WWE RAW Review: Gauntlet Match Determines Gunther's WrestleMania Opponent, Becky vs Liv Morgan, Drew & Rollins Clash

This is WWE superstar Drew McIntyre and you're listening to the WWE podcast, the
show the one that everybody wants me godet three sixteen. So your ass is
my ard. You can acknowledge me. Welcome to the w w Podcast,
everybody. It is Tuesday, March twelfth, twenty twenty four. We're gonna
go over Monday Night Raw. It took place last night from Houston, Texas.
Good amount that came out of the show, including some just absolutely stellar
wrestling. I mean not just the wrestling in terms of the show, but
the actual wrestling itself, which if you saw the main event, in my
mind, that was a WrestleMania worthy match, particularly the end with Chad Gable
and with Sammy's Ain just I mean, this is what pro wrestling is about.
And you know when when wrestling's when wrestling is good, it's effing great.
So this was just a thing of beauty. The Gauntlet match to determine
who is going to face Gunther at WrestleMania for the Intercontinental Championship. That was
a thing of beauty. One of the best singles, I guess you could
call it. It wasn't a singles, but the end was a one on
one with Chad Gable and Sammy z Ain that I've seen in a long time.
Just I mean, I can't say enough about it. The near falls,
the chemistry, the pure wrestling, all of it was just a plus
plus. I mean, nothing more I could say about it. Now,
did the right person win? That's debatable. Chad Gable had a hell of
a story going into this, and you know that he could have and has
already had some A plus matches with Gunther. Every single one of their encounters
was memorable, and I think that going a fourth one with these two would
have been epic. The story going into it with Chad Gable and his daughter
crying because of Gunther, the emotional tie to it was great and I think
there was a heck of a story that could have told there. So I
just hope that in the loss for Chad, that he isn't lost for WrestleMania,
that they have something for him. But I don't know. He may
be part of that six pack challenge for the Tag Team Undisputed, a Tag
Team Championship ladder match, then he'll probably have a say there. But boy,
he made a hell of a case to have himself a one on one
with Gunther again. Now Sammy's Ain, was he the right guy? I
think? So? You know, if you're gonna not choose Chad, sammy's
Ain is certainly a formidable opponent, A guy that last year was winning the
Undisputed tag Belts with his friend Kevin Owens. This year now one on one
for the Intercontinental Championship with Gunther. So you know, pretty good WRESTLEMANI to
WrestleMania parallel. It's just going to depend on do they pull the trigger with
Sammy. I don't know, there's an argument to be made. The answers
no. And also what about the Beast? What about brock Lesner, who
is seemingly in the plans to return at some point in the near future.
There are rumors now that he is being worked back into the plans for WrestleMania,
And we'll see if that happens. We'll see if he comes out after
a match, maybe I'll have a match himself, maybe it'll be after,
maybe it'll be a moneynete raw after. But it appears as of this moment,
brock Lesner is trending towards coming back in an on air character role.
And you would imagine it's for Gunther. He how about this? How about
how about a quick early, a quick kind of play on WrestleMania. Here
Sammy Gunther. Gunther wins, but just barely in a twenty minute classic.
Gunther gets on the mic, says there's no one left and out comes Brock
Lesner. How about that to tease another match? Now, some would say,
well, what do you do that match with WrestleMania. Well, you
know, I've kind of realized that not every great match in your mind needs
to happen at WrestleMania, or not at all. I think that's a lesson
all of us as fans can really try to take to heart that every great
match in our minds and in the match and in the minds of WWE doesn't
all need to happen at WrestleMania because guess what, they still have what ten
or eleven other pls that they need to produce throughout the year, and they
have Big Matt Big pay per views. SummerSlam has become a stadium show.
Obviously, we know what Saudi Arabia is now, so hey, there are
other venues on other times and places we could do Brock and Gunther. It
just isn't going to be this year, which is fine. We'll get it
if Brock is on his way back. So before we get going here,
first of all, welcome to the ww podcast. If you guys want to
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well, before we get going, one more thing, I'd like to welcome
some new patrons. Speaking of about Melbourne. Melbourne, m Alex b.
I'll pronounce your name if I can. Alex Blundell and Austin Daughtry and I
think I said Loops Valdez last time. So welcome to Melbourne, Alex and
Austin. Welcome you guys. I hope you enjoy your some of you who
are on free trials, but I hope you join us on the paid side
of things because I think you'll want to stay. I really do so.
