Show Recap —
Seth Rollins, CM Punk, Judgment Day, and Rhea Ripley were
shown arriving at the Intuit Dome. Michael Cole welcomed us
by stating, “I am proud to say, for the first time ever,
welcome to Monday Night Raw live on Netflix!”
They aired the “cold open” video you may have seen online
earlier, narrated by Triple H. (I guess they wanted to use
TV terminology, but this is not what a cold open is.)
Large curtains surrounding ringside dropped to reveal Triple
H standing in the middle ring. He received a large ovation,
and he wanted to hear from the 17,000-plus fans in
attendance because the world was watching. He welcomed us to
the Netflix era, and fireworks went off.
********
The Rock entered to a huge reaction. He high-fived some
fans, embraced some executives in the front row, shook hands
with Cole and Pat McAfee, and handed his People’s
Championship title belt to two of his young daughters (who
were with Ata Johnson). The fans chanted, “Rocky.”
Rock said he travelled these roads when he was young with
his dad, Rocky Johnson. The only way to watch “WWE” back
then was to buy a ticket or watch it on Saturday morning.
You can still buy a ticket, but watching it now was a
totally different story. People were watching worldwide on
Netflix.
He also announced tonight was the largest arena gate in WWE.
He spoke about the need for great partners and gave a
shoutout to Netflix executives in a suite.
There was someone else he wanted to acknowledge. A man whom
he spilled blood with and a man who carried this company on
his back for the past year.
Rock thanked Cody Rhodes. They cut to Rhodes, who was
randomly standing in the front row in a suit. (He was
getting chants as the show started.) They acted friendly,
and Rock jokingly told Cody to say hi to Mama Rhodes. Cody
laughed.
Rock also wanted to acknowledge his cousin, Roman Reigns.
Rock called him the Original Tribal Chief. The world would
be watching Reigns’ match against Solo Sikoa — and he would
be watching closely, too. Rock closed with his catchphrase.
Rock hugged Rhodes.
(This was total babyface Rock, who was also in exec mode
making sure the partners were happy. It sort of felt like
this was the “real” part of the show, and the rest that
follows will be Raw as usual.)
********
Alicia Taylor is the ring announcer. Paul Heyman did Reigns’
introduction.
The referee wore a dark grey shirt with black striping.
The ring canvas is dark in colour with sponsors added. (Hulk
Hogan’s beer company is among them.) The ring ropes are
white.
They went to a commercial break for the first time after the
ring introductions. (I have the ad-free version of Netflix
in Canada, which meant I saw a video package for the
upcoming match.)
Tribal Combat: Roman Reigns (w/Paul Heyman) defeated Solo
Sikoa (21:29)
The crowd chanted, “F**k you, Solo” as the two men faced off
before the match. (Cole gave a lot of background throughout
the match, particularly for Sikoa, perhaps to benefit new
viewers.)
They were having a fairly even match until Sikoa gave Reigns
a Spinning Solo onto the announce table. Sikoa also hit him
with a monitor and chucked the steel steps at his face.
They went to break for a second time tonight at 8:37 pm.
Some viewers would get commercials here, while for others,
the match continued. (About three minutes later, the feed
faded to black for a second, meaning we were back from
break. This continued throughout the show.)
Sikoa repeatedly attacked with a steel chair. Sikoa tried a
running hip attack with Reigns’ head wrapped in a chair, but
Reigns moved and attacked with the chair. Sikoa avoided a
con-chair-to and hit a low blow and a Spinning Solo for a
nearfall. Sikoa grabbed a table, but Reigns hit him with a
drive-by dropkick.
Reigns set up the table in the ring, but Sikoa hit him with
a kendo stick. Sikoa choked him with the kendo stick and
taunted him, but Reigns hoisted him up and hit a powerbomb
through the table.
Reigns had it won, but Tama Tonga yanked the referee out to
break up the cover. The crowd buzzed as Jacob Fatu appeared
behind Reigns. He laid out Reigns as the crowd chanted,
“Yeet.” Fatu hit a moonsault.
Sikoa hit the Samoan Spike for a good nearfall. Referee Chad
Patton tried to reason with the Bloodline, but Sikoa spiked
him.
