HEYDORN’S WWE RAW RECEIPT 3/6: John Cena serious, but ineffective in return to Monday Night Raw

This week’s episode of WWE Raw has wrapped. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and relive some of the madness.

-The opening of this week’s show felt fresh and I like trying new things like the hot open with the story and hook for the entire show. Heyman was great in recapping everyone’s responsibilities for the night. A bit of a snake in the grass and overconfident voice of Roman Reigns. Good formatting.

-Solo Sikoa vs. Kevin Owens was fine, but nothing more. Exactly what it needed to be, though, as the purpose was further the Sami Zayn saga with Owens. To that end, it worked and worked well.

-A tag team of Chelsea Green and Carmella? I’m in on that. They were obnoxious as can be, but it worked. Plus, we’re firmly in the Bianca Belair and Asuka “can they coexist as a team” story for their build to WrestleMania. Green and Carmella are the co-stars there. Not a bad spot to be if you’re those two.

-As for Belair and Asuka, its feels as though they are going to limp into WrestleMania and just lean on a good match there for everything to come together. The feud has no depth and featured and very quiet audience this week. Yikes.

-THANK GOODNESS. Logan Paul finally leaning into his d-bag heelness happened. Freaking finally. The guy has made millions playing that role, but seemed to view himself differently as a wrestler for some crazy reason. He was good opposite Rollins and credit to Rollins for bringing the best out of him. This feud is going to work and this was an effective first chapter.

-Omos is going to face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, so he may as well decimate all the Dolph Ziggler’s of the locker room at this point, right? Why the hell not.

-Finn Balor vs. Edge at WrestleMania got some movement tonight and the match between both should be made official by the end of next week’s show. I like the feud and while this week wasn’t anything significant in terms of development, the audience reaction to it showed that it more than has its place in the middle of the WrestleMania card this year.

-Piper Niven and Nikki Cross happened and the audience was ice cold for it. The botched finish didn’t help.

-Alright, John Cena. There was one major positive from his appearance and promo this week. He was serious. He seemed to be about business out there with Austin Theory and that was a pleasant surprise given what his other recent appearances were for WWE lately. That said, what was he doing out there? He cut Theory down to shreds and cut himself down too. The line about Theory losing regardless of whether or not he wins against Cena was confusing a extinguished some of the heat at the root of the match. Cena seemed like he had an agenda out there. Theory took the blows and gave it back as best he could, but nothing could reasonably match the onslaught he got from Cena. Theory has to bring it next time to even the odds.

Last night was the first time I entered the arena and had the thought that it might be the last time. I’ll never be able to put into words how much I love the #WWEUniverse https://t.co/FR5T3r1tld

— John Cena (@JohnCena) March 7, 2023

-Trish Stratus, Lita, and Becky Lynch getting a quiet response from the Boston audience was a bit of an odd surprise. I’d have expected these three together to be very over, but they weren’t. Lynch needs to make sure she isn’t playing second fiddle to Lita and Trish out there. She has to own these moments more moving forward.

-The main event angle with Sami Zayn, Jimmy Uso, and Jey Uso was tremendous. Just tremendous. It was emotional on all fronts and each guy played things perfectly. Jey was the MVP. He balanced viciousness and tragedy in how he destroyed Zayn and it made for nuanced feelings. Such a roller coaster and now they can go a variety of different ways to keep things moving forward.

CATCH-UP: 3/6 WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW RESULTS: Keller’s report on John Cena’s return, Seth invites Logan Paul, Jey-Sami, Belair-Carmella