All right, let's continue here with what again? Was I thought a pretty
memorable mond of net raw Nothing, you know, I shouldn't say memorable,
It's one that was impactful and move things forward. The most memorable thing for
me was the idea or the idea the presentation of the six man gauntlet match
for the IC title shot at WrestleMania that I went through. We'll go through
that maybe a little bit more later. But the other thing that happened on
a net raw, let's just start with the beginning here was Travis or Yeah,
well, Travis Scott. I don't know what it is with the country
singers lately and the some kind of partnership they have with WWE. I'm not
sure, but it's a lot of country singers that are you know, hardy.
We've got Travis Scott. There was another one I can't remember, Jelly
Roll. Is he country? I'm not sure, but I don't know what
it is. Nonetheless, McIntyre came out and he trolled the fans on the
what treatment, which was fun. They're saying, you know, say what
if you're glad I took out c'mpunk and the fans of course obliged like idiots.
Sorry, Houston. By the way, mister Rocky T and Missus Rocky
T are going to be joining me on the Weekend Review for their in person
thoughts on raw. They were going to join me tonight. Tonight was just
chaotic for me. Unfortunately, I'm recording this out in pieces, so they
were originally joined me tonight, but no fear. They'll be coming on the
Weekend Review show to discuss there in person perspective in Houston, so I wanted
to put that out there now. McIntyre again trolls the fans, never a
dull moment with him, and he brought up the Rock. He spoke about
how pro wrestling started at carnivals and then moved to armories, and he said
that now they work with one of the most powerful people on the earth,
and he gets why Cody's upset, but it doesn't involve him, nor does
it involve Seth Rollins. McIntire said, everyone from the locker room to the
board knows that he's a champion. The company can be proud of. That's
when Seth Rollins comes out. He told McIntyre to do everyone a favor by
shutting his mouth, and Rollins entered the ring and said McIntyre had been begging
for his attention. Rollins dropped to his knees and dared McIntyre to give him
a claymore. McIntyre didn't and said that Rollins was right when he told him
to get over the blood Line. McIntyre said he gave Rollins some advice,
but all Rollins cares about is himself. Rollin said McIntyre's starting to remind him
of CM Punk. Rollins said that he thought Punk was the biggest hypocrite in
the world until he met McIntyre. Rollins then said that McIntyre complained about the
blood Line and now it seems like he wants to be their honorary member,
and Rollin said he believes that McIntyre would love nothing more than have the help
Bloodline help him take the title at WrestleMania, but it's not going to happen.
McIntyre then said he knew Rollins wanted him to put him out of his
misery, but there was nothing he could say that would provoke him. McIntyre
exited the ring, Rollins called out to him and said he hadn't paid much
attention to McIntyre on the road to WrestleMania because of all the things he has
had to worry about going into the show, and McIntyre's at the very bottom
of the list. McIntyre almost almost cave and attacked Rollins. You know,
I don't know if this was the strongest promo for Rollins. Devaluing your WrestleMania
opponent isn't the best idea. Your idea is to work with each other,
okay, and you know, to help elevate each other, even through insults,
and that didn't happen here. And the one thing he could have said,
by the way, is you know your parents. Your mother must be
ashamed of you. Why he's obviously he was very close with his mother.
That's well documented and that's the one thing that he snapped on Samy's ain for
so it's all he had to say was talk about his family. That's it.
I mean, there you go. So But nonetheless, this was a
very well executed segment just overall. Even if this wasn't rollins best work,
but doesn't hurt really didn't hurt anything, I don't think long term, And
here's the bigger picture for me. Despite the fact that it like a lot
of the context of what Rollins was saying, I did appreciate that they actually
focused on the world title solely for the most part, other than mentions of
the Rock and the blood Line. But as focused as they've been on the
world title match so far, which has been nice to see. I have
to say, it's been really nice to see for a change, them focusing
on Drew and Seth and Seth and Drew rather than Drew being annoyed that Seth
is not focused on Drew. So I did enjoy that. So there is
that to see if they continue doing that or if it then becomes muddied again
with you know, Cody involved and Drew and Seth just can't have a single
program with one another rather a focused segment, So that to me was a
good thing all right. Now, WW is very proud of their one hundred
million YouTube subscribers, and they should be. You know, that is a
crazy amount of people subscribed to their YouTube channel. Just I mean, it's
ridiculous. Now, Becky Lynch and Lived Morgan to was next and this match.
