00:00Cody Rhodes gets legitimately roughed up.
00:02A Vince McMahon name thrown out.
00:05My review of the first two hour Raw in over a decade and more.
00:10I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I think this one could've done with
00:15a third hour.
00:16Oh, look at my back.
00:19I'm Oli Gonzalez, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:26There used to be a time where you couldn't trust a WWE show was actually over when the
00:35copyright logo appeared in the bottom corner.
00:38Now you can't even be sure it's finished, even when the show has totally gone off air.
00:42After Saturday's Bad Blood Premium live event ended its broadcast, WWE staged an angle where
00:48Kevin Owens turned on Cody Rhodes in the parking lot in full view of the fans, who posted footage
00:54of it on social media.
00:55It's an innovative way to do a wrestling angle, and Fightful Select is reporting WWE
01:00are very pleased with how the clips of it went viral, generating buzz for the storyline
01:04and making it feel spontaneous and real.
01:08Maybe a little too real, if you ask Cody Rhodes.
01:11Because Fightful also write that Cody was actually a little roughed up by KO's beatdown
01:16to help sell the realism.
01:18Triple H has posted that WWE will kayfabe deal with the incident internally.
01:23Something else Triple H has been working on internally is changing all Vince McMahon's
01:27really bad names.
01:28Following Pete Dunne's whole character motivation, currently based on how much he hates the name
01:32Butch that McMahon once gave him, and Raquel Rodriguez being called by her NXT name Raquel
01:37Gonzalez in a Bad Blood return, one of the worst Vince McMahon names has finally been
01:44thrown out.
01:45Spoiler warning for next week's Raw in 3, 2, 1…
01:49Gunther is now called Perry Windings.
01:53The Viking Raiders are now called the War Raiders.
01:59Rowan Hanson used the name War Machine in Ring of Honor before they first signed with
02:03WWE in 2018, and tweaked that to the War Raiders when they debuted in NXT.
02:08But because Vince was insane, he decided to rename them Eric and Ivar of the Viking Experience.
02:14Don't mention the War Raiders!
02:17On their main roster debut the following year, making them sound like some kind of immersive
02:21history ride you don't want to visit on your school trip.
02:24The fan backlash to their tag name was so strong, they were renamed the Viking Raiders
02:29the following week.
02:30But making their return from a lengthy spellout injured on the taping for next week's Raw,
02:34they had their War Raiders name back, along with their War entrance theme from CFO Money.
02:40But even with McMahon gone from the company, some of his bad booking traits still linger.
02:46Like Bill Goldberg getting goddamn well title shots.
02:48Borg made his first WWE TV appearance in over two years at Saturday's Bad Blood,
02:53where he was involved in a segment with the World Heavyweight Champion Gunther, to whom
02:57he yelled, you're next.
02:59Triple H said never say never about a Goldberg WWE in-ring return in the post-show conference.
03:05And he's now posted a muted clip of them talking and shaking hands on X with the caption
03:10Thanks for coming to WWE Bad Blood, Goldberg.
03:14We'll talk more very soon.
03:16I just want to point out again that as recently as March, Goldberg publicly accused Triple
03:20H of booking Asuka's undefeated streak and giving everyone the spear to undermine him.
03:25It seems as though WWE is building a Goldberg vs Gunther match, but F4WOnline is reporting
03:30they've been told it's not planned for either Survivor Series or WrestleMania.
03:35With Gunther set to face Cody Rhodes at Crown Jewel, it's not planned for there either.
03:40Which only really leaves the Royal Rumble.
03:42This is my speculation here, Goldberg could make an appearance at Crown Jewel for that
03:46Saudi Arabia sportswashing dollar, costing Gunther the gaudy large title to build their
03:51own match, presumably at the Royal Rumble.
03:53But the biggest match right now is Luke Owen vs Pete Quinnell for the last time on Monday
04:00Night Raw.
04:02Luke has never beaten Pete, can he finally overcome his greatest MyGM rival?
