-This year’s post-WrestleMania edition of Monday Night Raw started with Triple H in the middle of the ring declaring that WrestleMania 40 was the biggest Mania ever by every metric. Normally, this kind of thing is nauseating from WWE, but it worked in the context of the new era they are trying to frame. It’s not as new as they want you to think it is — remember that — but with Cody Rhodes as champion, Triple H at the helm, and with a tidal wave of momentum, things feel fresh. We can’t have this type of patting ourselves on the back every week, though. That will get very old, very fast.
Cody’s emotional night
-Cody Rhodes received an epic reaction for his first night on Raw as champion. If you’re Triple H, it’s the exact reaction you’d want. Universal, loud, and passionate. Cody wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s genuine. Because of that, the over the top sappiness worked well. It played right into why and how people connected with him throughout his championship journey. Like Triple H touting a new era, we can’t see this type of emotion every week from Cody, but on night one, it was more than fitting. The audience ate it up too.
-The Cody showdown with The Rock was a nice surprise and worthy of the Raw after WrestleMania. The Rock was tremendous out there. He changed up his entire cadence, volume, and pace of speaking and it came across as a darker, more twisted version of heel Rock. When Rock and Cody exchanged title belts you could cut the tension with a knife. The Rock very much put over that championship by doing what he did and Cody showed an air of confidence by letting him. Clearly, we have Rock vs. Cody on the docket and this was a nice chapter to plant seeds for the match regardless of when it ends up happening.
Hello NXT
-Nice to see Ilja Dragunov get a spot on Raw. It was equally interesting to hear that he “declared” for the WWE Draft. WWE has never framed NXT stars that way until now. Good to see Dragunov get the win, but bad if you’re Shinsuke Nakamura. Not that Nakamura will factor in to any long term WWE plans at this point, but losing clean to an NXT talent in short order isn’t something you want on your resume.
-Hey! What happened to the dissension within The Judgement Day? Winning cures all I guess. WWE pivoted away from any sort of Judgement Day breakup angles this week. The group appeared as close as ever with Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley both holding championship gold. With the WWE Draft on the horizon, you have to wonder if Triple H will use that as means to separate the group rather than a regular heel turn breakup.
-Something was missing from Damian Priest this week. He won the world title at WrestleMania and barely had enough time to speak about it. We need to see him put some context around that title win now. At this point, he’s the fourth wheel in the feud for his championship thanks to Drew McIntyre, CM Punk, and Seth Rollins getting more of a focus.
Drew’s downward spiral
-Speaking of Drew McIntyre, he was unhinged and wonderful this week after losing the way he did at WrestleMania. The downward spiral continues with him and watching it is appointment viewing week to week.
-Ok, yes, it was fun to see John Cena wrestle a bit on the show this week, but it was also kind of weird seeing it happen with a low card act like Awesome Truth. I honestly don’t know what this means for Cena moving forward. Maybe nothing. BUT. Cena is a 16 time champion and once flag-bearer for the company. It seems to me that if he’s coming in, have something better for him than this. What about a segment with Cody?
-Roxanne Perez got a nice W over Indi Hartwell this week. The second of two NXT surprise appearances. She looked good and the win put her over strong, while also serving the Hartwell/Candice LeRae story that is treading water. Perez looked like she fit on the main roster. It won’t be long before that call-up happens.
Marinating
-It really is a new era. Chad Gable would have absolutely turned on Sami Zayn this week during Vince McMahon’s tenure as creative boss, right? Especially on a Raw after WrestleMania show? It’s supremely smart not to have done it this week. You have to have that relationship out there continuing to grow week to week before a turn. Let the friendship marinate. Zayn cut a champions promo and then tagged with Gable to beat Imperium. Steps like that in the booking narrative are how you create depth to a feud. Next week when Zayn and Gable square off as babyfaces is another step in that process. Either way, by operating this way and not hot-shotting angles, there is going to be a deeper investment for Zayn vs. Gable when it really gets off the ground.
-I don’t hate the idea of squash matches and I don’t hate the idea of Jade Cargill being involved with them. It’s a legit smart way to define her as a very big deal and unstoppable force right away. Is that all Jade has? It’s too early to tell, but my antenna is up as to what her ceiling is based on what we saw on Raw and during her match at WrestleMania.
Goodness Ricochet
-The Ricochet 450 splash from the ring post onto Bronson Reed outside on the announce table was an insane move. Even for Ricochet. Overall, I liked this match. It had good action and moved the world heavyweight title story forward, while also moving forward Drew McIntyre vs. CM Punk. Punk seems to be above a hiding under the ring run-in and I think the moment would have worked better theatrically had his music hit. Either way, Punk is costing Drew opportunities and they are firmly on a collision course sooner than later. As for Jey Uso vs. Damian Priest for the world title? It’s fine. I can see Jimmy getting involved yet again.
-Overall, I liked this style of show for a Raw after WrestleMania. It didn’t have the wackiness that show brings sometimes, but set a nice foundation for post-WrestleMania stories and feuds.
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