Sami Zayn and Jimmy Uso ran out to Zayn’s music to take out
Fatu and Tonga. Jimmy superkicked Sikoa, Zayn hit a Helluva
Kick, and Reigns hit a spear. There was no referee, but a
new one quickly ran down—only for Sikoa to kick out.
The crowd chanted, “This is awesome,” before Zayn and Jimmy
wiped out the Bloodline and fought them to the back. As
Reigns fired up, Cole said, “This, ladies and gentlemen, is
what World Wrestling Entertainment is all about!”
Before Reigns could go for a spear, Kevin Owens appeared and
gave him a stunner, but he still kicked out. Rhodes entered
to his music (from the back) and fought Owens through the
crowd.
Reigns and Sikoa traded counters until Reigns hit a spear.
Reigns fired up and hit another spear for the pinfall win.
The crowd popped big.
— The Rock walked to the ring as Reigns got to his feet.
Heyman was about to present him with the Ula Fala, but Rock
asked for them instead. Rock placed the Ua Fala over Reigns’
head, and they hugged. Reigns posed for the crowd as Rock
stood to the side, nodding.
********
CM Punk warmed up in the back. Cole said he was getting
ready for one of the biggest matches in wrestling history.
*******
The New Day segment
Jackie Redmond interviewed Kofi Kington (sporting a new
beard) and Xavier Woods, who requested this time. Kingston
said they were supposed to have a match tonight, but they
told Triple H that they didn’t really want to be there
because LA didn’t deserve to see them wrestle. The crowd
booed, and Woods noted they were just booing the truth.
Woods said Los Angeles was the one who had bad taste because
they elevated that trash rapper Kendrick Lamar. Kingston
said they were mad because Drake won the beef.
They went on for a bit until Redmond cut them off because
they were out of time. (In fact, the screen went black
immediately.)
********
Penta’s logo appeared on the screen.
They announced the location of Royal Rumble 2026.
********
A few Smackdown wrestlers were shown in a suite.
Gabriel Iglesias, Ashton Kutcher, Michael Che, and Wale were
shown ringside. (Two of these three have something on
Netflix to promote.)
Rey Mysterio, LA Knight, and the War Raiders were also
ringside. Rey showed off his Eddie Guerrero shirt, which got
a big pop.
********
John Cena segment
John Cena entered (wearing LA Dodgers colours). As Rock did
earlier, Cena put over Netflix and the magnitude of
tonight’s show. He thanked Netflix.
Cena was honoured to stand in a ring wearing jorts in LA for
the last time. He couldn’t think of a better place to kick
off his farewell tour. He slept in his car when he worked at
Gold’s Gym Venice, trained to wrestle in UPW in Orange
County, and rented a place in Inglewood. It was where
Prototype was born and where he won his first world title.
He thanked the LA fans, and they chanted, “Thank you, Cena.”
Cena said it was all about making moments. There was a lot
of noise and headlines from experts about his final
WrestleMania opponent. They threw out all kinds of names
like Drew McIntyre, CM Punk, Logan Paul, Gunther, and Cody
Rhodes. (Punk and Rhodes were both cheered.) People were
also asking when Cena would become the record-breaking 17-
time world champion. The crowd cheered that, too and
chanted, “You deserve it.”
Cena said the fans have always been honest with him, so he
wanted to be honest with them. He didn’t see it happening,
and it was because of his streak. It’s been 2,446 days since
he’s won his last match. (That’s very untrue.) Speaking of
the wrestlers in the back, Cena said, “My time is up, their
time is now.” The crowd booed. He said it would take a
miracle to win the title.
With a streak like that, the only way to even get a title
shot was to win the Money in the Bank briefcase, survive the
Elimination Chamber… or win the Royal Rumble. The crowd
cheered. Cena said he should be in the Rumble because there
was no next year. The best way to say ‘thank you’ was to win
the Rumble and make history at WrestleMania.
It sounded impossible, but if you knew anything about him,
it was that nothing was impossible. The only time we say
“never” around here is when we say, “Never give up.” Cena
ended with, “I’m not just going to the Royal Rumble, I’m
going to win the Royal Rumble.”
