The Big Takeaway —
Lots of seeds were planted on the final Raw before the Royal
Rumble. Sami Zayn lost again to Drew McIntyre and mistakenly
knocked out Cody Rhodes with a Helluva Kick. The show ended
with CM Punk addressing Rhodes and calling his shot for
WrestleMania. See more below.
**********
Show Recap —
Cody Rhodes, Brandi Rhodes and their daughter were shown
arriving at the arena. Naomi and Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan
and Raquel Rodriguez, Sami Zayn, and Drew McIntyre were also
shown. A dizzying drone shot showed us the packed State Farm
Arena in Atlanta before Pat McAfee quickly ran down the SNME
results.
Seth Rollins kicks off Raw, Gunther and Logan Paul interrupt
Rollins entered to a good reaction. It was his favourite
time of year—WrestleMania season, which kicked off on
Saturday when he won the Royal Rumble. He admitted that 2025
got off to a bad start. He suffered the worst loss of his
career on the first Raw of the year and suffered a black
eye. (The crowd chanted for CM Punk, so he remarked that
Punk looked no better off than he did when the match was
over.)
After he lost, Rollins wondered who he was and who he wanted
to be. But he knew who he was, he was Seth freakin’ Rollins.
When he was the most focused version of himself, there was
no one on the planet better than him. He started his path to
redemption when he beat McIntyre last week, and it would
continue on Saturday.
He had no problem tossing out John Cena, Jey Uso, McIntyre,
Sami Zayn or Roman Reigns. He especially hoped to toss out
Reigns. He dreamt of CM Punk being the final person in the
ring with him so he could crush his Mania dream to dust.
The real question was which title he would go after when he
won. We all knew Gunther was just holding the world title
until he decided to go after it. But it would be poetic if
he took the same title from Rhodes that he helped Rhodes win
last year.
Gunther interrupted. He informed Rollins that he wasn’t
keeping the belt warm for him. He wondered where Rollins has
been while he has been defending the title. He beat that
clown Jey Uso on Saturday. The crowd Yeeted, so Gunther
reiterated that he beat Jey’s ass. Gunther advised Rollins
to ignore the drama and focus on the Rumble, but he wondered
if Rollins still had it in him.
Rollins said the World Heavyweight title that he held only
existed because of him. Rollins wasn’t Jey Uso or Damian
Priest or Finn Bálor.
Gunther knew that and called Rollins one of the best
wrestlers to ever step foot in this company. But it was
2025, and he was no longer the best in the company—Gunther
was. Gunther wanted Rollins to face him at Mania so he could
feel the same way as everyone else when they faced him.
Logan Paul interrupted. He was booed a decent amount when he
entered, but it got exponentially louder the more he spoke.
He said the Netflix era needed a new face, one that oozed
with charisma. He said Gunther and Rollins were both great
in the ring but they reached their peak. (It was hard to
hear what he said next because the crowd loudly chanted,
“You suck.”)
Paul announced he was entering the Rumble. He had no plans
to eliminate 29 other men because that was grunt work. He
would be smarter than that. He would win the Rumble and main
event Mania. The crowd gave him the “What” treatment.
Rollins was amused.
Gunther changed his mind and said he wanted Paul to win the
Rumble so he could knock the smirk off his face. The crowd
cheered. Rollins got the last word and said he would be
getting his title back—if he chose to.
********
Cathy Kelley interviewed CM Punk backstage. Punk didn’t care
about Paul and planned on winning the Rumble. He’d throw out
Kelley if he had to.
Zayn interrupted to ask about Punk’s comment last week about
them not being on the same level. Zayn said that was true
because only one of them was a WrestleMania main-eventer.
They said they’d see each other at the Rumble.
Karrion Kross approached Zayn after he walked away. Kross
basically advised him to listen to Kevin Owens because there
was a world of opportunity at his feet. After Kross left,
Rhodes suddenly appeared and patted Zayn on the back. Zayn
acted surprised to see him. Zayn quickly patted him on the
chest and left.
********
There was an interview during commercials with Austin Theory
and Grayson Waller in the crowd.
After the break, Noah Centineo, Lil Yachty, 2 Chainz, Quavo,
Theory and Waller, and The Creed Brothers were shown in the
crowd.
********
The War Raiders defeated Dominik Mysterio & JD McDonagh to
retain the World Tag Team Championships (11:54)
There was a scary spot early in the match where McDonagh hit
a springboard moonsault to the outside (on Ivar), but his
head bounced right off the announce table. Michael Cole
freaked out and repeatedly asked that somebody check on him.
They showed a replay, and it looked brutal. McDonagh got to
his feet and to the apron and actually got a nice applause
from the crowd.
