-Rhea Ripley starting the show this week and relinquishing the WWE Women's World Championship was the bummer of all bummers. She's been on an amazing run with a great deal of momentum behind her coming out of WrestleMania. The babyface turn was on and they just didn't get there before this fluke injury hit. The thing is though, now the babyface turn is complete. When Ripley comes back, she's set to be the ultimate face of the women's division in WWE.
Hello Rhea
-Bummer news aside, Ripley cut the promo of a lifetime this week. She was real, intense, confident, and menacing all at the same time. That's the babyface character WWE needs her to be when she returns.
-As for Liv Morgan, I guess she's a heel now? WWE might not want her there, but it's unavoidable after they framed Ripley's injury the way they did. If it's me and my money, I'm going the full way with Morgan right now. She's winning the world title and holding it heelishly until Ripley can come back for vengeance.
-Good to see Sheamus back. His ceiling now that he's back is pretty much what it's always been. He's an upper tier co-main event guy that will be able to flirt with main event title matches against Damian Priest and perhaps even Cody Rhodes if it happens on a small scale. He certainly gives the show added depth and diversity in terms of in-ring style.
Again?
-Triple H was on television again this week .... interesting. Not something to worry about yet, but hopefully once the draft passes, he fades back. He needs to. He created a strong product and now needs to avoid suffocating it with his presence. Did the segment with Awesome Truth this week really need him? No. Adam Pearce could have served as the authority figure giving credibility to the new tag team title belts.
-As for Awesome Truth ... wow. The retconning of them as a tag team is something to behold. They are nowhere near the tag team legends that WWE is working to present them as. Nice try, though!
-DIY are the new number one contenders for the Awesome Truth's tag team titles. Not a big surprise there. In fact, the belts would be better served around the waist of Ciampa and Gargano at this point. Awesome Truth's win at WrestleMania was a moment, but even they can't really believe they are the right champions for this new WWE era. With The Creed Brothers also looming in the background on Raw (and maybe on the side of a heel Chad Gable), WWE just has better tag teams that can more effectively carry the focus of that division each week.
The Dark Side
-Well would you look at that. Is Indi Hartwell coming over to the dark side thanks to Candice LeRae? It appears that way. Does anyone really care? Doesn't seem like it. Maxxine Dupri wasn't good this week, but she wasn't worse than other weeks. Progress??
-Damian Priest got one helluva video package produced for him this week. That's a good sign if you're him as WWE doesn't trot those out for anyone. The package was babyface leaning, so it looks like Priest will end up on that side of the ledger sooner than later. The heel beat down he was involved with later in the show muddies up his character a little bit because it's hard to square the beat down with the content of the video. The good thing is, none of it feels like an accident. Something with Priest is afoot.
-Finally. It was nice to see Chelsea Green and Piper Niven pick up a win together. They are an effective TV tag team, but need wins now and again to stay relevant and somewhat credible. This gave them that opportunity. As usual, Green and Niven played off each other well.
The champion
-I liked the Cody Rhodes promo a lot. Thankfully, he didn't continue to lean into celebrating his win at WrestleMania. Instead, he acted like a champion. He knew what was going on with the company, talked about his future, talked about other important people to him, and then made his way out. Not every promo of his needs to be stocked with deep drama -- in fact, it shouldn't be. This was a fine way to get Cody in front of the audience without having to play any big cards in your hand.
-Jey Uso vs. Finn Balor was a good little match. Not a surprise to see Jey win given he's in line to face Priest for the world title at the moment. The shot after the match that saw Jey Uso walk through the crowd and concourse to get backstage was some incredible production work. This is the type of fresh presentation that has helped WWE in the recent past. Just great stuff and a cool reimagining of what the product can look like.
Best production shot in the history of televised wrestling?
-Similarly to Jey's exit, Sami Zayn's entrance for the main event in his hometown of Montreal was epic just like Pat McAfee said -- and I don't agree with McAfee on anything. The wide lens shot of the arena from above as Sami walked in through the audience gave the match a big time feel and Zayn the look of a star. Just great stuff.
-Sami Zayn vs. Chad Gable to the WWE Intercontinental Championship was a good match and how could it not have been, right? As for the Gable heel turn, well done WWE. I think they could have gotten more out of the Gable and Zayn relationship to make that turn feel like even more of a betrayal than it already was. That said, they shot this beautifully with Gable literally pulling Zayn out of the arms of his family to beat him up. Was Gable jealous that Zayn got his family moment? Probably and I think that is a suitable lane to drive down at this point. The important thing is, this wasn't a random turn. It had legs and that's how these things need to go more often than not.
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