********
There was a Logan Paul video, and he was shown in the front
row. Seth Green, Macaulay Culkin, O’Shea Jackson Jr.,
Danielle Fishel, Bianca Belair, Naomi, X-Pac, and Shinsuke
Nakamura were also in the crowd.
********
Our second match of the evening began at 9:30 pm (1.5 hours
into the show).
Rhea Ripley defeated Liv Morgan (w/Dominik Mysterio & Raquel
Rodriguez) to win the Women’s World Championship (11:41)
This was originally advertised as a Last Woman Standing
match, but they just had a standard match.
Ripley wiped out Rodriguez early on with a cannonball but
failed to get her hands on Dom. Ripley powerbombed Morgan
onto the announce table (which didn’t break), but Morgan
took over moments later after hitting a Codebreaker on the
ring apron.
Ripley made a comeback following a break and hit a Rip-tide
for a nearfall. Ripley couldn’t believe Morgan kicked out.
Dom slid a chair into the ring, and as the ref yelled at
him, Ripley knocked Rodriguez off the apron. The distraction
allowed Morgan to hit an Oblivion onto the chair for a
nearfall. Morgan followed with three amigos and a frog
splash for two.
Morgan went for another Oblivion, but Ripley just caught her
in mid-air and slammed her. Ripley hit consecutive Rip-tides
for the pinfall win. Ripley is the new champion.
— Dom tried to attack Ripley from behind, but she caught
him. He then acted like he wanted to embrace her. She faked
hugging him but kicked him in the nuts instead. She gave him
a Rip-tide.
(This was good, but the title change and the Rip-tide on Dom
would’ve gotten bigger reactions if they had done this
months ago.)
— As Ripley left up the aisle, Undertaker entered to his Kid
Rock theme. He drove around ringside on his motorcycle and
posed with Ripley.
********
Cathy Kelley tried interviewing Adam Pearce after he met
with Bayley, but they were interrupted by Chad Gable and
American Made. Gable said he single-handedly destroyed Alpha
Academy, and he planned on winning a singles title in 2025.
Gable wanted to dispel any rumours that he couldn’t beat
luchadors and wanted a match against the best luchador in
the world next week. Pearce said he would make a phone call.
********
Redmond interviewed The Miz. He feigned excitement over Cena
entering the Rumble. He was interrupted by a pissed-off
Karrion Kross (with Scarlett). Kross wanted to know if he
was with them in facing the Wyatt Sicks. Miz said no. Kross
ran down Miz’s accomplishments and tricked him (like Bugs
Bunny) into agreeing to fight the Wyatts.
********
There was cell phone footage of Rock walking to the back
after his segment. He embraced Jimmy Uso, Roman Reigns and
Triple H. He continued to the back and embraced Rhodes.
Rock also plugged tomorrow’s NXT and said, “See you there.”
(Rock took a swig from a tequila bottle, his brand, before
driving off.)
********
They showed us Bill Simmons, Netflix execs, Vanessa Hudgens,
Michelle McCool, Lyra Valkyria, Iyo Sky, and Dakota Kai in
the crowd.
Travis Scott was shown in the crowd as “FE!N” played in the
arena. He appeared to take a hit of something (McAfee tried
to tell us it was sage.) The crowd cheered, and they cheered
even louder when Jey Uso entered. Scott accompanied Jey down
to ringside.
Drew McIntyre entered for our third match of the evening at
10:07 pm.
Jey Uso defeated Drew McIntyre (10:16)
Jey hit a suicide dive before McIntyre entered the ring. Jey
went for another one, but, of course, McIntyre caught him
and hit him with a suplex. The match began when they entered
the ring.
McIntyre was in control until Jey hit a sit-out powerbomb
out of the corner. Jey followed with strikes, a running hip
attack, and a flying crossbody for two, but McIntyre
responded with a neckbreaker. McIntyre went for a Claymore,
but Jey hit a superkick. McIntyre came back with a
spinebuster for two and a sit-out powerbomb for two.
They traded counters until McIntyre hit a Future Shock DDT
for two. McIntyre went for the Claymore, but Jey countered
again, this time with a spear for two. Jey hit a superkick,
but McIntyre hit a Claymore Kick for a nearfall.
