Never Die
Remember when Raw after Mania was truly the wildest night of the year? It felt like anything could happen and it almost always did. Dolph Ziggler’s cash-in comes to mind. Eventually, WWE co-opted and branded “Raw After WrestleMania” and made it just like any other Raw on the calendar. That’s not inherently
objectionable but it does take away some of the excitement. Eventually I’ll get to my main point for this week’s proceedings, but I needed to address this first. We got some call ups, some title pictures refreshed themselves, but this was a serviceable edition and not the unpredictable two-hour thrill ride WWE frames it as.
Okay, back to business. Roman Reigns is the new champ, and spent his promo addressing his cousins. Jimmy & Jey Uso. Bottomline? He wants them back at his side. Several months ago, Roman said they couldn’t get the old days back, but I suppose having the championship on his shoulders truly makes him miss the old days. Does he truly miss them like he said or does he want the protection now? One can never tell with the Tribal Chief, but we’ll find out.
Roman did make a good point about them being stronger as a unit. They instilled fear as a crew. Solo? CM Punk talks trash about the family, The Vision talks about The Usos with reckless abandon, and “some rapper from the ‘90s” runs his mouth about Jey. I cackled at that. I cackled harder when he called Cam’Ron “washed” without mentioning his name. Only hip hop heads of a certain age will understand what I say next, but there’s some weird poetry to Roman sending shots at Killa Cam while Jim Jones sat ringside.
All that talk about family and I wondered who is Roman’s next challenger? LA Knight and GUNTHER staked their claim in a backstage segment, but neither showed up during Roman’s TED Talk. No, it was “little cousin” Jacob Fatu. And he showed, once again, how awesome he is.
Jacob needs everything afforded to the Tribal Chief. I love that he took it back to his family. He needs a bigger house for them. He needs more money to put his kids in better schools. He’s not doing this for his glory but to take care of his family, even if that means going through other family members. It sounded real and contrasted perfectly against Roman’s cool demeanor.
Is Jacob ready for that responsibility? That’s Roman’s angle. Being the head of any table comes with certain strings. Everything that glitters ain’t gold; that includes championship belts and Rolexes. Heavy is the head that wears the cliche so you get the point. But again, is Roman really looking out for his young cousin or just getting back to his old mafia ways? He’s giving Jacob a week to think about it because Roman “isn’t sure he’s ready” to win or lose the championship and accept what comes with both. At the same time, he wants Jimmy to “talk to him” and “handle it,” which gets us right back to the mob boss era.
I didn’t think WWE would go back to the Bloodline well so quickly. This always feel like their break glass in case of emergency angle. Jacob is a new wrinkle, and maybe Roman is a changed man, but it’s more of the same family drama.
At least that’s how it seems now. It’s very early days and I don’t want to jump too many guns or let go of my horses just yet. Maybe Haitch has something up his sleeve that will shock and amaze me. Or maybe he’s just out of ideas and hoping he catches lightning in a bottle one more time.
B-Sides
- Oba Femi did his version of Roman’s “it’s my yard now.” Except instead of getting booed out of the building, the crowd basically through flower petals at that man’s feet. This was perfect. He said all he needed to and only excited the crowd for what comes next. And WWE smartly didn’t telegraph that that “next” is for their newly minted supernova.
- Ethan Page, welcome to Raw! It was smart putting Ethan and Je’Von Evans in a match given their NXT history. Even better is they’re keeping Je’Von in the Intercontinental Championship picture and adding All Ego. This match was very different from the last time these two tangoed. That match featured a very angry Je’Von trying to avenge Ethan breaking his jaw. This moved a tad slower out of necessity; if you saw Je’Von in that Mania ladder match, you know why. In fact, Je’Von moving a bit gingerly was part of the story. It also helped him sell Ethan’s offense. For all the talk about Je’Von’s moves and bounciness, less attention gets paid to the fact the man plays the sympathetic babyface role so well. Especially with someone like Ethan, who is ruthless when the time calls for it. I didn’t expect Ethan to lose his first official match on Raw. Thanks to Rusev, I was right. Rusev attacked Je’Von right when it looked like the Young OG got the advantage. Rusev’s interference led to Ethan’s win, which led to Rusev attacking Je’Von, which then led to Penta making the save. Ethan, perfectly in character, did nothing about any of this. He wants the Intercontinental Championship and was more than happy to let all of this just happen. Me thinks a tag match is in the near future.
