Nine Spray
I was set to pose more questions about this new version of the Vision as my lead. Then the main event happened and the lead became obvious:
Whether accidentally or purposefully, WWE told an awesome story about Jey Uso during 2025. Capturing the Tag Team Championships just a few days before the ball drops is an exclamation point at the end of a book with multiple twists and turns.
Starting with the obvious, The Usos vs. Dragon
Styles rocked my world. Tag team wrestling at this level is usually my favorite type of wrestling match. It mixes styles, provides tons of drama, gives us so much violence, and showcases so many big moves. It’s usually the moment when wrestling becomes art and I can see the wheels turning. Or, in some cases, when it inverts how those wheels usually turn.
Case in point: Dragon Lee took himself out of the match when he launched himself over the ropes and onto Jimmy Uso. With both men laid out on the announce table, AJ went for the kill with a Styles Clash on Jey. But Jey kicked out. Prior to that, the Usos disposed Dragon Lee and hit their usual Spear/Uso Splash combo on AJ. No dice! These are usually match ending sequences for both teams. That they weren’t not only told the story of how much both teams wanted it but how much they’ve grown separately. AJ & Dragon’s organic partnership clearly bore fruit. The Usos needed this more than anything they needed before. Jimmy because he wanted to have his little brother’s back, and Jey because he craved gold.
Defeating GUNTHER at WrestleMania seems so long ago, doesn’t it? Jey was on top of the world, yeeting and running ish back at any arena that would have him. Then he lost the World Heavyweight Championship, and spent months trying to get it back. He came up short every time and became more dejected with each loss. He looked to Roman Reigns for advice, his big brother, and even got unsolicited advice from cats like CM Punk and Paul Heyman. Then he blocked out everyone with the belief that he listening to everyone else tore him in two.
That got him nowhere fast as he came up short when it came time to decide John Cena’s last opponent. That was the straw that did what straws do on a camel’s back. He connected with his brother, defeated their longtime rivals, The New Day, and now he’s a champion again. Jey was so down on himself prior to this week’s main event that Jimmy gave him a pep talk. Jey, understandably, felt like he might drag his brother down and curse their chances. Of course that logic might work better if they didn’t defeat Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods last week, but the implication was Jay is fine until gold is on the line. Then he chokes and goes home angry.
Not this time.
It wasn’t really a redemption story as much as it was one of perseverance. Jey got knocked down. But he got up again. And no person, Chumbawamba or otherwise, kept him down.
To quote one of my favorite Simpsons episodes, “That’s a nice story.”
B-Sides
- Nikki Bella telling the crowd to thank her while they loudly thanked John Cena during Nikki’s STF on Raquel Rodriguez was brilliant. There’s something about heels becoming insufferable egoists that entertains me. That behavior came out in the best way when Nikki took plenty of umbrage with Raquel and Stephanie Vaquer jawing with each other to start the match and ignoring her. That set the tone for triple threat that started a little shaky for me but really picked up after Stephanie’s double Devil’s Kiss. Speaking of ego, that’s the story reason Stephanie is still champion and Raquel isn’t. Raquel, in a massive feat of strength, tried a Double Tejana Bomb. The champion wiggled free, tossed Raquel out of the ring after Big Mami Cool planted Nikki, then covered the former Divas champ for the win. All of that happened after Raquel told Liv Morgan and Roxanne Perez that she didn’t need their help. Hmm…
- GUNTHER semi-squashed Ron Killings aka R-Truth aka Ron Killings aka R-Truth. For me, this was mostly a reminder of how silly that R-Truth saga was in 2025. Truth stepped to GUNTHER to get some payback for the big man making his childhood hero tap. Yeah, that didn’t happen. GUNTHER is still the most hated man on the roster and that’s a good thing. But I really wish they did more with Truth when it looked like they were.
- Rhea Ripley & IYO SKY finally got the better of the Kabuki Warriors. Asuka & Kairi Sane hit the ring and talked a bunch of trash. Rhea & IYO came down and, for once, got the upper hand. Eventually. The tag champs almost walked out unscathed after, once again, using IYO as Rhea’s weakness. Rhea checked on her best friend in the middle of the brawl after Kairi dropped her on the edge of the announce table. Thankfully, Rhea never blames IYO for this but it’s a consistent focal point of this saga. It didn’t come back to bite the number one contenders this time, but it might next week.
- Maxxine Dupri is confident on that microphone. I love this character who doesn’t back down, talks trash, and has no problem interrupting someone like Becky Lynch. She’s a far cry from the woman she was a few months ago who was just happy to be here. As always, props to her dance partner for giving her the space to bring all of that to the forefront.
- I’m still not buying Austin Theory. He’s officially a member of The Vision, which means he too gets a nice leather jacket and black tee. Even during his match with Rey Mysterio, it just felt forced. It’s like he’s cosplaying this new role but instead of wearing a dope costume, he’s rocking a cheap one from Walmart. He looks like the odd man out in the group, which is saying something since Logan Paul is right there. To say nothing of Punk calling him out for “spitting on it and doing tricks,” which was an insane thing for anyone in WWE to say. Seriously, he said that man was spitting on it and doing tricks in relation to Paul E. Wow. I’ll eventually get over that but Austin’s match with Rey ended with the not-so deadbeat dad getting the win via DQ thanks to Logan interfering. Which led to…
- Penta is back! Penta saved Rey’s bacon, which I’m sure will lead to a tag match.
- Bron Breakker cut another impassioned promo this week, which is what he does best. I don’t think he’s ready to lead a faction yet, as it looks like he’s doing now, but his mic work grabs me. He certainly channels his uncle when the time comes.
The main event really saved this episode for me. I still wasn’t wowed by it as a whole despite really digging parts, but it was an incredible main event with a title change to boot. It’s the last Raw of the year though, and no one phoned it in or even looked like they weren’t trying. Points for that at least.
What say you, Cagesiders? Does Bron Breakker fit the mold as leader of this motley crew?
