00:00The New Day breaks up, but also kind of stays together. Drew McIntyre makes his shock return.
00:07Nia Jax had heat with another WWE talent. And more.
00:11I'm NormalFace Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:24Nia Jax is a divisive figure in WWE. In her first run in the company, she had a track
00:37record of injuring her opponents, fans not liking her matches, and reports of an outsized
00:42influence behind the scenes due to her family relation to Rock the Dwayne Johnson.
00:48While this has improved since her return in the Paul Levesque era, with mostly everyone
00:51enjoying her Queen of the Ring tournament win, her WarGames performance over the weekend
00:56garnered a lot of criticism. This time mostly for her moves being too safe, where she hit
01:01the dinkiest of chair shots since Gerald Briscoe. Jax even responded on X posting, lol I love
01:08the emotions I evoke from y'all, thank you. But Nia's biggest enemy isn't the fanbase,
01:14it isn't Tiffany Stratton. It's not even realistic looking chair shots.
01:18Nia Jax's arch-nemesis is Jonathan Coachman. On his behind the turnbuckle show, former
01:24WWE talent Coachman told a story about his return to the company in 2018, where he was
01:30on commentary. But there were four dates throughout the year he couldn't do because of prior
01:34commitments. On those days, WWE got other commentators to fill in for him, which Coachman
01:39claims led to Jax lobbying for him to be replaced permanently. She hates me, by the way. Hates
01:46So then they started filling in, and I remember they put Renee in my spot. Nobody liked the
01:51fact they brought me back, whatever the reason. I'm not going to use the jealous word. It
01:55is what it is. But Nia Jax led the charge. Renee, Renee, Renee in Coach's spot. She
02:01didn't like me for whatever reason. I had no issues with Renee. I think Renee's terrific.
02:06Coachman lasted about 8 months, where he was replaced by Renee.
02:09Speaking of being replaced. Really emotional Big E being thrown out the New Day segway.
02:15Oh god, works, why? I don't think any of us wanted the New Day
02:20to split up in their 10 year celebration segment on last night's Raw. And they didn't.
02:26But they also kind of did. Big E made his return, offered to be Kofi Kingston and Xavier
02:31Woods' manager to keep them together. After months of bickering with each other, they
02:35instead turned on him and effectively threw him out the group.
02:39It comes the same day that Big E published a heartfelt article on the Player's Tribune,
02:43where he opened up about the mental health struggles he's experienced through his life,
02:47which led to him being diagnosed with what's known as major depression with psychotic features
02:52at university. That's one of the reasons the New Day means
02:55so much to him, writing, I don't know if the New Day saved my career or my life.
03:00It's just making it hurt more, Big E. I really recommend reading his full article.
03:04The link's in the video description below. In less emotional, more business, business,
03:08business news, Fightful Select is reporting the New Day last signed deals at the end of
03:122019, meaning they will be expiring this month. While it's unknown if they've re-signed
03:17which you'd expect they have considering how much stock WWE is putting in their storyline,
03:22Fightful writes that no time has been added to Big E's contract due to time missed,
03:26he's been out from his neck injury since March 2022.
03:30Now it's time for my review of Monday Night Raw… in about 5 minutes.
03:35CM Punk was the big arrival in Everett, Canada at the start of the show, where he shook hands
03:39with Jey Uso and a somewhat reluctant Sami Zayn backstage following their WarGames win
03:43for the camera to follow Punk down to the ring to kick off the show properly. He said
03:47he now knows what the future holds for him. Can you see it there in the distance?
03:53He wants the one thing that's eluded him in his career. A WrestleMania main event.
04:00And now he's got a favour from Paul Heyman to get there… he might be able to finish
04:04his story. Seth Rollins interrupted, dancing like a prick,
04:08but thankfully entered deathly serious mode once he was in the ring. He said he should've
04:12knocked Punk out on his ass the night he returned. Punk said, I've moved on from the personal
04:16stuff, and seeing that you, Seth, no longer have a title, you no longer matter to me.
04:21It was a great exchange of words, with Jey and Sami running down to separate them in
04:25the brawl, but it's what happened next that elevated the segment to the next level.
04:29In anger, Seth shouted at Jey for going back to Roman. He turned on Sami too, saying at
04:34least Jey has an excuse, he's family with Reigns. Zayn isn't.
04:39Sami Uso disagreed, firing back that he didn't want to tag with Punk, he wanted to tag with
04:44Seth. But Seth is too stubborn, and that he should look at himself in the mirror. Because
04:49if anyone's to blame for Roman's actions, it's Seth who created this monster 10 years
04:55ago. It's the kind of knockout blow you dream
04:57of having in any argument, but often only comes several days later when you're in
05:00the shower. But then Seth countered with even more sense.
05:04Roman hasn't apologised. He hasn't changed. And neither has that snake Punk.
05:11The fact that we're all cheering Reigns as a babyface now, and all the top good guys
05:15keep teaming with him, is really interesting considering he's still the exact same douchebag
05:20character who has shown zero remorse for his four year reign of terror. Seth called that
05:27out, and Sami couldn't respond. So they decided to settle this the way any
05:31self-respecting pro wrestler in the opening segment of a pro wrestling show would do.
05:35Having a main event at the end of the episode. Everything was connected. Character motivations
05:40made sense. The opening half hour of Raw was commercial free. I'm loving everything about
05:45this Raw so- Oh yeah, the judgement day is still a thing.
