00:00You know what? I'm done with WWE.
00:02The Rock didn't show up at all for WrestleMania.
00:05I'm just not going to watch anymore.
00:08Randy Orton is John Cena's first WWE title program.
00:11Well, that's not going to work on me, WWE.
00:14I lived through the never-ending Orton vs. Cena years.
00:16That's not going to bring me back.
00:18Becky Lynch immediately loses title and turns heel.
00:22Well, you've rushed that, haven't you?
00:23You've rushed that at the expense of Bayley,
00:25and it's just coming off as desperate from all the Becky Hogan criticism.
00:28J.D. McDonough returns to save Dominic Mysterio.
00:32Well, I mean, that's good he's recovered.
00:34Sami Zayn teases turning heel on Jey Uso.
00:38What? That's pretty interesting.
00:40Rusev is back. I remember him.
00:43And Brom Breaker is the newest Paul Heyman guy
00:46in a new top heel faction with Seth Rollins.
00:50Yes, that is amazing. Brom Breaker is one of my fa-
00:53Wait, no, no, no!
00:54You're trying to trick me into forgetting that The Rock didn't show up at WrestleMania.
00:58Honestly, Levesque, I don't think you understand how damaging that was.
01:03Cena's heel turn wasn't just built on Cena turning heel.
01:06It's inciting incident was joining forces with The Heel Rock.
01:10That's decades of backstory feeding into that relationship,
01:14which is what made it so incredibly great.
01:17Two of the biggest stars in wrestling history together as an unstoppable evil force.
01:23We did not get on board with this to see Travis Scott.
01:27You can try whatever you want, Hunter,
01:29but we are done.
01:39And Gooford choked out Pat McAfee.
01:42Son of a bitch, I'm back in.
01:43I'm Oli Davis, and this is my review of the Raw After Mania episode of Monday Night Raw.
01:48Did I say that right?
01:49Part of John Cena's TV entrance now seems to include several seconds of expectation before
01:57the music hits.
01:58It's a great example of what Cena's heel presentation is all about.
02:02Doing more with less.
02:04Like his brilliantly playing Titan Tron video,
02:06which he's keeping as just his name in white letters on a black background.
02:10Even his nameplay graphic was boring.
02:12After getting the ring announcer to redo his introduction,
02:14as the first one was disrespectful,
02:16continuing the trolling personality he set up in his post-Mania interview,
02:20he opened with the line,
02:21winners, right, history,
02:24before criticizing the crowd for cheering him now after they booed him on Friday.
02:28This is not a functional relationship.
02:31And he roasted the Raw After Mania crowd for going soft.
02:34It's spelled SWAFT.
02:36But ultimately, the fans don't mean anything to him.
02:39The only thing that matters right now is the number 36,
02:44which appeared in that same plain white font on the Tron's black screen.
02:48That is how many dates he said he had at the start of the year.
02:53And time goes quicker than you think.
02:56He's done the Rumble.
02:57He's done the Chamber.
02:58He did the European Tour.
03:00He did two nights of WrestleMania.
03:02He's here right now.
03:03And with every date he said he'd done,
03:05the number on the screen counted down by one.
03:09Leaving 27 dates left before,
03:13in Cena's words,
03:15the professional wrestling timeline stops.
03:19It's a brilliantly over-the-top line
03:21that appeals greatly to my comic book loving heart.
03:24Talking about timelines ending
03:25feels more suited to your latest favorite
03:27Disney Plus Marvel show that trust me,
03:28you've got to get through the first nine episodes
03:30before it starts to get good
03:31than a pro wrestling storyline.
03:33Makes me think he's talking ideas
03:35with his DC director James Gunn
03:36in the coolest WhatsApp chat of all time.
03:39But the true masterstroke
03:40of simply having a giant number on the Tron
03:43is this.
03:45The WWE Universe now has
03:48a ticking clock.
03:50It's one of the most effective
03:52tension building tools in writing.
03:54The need for someone to beat Cena
03:55will get more and more urgent
03:57as that number goes down,
03:58clearly signposting an epic
04:00final date conclusion later in the year.
04:03I really hope that on one episode
04:04he just walks down to the ring,
04:06watches the date count down by one,
04:07and then just leaves without even cutting a promo.
04:10It means we'll have a queue of top WWE stars
04:12trying to defeat Cena,
04:14which starts with
04:15a Randy Orton from out of nowhere,
04:17who RKO'd John as he posed for the belt.
04:19It'd be negligence to not run this feud
04:21as Randy is one of Cena's most...
04:22what's the right word there?
04:26Enduring opponents?
04:27And Backlash is in Orton's St. Louis hometown.