Really, you know, this match overachieved for me. It did,
and it wasn't expecting much going into this, particularly because I'm not a Lived
Morgan thus far hasn't been you know, one of my top five wrestlers of
wrestling ability for the women. I don't think she's you know, dead weight
or anything like that on the roster, but she hasn't exactly been engaging as
a character, and her in ring wrestling has been okay. But this here
was they had nice chemistry here, but both Becky and Live I thought worked
well together. Becky took some pretty nasty bumps for Live. Becky's always been
a selfless wrestler, but you know, Live Morgan brought it to and this
was a fifteen minute match and it ended with Becky beating Live after the second
man handled slam and you know me vitual respect thing happened after the fact,
and it seems like to Live in Becky are okay now. And Ria came
out after and Morgan and Rhea had words on the ramp before Morgan headed back,
and Rhea congratulated Lynch and noted that Lynch beat Morgan and then asked her
what if it was all worth it. Ripley said Lynch keeps getting into fights
and leaving it all in the ring as they get close in to WrestleMania,
and Ripley said that Lynch does it to prove herself. She to prove to
herself she's the best, but you know deep down that I'm better than you.
And she accused Lynch of so many matches leading into WrestleMania, that she's
having so many matches that it'll lead to an excuse of why she couldn't beat
her. Then Lynch said that before the world rumble that Ripley might have been
better than her, and she planted that seed, it's grown into a tree,
and if it has to be her against the whole world, then the
whole world doesn't stand a chance. Because this was a decent line. She
said that she's good when people believe in her, but she's great when they
doubt her. That's a good line, you know, For all the criticism
I give Becky, that's a line that I think has a lot of meaning
to it for a lot of us, you know what I mean. So
I enjoyed that in that line from Becky, probably her most genuine promo response
to Ripley. Thus far, this whole interaction here thus far has been the
most enjoyable and authentic, and she said that, you know, obviously,
if the whole world is against her, then the whole world doesn't stand a
chance. Then she left pretty good. You know. I have to say
that these two did a nice job from the match with Living Becky to the
interaction with Rhea and Becky that didn't overstay its welcome was to the point.
And I like how they're not just having brawls with Rhea and with Becky yet
they're they're holding off. So that was nice, all right. Ivy Nile
and Maxine do versus Cannisse, Lo Ray and Indie Hartwell. Cannissell Ray and
Indie Hartwell beat Ivany Island Maxine in two minutes. And you know, it
was interesting that they're bringing the Internet into this, meaning Dupre got some early
offense on Heartwell, but Cole's prompting Cole to say that she was showing she
belongs. Dupre went for a reverse caterpillar, but she backed off when Loray
was waiting for her. Loray then said to Dupree that she doesn't belong and
mocked her for the Internet hurting her feelings. Dupre shoved the ray aside,
didn't look like she was gonna leave, but Heartwell dropped her with a kick
and Pinder, I don't know. I mean, this is your typical random
women's tag team match of the week. It's just kind of the way it's
been for the for the company here, and I know they're trying to bring
this into real life, and you know, I don't have a problem with
it. It felt a little forced, but it also is something for Maxine
to do. It's something for her to dig her teeth into. As shallow
as it is, it's something. So all right, let's see. We
got the announcement of the tag team six Pack Challenge at WrestleMania. We got
Cody Rhodes having a sit down interview in the ring with Cole and Cole recalled
The Rock, pointing out on his Border Directors that he is on the Border
Directors and is Cody's boss. Cole asked Cody why he slapped the Rock.
