WWE RAW Review: Ricochet Written Off TV, Liv Gives Dom Her Room Key, Sami Zayn vs Otis, Final Clash at the Castle Build

This is WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre and you're listening to the WWE podcast, the
show the one that everybody wants me. God tell you somebody stand for sixteenth
said, just used your ass's mind. You can acknowledge me. Hey,
everybody, welcome to the Monday Night Raw Review. It is Tuesday, June
eleventh, twenty twenty four. What a Monday Night Raw? I really yep.
I know the main event wasn't particularly exciting given the fact that it's a
heel on heel matchup, and it doesn't really matter to me if the judgment
day is there or not. To most people in the match, that's clash
and Drew is a heavy favorite. I thought that the show as a whole
was was really enjoyable. And boy, oh boy, did Rikoshet get written
off TV. I mean, we knew that his contract is not just me.
A lot of us knew his contract was coming to an end. He
may be completely gone from WWE forever. We don't know. He may go
to AW, he may renew for the time being, he's gone. Samantha
Irvin played her part well, but Rikochet, who came to the aid of
Dragonov during his match with Breaker after he lost saved Dragon Off, fought off
Rickachet. I'm sorry, Ricochet fought off bron Breaker. And then later in
the show we have bron Breaker attacked dragon Off again and then Ricochet attack Breaker
and then Breaker just went on a tear and it was uncomfortable. I mean
that bump, you know what, even more to me then the bump on
the car, the power sign the running power slign onto the car, which
yes, was real glass from what I understand. You know, there was
nothing really you know, fake if you want to say that, or really
worked about that car. The bigger bump to me was the bump off the
truck onto the concrete. Look. I mean I think it was concrete,
right, was it pavement? I don't. I don't think it was anything
worked at the bottom either, unless there was some kind of special padding there.
It was brutal and honestly, even if it was worked somehow, which
I don't think it was, that is a brutal, brutal bump where he
you know, spearheaded him into the truck and then Ricochet bounced off the truck
onto the ground. Oh my god, I mean, that's how you get
yourself injured. That that's there's no good way to take that bump. I
don't care if you've been working thirty years, there's no good way to take
that. Physics will overshadow and supersede any kind of experience you think you may
have. Oh my god, just go watch that. I mean, those
are the even Michael Cole in that bump that Ricochet took, not necessarily the
car, which they reacted to appropriately, but the bump that he took that
I'm talking about off the truck on to the pavement. Even Cole was like
geez, like you could hear his genuine concern for Rikoshet. That was I
was sitting there, and you know, I've seen if you've been watching wrestling,
you've seen crazy months before. A lot of them are very carefully constructed.
So I don't want to make too much about a single bump, but
just go rewatch that. Imagine taking that even if there's a pad there,
which I don't think there was, it looked like just straight up pavement.
Holy crap. So you know what. I don't like Rikoshet and a personal
level, but on a professional level, dude, props congrats to you for
I mean, just throwing your throwing caution to the wind. You certainly have
earned my respect and I have, you know, personal or not issues.
I I've always respected his in ring ability. That's never been a concern and
this certainly was no exception to that. So Rickoshet being destroyed by Breaker being
put in an ambulance. Samantha Irvin, you know, doing her part well,
being concerned for Ricochet, leaving with him in the ambulance, and then
also having the announcers afterwards seeming to genuinely say someone's got to do something about
Breaker. It's one thing to beat up your opponent in a match. It's
another to take them out, you know, outside the ring and the brutal
fashion that he does. So Breaker, you know, for all the credit
I just gave Rikoshey, obviously he's gone for at least indefinitely. You know,
who knows Ricochet is gone. But Breaker is going to really benefit from
this because a month ago you had kind of looked at him and as he's
the NXT guy, he comes in, he's powerful, he does one move,
no, no, no, no, All of that has been erased
in a single night. Anybody who is concerned he's gonna be gonna be the
next Goldberg. I think all of your fears and concerns about that have been
erased in a single match breaker and dragging Off before the beatdown of Ricochet outside
was easily the match of the night. That is wrestling my friends, physical,
nasty back and forth, just looking like they're trying to beat the hell
out of each other, not pulling any punches. It was a fun matchup.
And dragging Off to his credit as well, it is a tough s
ob dragging Off just fits the bill. His promos that he does prior to
or have been just well done, great character development, and they just meshed
really well. So that match was an absolute treat. I enjoyed the hell
out of it, as the inn ring crowd did or the in person crowd
did as well. And it's one of those matches that you're like, yeah,
they have a little bit of a beef here, but it's not super
interesting from a story perspective. That's a perfect example of not a great story
going in, but one being developed throughout the match that draws you in.