04:29I'm hoping for CM Punk at Money in the Bank
04:31for the PLA after,
04:33where Cena can blow a kiss
04:34after he retains and escapes through the crowd.
04:37There is still an enormous rock-shaped hole
04:39in this storyline.
04:41But I think a missing rock is better
04:42than an actually here Travis Scott.
04:45So let's just assume we're never seen either again
04:47and let's move on.
04:48Before I get into the rest of the episode though,
04:49you can relive the whole
04:51Rock vs. John Cena feud from 2011 to 2013,
04:55if you dare,
04:56in mine and Luke's epic
04:57eight-episode, 32-hour-long series
04:59on their rivalry.
05:01You can watch that all now
05:02on patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk,
05:04along with all of this.
05:07It's viscera!
05:09Do you want more WrestleTalk videos?
05:12For $6.50 a month,
05:13you can get exclusive series of
05:15Monday Night War.
05:17You can imagine a sacrifice being made
05:19at the top of this WrestleMania stage.
05:21Tables, lists and chairs.
05:23WrestleTalk Extra and more.
05:25So I just don't want anyone to get out.
05:28Uh-oh!
05:29What was the end of that sentence?
05:31Get all that by joining us
05:32over at patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk now.
05:37Support WrestleTalk!
05:40In a title rematch from WrestleMania,
05:42the first actual match on Raw
05:43saw Becky Lynch and Lyra Valkyria
05:45defend their freshly won women's tag belts
05:47against Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez.
05:50I actually enjoyed this one
05:51way more than their Mania encounter.
05:53And the crowd popped huge when they realized
05:55Liv was going to hit an oblivion on Lyra
05:58for the Judgment Day to win back the belts.
06:00Becky looked disheartened afterwards,
06:02but hugged Lyra to then clothesline her
06:04and turn heel.
06:05Which the fans cared so much about,
06:07they chanted,
06:08one more time.
06:09This isn't a case of fans disrespecting an angle.
06:12It's a case of terrible storytelling from WWE.
06:15We've seen so many times
06:17that if WWE takes the time and care
06:19over investing the audience into characters
06:22and their relationships,
06:24we will be appropriately shocked or heartbroken
06:26when splits eventually happen.
06:29If they ever happen at all under Paul Evek.
06:31But Becky just showed up at Mania Night 2,
06:34won the belts with Lyra,
06:35then lost them the next night and turned heel.
06:38These are all surface level moments.
06:40There is zero substance for us to sink our teeth into.
06:43It's high spots with no meaning.
06:46I assume Bayley will avenge Lyra on her return.
06:49But what could be far more interesting
06:50is the newly heeled Becky
06:52joining Heyman's group with Seth
06:54as the Hey Man.
06:57After Karrion Kross gave the New Day
06:59a nod of approval backstage,
07:01which was a good callback,
07:02Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston demanded
07:04we all thank God
07:05for the New Day being tag team champions in the ring
07:08and showing how seriously WWE
07:10are now going to take them and Raw's tag division.
07:12Alpha Academy came out as the first challengers.
07:16This was all actually just a setup for Rusev
07:18to make his return
07:19to squash Akira Tozawa and Otis.
07:21Again, this was mostly just done as a moment,
07:24so it might not be indicative
07:25of what WWE will book for the New Day
07:27and Rusev going forward,
07:28but it didn't feel like much will change
07:30for Kofi and Woods.
07:31And Rusev feels destined for Andrade levels of undercard.
07:35I've got to admit,
07:35I was still salty about The Rock during Cena's promo.
07:38I'm not into what Becky's doing at all at the moment.
07:41And I was cynical about Rusev's return.
07:44The first hour didn't really click for me.
07:46Thankfully, from that point onwards,
07:48I feel like WWE put on a perfect Raw after Mania show.
07:52The comeback began with an impromptu match
07:54of NXT Women's Champion Stephanie Vakur
07:56challenging WWE Women's Champion EO Sky.
07:59They had a really good match,
08:01with Vakur starting to work over EO's knee
08:03with a dragon screw.
08:04There was a Spanish fly off the top rope from Sky,
08:06and the crowd likely started to chant,
08:08fight forever.
08:09Joke's on you,
08:10because these are two champions of WWE's top brands.
08:14Hunter isn't going to book one of them to lose on TV.
08:17What do you think the titles are?
08:18The TNA World Championship?
08:20Roxanne Perez charged EO for the DQ,
08:23and then heel Julia attacked for Kerr,
08:25as a good follow-up angle from Stand and Deliver.
08:27Rhea Ripley then made the save,
08:29and handed EO's belt back to her,
08:31setting up them as the next title program,
08:33as Ripley was never pinned at WrestleMania.