During a break, the doctor checked on McDonagh, and he waved
her off.
Erik and Ivar went for their finisher, but McDonagh ducked
it and headbutted Erik. Ivar went to the top, but McDonagh
brought him down with a suplex. Cole said McDonagh must be
the toughest man in the WWE the way he’s still going.
Dom tagged in, but Ivar hit him with a spinning kick. As
McDonagh distracted the referee, Carlito spat an apple in
Ivar’s face. This allowed Dom to hit a 619, and McDonagh
followed with a moonsault. Dom hit a frog splash for a
nearfall after Erik shoved McDonagh into Dom to break up the
cover. (Cole suggested the ref look at all the apple bits in
the ring.)
Dom went for another 619, but Erik tagged himself in, and
they hit Dom with War Machine for the pinfall win. This
turned into a pretty good match.
********
Ludwig Kaiser approached Pete Dunne backstage. It seemed
like Kaiser wanted to form an alliance, but before they
could say much, they were approached by New Day. Even these
heels wanted nothing to do with New Day, so they walked
away. Kelley approached New Day for an interview.
Kofi Kingston said Atlanta’s favourite son was home. Kelley
thought they meant Bron Breakker. They said no. She also
guessed Austin Theory and Cody Rhodes. Woods said he was
Atlanta’s favourite son, and he would beat the brakes off
Rey Mysterio in front of his town and his mother, father and
sister. His family wasn’t there yet, but Woods knew they
would show up because he spent a lot of money on their
front-row seats.
********
New Day entered during commercials. They were booed. Woods
wanted the crowd to show respect, and Kingston said he would
bring Atlanta something that Kirk Cousins and the Falcons
never could—a win. (Because they were still in a break, Cole
remarked that they were really bad guys now because they ran
down the local sports team.)
Lil Baby and Miller Mike were shown in the crowd. Also shown
were the empty reserved seats that Woods paid for.
Cole announced that this was Zelina Vega’s final night on
Raw because she was being sent to Smackdown as part of the
transfer portal.
Cole also announced a sold-out crowd of 12,432.
Rey Mysterio (w/LWO) defeated Xavier Woods (w/Kofi Kingston)
(10:56)
Woods wrestled in black jeans (and black knee pads), as
Kingston did in his recent match. Woods cut off Rey’s
comeback attempt after a break, but Rey hit a sunset flip
powerbomb off the ropes, followed by a Code Red for two.
However, Woods shoved Rey into the announce desk moments
later.
Woods noticed that his parents and sister finally arrived,
sitting next to Lil Yachty in the front row. Woods
approached them only for his parents to reveal they were
wearing “New Day Sucks” t-shirts. Lil Yachty was wearing
one, too, which was funny. Woods’ sister tossed a shirt at
his face.
Woods was pissed, so he went back into the ring, where Rey
gave him a 619 and springboard splash for the pinfall win.
Woods’ family cheered.
Rey put on a “New Day Sucks” shirt and posed with Woods’
family.
*******
Rollins approached Zayn backstage. Zayn wanted him to know
the Helluva Kick last week was a mistake. Rollins knew that
but said you could understand why he may have thought
otherwise. If it happened again, Rollins would not think of
it as a mistake. They shook hands. Rollins told him to get
his win over McIntyre tonight.
********
Jey entered through the crowd alongside Quavo. He got a huge
reaction. Jey told the crowd he needed that, and he thanked
them. He lost on Saturday, but he knew he could beat
Gunther. Now Rollins had his name in his mouth, too. Jey
knew what he had to do. He would toss all their assess out
in the Rumble, and he would become the world champion at
WrestleMania.
********
Pat McAfee kept the crowd warm during commercials. He
interviewed Woods’ family and Lil Yachty. McAfee asked Lil
Yachty if he’d ever get into the ring. Lil Yachty said he’d
only be interested if it involved Rhea Ripley. The crowd was
amused by that. (He held up a Ripley shirt earlier in the
show.)
********
Jackie Redmond interviewed Lyra Valkyria. Valkyria was ready
to defend her Intercontinental Championship, but she also
announced that she was entering the Rumble.
American Made interrupted. Chad Gable told Valkyria that Ivy
Nile would be winning the belt for him… and for them.
Valkyria said this was as close as any of them were getting
to the IC title. Nile got in her face, but Valkyria brushed
it off.
American Made bumped into Otis and Akira Tozawa, who were
dancing nearby for Maxxine Dupri’s cameraphone. Gable called
them pathetic for doing TikTok dances.
(It makes sense that Valkyria would enter the Rumble, but
this segment also made it pretty clear they don’t have much
of a plan for her first IC title challenger.)