That's what That's the beauty of pro wrestling, and the beauty of not having
to lean on creative to do it. Where the wrestlers can just do what
they do best, and that's kick ass and ring, put on a good
match, physical, authentic, and not have to worry about creative having to
give them a great line or whatever. So that's pro wrestling right there.
That was fun match and a Breaker is going to benefit here. And you
know, Breaker is really being established as a guy, as a future top
guy, not a world champion. I don't think this year. Maybe sometime
in twenty twenty five, I would think that he's already a favorite for the
twenty twenty five Royal Rumble. A favorite now, maybe not the favorite,
but a favorite for the twenty twenty five Royal Rumble at the very least one
of the final four. You can already I think look ahead to that.
So Breaker, right now we are seeing the foundation being laid. So those
of you that are excited about Breaker wanted to see him be champion. Patience,
my friends, Patience is going to be your best friend. And understand
there is a process and right now we are at the beginning of that process
and it's going well. And as we continue, you'll see him maybe work
his way up into the mid card for the mid Car Championships, like the
Intercontinental time, maybe he'll be the one to beat Sammy's Ain when they get
there, when Sammy's Ain detaches himself from Chad Gable in that story. So
we could easily see Brown Breaker become inter Continental champion this year, but when
it comes to the World Championship, not yet. And I love also that
they have continued to push the fact that what triggered Breaker is the fact that
Adam Pierce, who wasn't there last night, didn't put Breaker into the King
of the Ring tournament. They're not letting that go. I think that's great
because a lot of times when pay per views or pls come and go,
they're forgotten until the next time they come around. But if this is something
you can point to as the snapping point for Breaker to call back to King
of the Ring of twenty twenty four, I think it's a It's not only
funny, but it's nice that you can look at it as a milestone where
he began his tirade, where things changed for him when he wasn't included in
something. So suffice it to say, I was a big fan of what
they did with Breaker and Dragon Off to his credit, I don't think he
lost. Even though he lost the match, I don't think he lost the
thing outside of a putting a tally in the l column, which in pro
wrestling doesn't mean nearly as much as it does in other sports. So I
think it really helped both men go to that next level. And do I
think dragging Off and Breaker are done with each other? Probably not, given
what happened at the show on Monday and Raw, I don't think that they're
done with one another, and I don't think the fans are going to be
sad that they're not done. I don't believe they have any pl appearances scheduled
for a clash in the Castle, but they also could be in the money
in the bank ladder match. I think they are perfect for the money in
the bank ladder match. In fact, you could even argue that if Breakers
in the money in the bank ladder match, that he is a favorite to
win. Now, could they continue with the story that Breaker is once again
excluded from the match and therefore it's going to trigger him into the next thing
and Breaker is not in the money? Bank Linter actually like, yeah,
they good, that'd be kind of funny. I wouldn't hate that. I
don't want a rush breaker. I'm a big fan of slow burns. It
allows you to kind of look at the landscape, take your time, be
strategic. There's nothing against hot shotting things here and there. Everything doesn't need
to be a slow burn. My god, if that was the case,
nothing would move. But for big guys, big stories, long story story
arcs. I think it's a lost art that under the Vince McMahon regime for
decades was missing. And Triple H has shown that he has at times been
a fan of that has been advocating for that. Obviously, Cody Rhoades being
one of those stories took him two years. Although Vince was responsible for the
loss of WrestleMania thirty ninelast year. That said, Triple A to shown he
has more patience when it comes to payoffs, and I appreciate that. And
it also makes it's smart because hot shotting things can be dangerous. You could
look back and go, oh, crap, I wish we didn't do that,
which we thought that through a little more. You know, It just
makes sense to me that bron Breaker is a guy that you take your time
with and don't rush and I don't need him winning money in the bank.
I don't, but if they do, I mean he does have the ability
to hold it for a year. Okay, so there's nothing wrong with that.
But all right, I've spent twelve twelve minutes nearly on bron Breaker already
and I'm not sad about it. So all right, let's continue with the
rest of RAW. But before we do like to welcome a new patron,
and that is Logan McFadden. Welcome to the WWE podcast, my friend.