04:07Our brand new episode is up now exclusively on Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk,
04:12go join there now to watch the whole series so far, here's a clip.
04:37Meanwhile, it's time for my review of Monday Night Raw… in about 5 minutes.
04:52The first two hour Raw in over a decade came from St Louis, Canada, with a premium live
04:57event style card.
04:58Gunther vs Sami Zayn for the World Heavyweight title, Jey Uso vs Xavier Woods for the Intercontinental
05:04title and Pete Dumb vs Sheamus in a blood feud Donnybrook payoff match.
05:09Because remember, Triple H only sees talent, not gender.
05:17The episode began with a battered CM Punk walking out only to the stage to cut his promo.
05:21He wasn't even able to make it to the ring, limping with his arm bandaged up and plasters
05:27on his face.
05:28He said he won his Hell in a Cell match, but he doesn't really feel like a winner.
05:33Throughout, though, he kind of teased retirement.
05:39As though the Drew feud had taken him to such a dark place, he doesn't know whether he
05:43should do this anymore at all.
05:44Let me just write that into my Wrestling Shootspeak translator app.
05:48Yep, he doesn't want to work in Saudi Arabia, so he's taking a month off.
05:53Seth Rollins then entered, disrespectfully bumping Punk's shoulder as he passed him,
05:57and then said get well soon, because the sooner he gets better, the sooner Punk can return
06:03and Seth can retire his ass for good.
06:05I was kind of hoping Seth's several month absence would give him a chance to reset his
06:09character, but he was the exact same goofily dressed, annoyingly laughing douchebag as
06:14before.
06:15This version of Rollins makes me want to actively change the channel.
06:17He did briefly slip into genuinely good serious mode, though, where he dropped the stupid
06:21act and cut a promo directly into the camera, challenging Bronson Reed to a match anywhere,
06:27anytime.
06:28Turning the segment into a chain interruption, Jey Uso then interrupted Seth, who had interrupted
06:32Punk to have the episode's first match, Jey's first Intercontinental title defence
06:37against Xavier Woods.
06:39They gave the entrances a big time championship match feel, with Samantha Irvine doing the
06:43ring intros and Kofi Kingston in Woods' corner.
06:46Unfortunately, the majority of the match was also in the ad break, so it felt like it was
06:51over before it had a chance to even begin.
06:53Jey countered Xavier's springboard elbow with a superkick, and had a splash to retain
06:57super easily, barely an inconvenience.
06:59The New Day story is one of the best things on Raw right now.
07:02It deserved a far more substantial outing for Woods.
07:05Xavier pushed past Jey afterwards, not shaking his hand.
07:08And then screw you last week, babyface turn.
07:11Brom Breaker speared Jey from out of nowhere, then did the same for Kofi.
07:15A run around the ring one to Woods, who went absolutely flying, and then finished with
07:19a second to Jey in the ring.
07:21So a week after Brom very clearly turned babyface last week following his IC title loss, and
07:27a World Heavyweight title feud with Gunther, he's right back to the heel character and
07:31midcard title spot he was at before.
07:33Actually, let me type that into my Wrestling Translator app for what that actually means.
07:37Oh, ok, Goldberg wants a match with Gunther now, so we're scrapping all the plans we
07:41had for you Brom Breaker.
07:42Let's set up Breaker vs Kofi for next week.
07:45Rhea Ripley cut a pre-filmed promo saying Liv Morgan was dumb to use Raquel to beat
07:49her.
07:50Because she got caught.
07:51Meaning she will get another title shot.
07:53I now don't know what's worse.
07:54The fact the bareblood ending was botched, or that it means this feud will continue.
07:58The Judgment Day arrived later on backstage in a car where they wouldn't answer Jackie
08:02Redman's questions about Raquel officially joining the faction, with them instead choosing
08:06to leave the arena.
08:09They just got to.
08:10Which I guess was meant to make them look really cool and badass, but I thought it made
08:14them look kind of lame.