********
Cole plugged Belair and Naomi defending their tag titles
against Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson on tomorrow’s NXT.
Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez defeated Women’s Tag Team
Champions Bianca Belair & Naomi in a non-title match (12:33)
Belair made a hot tag shortly after a break and ran wild on
Morgan. Rodriguez tagged in and gave Belair a spinebuster.
She also powerbombed her partner onto Belair for a two
count. Naomi tagged in and hit an X-Factor for two.
Rodriguez followed with a fallaway slam. Morgan tagged in
and hit Belair with a Codebreaker.
Morgan went for Oblivion, but Belair caught her and hit a
KOD. However, Dom distracted the referee from making a
cover. Belair wiped him out with a slingshot dive.
Naomi hit Morgan with a split-legged moonsault, but
Rodriguez pulled Naomi out of the ring to break up the
cover. This happened right in front of the referee, who,
instead of admonishing Rodriguez, played dumb and checked on
Morgan instead. This allowed Rodriguez to slam Naomi onto
the apron. Morgan crawled into a cover for the pinfall win.
This was a weak finish. It’s also odd that Belair completely
disappeared after hitting a simple dive. The crowd was quiet
for the match, but they were into Belair when she was doing
stuff.
********
Kelley interviewed Ripley. She said it didn’t matter who won
the Rumble because she would brutalize them if they faced
her. Bayley appeared and issued a warning. Ripley chuckled
and wished her luck. She left. Iyo Sky approached Bayley and
sternly told her, “See you Saturday.”
********
There was a Penta video package. He thanked the fans for
their reaction, but this was only the beginning. He wanted
to be the best in the world, but the only way to do that was
to face the best. He was entering the Rumble, and he would
get his WrestleMania moment. This was good.
The announcers ran down the Royal Rumble card, which begins
at 6pm ET (3pm PT).
30-man Royal Rumble match
30-woman Royal Rumble match
Cody Rhodes vs. Kevin Owens in a ladder match for the WWE
Championship
DIY vs. Motor City Machine Guns in a 2-out-of-3 falls match
for the WWE Tag Titles
********
Paul Heyman/Drew McIntyre segment
Paul Heyman sauntered out to the ring to announce that Roman
Reigns is the cover man for WWE 2K25. A banner dropped from
the ceiling showing the cover. The crowd chanted, “OTC.”
Heyman said Reigns was coming back for his championship. He
said it would be 29 vs. 1 at the Rumble because he knew that
all 29 other men were coming for Reigns. Reigns was the
biggest star in WWE, on Netflix, on this planet and would be
the biggest star on Mars when Elon Musk colonized it. He
called the rest of the locker room Reigns-wannabes.
Drew McIntyre entered before Heyman could leave. Heyman was
nervous, but McIntyre told him to relax because the only
person who should be nervous around here was Zayn. McIntyre
just wanted to talk. The crowd chanted, “We want Roman.”
McIntyre said he was responsible for all the success Heyman
was having. The crowd chanted, “We don’t care.”
McIntyre said they will care. He called himself the daddy of
the Bloodline and said, “I hate it, but I’m the catalyst of
it all.” McIntyre said he eliminated Reigns to win the
Rumble (in 2020) and slayed the beast at WrestleMania. That
beast was Heyman’s client. (He never said Brock Lesnar’s
name.)
After that, McIntyre said, Heyman found Reigns at a low time
and harnessed his talent for evil. Heyman went on to make
more money than ever. Heyman was even on the video game
cover. (McIntyre pointed to Heyman bowing to Reigns on the
very bottom-right of the cover.) McIntyre just wanted a
‘thank you’ from Heyman.
Heyman thanked him but said, “You’re crowding me right now.”
McIntyre backed off but asked Heyman for a favour: tell your
boy that I will target him and toss his carcass over the
top. Heyman sarcastically agreed to deliver the message to
Reigns. McIntyre said he wasn’t talking about Reigns—he was
talking about Punk. Heyman left looking distressed.
*******
Redmond interviewed Bron Breakker. He called half the other
Rumble entrants senior citizens. They’d realize they were no
match for the badass because it wasn’t 2014 anymore. He
declared himself for the Rumble. He was interrupted by Penta
(wearing a suit). He made the “cero miedo” gesture without
saying a word, and the crowd chanted along.
********
Drew McIntyre defeated Sami Zayn (14:27)
Zayn came up bleeding from the tip of his nose early in the
match. (I’m not sure where it happened but he did get booted
in the face a couple of times.) McIntyre went for a Claymore
outside the ring, but Zayn ducked, and McIntyre landed on
the announce table.
During a break, McIntyre chucked Zayn into the barricade.