Welcome to the ad free side of things. All right, so let's see
here, let's go to the next well, let's start with the one and
not raw open. All right, let's go and go in order. So
McIntyre comes out and doesn't say a whole lot. He said he knows the
rest of the Judgment Day is behind Damian Priest every single time, and doesn't
give a damn. He was interrupted real quick, and a priest is kind
of bumbling a bit at the beginning of the promo, felt like you couldn't
find his footing, and then eventually did that. He's saying he doesn't need
the Judgment Day there. He'd want them there, but doesn't need them there,
and that he Priest said he was heading into McIntyre's territory, but he
would still put him down. And he said, I'm champ because I'm Damian
Priest. And then McIntyre said, it's the same speech. He doesn't give
a damn what Priest has to say. And McIntyre said, the only chance
Priest has is the idiots he was accompanied by, and Priest told him to
stop and gave Drew a proposal and said that if you beat Finn tonight,
you know, the Judgment Day would be banned from ringside at a for our
match at Clash and if they if you lose, Judgment Day is going to
be there. Kind of a mini Cody Rhodes Bloodline Rules match up here with
the tag team match with the Rock that happened at the Night one of WrestleMania,
obviously at a much lower stake, but kind of same thing here.
Again, So a couple things. One, I still believe Priests feels like
a champion more than I ever thought he would. Is he still probably a
transitional champion, yes, but he may be in the hierarchy of transitional champions,
one of the best transitional champions. If they keep the belt on him,
I will be shocked number one. I won't lose my mind. I
think both choices are pretty good. I would I would put it on Drew
so that Punk could then challenge Drew. And no, I would not,
as I've said from the last several weeks, have Punk screw McIntyre at Clash.
The only reason, the singular reason is you are in Scotland. You
will turn Punk heel bad idea. You want Punk nowhere near that event,
So I wouldn't even have them show up. I wouldn't nothing. Punk does
not exist for Clash of the Castle, so that's a big no no.
If they do it, I would be very surprised. But what I would
say is, though there's no bad decision when it comes to this, but
you again, when it comes to Drew, I think it is probably time
and then you have Punk and Drew fight one another for the world title heading
into Money in the Bank and maybe at SummerSlam you throw a third person into
the mix. But as far as this one of that raw went, it's
interesting. These two men are heels. Both are kinda they're not. I
don't know. I would say that Damien's more of a babyface than Drew is.
Drew has really locked himself into that role, especially now that he's opposing
Punk in that Punk rivalry is while it's been on the back burner, while
Punk's been injured, has start to really boil it over, and it's about
to come to the forefront. And this is probably Priest and Drew's final interaction
for a while, at least one on one. So you have Punk who's
ready to face Drew. That kind of locks Drew as a heel. But
Damien is constantly saying that he doesn't need anyone to win. He doesn't want
people to help him win. He has been reasonable, He's trying to keep
the group together. You know, he seems to have some kind of moral
compass in him that he's making sure Dom doesn't get involved with Live because it's
not fair to Rhea. And like he's a very stable guy. He doesn't
do sadistic things. So like McIntyre or rather a Damien Priest is I don't
know, outside of just being associated with the Judgment day, is he really
a heel. He's very reasonable, easy to listen to, great speaking voice,
performs well in the ring. I mean, keeping him champion is not
the worst thing in the world, as many much of many of us who
have looked at Damien and said, yeah, yeah, he'll just hold it
until Drew takes it, or you know, I'll hold it for a month.
It's like, yeah, probably, but there's got to be a discussion
within WWE of like, okay, hey, you know, Drew probably should
take it, but let's just hear the counter argument to Damien retaining the championship.
What is that argument? Ultimately, no, though I think that spoiling
my predictions for this week in my preview and predictions show, I still think
Drew is going to win it because it wouldn't make sense for him to not,
especially if Punk's not going to be there, and he shouldn't. So
hey, ultimately I think it is going to be a really good match,
and Damien, if this is his final song for the time being as champion,
has done a very nice job overachieved. So there, all right.
We then have damage Control Kyrie saying EO Sky Dakota Kai come out and they
head into a commercial break, and then it went to Lyra Valkyria who took
on EO Sky and we were shown Lyra, you know, arriving to the
building and we saw actually Braun arriving to the building. All these people arriving
to the building. It is a nice touch. I'm so far, I'm
not sick of it yet. As long as you don't have your stupid dog
with you, I don't care. It's a nice touch. It humanizes them,
makes it look like you know that they're they're they're people traveling through the
airports and they've got their bags and they're not in their ring gear. It's
just a nice touch. And Lyra had that treatment. And you know,
I think that she didn't have the best introduction to the main roster with her
weird I don't even remember what it was. Her context of her few first
free promos were just bizarre. But in ring so far, she has livered
in a big way at EO Sky, who I think has been a really
pleasant surprise, especially since WrestleMania, having one of the best matches of the
night at WrestleMania. I think that she is also underappreciated, and you have
her in damage control. That still is a very stale group. Yeah,
especially since WrestleMania. They've been really really stale, with not a ton of
not a ton of mic time, no real mission that they've declared but Lyra
and Eo worked a really nice match here and it ended up with Eo Sky
getting the victory in ten and a half minutes, with Sky pulling her hair
and hooked her into a crucifix pin and got the three count. After the
match, Saine and Kai attacked Valkyria from behind while Sky watched. And then
once Sain and Kyrie are saying and Kai went to ringside, we had Caden
Carter and Katana Chance run out to help Lyra and that that'll cause Damage Control
to scurry. So it seems like things are now evened up when it comes
to Damage Control and Lyra Valkyria and now the Cayden Carter and Katana Chance who
have signed with her, So we have a little bit of a you know,
the numbers game has been neutralized for for Lyra, and it's fun.