05:48There's a fault line of tension in the faction, with Finn Balor claiming he knows best on
05:52one side, with Liv Dom and Raquel on the other. Liv and Raquel beat Damage Control in the
05:56quick tag, with Rodriguez pinning Kairi Sane. Really, this should build to Morgan vs Io
06:00Sky at Saturday night's main event. But the problem is, Io Sky is not Rhea Ripley.
06:05Ripley jumped Rodriguez afterwards, and Raquel threw her face into the corner of the announcer's
06:09desk. Which, after Brom Breaker's spot last week, means the corner of the announcer's
06:13desk is quickly becoming the new hardest part of the ring apron. It's going to be
06:17Raquel vs Rhea next week. In more Judgement Day stuff, Finn demanded
06:21a world title match from Gunther backstage for helping him beat Damian Priest. Gunther
06:25pointed out he never asked for his help, and, in an increasingly babyface motivation, said
06:29he needed to win that match by himself. So instead of Finn, he'll give Dominic Mysterio
06:36a match tonight instead.
07:06Dom vs Gunther went about 5 minutes, with Dom getting a good run off a low blow behind
07:11the referee's back, but Gunther ultimately easily won with a powerbomb.
07:15Balor then attacked Gunther afterwards with three Coup de Grace, aka half a Bronson Reed
07:19Tsunami attack on Seth over the Summer, and Pearce made it Finn vs Gunther for Saturday
07:24night's main event. The women's Intercontinental title tournament
07:27brackets were unveiled where… it feels pretty midcard. Unlike the SmackDown version, which
07:32had names like Bianca Belair, Bayley and Tiffany Stratton, the biggest names here
07:36were Shayna Baszler and Kairi Sane, neither of whom have been focused on for ages. Dakota
07:41Kai beat Shayna Baszler and Gitana Chance to advance.
07:44The show's best segment, however, on an already very good show, was the long awaited
07:4810 years in the making New Day 10th Anniversary celebration.
07:53The stage and ring were dressed up like it was a New Day themed exhibition at the WWE
07:57Experience in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with museum pieces like the giant Booty O's box from
08:01their WrestleMania entrance, Francesca the Trombone and a rainbow balloon arch.
08:06Woods and Kofi came down not arguing like they were last week, but almost resigned and
08:11bittersweet. Because they are about to tell us that after arguing so much recently, this
08:16isn't your fault. The New Day are going their separate ways.
08:21But just before they could finish that announcement, Big E made his return. I wish it was with
08:26his AVERAGE CANADA, DON'T YOU DARE BE SOUR intro, which would've gotten a much bigger
08:34pop than his singles entrance music. Big E reminded them that they all love each other.
08:38So until he's medically cleared, he's going to be here every week to serve as their
08:44manager to keep the New Day together. To which Woods and Kofi responded, of course,
08:49We love you, Big E, and we want the New Day to all be together FOREVER. FOREVER. FOREVER.
08:59Well that's what I wanted to happen. They blamed it all on him.
09:02First it was Woods who asked, now you want to come back? E, you left us. Which is heartbreaking,
09:07but I'm not going to lie, kind of expected. Which has been a bit grumpy as of late.
09:10But when Kofi agreed with Woods, and said Stone Cold broke his neck, Kurt Angle broke
09:15his neck, Edge broke his neck, they all came back. Big E, you haven't even had surgery.
09:20That's when you knew this was real. They said B's chose his new life, his new
09:24desk job, his new girlfriend, over the New Day. You're never going to be medically
09:29cleared. So get the hell out of their ring. Big E left, heartbroken.
09:34But in that moment, he'd tragically accomplished what he'd set out to do. Kofi and Xavier,
09:39after months of bickering, had bonded over blaming Big E for all those problems. They
09:46shook hands, setting the stage for a newly heel New Day.
09:51Which also means yet another tag team WWE have been teasing would break up for ages,
09:57haven't broken up. Karrion Kross got a video package on Bo Dallas,
10:00it'll be Final Testament vs the Wyatt Six next week. Pete Dunne got distracted by the
10:04crowd chanting Butch, letting R-Truth roll him up to win.
10:07And Luther Kaiser told Braun Breaker he's got rid of Sheamus, who's injured with broken
10:10ribs from their three way match. Now he's coming for Breaker's title directly.
10:15While I really wanted the New Day segment to main event this show, I get why Seth vs
10:19Sami was the right choice. Jey Uso was found holding his head after a
10:23mystery attack backstage, which Sami blamed on Seth. It meant that an enraged Sami dominated
10:28Rollins for most of their match. He got a chair to get revenge, but Seth convinced him
10:32it wasn't him who attacked Jey. Sami dropped the chair, but Rollins got a roll up victory
10:36in his hesitation. I thought we were about to go off air with
10:39another mystery attacker cliffhanger angle, when Drew McIntyre brilliantly made his return
10:44and laid out Zayn with a Claymore. And it all makes perfect sense. Sami and Jey teamed
10:49with CM Punk. Drew is really gunning for those final votes
10:53in the Hater of the Year award. This was one of the best Raws of the year at 85%.
10:59Do you like Survival Series? Then watch the brand new movie episode by clicking the video
11:03onscreen now, where we all try and name every Disney animated movie… ever. I don't do
11:10very well, because the goofy movie wasn't theatrically released in the United Kingdom.
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