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John Cena – MISS: Part of this Miss is hangover from the disappointing main event of WrestleMania Sunday which had to be bad to be disappointing considering my low expectations going into it. Part of this Miss is continued disappointment over John Cena’s turn at Elimination Chamber and my inability to buy this character. Part of is is my annoyance with the live fans proving Cena’s points about how stupid they are. Cena was fine, but I didn’t enjoy this much. They don’t want to address The Rock at all. The story has been mostly crap with some good mic work here and there, but not enough to save a bad story. The surprise RKO from Randy Orton at the end was fun, and I get wanting to do one final match between Orton and Cena after their long history, but that doesn’t make me want to see it. Cena can’t go anymore at a top level. Neither can Orton. So, this will be a dull, greatest hits type match with a bunch of bells and whistles.
Speak English – MISS: Pat McAfee telling a Latina wrestler who speaks perfect English that she needs to speak English so he can understand her was disgusting. Even if she didn’t speak perfect English it would be disgusting. The fact that he said it twice, was doubly disgusting. I’m hoping Gunther kicks the crap out of him (more later).
Lynch & Valkyria vs. Morgan & Rodriguez – HIT: The match was a good Tag Team Title match, arguably better than their match at WM. I wasn’t thrilled with the outcome or what happened afterwards, but the match itself was a Hit.
Becky Lynch Turns Heel – MISS: WWE is swimming upstream needlessly with their presentation of too many wrestlers. Cena was finally getting universally cheered, so now turn him? Everyone was excited to see Becky Lynch return at WM, so turn her too. The other times they’ve turned her heel have worked out so well. She was loved, but they wanted Charlotte Flair to be the top babyface in the women’s division, so they turned Becky heel. What happened? The Man was born and she became the biggest star in WWE. They tried a heel turn with the Big Time Becks gimmick which never worked, and made the fans tepid towards her after her babyface turn. Now after being gone for a year, the fans want to embrace her and have her be a top star again. But, they turned her again. The turn went over so well, that the fans were chanting “one more time” after she hit two Man Handle Slams on Lyra Valkyria. I get the idea to have a big WM moment, but keep the original plan with the Tag Titles going back to the former Champions, while moving Becky into a heel position, possibly to join her husband as a Paul Heyman Girl. But, I still feel like this won’t work in the end.
Rusev Returns – MISS: Rusev’s time in AEW was bad. I mean very bad. So, I haven’t been looking forward to his WWE return. It makes sense to do it at the Raw After Mania, but I don’t understand the presentation. Again, fans want to cheer for him, so why have him beat up a fairly popular comedy act? I don’t care that he buried Alpha Academy, but he seemed to also be threatening New Day, so it was confusing. Do they want him to be a heel or a face? If they want him to be a heel, that’s fine, but I fear they will position him as a face so this return doesn’t make sense. If he is going to be a heel, that’s better in the long run, but again are they swimming against the tide in going against the fans who are excited to see him back (even if I’m not)?
Sky vs. Vaquer – HIT: This was one of the highlights of the night. I enjoyed Iyo Sky’s promo talking about her victory in the biggest night of her career at WM. She is insanely likable. I was pleasantly surprised by the interruption by Stephanie Vaquer. She is ready for the main roster, although it seems like she might be going back and forth with NXT for awhile, which is ok. I liked that this was babyface vs. babyface in a match of two alphas wanting to prove who is the best. The match was excellent while it lasted. There was no way it was going to have a finish, so I was ok when Roxanne Perez got involved. It makes sense given that she is facing Vaquer for the NXT Title the next night. The involvement of Giulia was a nice surprise. Rhea Ripley’s save worked to pop the crowd, while reminding everyone that she still has her eye on Sky’s Title.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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Uso Celebration – HIT: It was nice to see WWE celebrate Jey Uso’s World Title victory at WM with this long segment. It started with the very good video package on his life and career. He got to celebrate with the fans, and cut a solid promo about being the Champion going forward. Sami Zayn’s appearance made sense. I’m sure a lot of fans were worried that he might turn on his good friend as turns have been abundant lately. Jey seemed a bit apprehensive about it too. But, thankfully they just let the moment happen with Jimmy Uso joining also. Time will tell what they do with these three going forward, but a heel turn from Zayn would be a mistake.
Gunther Attacks The Announcers – MISS: Gunther should beat up Michael Cole for yeeting with Jey Uso. Cole’s character feels inconsistent with what he said during WM Sunday’s main event about how he has to be impartial, but saying over and over again on Raw that he has to have an opinion on everything. McAfee saving Cole made sense as did the way he backed off right away realizing what he had done. Plus the way they handled the situation with Joe Tessitore worked well. But McAfee’s buddies jumping over the barrier to try to fight Gunther was cheesy. I am mostly worried that this will lead to Gunther vs. McAfee which is a terrible idea. McAfee should get squashed, but what’s the point of that? If he doesn’t, it does damage to Gunther. Hopefully, something else is in the works and this goes better than I fear it will.
Mysterio vs. Penta – HIT: This was a good Intercontinental Championship match. I don’t understand why Dominik Mysterio is suddenly the most popular wrestler in WWE. I am hoping it is just the stupid WM fans who like to ruin everything for everyone watching at home and there won’t be carryover going forward with other fan bases. The match was good. The story involving Finn Balor acting like he’s ok with what happened at WM was solid. The surprise return (surprise even to Balor) of JD McDonagh was a nice touch to help Mysterio defend the Title against Penta. I am curious to see what happens with Judgment Day going forward.
Closing Segment – HIT: An up and down Raw (you might call it a Hit or Miss Raw) ended on a definite big high note with this show closing segment which started with Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman. I didn’t like the story of the triple threat match going into WM, but the match itself delivered. The Heyman heel turn worked. I’ve said since Royal Rumble that Rollins should be a heel. This is one heel turn that actually worked unlike a bunch of other recent ones. Rollins was more serious, and not playing for cheers or songs, but he needs to continue to tweak his presentation with new less catchy music and a different look. This was a good first step. The physicality after CM Punk got involved, followed by Roman Reigns worked very well. Bron Breakker’s appearance was a genuine surprise. He has waffled too much as a tweener, so this should finally cement him as a heel now that he’s joined Heyman’s new stable, which I have to assume will continue to grow in the upcoming weeks.
(Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Raw Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com. Follow him on BlueSky @jonmezzera.bsky.social)
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