I mean, honestly, this is a This is the time where you introduce
new stars, you get people involved. There may not be big crowd reactions,
there may not be the big pops for the big stars, as I've
said, post Mania for the first couple of months afterwards until you hit summer
slim season, but this is that's okay, Yeah, you need new stars.
That's the lifeblood of the business. And this is not the exciting part
though. If you're looking for big pops, big reactions in big star power,
can't always have it because you've got to have that next person in line.
You gotta you gotta build a super a star somewhere. You gotta start
somewhere. And it's sure to the casual fan. This may be a turnoff
to the casual fan. This may be a little bit boring. Who cares,
but like, this is how stars are made. What are they going
to be made in the dark where you don't have to deal with it or
you get you know, are they done off TV? Of course not.
You got to get them on TV? So do do Kayden Carter, Katana
Chance excite me. No, not gonna sit here and pretend they do.
I think they have zero character development. I mean I'm talking if there could
be negative character development, that's what they have. None is like absolutely nothing.
So that could help when they do. But right now they're involved in
something. At least they even if they don't have a mic time, they're
involved in some kind of significant storyline that should keep them on TV for the
next several weeks. And you know, Yo Sky continues to be an intriguing
character. And you know, I think that she's a she's gonna be Okay,
I think and say with Akia for you know, at least the short
term, it seems like they're the two focal points, with the other four
women being backup dancers so to speak. Okay, yes, we're gonna get
to a six woman tag team match. Yes, we also had Live backstage
hanging out in the Judgment Day's corner of the arena. I don't want to
say locker room or VIP area. They just you know, they just set
up some random place in the arena. And Dom also, I'm sure everyone
else saw this. The Judgment Day background Live, or rather a rear Ripley's
picture was right next to Dom when they came when they went to Dom Live.
Obviously that was done on purpose, with Rea Ripley lurking in the background,
symbolically in the shadow, waiting to return. And you know, she,
as she put it before she left, she's coming back for blood,
and I think it may be Dom's as well. But Live tries to attempt
Dom even more, gives him her room key, or as Dami pre said,
her hotel card, but we did get more temptation from Live to Dom,
and I think Dom is eventually going to cave. He keeps saying he
doesn't want her, but then you know, doesn't really resist too you know,
too intensely, and he's like, yeah, you got to get out
of here. And Live is just you know, persistent, and there was
some say several segments throughout the show about this hotel key that Live gave Dom.
It kept appearing disappearing, and you knew that was going to happen.
But it ended eventually with the card in the middle of the table and they're
about to go get ready for a match and Finn Balor swipes it, which
I thought Dami or rather Dom was going to do it. I thought Dom
was going to put it in his pocket very slyly, and instead it was
Finn, which was kind of weird. So I don't know what that means.
I will say, if if they're trying to somehow make Finn and Live
a thing, I don't want it. Please good domin Live are very is
very intriguing. Finn and Live does nothing for me, and I don't want
this to be some kind of weird love triangle. Slash four way, so
to speak. I just I don't need that. So if that's what they're
alluding to with Finn taking the card instead of Dom, I no please,
no, no, no, no no, no, need to overcomplicate this.
This story is very enjoyable as it is. Okay, but maybe it
was just so Dom didn't take it right. He's just protecting Dom. Maybe
that was the purpose. So it continues to be very very good TV.
But okay, a lot of backstage chef with the Miz and our truth.
They asked Sammy if he'd or they had a conversation with Sammy and Zaye found
Maxine dupre in a cure at Tazawa. All right, so Otis stopped Zayne
and said he lost it and wanted to explain. Zaye said he didn't need
to because he went through what he did with the bloodline, and Zaane asked
Otis why he put up with it. Otis spoke about how Gable has been
there for him and said he's nothing without him, and Zaine said that's not
true, and hopes Otis realizes how special he is and how specially he can
be, and then Otis chance broke out. So the missing hotel key.
Who's a hotel key card is a kind of a story throughout the whole show.
Very clever by the way. That's uh, that's I like it.