Cody said, he knows Rock claims to be his boss, but he's not
sure that he is. Cody said, if the Rock is his boss,
it felt good to slap his boss. Cody said the Rock was a great
wrestler before everything else came along, and that slap that that that slap was
a receipt. Cole then dug into ken Rollins be trusted, and Cody said
people change and recalled Cole's heel character of being in a plexiglass box and that
when he smashed a throne and said the person who sits on that throne has
now become his closest working ally even team with Jay Uso, and Cody said
that he and Rowlinds haven't always got along, but Rollins has always had his
respect, and this is a shot at getting a fair fight against Rains on
Night two. By the way I thought about it, Rollins, or rather
Cody shouldn't even have to have that match. Can he not just protest to
management? Hey, Romans had the Bloodline interfere in every single match that he's
had, every title match. Can I just get a fair fight and have
you ban the Bloodline from ringside? Or is the excuse, well, they
have political power, they can't just do that. I mean, Cody has
a pretty good reason to just expect one on one and WWE the company to
protect the one on one. No, So it's just a little weird that
we're going through the rigamarole. If you really use line that Cody even has
to jump through these hoops, it should just be expected that you shouldn't have
any of your interference. But I mean it's wrestling, right, So all
right, So then we get Cody setting up footage on the screen of Cole
asking him in October whether coming close to winning the world title would be Cody's
story just as it was his father's. Cody said it was a good question.
He asked Cole if he looked nervous and scared, and Cody said,
the old this is. This is very interesting, And you know, I
don't want to pretend Cody listens to this show. I doubt it. There's
probably a lot of other bigger podcasts saying somewhat similar things that I am.
But if you didn't know any better, it sounds very much like his response
to our criticisms of him on this show, just putting it out there because
he said this that the old head podcasters me. I guess, I don't
know if I'm old, I have an old head. I don't know what
he means by that. Maybe the established podcasters I'm not sure. I can't
believe he's wearing suits and using big words. He said the story is no
longer about him and Rains, It's about the fans who followed him to the
absolute end. And he told a story about a blind fan who have come
to the show to cheer field cheers, and another who underwent spinal fusion surgery
wanted nothing more to get his weight belt. Cody then brought up his sister
that the Rock didn't mention and his mother. Cody got emotional while he said
he couldn't hand the title belt to his father, but he could still hand
it to his mother. Michelle Rubio and Cody also brought up his wife and
she said she took a shot on him when he was wearing a goofy mask
and taking RKO's every night. He's getting all emotional. He said the story
is beyond him, but it's up to him. He stood up and looked
into the camera. While we're calling Roman Reigns stating last year a WrestleMania,
they were in the third inning. Cody said, they're in the final inning.
Well, why didn't he just say the ninth that? I mean that
the only sport that has innings is baseball, so Nonethles, Cody said,
Cole will get to say it WrestleMania. That code's roady Jesus. Cody Rose
has finished his story. Cody shook hands with Cole and hugged him. Okay,
they're really trying to pull on the heartstrings of fans here. Let me
ask you a question in the lead up to WrestleMania, for any other major
babyface trying to overcome a heel champion leading into WrestleMania main event. In your
mind, can anyone else name a time when we got crocodile tears from an
emotional babyface going into it to challenge a heel. I mean, are we
supposed to all feel bad for Cody? I mean I understand. Yeah,
he's kept telling us about his wife and how she took a shot on him,
and a blind fan came to the show and another one under underwent spinal
fusion surgery to get the white belt. I mean, okay, so that's
supposed to endear us to him, But a lot of other stars do the
same thing. It's what you do as a wrestler. Okay, these are
not really optional things A lot of times, Okay, these are things that
sure, you can do more, but this is at the bare minimum what
you do. So he's not doing anything that any other baby's face shouldn't already
be doing. Okay, Also old head podcasters who can't believe he's wearing suits
and using big words. No, I can believe you're wearing a suit.
I can believe you're using big words. My question is why. It's not
that I'm just shocked. I can't believe it. It's just what I'm seeing
is not believing. I'm not believing. It's just I'm not believing my eyes.
No, no, no, cod Cody, you have it wrong.
You don't. It's not he's looking at the superficial. He's not understanding the
deeper meaning of why he does these things and why the vibe that he gives
off through these things is what really is the problem. It's not that we
can't believe it. It's not that we can't believe it. It's just coming
off as UH disingenuine it's all, you know. But hey, I've got
a few more criticisms if you if you need a few to uh to to
using your promos, that's for sure anyway. Yeah, So uh Ken continuing
on UH good. I mean, good, good promo, But we got
crocodile tears. I mean, it's just just a big whiny baby going in.
I understand he's dead. I don't give a damn about his dad anymore.
Like I care about Dusty Rhodes' career. I feel for him and his
loss. A lot of us have lost family members. Absolutely, that's a
real thing. But at some point you're just sick of hearing about it.