08:36After an excellent video package recap in his career,
08:39Jey Uso then got a big title celebration Yeet entrance.
08:43I'm both happy for him,
08:45and totally not into it at the same time,
08:46but I am always, always into Sami Zayn.
08:50Sami made his return after eight weeks out
08:52to say he had to be the first to look Jey in his eyes and say,
08:56I'm proud of you.
08:58It was a lovely moment for one of the most hard-won friendships
09:01in the company, which made the brief glance,
09:04where Sami seemed to jealously look at Jey behind his back,
09:07and the crowd did a sharp intake of breath,
09:09expecting yet another heel turn for everything to be totally fine.
09:15Jimmy came out to celebrate too,
09:16expertly diffusing the tension.
09:18There was a lot to love on this episode,
09:20but that was my favourite thing on the whole show.
09:23But tied for second place is Gunther choking Pat McAfee to death.
09:27In an excellent angle,
09:29WWE came back from break with Gunther shouting at Michael Cole.
09:33Cole said it's not his fault he tapped out,
09:35so Gunther grabbed Cole to choke him out.
09:37McAfee made the save,
09:38so Gunther choked Pat to death instead,
09:41and didn't let go despite loads of officials
09:43and Pat's podcast mates from ringside trying to break them up,
09:46all with no commentary because both commentators were being attacked.
09:50But actually, Fantasy booked an angle like this a month ago
09:52as a way to make the Gunther vs Jey feud better,
09:54as Pat kept on cheering the Uso.
09:57Most awesomely, though,
09:58was Adam Pearce telling Cole backstage to take time off to recover,
10:02where Cole replied like a badass,
10:04saying he's not going to let some bully stop him from doing his job.
10:08It was amongst the coolest Cole has ever looked,
10:11which admittedly is a low bar,
10:13but it was so well done,
10:14and Joe Tessitore scrambling to help replace Pat on commentary
10:17without even a tie made it feel all the more realistic.
10:21I'm assuming Gunther was paid off by Corey Graves here.
10:23More heel factions!
10:25Karrion Kross shouted at AJ Styles backstage,
10:28showing Karrion's shoot promo from the Postmania podcast is definitely a work.
10:32Dirty Dom had his first Intercontinental title defense next against Penta,
10:36with both Finn Balor and Carlito at ringside.
10:38Yeah, Finn Balor.
10:40The guy who Dom pinned to win the title the previous night.
10:43You'd think that would cause him to leave the faction,
10:45but he told the gang earlier on,
10:46what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
10:50Yay!
10:50Even longer term storytelling with The Judgment Day.
10:55Finn wasn't very effective though,
10:56so JD McDonagh had to make his return from injury to help Dom retain.
11:00With just 15 minutes of the show remaining,
11:02Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman came out for their first promo
11:05since their shocking night one heel turn angle.
11:08Seth had the same annoying music, stupid glasses,
11:11and garish costume choice,
11:12but thankfully he seems to have dropped his laugh and vocal inflections,
11:16where he started to cut a promo with the low delivery of his authority era.
11:20Didn't get very far though,
11:21as CM Punk ran down to beat him up for Seth to stomp him.
11:24Heyman declared Rollins as the top star in the industry,
11:28when Roman Reigns' music hit.
11:30That Roman isn't immediately on a three month holiday post-WrestleMania,
11:33might have actually been the biggest shock of the show.
11:36Roman took out Seth and Superman punched Heyman,
11:39for a man in a hoodie to appear in the ring.
11:41But it wasn't Roman's father's nephew's former roommate,
11:44it was Bron Breaker.
11:46First there was confusion,
11:48but when Breaker speared Punk 2,
11:50it was obvious.
11:51Bron is the newest Paul Heyman guy,
11:55following up on Heyman endorsing Bron in NXT two and a half years ago.
11:59And this isn't just a two man power trip,
12:01it's a full on heel faction.
12:03We could get Roman and Punk teaming together to take on Seth and Bron.
12:07We could get a battle of the spears between Breaker and Reigns.
12:10And long term Bron could be the Batista breakout babyface
12:14to eventually turn on Rollins.
12:16There are many incredibly exciting directions WWE can go in here.
12:21That's what the new season feel of a Raw After Mania should be about.
12:25Angles and cliffhangers where you can't wait
12:27to see what happens next.
12:29This year's Raw After Mania was just a great wrestling match
12:32shy of perfection at 90%.
12:34Now click the video on screen now
12:36to watch my review of WrestleMania 41 Night 2,
12:39where The Rock, yeah, he ruined wrestling.
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