That's that's an that's I don't know if it's not really original, but it's
something that hasn't been done in a while. Bron Strowman then teamed with Ray
and Dragon Lee versus Dom, JD and Carlito. This ended with let's see
oh baby faces. Of course winning here, Ray, Dragonly and Braun beat
the judgment day in about fourteen minutes. The interesting part of this, of
course, what most people got to talk about, is Live showing up,
and she showed up on the a an only to be bumped off of the
apron on to Dom in a very precarious way, and Dom didn't fight it
off. See that's the key here, right, No pun intended to the
hotel key, but that is the key. You know, you have Dom
who continues to say one thing and do another. He's saying the right things,
but his actions say otherwise. Where he's you know, he's not really
resisting Live Morgan, so to speak. He's he's he's very mildly trying to
push her away knowing that he's saying the right things, but if he really
wanted to get away, he would and when Liv was on top of him,
Live obviously took advantage of that. There's still no second kiss. There's
no kiss again. I think the big payoff for this is going to be
at Clash in some way. I think you could have that Clash is going
to I think also bring about the Wyat six or the the whatever family with
Bo Dallas, whatever offshoot of the Fiend or Bray Wyatt that that they're planning.
This has to be paid off at Clash. By the way, I
don't need any more QR codes and riddles. Okay, not that I'm taking
any time to try to decode them, because I'm too lazy. I'll leave
that to you guys to do the actual work. But I'm done with the
QR codes and stuff like. Just let's just go right. So I think
that's going to be paid off at Clash, and the same thing with Live
and Live in Dom. If it's not, then at the very latest they'll
be paid off at money in the bank, where it's revealed that Dom is
you know, falling for Live and Dom kisses Live. So I think the
latest would be money in the bank. The earliest this paid off is at
clash. But all right, let's go on. We have let's see Eoka
Yokai Eosky stressed out. Dakota Kai and Kyrie Saint stood behind her, and
Dakota Kai asked what happened, and Sky said she took care of it.
Sky screened and then yelled something about damage control. So damage control continues to
you know, I don't want to say disintegrate because I've said that for two
years. I think they're just going through the typical cycle. And you know
what, Dakota Kai when she turned on Bailey, actually had some really fun
moments. I mean, she's shown that she can talk, Dakota Kai can
talk, Dakota Ki's talented, and so she's kind of once again taken aback
a back seat. Roll to the story. Okay. We then have Sammy
Zane come out and he delivered a promo. He said that he told the
fans that chanting his name that they were very nice to him and thanked him.
He said they he needed that because he messed up. The messed up
a couple of weeks and he spoke of defending his title against Chad at clash
and said it started extremely personal and now he doesn't know what to call it.
Zayne said he would defeat Gable and put it into all of it and
that there's no more dealing with the abuse of manipulative psychopath and Chad Gable came
out, and Gable said it was typical of Zayn in it to attempt to
tear down what he's built while making himself the sympathetic figure and everyone else in
someone else's story. And Gable said the Alpha Academy trusts their master and his
methods. And Gable told Zayanne to wait and see how happy the others would
be once he takes the title on Saturday, and Zayne asked Gable if he's
out of his mind, blah blah blah, I mean you know. Zayne
said the crew would not be happy until they leave Gable once and for all,
screaming. Of course, Gable said Zaye doesn't understand that they're a family,
and Gable said the trio would be with them on Saturday, but he
was unleashing his version of Otis on Zane tonight, and Gable said it would
be the most brutal and ruthless version of Otis that Zane has ever seen.
So that's when we get Zane versus Otis in a non title match. This
was only a minute and a half as Sammy Zane beat Otis after we had
Chad Gable distracting Otis you would assume unintentionally but learned or led to a halluva
kick and a one two three, and then Gable attacked Zaye after the match
and Otis was uh, you know, looked like he was about to turn
on Gable didn't, and eventually he power slammed Sammy again. I mean a
week from the pay per view or pl E less than a week, you're
not going to have the big payoff yet. Now again, I just how
many payoffs have I said, are coming right with the uh? With this
specifically, I think it's probably at clash. This seems like it's going to
be a clash at the cap Ussel where we do have a final turn by
Otis. I don't think the abuse can go on any further. I mean,
eventually people are just gonna lose respect for Otis. You got to strike
like pretty much now. Eventually people are just gonna get tired of trying to
chant for Otis and you know it's going to get a little bit old,
so he got to strike now and that will be I think in Scotland on
Saturday. Okay, so let's see. We got Scarlet who actually said something
in the Final Testament and she told our Truth that it was a pleasure reading
his fortune and she also said it was something she said before the match.