08:15Why would you drive all the way there just to do that?
08:17R-Truth thinks Miz made a mistake turning heel on him last week, explaining he's not
08:21a member of the Judgment Day anymore.
08:22This set up a match between them next week, while Wyatt Six Flickers interrupted the screen,
08:27teasing Miz is their next target.
08:29I would've hoped the Wyatt Six could've done something much bigger by now, as their
08:32momentum has really slowed.
08:34Sheamus beat Pete Dunne in a good old fashioned Donnybrook match next with his hands… literally
08:39tied behind his back.
08:40The action was really fun, the literal high point being Sheamus hitting a white noise
08:44off a bunch of stacked barrels, which was almost as high as the top turnbuckle through
08:48a table on the outside.
08:50Dunne fired back with a cricket bat and zip-tying Sheamus' hands behind his back, but the
08:53Celtic Warrior still managed to hit a Brogue Kick for the win, which made Sheamus look
08:57great, but did kind of bury Dunne.
08:59There was a brief backstage skit with Ethan Page being blown off by Adam Pearce and Ava
09:03greeting Sexy Red, which was mostly just to promote NXT.
09:07And using the old AEW women's scheduling trick, putting them all in the quarter past
09:10the second hour spot, we got Lyra Valkyrie getting the pin in the Fiber Sorted Babyfaces
09:15vs Unholy Union and Pure Fusion Collective.
09:21And J Cargill and Bianca Belair confirmed in a pre-filmed video they'll defend their
09:24tag titles against Damage Control next week.
09:27By far the best thing on the show, though, was the Sami Zayn vs Gunther World Heavyweight
09:31title main event.
09:33They got the full championship match presentation again, and told the story in 20 minutes of
09:37commercial breaks with a bit of wrestling in.
09:39First Sami got the better of Gunther, then Gunther worked over Sami, continually cutting
09:43him off.
09:44But once all the ad breaks were hit, the final seven minutes were superb.
09:48Sami reversed a powerbomb on the outside as his full comeback, hitting a Halluva Kick
09:52on the barricade.
09:53He could've won via countout right there, but that wouldn't be a title change.
09:57Sami gets Gunther in the ring and hits another Halluva Kick, but on the third go to definitively
10:01put him away, Gunther decapitated him with a lariat.
10:05It's time for the Ring General to win now, with a powerbomb.
10:08But Sami kicked out at the last second.
10:10That's ok, Gunther doesn't mess around, he'll simply immediately hit another powerbomb.
10:14But this time Sami kicked out at one, sending Gunther crashing back against the ropes in
10:19absolute disbelief.
10:21Gunther looked genuinely scared.
10:23Gunther locks in the sleeper, but Sami's arm still won't go down.
10:27Despite Sami losing World title match time and time again, he still made me believe.
10:32I actually started to think, huh, maybe Zayn is going to beat him.
10:36We could tie in with the Cody vs Kevin Owens feud.
10:39Maybe WWE want to headline the Saudi show with Sami for good PR.
10:43The long-term story of Sami always having Gunther's number could be a years-long plot
10:47point.
10:48But then, Sami finally passed out, and Gunther redeemed his only loss, building him even
10:54stronger for the Cody match at Crown Jewel.
10:57Cody came out at the end of the show for a stare down with Gunther.
11:00He'd smartly been peppered backstage throughout the show, declining to talk about the offscreen
11:06Owens.
11:07While I loved the final part of the Gunther vs Sami match, this Raw actually felt a bit
11:11off.
11:12Rather than doing a two hour show, it still felt like a three hour show crammed into two.
11:17And with it being a double taping, a lot of stars weren't properly featured on the episode.
11:21There was no Drew, no Wyatt Sixx, Strowman, Reed, Ripley, Priest, Balor.
11:25And with the top champions set to enter Crown Jewel brand warfare, the Raw stories couldn't
11:30really develop.
11:31Next week's Raw is 71%.
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