I'm tired of it. I don't need to hear about it. I don't
need this this, oh, this sympathetic Oh my god is father? Yeah,
a lot of us have lost people. What makes you any different?
You know what I mean? Like, I don't know. I'm just sick
of it and the fake tears. Save it, bro, save it all
right. The Kabuki Warriors Oscar and Kyrie Saying versus Shannon Basler and Zoe Stark
for the women's tag team titles. This match lasted ten minutes, with the
Kabuki Warriors defeating Shannon Basler and Zoe Stark. The finish was catching Sane in
a care food clutch, Saying rolled on to her and to get a two
count, but Basler maintained the hold as they stood up, and Kai reached
in grabbed Basler's foot to cause a distraction. Oscar tagged in and put Basler
down with a kick, saying tagged in and hit her insane elbow on Basler
for the victory. Crowd wasn't really to one way or the other on this.
It wasn't the most intriguing match in the world. It was nice to
see the women's tag team champions actually defend their championships, and a women's tag
team match that goes into double digit minutes is always a positive. But this
didn't really I mean better than nothing, absolutely, but still, what's the
direction of this division? Where are we headed? Who are the real teams?
Why should we care? I mean really, but all right, Damian
Priest versus Our Truth? Our Truth was defeated in eight minutes and he hits
South of having to get the victory here and this was the finish. Was
Truth applying the STF Finn Balor and JD attack Gargana and Champa at ringside.
Truth went up top and dove onto the pile of wrestlers on the floor and
it drew a holy s chant. I don't know why Truth then return to
the ring in Ada clothes line, and Priest lowered his straps and hit the
South of Heaven choke slams. So I think Truths run of being hot.
His flash in the Pan moment unfortunately might have passed, but it's still possible
he and mis earned their way into the Tag Team six Pack Challenge at WrestleMania
and still win those Tag team championships at WrestleMania. I think it's still very
possible. So but right now, I mean, he has cooled off immensely,
so kind of sad, but you can still heat things back up.
I just hope. I really am hoping for Truth. I'm rooting for Truth
here to win those the belts with MS at WrestleMania, because man, there's
no one more deserving for attack team victory. Really. Alrighty, So then
we get that main event, that brilliant main event, and the finish as
of as I mentioned, was just absolutely brilliant. We did get a nice
kind of statement from Big Bronze and Reid of the Tsunami after he was defeated
by Sammy's Ain, so Bronson Reid got his heat back without losing too much
by being defeated, so there was that J D. McDonough being defeated doesn't
really hurt or help him. We did get a Shinsky Nakamura loss. That
I mean, Shinske is rubber at this point. You don't have too much
faith in them giving him a sustained push, but you know that he's capable
and dangerous at any moment, so kind of a you know, maintain for
him, kind of a neutral loss for him. And you know, hey,
Shinskan, or rather Chad Gable, even in a loss here, continues
to just kick ass. And this is a forty one minute main event.
Loved it. Loved it again. Good show, made even better by the
actual quality A plus wrestling in that main event that just blew me out of
the water at the end and engaged you. And even if you didn't know
anything about the match of the stakes, drew you in. That is pro
wrestling at its finest. My friend, So well, that'll do it for
me. I know it's a bit shorter than normal here. I mean I
do have a kind of a weird night ad, so I think I'll end
it there, but I do want to say thank you. I will be
back on until tomorrow. Tomorrow is Wednesday, so I'll be back for the
mail bag hopefully. I know I've been late with that, but I think
I'm finally not sick. So that's also a nice kind of change of pace
in my life of not being sick for two months. So hopefully tomorrow I'll
be back for the mail bag, and then that might be it for the
week, depending on what happens. If there's bigger news, sometimes I pop
on and then of course, you know, we have Friday for the SmackDown,
and then the rest is history and the weekend, so don't forget Sunday,
we'll have mister Rocky Tea and missus Rocky Tea on the show to discuss
their in person experience with Monday Night Raw, and then that'll be that'll kind
of wrap up the week as we creep close to wrestle Mania. What do
we have like twenty five days? Like twenty five days for WrestleMania, so
not long, not long. That'll do it for me, guys. Sorry,
it's a little bit briefer about by fifteen minutes, but life all right.
Talk to you guys later. Take care, Thanks for listening to the
WWE podcast. Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you don't
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