I forget what it was, but she actually spoke. So that was interesting
to hear Scarlet speak instead of just standing there, you know, maniacally.
But the fact that the Final Testament is getting any kind of character development at
all is a positive, you know, because for a while they were getting
absolutely nothing. So it's I guess that's a good thing. But then we
get an announcement that Cody Rhodes is going to appear on Tuesday's NXT show,
So if you want to go see a bleach blonde, smiling feminine champion,
head on over to NXT on Tuesday. Col Theon congratulated h Kilanie is it
Kilanie kelennye Kilanie Jordan for becoming the first women's NXT North American champion, and
then we got a set up here for the tag team match for Zoe,
Stark and Shana versus Alba Fire and Island Dawn. Bianca and Jade were sitting
at are seated rather at ringside, and this match was only two and a
half minutes with Shane and Zoe beating Alba Fire and Island Dawn. So yeah,
there's that. So you know, Alba Fire and eylid On have come
back out of nowhere to actually make themselves relevant, and I think that's a
good thing. So we Stark in Shannon Basler I think are colder than Alba
Fire and eylid On though, which is saying something. But again, as
I just mentioned with Caden Carter and Katana Chance, stars have to start somewhere.
You need to build, and you have to have a starting point.
There's no such thing as having something go again where you want it to be
without it starting somewhere. It just doesn't. That's how life works. So
we have to go through these pains of dealing with the boring quote unquote part
of their career. And some of these women and men may not pan out
to be anything, but this is the this is the the path of star
develement. So I'm I have the patience for it. If you're a casual
fan that only tunes in for WrestleMania and SummerSlam and Rumble, you're gonna look
at this and go, Okay, I'm changing the channel. I can't deal.
Who are these people? Right? Oh? Who is this? Who's
this? Where's the Rock? Where's Austin? Where's you? Guys? Know
who these friends in your life are, or at least maybe not friends,
but those people in your life that you know that like wrestling. Only when
it's big and it's the biggest stars and it's legends that come back and it's
mania, you won't see them this time of year. They're ghosts. They
are invisible. They go into the ether until it's back to a big event,
or they hear something, you know, come through the grape vine that
someone's back, or like the Rocks return right. Only when the biggest of
the biggest stars come around do they even ask about it or tune in.
But for those of us that are here through the beginning stages of potential big
stars careers, that's how you know. You know you're a fan for life
if you can stick around through this kind of stuff, which is not bad
by the way, I'm not crapping on, you know, as bad creative.
But through the part of the star process, that's the beginning. That's
not a whole lot of excitement. It's just kind of figuring out who they
are and laying the foundation. You're a true wrestling fan that'll be here through
thick and thin, So congratulate yourself. Plus, most wrestling fans don't listen
to wrestling podcasts. I think I think only the ones that are diehards do.
That's my take, But hey, I don't know, what do I
know? All right? So bron Breaker, as I said, then took
on dragging off. I talked about that at the beginning of the show.
Sixteen minute match, brutal, physical, The crowd was brought into it.
As the match went on, this is awesome chant broke out. I again,
would not mind seeing these two have another crack at it, whether it's
in maybe it's in the pre show of Clash, maybe it's in the raw
following clash, maybe it's you know whatever. But I think those two,
however you slice it, are going to be involved in the money in the
Bank ladder match coming up in just about a month or so, So I
think that they're not done fighting one another, especially given what happened at the
end the match and with Rikoshe and everything else. So very impactful segment here
with Braun and drag it Off and Ricochet that I don't need to rehash I
just did for fifteen minutes at the beginning of the show. All right.
So Seamus backstage told Drew they haven't seen an eye to eye lately, but
he encouraged him to take the title on Saturday, and Seamus mentioned Kaiser entering
money in the bank and said he wants to do the same. MacIntyre told
him to give a heads up if he cashes in on him, and Seamus
said it would be just like old times with a banger. Okay, so
again we're already we're already leapfrogging the clash event talking about money in the bank,
and usually that's like a no no, but in this case it makes
sense. So you can look ahead, especially if a talent does not have
a program at the ple, you can go ahead and have that talent leap
frog it and to talk about the next one. I mean, I don't
really think there's any damage in it. I really don't. I think it's
good. It gets people thinking about, oh, okay, yeah, that's
the Saturday, but what's next? And it starts to set the stage preliminarily
for the next PL So I have really no issue with it, even though
it's typically like an unwritten rule that you just don't talk about the next pl
until this one's concluded. But I think it's fine. So let's see we
then have Oh, that's what Scarlett said. She told Woods that he can't
trust Kofe. That's what it was. That's what it was. So yeah,
yeah, I'm sure Woods, after all these years, is going to
say, well, Scarlet, if you say so, you know what,
you're right. So at least Scarlett said something. But I mean having that
come from Scarlet, really anyone wouldn't have convinced Woods of anything, much less
Scarlet. But fine, she a least talks, which is a good thing.
