Show Recap --
Sami Zayn, Damian Priest, Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso were shown
arriving throughout the day.
Ripley entered with her right arm in a sling and a sour look
on her face. Adam Pearce was in the ring too. Ripley
announced she would be stuck on the bench for quite a few
months after Liv Morgan’s attack last week.
Ripley was pissed because she was told she would have to
vacate the world championship. The crowd chanted “Bullsh*t”
and Ripley agreed. Ripley said the title meant the most to
her which is what made this so painful. She laid the belt
down on the mat. The crowd chanted, “Thank you, Mami,” as
she looked angrily at the camera.
Ripley blamed this on Morgan’s stupid little revenge tour.
Ripley might’ve had respect for Morgan if she attacked her
face-to-face but instead, she did it like a coward. Ripley
had a warning for whoever held her title when she returned:
she was coming back for blood. Ripley said they’d have to
lock her up in Montréal jail if she saw Morgan tonight.
Morgan entered with a smile on her face as about six
security guards tried stopping her from going to the ring.
Ripley wanted them to let her go but security got between
them. Morgan left and Ripley headbutted a guard to the
ground.
********
The WWE Draft will begin on the April 26th Smackdown and
continue on the April 29th Raw.
Judgment Day embraced Ripley in the back. The crowd
applauded. Damian Priest said Ripley would come back and
make Morgan regret what she did and she’d come back more
badass than ever. Ripley thanked them and left.
********
Michael Cole announced an attendance of 15,118. He also
spoke about Ivar’s appearance on NXT.
Sheamus defeated Ivar (8:17)
There were chants of “Welcome back” and “Let’s go Sheamus.”
Sheamus hit a big White Noise off the middle rope which
popped the crowd. He didn’t go for a cover because this led
to an early commercial break instead.
Sheamus hit a powerslam and Ten Beats of the Bodhrán but
Ivar dropped him with a roundhouse kick and a splash off the
top for two. Ivar tried a springboard crossbody but Sheamus
hit a knee strike. Sheamus hit another knee and a Brogue
Kick for the pinfall win.
The crowd popped for the win. A sweaty Sheamus put his arms
around Cole and Pat McAfee in celebration.
********
There was a video package for tonight’s IC title match.
Truth and Miz segment with Triple H
Paul “Triple H” Levesque entered to a big reaction with
Pearce already in the ring. This gave Cole another
opportunity to talk about the “Triple H Era.” McAfee said
Triple H was “terrorizing” (Terra Ryzing) the record books.
The ring was carpeted and there were a pair of title belts
under a cover. HHH spoke about WrestleMania before Pearce
called out the new Raw tag team champions.
R-Truth and Miz entered and we got ourselves another “You
deserve it” chant. The crowd chanted for Truth who did the
splits. HHH congratulated them and said it was awesome
seeing Truth get a WrestleMania moment.
HHH said it was a new era and they needed to represent the
tag division appropriately. He announced that they would now
be known as the “World Tag Team Champions” (to match the
other Raw titles). HHH revealed the new tag title belts
which are gold (with a black strap) and resemble the other
world titles.
Truth freaked out as if HHH just did a magic trick. There
was some silly comedy with Truth thinking HHH was actually
Tommaso Ciampa. Miz spoke French and explained to him that
the new belts were theirs. HHH handed them belts and left.
Pearce was oddly upset that Truth’s antics made HHH leave.
Anyway, he announced a triple threat match to determine the
next challengers.
This segment felt like it belonged in the previous era.
********
The screen “glitched” as New Day entered and a QR code
appeared briefly.
Triple Threat Match: Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa
defeated The Creed Brothers and Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods
(10:30)
New Day wiped out everyone with dives ahead of an early
break.
[SECOND HOUR]
Everyone traded moves shortly after a break until Ciampa
with Kingston with Project Ciampa for a nearfall. Woods
tagged in and hit a tornado DDT. Woods gave Gargano the
Honor Roll clothesline and knocked down Brutus Creed with a
forearm.
New Day double-teamed Ciampa but Julius Creed broke up the
cover and handed out suplexes to Woods, Kingston, Ciampa and
Gargano. The Creeds each hit double Northern Lights suplexes
for two counts. Julius gave Kingston a superplex but Woods
hit Julius with a flying elbow drop. As he went for a cover,
DIY hit Woods with Meet in the Middle for the pinfall win.
DIY earned a tag title match with the win.