Zayn and his bloody face managed to crawl back into the
ring. However, after a break, McIntyre hit a spinebuster for
two and a sit-out powerbomb for two. Zayn came back with a
sunset flip powerbomb out of the corner for two. McIntyre
suplexed Zayn and kipped up to his feet, but Zayn nailed a
boot and Blue Thunder Bomb for two.
Zayn went to the top, but McIntyre brought him down with a
suplex. He tried a Claymore, but Zayn countered into a
cradle for two. McIntyre ran shoulder-first into the ring
post, and Zayn hit an exploder into the turnbuckles. Zayn
went for a Helluva Kick, but McIntyre dodged it and covered
Zayn with his feet on the ropes for the pinfall win.
That’s 11 straight losses for Zayn against McIntyre.
— As Zayn pleaded with the referee, McIntyre attacked him
from behind. Cody Rhodes ran out to make the save, but Kevin
Owens ran out next to attack Rhodes. Rhodes fought him off,
but McIntyre attacked Rhodes from behind. Zayn tried to make
the save, but he hit Rhodes with a Helluva Kick by mistake.
Owens stood next to Zayn and smiled. He patted Zayn on the
chest and left the ring.
Zayn was distressed as he looked down at Rhodes. Cole
wondered if he would choose a title opportunity over his
friends.
— The camera followed Zayn during a commercial break. Zayn
was upset as he walked toward the back. He even got some
boos. He looked back toward Rhodes and repeatedly said, “I’m
sorry.” Zayn left.
(For a moment, I thought the show was over when they faded
to black on a shot of a sullen Sami Zayn. But it continued.)
********
Cody Rhodes/CM Punk segment
Rhodes got to his feet to address his hometown fans. He
looked up at the two WWE Championship belts hanging above
the ring. He said he’s learned that being champion was not
about the physical belt despite what Owens has convinced
himself of. It was a mindset. It was about the work. Nobody
in WWE worked more matches than him. He showed up first and
left last. He was so looking forward to Saturday when he
could finally move past Owens.
CM Punk interrupted. Punk asked if Rhodes was feeling
alright. Rhodes was his friend, and Punk was worried about
him. It seemed like everything was finally getting to him.
Punk knew what the title could do to a man.
Punk was champion for a historic 434 days. Somewhere around
the 300-day mark, it started to weigh on him. He was burned
out, and it turned him into somebody he didn’t enjoy being
most days. He lost friends, and it’s happening to Rhodes
now. He understood Rhodes wanted to be Bruno Sammartino and
John Cena, but none of them could be Superman.
Rhodes said he didn’t have a lot of friends, but “CM Punk,
you’re my friend, right?” Punk said Yes, that’s why he was
out there. Unlike everyone else, Punk would always be his
friend. Not just because of a promise he made to Dusty but
because he loved him. But not even Dusty could’ve prepared
Cody for this. When you were on top, there were no friends
because you had a target.
Rhodes asked Punk what was next for him. Punk said he knew
Rhodes wasn’t going to get much sleep because he either had
an early call time or he’d be thinking about the biggest
match of his career against Owens—one of the toughest SOBs
in the locker room. If he got past that, there would be more
waiting for him after that. That’s what’s next for Rhodes.
Less time with his family, feeling alone ironically in front
of sold-out crowds. Meanwhile, somebody in the best shape of
their life would win the Rumble and take advantage of Rhodes
and take his belt. And that was the good news.
Rhodes wanted to hear the bad news. Punk responded, “The bad
news is that somebody is me.” Unlike everyone else who
stabbed Rhodes in the back, Punk would win the Rumble and
stab him in the front.
Rhodes had a story. When he showed up in OVW, he met Punk,
and they were the only ones who wanted to learn arm drags
from Greg Gagne. Everyone there wanted to be Punk. They
chased him. Punk got called up, and Rhodes followed later.
Rhodes chased Punk. Everyone chased Punk. But that dynamic
changed because Punk was now chasing him.
Rhodes wanted Punk to win the Rumble “because I want you to
catch up.” Rhodes wanted to see the look on Punk’s face when
he realized the “best in the world” wasn’t the best in the
world anymore. Rhodes’ music played, and the show ended.
(This was a strange segment. Mostly because of Rhodes’
behaviour. He sounded upset in the first part of his promo,
where he spoke about doing the work. Instead of sounding
like a proud champion, he sounded annoyed and even whiny. He
was also oddly confrontational to Punk from the get-go and a
bit overdramatic—even for him. Perhaps we’re to feel like
he’s losing it a bit, but that also came out of nowhere.
This was also very long. It didn’t help that the show felt
like it ended 15 minutes ago.)