Okay, but we did get this man with Miss and Our Truth versus
AOP, which is Akim and Raizar, and we got the mis and Our
Truth beating AOP in six minutes to retain. By the way, this was
for the tag team titles, which wasn't the best matchup in the world.
I actually thought there was a chance at this time they could lose that it
is and our truth could lose, and boy are they close to it.
I think there haven't been much hasn't been much attention paid to them over the
last several weeks, and you know, it seems to be like the kind
kind of the the jack is out of the box. You know, we've
had our fun and we've enjoyed our truth and the mis an awesome truth and
all that, and it could just be time for them to drop the belts.
And that's okay. I wouldn't lose my mind over it. You know.
I think that they had a fun moment, it served its purpose at
WrestleMania, and now it's time to give it to a team they can build
on, and that I think that's what I mean. Again, I'm not
I'm not gonna be angry or not understand if they keep the belts on Truth
and Miss. I think that's fine too. But when you don't do anything
with your tag team champions and they're barely paid attention to for several weeks kind
of tells you that their their reign is coming to it end shortly. Okay,
So let's go to uh where we go on what's up next. I'm
trying not to talk about every little backstage segment. Yes, Adam Pierce wasn't
on the show. I'm reading a obviously, I'm reading on my screen here
like a rundown of raw. Yeah, so Adam Pierce wasn't there, And
we talked about Cody on NXT again, and then we get to the main
event, Drew McIntyre and Finn Balor, with McIntyre winning. And as I
mentioned at the beginning of the show, this was not exactly a exciting main
event, given that this was also a heel heel matchup in which the consequences
of the match aren't dire. We all assume that Judgment Day was going to
be there anyway, and even if they were, you would imagine Drew is
going to win no matter what the circumstances are. Now, again, there's
still an argument to be made for Drew to to lose and for Damien to
retain, but at least there was something on the line here, and it
does force the crowd to to cheer for someone. So when you put heel
heel together, which is almost never a main event by the way, almost
never think about the last heel heel raw main event. I mean, it's
it's pretty rare. You know, you have babyface babyface, which is a
more acceptable combination because at least you have vested interest in one of them or
both, or you just or you just want you're interested to see how good
the matches, and either one is a you know, doesn't bother you who
wins When it comes to heal heel, you know, it's like, well,
I don't you know, I don't like either one, so I don't
care who loses. But it also at the same time forces you to kind
of root for someone, doesn't it. It kind of forces the inside,
like your your internals, your brain to if you're forced to choose, who
would you cheer for? Who would you support as a wrestling fan, Like
that's just it's it's it's in our DNA. And really, no matter you
know, what what sport we're watching, or what movie we're watching, what
TV show, there's always usually somebody good something bad. You're you're living vicariously
through someone or something, and you're rooting and want to be a part of
whatever. And this is kind of the same dynamic. It forces your brain
to choose, and I think most people would choose Drew McIntyre in this situation.
He's the bigger star. He is a kick ass dude. He's he
doesn't feel authentic or pandering. He is a guy that is a man's man.
He just is, despite the kilt he is And you know, I
think that people respect the hell out of Drew. With Finn, he's associated
with a group that is generally generally disliked. Balor has also been kind of
I don't want to say invisible. I don't know what the word is.
He's been defined down maybe a little bit while he's been in the Judgment Day.
Eventually he's gonna defect or get kicked out, and maybe the Demon character
comes back. I think that's been a hot minute. And actually I think
the last time we saw the Demon character wasn't it against the Fiend when the
rope broke and then the Fiend beat the Demon? Remember that. I think
that was during the pandemic, But I think that may have very well been
a few years ago the last time we saw the Demon. So you know
that eventually I think will come back. But since Damien, or rather Finn,
has been in the Judgment Day, he's had some shining moments, but
generally he's been a supporting character and not the main character. You know,
very rarely has Finn been a main focal point of the group. It's been
rear Ripley mostly. It's been Domb and his relationship with Rhea and then Damien
winning the world title. Yeah, it's almost never been about Finn. So
Finn has been a supporting role for the most part in that group. So
when you look at Drew versus Finn, people are gonna side with Drew for
those reasons. So it's just interesting. I'm not trying to make a mountain
out of a mole hill, but heel heel is a very rare combination for
a raw main event. I'm not angry about it. It's just it's unusual,
is all. So again, Drew beats Finn in thirteen minutes, so
that means Judgment Day's banned from ringside during that championship match with Priest, that
clash at the Castle and it should be fun and Damien ended up holding the
belt in front of Drew at the end of the show. No contact was
made, so a very kind of traditional finish to the show. I mean,
it wasn't a shocker of an ending. It didn't, you know,
have people tweeting all over social media or posting all over social media about it.