********
Jackie Redmond attempted to interview Drew McIntyre after
showing a replay of CM Punk costing McIntyre his match last
week. McIntyre booted the screen and stormed off.
Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell defeated Maxxine Dupri & Ivy
Nile (3:35)
Hartwell cheated and is now on the same page as LeRae.
Dupri gave Hartwell a flying crossbody and a fisherman’s
suplex for two. Dupri distracted herself by confronting
LeRae which allowed Hartwell to drop her and tag in LeRae.
Dupri fought back with a DDT.
Dupri tagged out but the referee didn’t see it because
Hartwell distracted him. As the ref told Nile to get back on
the apron, Hartwell (not the legal person) booted Dupri
behind his back. Hartwell dragged LeRae into a cover and
they picked up the win. (Hartwell also held back Nile so she
couldn’t break up the cover.)
********
There was a Damian Priest video package.
Judgment Day were in the back. Dominik and JD McDonagh were
upset but Priest reminded them that they still ran WWE. He
urged Dom to teach Andrade a lesson and told McDonagh to
have his back.
Finn Bálor thought they should focus on getting the tag
titles back but he had to wrestle Jey Uso tonight. Priest
told him to focus on tonight and teach Jey the meaning of
the word “loss.” Priest would teach Jey the meaning of the
word “pain” at Backlash. Priest asked Bálor if he was good
with that and Bálor agreed.
********
Chad Gable was shown training with the Creed Brothers in the
arena earlier this afternoon. Redmond interviewed him and
asked him what it would be like to face Zayn in Montréal.
Gable said he made the Olympic team as a Minnesota guy in
Iowa. Not one person in that building wanted him to win but
he did and he planned on doing the same thing tonight. He
knew exactly how to expose Zayn.
********
Andrade defeated Dominik Mysterio (w/JD McDonagh) (8:40)
This was another match that went to an early break. Andrade
fought back after a break but he missed a moonsault. Dom
gave him a Canadian Destroyer on the apron which led to a
two count. Dom went for a 619 but Andrade dropped him with a
back elbow. Andrade knocked McDonagh off the apron and hit
Dom with The Message for the pinfall win.
— McDonagh attacked Andrade after the match but Ricochet ran
out to make the save.
The crowd was quiet for this. They’ve been mostly quiet for
the matches tonight aside from Sheamus’ return.
********
Cathy Kelley interviewed Jey Uso and asked him about Tama
Tonga attacking Jimmy Uso. Jey was earnest and said he told
Jimmy to come with him. However, Jey had to focus on Bálor
tonight and said he would receive a Yeet-down.
********
Piper Niven & Chelsea Green defeated Kayden Carter & Katana
Chance (2:15)
There was a cool spot where Carter had Green on her
shoulders and Chance leaped off the rope, jumped off of
Green’s back and tried a flying crossbody but Niven caught
her and hit a fallaway slam. Niven gave Carter a running
crossbody and Green made the cover for the pinfall win.
The crowd was (understandably) quiet for this too.
********
Cody Rhodes is up next.
********
Kelley interviewed Liv Morgan in the back. She was booed.
Morgan was confused by the reaction. Everyone in the back
was mad at her but she wasn’t the bad guy. She wondered
where this sympathy was for her with Ripley injured her
shoulder. Morgan called it karma at its finest. Morgan said
her revenge tour wasn’t over. It only ended with her as
world champion.
[THIRD HOUR]
Cody Rhodes segment
The crowd woke up for Rhodes who received a very big
reaction. Rhodes asked the crowd, “de quoi veux-tu parler.”
They cheered. He thanked Pearce for allowing him to appear
on Raw despite representing Smackdown. He mentioned his next
challenger would be LA Knight (who was cheered) and AJ
Styles (who was booed).
He thanked Seth Rollins for being his shield at
WrestleMania. The crowd cheered and chanted, “Thank you,
Seth.”
Rhodes moved on to The Rock. Rhodes said it was news to him
how much training Rock did ahead of Mania. He figured Rock
had more than one more match left in him. Rhodes said Rock
was probably right when he said he would make him bleed
again. “But if I’m going to bleed, you’re going to bleed
with me.”
Rhodes spoke about the Bloodline. He found it interesting
that Roman Reigns was nowhere to be found on Smackdown while
supposedly making the orders to Tama Tonga.
Rhodes introduced Jey Uso who also received a big reaction.
Rhodes said Jey was the number one contender. Raw was about
to be his and nobody deserved it more. Jey helped him finish
his story at Mania and he wanted to have Jey’s back tonight
because he knew Judgment Day wouldn’t be far away.
