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John Cena had no answers for Cody Rhodes in their last Europe encounter. (Photo credit: WWE)
WrestleMania 41 is right around the corner as WWE finished its European tour. All stops have been spoiled, and the final show in London was no different.
"WWE Raw" opened with the best interaction yet between John Cena and Cody Rhodes before a big-time Women's World Championship rematch. All major storylines are rounding out nicely, and things should only magnify in the final weeks. On this show, it was all about the spice.
Now we're cooking
The same Cena presentation as a heel has officially become annoying. That can be argued as the point, though. If WWE sticks with Cena like this for the rest of his — well, career now — it will start to feel normal, which you could assume is when a change would happen since we wouldn't want it at that point, or at least care as much. It's just all weird right now. That's the best way to describe it.
Our London Cena kick-off appearance wasted no time on "WWE Raw." Before he could even speak, Rhodes made his way to the ring and absolutely scorched on the microphone immediately. The self-depreciation angle Rhodes played into elicited Stardust and "you can't wrestle" chants, AEW and Vince McMahon references. I mean, what a weird — but good — time it is in wrestling. Rhodes is banging on every single cylinder imaginable in this feud because he is electric.
Cena leaned heavily into being the burial artist he was criticized for during the late stages of his full-time run. He was on fire more than in the previous segments, getting to actually speak face-to-face with Rhodes. Although it was great, Cena as a heel very clearly feels like he's acting. His persona we've all grown used to felt natural, even when he started in WWE as the heel rapper character. Again, this might be an aesthetic problem more than anything.
There is still one dark cloud of a problem looming over all of this. The Rock has still been completely abandoned from all of this, which couldn't be any more illogical. Rhodes mentioned him once with a sellout line, but for "The Final Boss" to vanish entirely from one of the most prominent angles of all time — which he set up — is dumb. He will come back or re-emerge, probably at WrestleMania 41, so how does that element get dropped? Presumably because of The Rock's busy schedule. Therefore, don't involve someone who can't be consistent, WWE.
Ultimately, we'll find out when we get there, but on this "WWE Raw," we finally saw the first glimpse of revenge from Rhodes. Cena teased the attack, as he had been, then got hit with a Cross Rhodes. History would have you believe that this is the sign Cena will win the match, but regardless, this was overall the best segment we've gotten from these two yet.
The better Uso?
Jimmy Uso's match with Gunther was all gas and no breaks. It ruled and continued to show Uso's brilliance from the past week. WWE didn't "get it wrong" with Jey Uso, but even after Jimmy's loss to Gunther, I'm more invested in him than his brother Jey.
As is apparently mandatory for this "feud," Gunther continued his attack on Jimmy after the win, which prompted Jey's arrival to make the save. This one was different, though. The dual Uso variable to this angle added everything to it. Gunther zip-tied Jey to the ropes and brutalized the other Uso, cutting him open with the World Heavyweight title and slamming him with powerbombs and rear-naked chokes. A hopeless Jey just watching the violent scene was wildly effective. At most, it made Gunther look like an absolute psychopath, covering himself in blood and standing tall. This guy is the villain.
Uncrowned Gem of the Night
Let's just throw it out now and give "Big Jim" the Uncrowned Gem of the Night because none of that segment would have been possible without him. Hopefully, Jimmy levels up with some sort of push after this, or we at least see The Usos back in the tag-team picture. I know. That's wildly hopeful, considering how clear it is Gunther will lose at WrestleMania 41.
Always. On. Top.
There would always be some kind of dodgy finish (or in this case, lack thereof) to Iyo Sky and Rhea Ripley's Women's World Championship rematch with Bianca Belair as the special guest referee.
Belair's involvement felt like a bit too much early on in the match, despite just being with separations in punch exchanges. Other than that, she played her role pretty well, and her counterparts put on another very solid match with some great moments. In particular, Ripley's Razor's Edge and knee was a wicked spot to have a near-finish. Ultimately, we all knew the ref bump was coming, and instead of Belair taking a side, she just waved off the match, which meant Sky retained.
There was no other way to make the triple-threat aspect work besides that, so it worked, and throughout the closing moments, we saw Ripley score the no-ref phantom pin with Belair out of the ring. "WWE Raw's" last image was Ripley standing tall after decimating both women. It still hasn't been a perfect path to get to the trio's WrestleMania 41 match, but it will be oh so epic, and this rematch was a nice dramatic scene to finalize it.
Randomness of the Night
Remember Pete Dunne's burial at the end of 2024, which bled into this year with his Penta losses? I guess Triple H realized he made a mistake, and randomly made a favorable play to the crowd by just putting Dunne and Tyler Bate back together in the New Catch Republic.
This is damage control at its finest because it just happened out of the blue with the only "excuse" being: "The show is in London!" Now, it's not a complete complaint, because Dunne deserves anything better than what he was receiving, so if this is what it takes, we're on good terms. However, they could be better terms, as Dunne and Bate still lost their match to The New Day. To make it worse, Dunne took the pin. Considering the circumstances, this was a booking disaster because both needed to win.
It was, unsurprisingly, a fun, random match, but it should not have happened now.
MONDAY NIGHT MONEY
1. I've had an epiphany. Initially, I was going to give The Judgment Day's win over Penta and Bron Breakker a thumbs down, especially because Penta was pinned. It came after an accidental Breakker spear into a Balor Coup de Grace, though. Will WWE really spoil us with three ultra-epic triple-threat matches at WrestleMania 41? It certainly feels possible. Allow me to will this one into existence, too.
2. Logan Paul's Paulverizer finisher is pretty sweet, and AJ Styles sold it perfectly.
RAW DEAL
1. Michael Cole called Gunther a hypocrite for his "sneak attack" beatdowns. OK, dude. Let's completely forget that Gunther literally beats everyone before further beating them up.
2. Styles vs. Paul will obviously be a good match. However, their promo battle in the ring was clunky and fairly disjointed. Paul just went on boasting about his wealth and called London poor.
Europe was spoiled, as was the rest of WWE's audience by default. This was as strong of a closer show as we could have asked for. I give "WWE Raw" a Crown score of: 9/10
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