It was just it was a just a fine ending to a final build
for the raw side of things, for the pl So I think when you
look at the card here for the raw side of things, things are built
as well as they could be. I know that the tickets aren't cheap over
there in Scotland. My good old friend Dino, I know that you one
of our listeners is I believe you are attending, But boy, I mean,
I hope you didn't take out a second mortgage on your house to go.
Every time you guys have anywhere overseas, whether it's Ireland or France or
Australia, I mean, you guys get gouged for prices. Even when it
comes you know, equate it back to US dollars. You guys get hammered.
My god. So hey, I'm not discouraging you from going, especially
since you know, if you're overseas and you have the chance to go,
it's definitely more money. But you're thinking to yourself, hey, well,
I'm not going to have another opportunity for maybe years or ever again to have
this opportunity and I'm just gonna suck it up and go, and I think
WWE is banking on that. I also think that not only are they gouging
it a little bit, but also the expenses for WWE to go overseas are
greater, so they're kind of passing that cost onto the fans. It's what
businesses do. So I'm not shaming w for it or whatever. It just
is what it is. But I think WWE knows that they can kind of
get away with those higher prices. On top of the fact that expenses are
actually higher for the company to go overseas, they just are with all the
travel. It's a longer trip, flights, there are more expensive stays,
there are more expensive that kind of thing. So like there's reasons. But
anyway, if you're if you're considering going on the fence, I'm it's not
my money, so I can say this, but I'd probably go. If
you're like, well, I don't know, just understand that if you're on
the fence about it and you're like, well, I don't know, if
you if you tape your expectations to reality and realize there's probably not gonna be
any big returns. There may be a few payoffs, right, and maybe
maybe some some payoffs of some storylines like Otis turning on Gable. Finally,
I don't know if Domin Live is going to be paid off yet, probably
not quite yet, but another step in that direction. So you know,
and realize that you're gonna have some really good wrestling and a fun, energized
crowd, then maybe that's enough to get you there and not think about,
wow, wait, what if the Rock returns there? What if someone interferes,
what if someone comes back? What if just just no, no,
no, no, no, don't don't don't go there, because that probably
won't happen. Triple H has more often than not had pls under his belt
that are you know, very much by the numbers, not big returns,
just kind of we're lying in lean on the wrestling to tell the stories and
judge whether or not is a good pl E. That's generally, that's I
think Ben Triple H's m O for the most part. So yeah, I
think that it's going to be a good event. And if you're attending,
oh you know, send me some notes anytime. Anyone listen. This is
a general invitation to anyone who attends a live event, whether it is a
non televised event, although we up to a pl I would appreciate notes of
in person, like I'll give you credit for it. I'll bring it onto
the show, not necessarily even on a mailbag. I'll bring it on like
the braw review or the weekend review, and just you know, if you're
interested in giving me that, i'd appreciate it. Of like the things that
you notice, the biggest pops during commercial breaks, maybe crazy stuff that happens
during the crowd or chance that we may not have heard at home, that
kind of stuff. So it's an open invitation anyone that does attend live events.
So all right, well that may conclude it here for the raw review,
we've got Yeah, a little fifty minutes. It's about right for me.
So that'll conclude it from me here on the Raw review. I'll be
back, I would say tomorrow, but I would lie to your face if
I said that, because I've been horrible at the mailbag. I've kind of
kind of moved the mail bag to Fridays. I think that's where we're at.
You know what I'm gonna do, It's gonna be a combination episode on
Friday with a mail bag slash clash preview. How about that? I think
that's what I'm gonna do Tomorrow. We may have the after Dark Show by
Anthony DeMarco that's going to drop, which we have moved to the middle of
the week. That's going to be exclusive for those on the Patreon side of
things at the SmackDown tier and above. So if you're interested in getting the
exclusive show that's an adult show definitely not for the kids, check that out
on Patreon dot com slash WWE podcast. You can also go to ww podcast
dot com or Apple to get your ad free experience. All of them have
at free options. So I'll do a combination episode on Friday for the pl
and for the mailbag, so it'll be All'll be an hour plus show that'll
come your way this Friday, and obviously an XT in between and the after
Dark Show in between as well. So I think I am done with that
said, thanks so much for listening everybody. I'll talk to you next time.
Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast. Don't forget to subscribe on your
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