- One more thing on Ethan: So this means no resolution to the Ethan and Ricky Saints story? Sigh. Don’t get me wrong, I love call ups, but hate when they come at the expense of someone percolating in Orlando. NXT’s Men’s division was already in dire straits; it’s damn near on life support now.
- GHETTO FAB! Fabolous was in the house! Dave East too! Maino and Jim Jones? Meh. Still disappointed Cam’Ron and Mase didn’t make good on Killa’s promise to see Jey uso.
- Michael Cole told me to watch the Kill Tony WrestleMania roast. Steve Rogers has my answer to that.
- A few things to get to with The Vision because, well, a few things happened:
- 1. Loved Paul Heyman’s passionate tribute to Brock Lesnar. It was in character so he wasn’t exactly nice about it, but that’s Paul E.‘s gift. He mixes sincerity with character work.
- Thank God Bron Breakker is back because The Vision is blind without him.
- Seth Rollins attacking The Vision was great. Needed to happen and I’m happy he didn’t come at them head on. I like when my good guys are smart and strategic, especially when they’re former bad guys.
- That chair shot busted Bron open something serious. It probably looked worse than it actually was.
- The STREET PROFITS ARE BACK! Paul E. mentioned how the tag division is heating up so right on cue, the Profits attack the tag champs to make it clear they want next.
- Bron left Seth flat on the mat and promised to ruin everything Seth’s ever created. Love the passion, the anger, the fire, and the intensity. I really think this man could talk himself into a hernia.
- Sol Ruca, one of my NXT faves, is now one of my Raw faves. While I don’t like the idea of announcing this the night before she faces Zaria, I understand why they did it. Just robs a little meaning out of that match for me. To that point, after Sol interrupted Liv Morgan’s title celebration and a match happened, Zaria interfered. Now, before that, this was a solid match. Nothing too crazy since I’m sure Liv is still recovering from previous injuries, but she made Sol look good. The L doesn’t hurt Sol either since Zaria killed her momentum and was a big part of Liv getting the win. Sol battling Liv looked like the story but it was just a bridge to Zaria vs. Sol, and Stephanie Vaquer stepping to Liv post match. The camera pulled back at the wrong time to go to an ad so I don’t know what else happened during their standoff, but I’m sure a rematch is coming at Backlash. Oh, and I cannot leave this section without talking about Sol’s Oblivion counter. She basically somersaulted out of it, then transitioned seamlessly to the Sol Snatch. Beautiful.
- IYO SKY & Rhea Ripley are finally going their separate ways. Also my favorite Journey song. After defeating the Kabuki Warriors for what I hope is the last time, they said their tearful goodbyes. This is the right move because it’s time to give IYO her own journey again. To Asuka’s point, Rhea’s benefited more from this partnership. As for the tag match itself, it was also solid, although IYO really needs to be careful on these bumps she’s taking on these dives. She fell on top of her head again. She keeps tempting fate and I hope someone tells her to slow it down a bit.
- CM Punk cut heartfelt promo about loss as only he can. The big news though is Cody Rhodes offering Punk a shot at the WWE Championship whenever he wants. Of course my issue here is how the company is no selling Randy Orton’s punt. That thing used to keep people out for weeks or months. It was a part of Randy’s whole “Legend Killer” thing. Now he does it and Cody is perfectly fine? Well, besides the nasty black eye. And where was Randy? While Cody is willing to give his friend a title shot, doesn’t he have bigger fish to fry and worry about the moment?
- Finn Balor got his hands on JD McDonagh after going through Dirty Dom. I wanted a different outcome here. Finn won thanks to a coup de grace right to JD’s injured ribs, but I think a JD victory would’ve done more for this feud. Sure, the Dirty one interfered after the match to let us know this is far from over, but why not show up before the pinfall, Dom? JD winning, even dirty, just gives Finn more ammunition and makes him an even bigger underdog. Plus if you’re going to beat him up after the match anyway, why not just do that first?
This didn’t feel “Raw After WrestleMania” worthy but it was still a solid show. It moved enough pieces around to feel like a reset. They reinstated the Bloodline, welcomed Ethan Page and Sol Ruca, then told us Joe Hendry will soon appear. Not the most exciting week of Raw but I didn’t hate it.
What say you, Cagesiders? Does Jacob take the title shot or join his cousins?