McIntyre went for another Claymore, but Jey simply collapsed
before he could. McIntyre decided the best thing to do was
wait in the corner again for Jey to get up again. McIntyre
went for the kick, but Jey dropped down and applied a
crucifix pin for the win.
This was an ordinary match, and a quiet crowd didn’t help.
********
There was a Gunther video.
Kelley tried interviewing Gabriel Iglesias, but they were
interrupted by New Day. Iglesias said he liked them better
when they had cereal. Kelley said they were out of time as
Woods was about to respond, but the segment continued when
Alpha Academy arrived. Iglesias left with them. Kelley
assured New Day that they really were out of time.
********
Heyman asked Reigns when they should give him the
acknowledgement celebration he deserved. Reigns said January
27th. (Raw in Atlanta.) They entered a room with the WWE
2K25 logo posted on the door.
********
Redmond interviewed Ripley and Damian Priest. Ripley said
Morgan took everything from her. She cut an ordinary promo
and said Mami was back on top.
Priest was dying to be done with Judgment Day, and his beef
with Finn Bálor would come to an end next week. Priest
announced the match would be a street fight. Priest told
everyone to rise for the new women’s champ.
*******
Seth Rollins was shown getting ready.
Richard Gadd, Tiffany Haddish, Stephen Amell, Bron Breakker,
Tiffany Stratton (who got a big pop) and Nikki Bella were
shown in the crowd. Stephanie McMahon was also shown later.
*******
Hulk Hogan entered with Jimmy Hart, and the crowd booed him
out of the building.
Hogan began with his usual catchphrase, and the crowd booed
as if he had just turned his back on Big E. He tried to put
over the fans, and they kept booing. He tried to put over
his beer, and they kept booing. He tried to put over
Netflix, and they kept booing. He ripped his shirt (to
reveal a Netflix Gets Raw shirt) and posed as Jimmy Hart
waved the American flag, and they kept booing.
This was incredible.
********
Next week on Raw in San Jose:
Dakota Kai vs. Lyra Valkyria for the new Women’s IC title
Sheamus vs. Ludwig Kaiser
Damian Priest vs. Finn Bálor in a street fight
Chad Gable vs. TBA
********
The main event began at 10:43 pm. I think Seth’s music
played for 8 straight minutes.
Punk seemed to be wearing the “XXX” sweater he could be seen
wearing in the infamous AEW All In backstage footage.
CM Punk defeated Seth Rollins (18:57)
They brawled into the crowd as the fans chanted for Punk.
This was followed by duelling chants that were louder for
Punk.
Rollins went for the stomp when they entered the ring, but
Punk ducked it and set up for GTS. Rollins slipped out of
that and hammered away at Punk with elbows. Rollins
repeatedly drove his boot into Punk’s face in the corner,
and the referee had to back him off. Rollins argued with the
ref until Punk booted him. Punk hit a neckbreaker off the
top, which led to a break.
Rollins took over and dismissively smacked Punk. Punk
responded with running knees in the corner, clotheslines,
and a swinging neckbreaker. Punk also hit a neckbreaker over
the top rope and a dive. Rollins rolled through Punk’s
flying crossbody attempt and hit a GTS, but Punk fell out of
the ring. Rollins taunted Punk and told him, “I built all of
this.”
As they re-entered the ring, Punk hit Rollins with a curb
stomp for two. Rollins ducked a GTS and hit another GTS of
his own for a nearfall. Rollins went for a stomp, but Punk
rolled out of the ring. Rollins taunted him for running
away, just like he did ten years ago.
They fought on the announce table, which led to Rollins
hitting a Pedigree. Rollins sold his knee on the landing.
Rollins hit another Pedigree in the ring for a nearfall.
They exchanged strikes until Rollins hit a buckle bomb and
curb stomp, but Punk got his foot on the rope. The crowd
chanted, “This is awesome,” as we approached 11:00 pm. (The
following “Fight forever” chants were not as loud.)
Rollins hit a superplex and tried to transition into a
falcon arrow, but Punk countered and nailed a GTS. Rollins
stumbled into the ropes and fell back onto Punk’s shoulders.
Punk hoisted him up and hit another GTS for the pinfall win.
The crowd was happy.
The executive producers tag showing Paul Levesque and Lee
Fitting aired on the screen as the show ended, shortly after
11:00 pm.