Jey appreciated that but told Rhodes he wanted to do it on
his own. Jey liked the sound of World Heavyweight Champion
Main Event Jey Uso. Rhodes understood Jey wanted to do it on
his own and wished him luck.
Rhodes was about to leave but couldn’t do so without saying
“Yeet.”
********
Kelley interviewed Nia Jax. Jax didn’t give a damn about
Ripley. She didn’t think anyone in the division could stop
her from winning the title. She took care of Morgan and
Becky Lynch the last time she saw each of them. There were
two types of people on the planet: those who fear Nia Jax
and those who learn to fear Nia Jax. The title was hers.
********
Jey Uso defeated Finn Bálor (9:12)
Bálor’s music hit but he attacked Jey from behind and put
the boots to him. The ref quickly checked on Jey before
starting the match.
This match also went to an early commercial break. Only the
two women’s matches did not go to an early break, but the
total time of those matches is shorter than every men’s
match so far.
Jey fought back after the break. Bálor raked his eyes and
set up for a dropkick but he ran into a superkick. Bálor
avoided an Uso Splash and dropkicked Jey into the corner.
Jey avoided a Coup de Grace and hit a spear and Uso Splash
for the pinfall win.
— Priest entered the ring and had a staredown with Jey.
McDonagh and Dom attacked Jey from behind and Priest was
annoyed with them. Bálor got in Priest’s face and said
something before joining the attack.
Jey fought them off after superkicking Dom. He chucked
McDonagh into Bálor and left through the crowd. (Priest
never joined the fight.)
— The camera stayed on Jey as he walked up through the
concourse. He slapped hands with fans and left the arena
through the front door where he ran into Sami Zayn (who got
a big pop).
Zayn stood outside and was looking up at the Bell Centre.
Jey asked what he was looking at. Zayn said the first show
he ever saw was in this building 25 years ago and now he was
returning as champion. Zayn wanted to enter the building the
same way he did back then, right through the front door.
The camera followed Zayn as he marched through the
concourse. He was all pumped up as the fans cheered him on.
Zayn made an awesome entrance through the crowd as they went
nuts and sang his songs.
I feel like this was an all-time great entrance on Raw.
********
Next week on Raw:
A new Women’s champion is crowned
R-Truth & Miz vs. DIY for the tag titles
Andrade & Ricochet vs. Dominik Mysterio & JD McDonagh
********
Bronson Reed confronted Chad Gable in Gorilla before he
could enter. Reed warned him that whoever won tonight
wouldn’t be champion for long.
Sami Zayn defeated Chad Gable to retain the Intercontinental
Championship (17:12)
Zayn had the early upper hand and the two men faced off as
they went to break a minute into the match. Gable was in
control after the break. He hit a dive to the outside and a
diving headbutt in the ring for two. Zayn’s wife Khadijah
was shown in the front row.
Gable targeted Zayn’s leg but Zayn fired back with a
clothesline. Gable reversed an exploder into a cradle for
two. Gable applied an ankle lock but Zayn knocked him
outside the ring and followed with a springboard moonsault.
After a break, Gable hit an Angle Slam off the top. Gable
followed with consecutive German suplexes but Zayn followed
with two German suplexes of his own. Gable switched and hit
another German so Zayn did the same. They countered each
other over and over until Zayn suplexed Gable right on his
head. (This looked bad but Gable continued.)
Zayn hit an exploder in the corner and went for Helluva Kick
but Gable picked his leg and applied an ankle lock. Zayn
countered out of it and hit a powerbomb. Zayn went for a
Sharpshooter but he fell over because his ankle was hurt.
Gable avoided the Helluva Kick again and gave Zayn a German
suplex into the middle rope. Gable applied the ankle lock
again but Zayn eventually reversed into a cradle for two.
Zayn gave Gable another exploder into the buckles and
followed with Helluva Kick for the pinfall win.
— Zayn laid the title belt down and Gable was in tears. Zayn
helped him to his feet and Gable lifted his arm. Gable left.
Zayn embraced his wife and his family in the front row when
Gable suddenly grabbed him and hit a German suplex (outside
the ring). Gable tossed Zayn around ringside and over the
announce table. He shoved Zayn into the ring post and
applied the ankle lock while standing on the ropes. Zayn
tapped against the apron as officials tried stopping Gable.
Gable held the ankle lock as the show went off the air.
The match and post-match were all really good.
