted by the thought of John Cena versus Cody Rhodes: War of Words, Part Three and the implications of the main event of tonight's episode that I didn't even think about the possibility of the return of Tyler Bate to join back up with Pete Dunne as New Catch Republic while WWE was in London. It was a nice little surprise on tonight's show and a great surprise on the tour that didn't have many surprises at all. Bate has been on the shelf for almost nine months but if you didn't know, you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at him. He looks excellent and he's performing on the same level at which he left in the ring, at least from what we saw tonight. "The Big, Strong Boy" got to show off tonight in his home country and it was fun to witness. I'm also glad getting back in this tag team gives Pete Dunne something meaningful to do, and adds something more to the "Raw" tag team division.
While New Catch Republic lost to Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston, I don't think it will hurt them too much in the long run. The New Day desperately needed to pick up the victory to prove themselves to "Raw" General Manager Adam Pearce and show him that they should be next in line for a shot at the War Raiders' WWE World Tag Team Championships, something I think they absolutely need to win, and probably should have won months ago following their dramatic turn on Big E. If they end up winning the championships it would be easy for a babyface team like New Catch Republic to take them off Woods and Kingston when the time came. I think a feud between the teams could be fun.
"Raw" was a show with lots of ups and downs tonight and I thought the unexpected return of Bate was a nice high point for the show. I'm not sure if we'll see them on the WrestleMania card with so many championship matches yet to be determined and no real indication, outside of fan speculation, that the WWE World Tag Team Championship will be on the card in some kind of multi-man match, or if that will be where New Day gets their shot. No matter what happens in the near future, I was interested in all of this tonight and it was a good match.
Written by DaisyRuth
Anyone who knows me or has read this column before knows that I have not been a fan at all of the build to the WrestleMania 41 World Heavyweight Championship match between GUNTHER and Jey Uso. After tonight though, I have to begrudgingly admit that there may actually be some hope left for an excellent story to be told.
Until now, the stakes of the match between GUNTHER and Jey have been relatively low with the former attacking the latter after matches against a combination of the members of A-Town Down Under until eventually he caught on. Involving Jimmy Uso was the perfect way to raise them, as it showcases that The Usos still have each other's backs despite what they've both been through in storylines. It also makes things more personal for Jey, as he had no choice but to watch while zip tied to the ropes while GUNTHER brutalized Jimmy after scoring a victory over him. GUNTHER still emerged from the match looking unbeatable as champion, and yet, Jimmy still put up a good fight against him as he was used to progress what has otherwise been a stagnant storyline rather than simply floating around as a midcarder. It was easily the highlight of the show for me, which says a lot considering things were all around fairly good.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
I'm slapping a "hated" on Bron Breakker and Penta vs. Dominik Mysterio and Finn Balor because I was pretty much entirely indifferent to it, and that's not a good thing. Penta remains an exciting new wild card on the roster, but Breakker was losing steam even before he seemingly stopped putting his full force into his moveset, which strips him of his primary stand-out quality. The Judgment Day are also a tough watch right now and their best work is done in backstage segments, with their matches having a very boilerplate, workmanlike quality to them lately.
The finish here, for example, was as boilerplate as it gets. Breakker and Penta are rivals for the Intercontinental title, but Judgment Day ruined their main event title match last week, so now they have to team up to determine whether they can Co-Exist against their rivals, who are actual friends and tag much more often. Spoiler alert: They can't, they never can, there has never been and will never be any co-existing, so naturally Breakker accidentally Spears Penta and costs them the match, and Penta is very upset about it afterward. And now Balor is excited about potentially getting another IC title match despite losing to Breakker two weeks ago, and Liv Morgan is telling Mysterio it should be him instead, and we continue our merry march toward a WrestleMania four-way.
Conversing with co-workers during "Raw," I lamented that Breakker has rarely been featured on TV. A few minutes later, I remembered that Breakker and Penta had main-evented "Raw" last week, and it wasn't until I started writing this that I remembered Breakker had defended his title against Balor the week before, also in the main event. The problem isn't a lack of TV time they've actually gotten a lot of it. The problem is that there's nothing dynamic or interesting about any of this, particularly now that the question of "will Penta join Judgment Day" has been answered. There are just no other character motivations here beyond "wanting to be Intercontinental Champion," and that's barely enough to make a singles match interesting, let alone a four-way. I have no idea who's going to walk out of WrestleMania with the title, but the bigger issue is that I don't care.
Written by Miles Schneiderman
There's an effective way and an ineffective way to build up a WrestleMania match in a manner that creates plenty of excitement and hype around it. AJ Styles and Logan Paul is the perfect example of an ineffective way of doing so.
Not only does this episode marks the second time that WWE has advertised Paul calling out Styles without actually living up to it, but Styles was ultimately the one to call out Paul rendering the advertisement completely pointless in the first place with how easy it would've been to swap the names. The more glaring issue, however, comes in the segment itself which would've been better off if it had kicked off a storyline leading into a match between them at WrestleMania 41 rather than just having Paul throw out the challenge.
There hasn't been enough history yet between Paul or Styles yet to make a WrestleMania match official, especially when there's still three or four weeks left until the two night Premium Live Event. While the Paul-verizer is also a cool move and Paul does execute it very well, that still doesn't change the fact that the brawl between the two and the verbal confrontation that had ensued prior were both nothing more than boilerplate. It just all made for a very unenthusiastic segment and underwhelming match challenge, not being aided in the fact that it was confirmed by "Raw" General Manager Adam Pearce on social media instead of acknowledged on television.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
I knew the ending of this main event match pitting Women's World Champion IYO SKY against Rhea Ripley with Bianca Belair as the special guest referee was going to have a messed up finish, but I thought it would at least end with Belair beating up both women and "Raw" General Manager Adam Pearce would come out to make the match official to pop the London crowd at the very end of the show. That didn't happen, however, and Belair just simply said she was "done" and called for the bell and the match was declared a double disqualification. I know (well, I hope, at least) that this match is going to be made official here soon, but the path that this storyline has taken and the fact it's taking so long to just simply say this is a triple threat match is driving me insane.
This is one of those things in this year's WrestleMania build that isn't hitting for me. Which is sad, because I love all three of these women and I'm excited for the match but how we're getting there is just so frustrating. Ripley was the only woman left standing in the ring after she took out Belair and SKY with a pair of Riptides, and she was holding the championship high as the show went off the air. It was a nice visual, but to me, at least, it would have made more sense to end the show with Pearce coming out, extremely frazzled as usual, and just declaring that the nonsense was over and all three women will be involved in the WrestleMania match. It's likely to happen next week when WWE is back in the states, but WWE ran this European Tour ahead of WrestleMania for whatever reason, so they should have given this crowd a little something else, especially something that would solicit a big reaction that would come across well on TV.
I'm also getting so tired of DQ finishes in WWE's main events. I figure they're attempting to protect stars and matches they already have set up (or are planning on setting up)heading in to WrestleMania, but tonight was the second consecutive finish of "Raw," and two title matches, at that, that ended in disqualification. Last week it was Penta and Bronn Breakker for the Intercontinental Championship, so at least WWE isn't booking just one title for all these crap finishes.
I'm beginning for WWE to finally make this match official, even if it's just on social media at this point, because there are only two more episodes of "Raw" until WrestleMania. SKY, Belair, and Ripley have suffered in the terrible build to WrestleMania, but I'm hopeful their triple threat will be a banger when it actually happens.
Written by DaisyRuth
