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Cody From Maine
Bizarre day for wrestling when, to me at least, the go-home Raw before WrestleMania is overshadowed by events outside of the ring. There was no surprise in Helwani using his show to run an angle for WWE given his fandom, but to me this Punk interview came out of nowhere. However, as a fan of both Punk and AEW, I don’t really feel any differently than I did yesterday. He needed to go, but at the same time it’s sad that it panned out the way it did. Both sides have legitimate gripes, both sides can look very poor depending on the specifics being discusse, etc. All the same talking points we’ve seen for the last 18 months or so.
Then there’s the first real batch of cuts for AEW that I can remember. I’m sure it’s been mentioned, but Tony Khan previously spoke about honoring contracts outside of someone being problematic, so to see this happen is very surprising. Anthony Henry being included is particularly surprising due to his current injury and the fact that his tag partner JD Drake was retained. It might result in a non-answer, but hopefully TK is asked about this as soon as this weekend should there be an ROH Presser after the PPV.
The ultimate edition of Raw before Wrestlemania…not to be confused with the Ultimate Thrill Ride. Hard to believe that was seven years ago.
Seeing The Rock every week leading up to Wrestlemania has been a treat. Who knows if he can still go in the ring, but his character work has been a privilege to watch this run. My hope is this title match with Roman and Cody does not turn into an overbooked mess.
Hope you guys have multiple cheesesteaks on the menu this week. Enjoy Philly!
Raw got to the end of the finish line. The ending segment with Cody and Seth getting hit with a weight belt was quite uncomfortable. The opening segment didn’t veer into mindless self-indulgence and going commercial free for the first hour did help keep it on track.
The Drew vignette was excellent and the Sami/Gable Rocky-style montage was well done. It’s nice to see the cracks beginning to form with Judgment Day continue with Dom’s courting of Andrade and LDF.
I’m pretty sure Night 2 of WM will take years off my life.
Weezy F Baby and the F is for Finish the Story.
The Punk/Ariel interview had a lot to dissect. Somebody better confiscate Tony’s phone.
Evening guys.
Another solid chapter of Raw on the road to Wrestlemania. Some storylines could be a little better as Dom definitely feels like he’s being shoe horned onto the card but in his defence due to the reactions he’s had this year, he deserves to be there. Just as a quick follow up to my call on Friday, the secondary market for tickets for tonight was insanely high, I headed to a bar near the Barclays Center assuming tickets would drop below 100 dollars at somepoint. But as the Rock was making his way to the ring the cheapest ticket behind the wrestlemania sign was still over 200 dollars and was trending as the hottest event in New York over opening day for the Yankees and Mets for the week.
Thanks as always.
Alex Francois.
Jay from Colorado
Raw was, and has been, pretty great lately, but that is mostly due to the Rock and the Bloodline vs Cody storyline bookending the show on each end. The stuff in the middle is digestible and enjoyable, but is overshadowed by the beginning and ending of the show. It’s not working towards Raws detriment right now, but I’m worried that they may not be able to keep up post WrestleMania assuming the Bloodline and the Rock go away. Time will tell, and I’m interested to see how this new regime begins the scenes handles the post WrestleMania season.
Ever since the RAW where Cody and McIntyre faced off, this has returned to being the show I enjoy the most. Over the last 6-7 months, WWE has become the promo company with guys like Cody, Rock, Punk, Sami, Drew, KO, Reigns, Gunther, etc really stepping up. We’ve had some really good promos in the build to 'Mania but I didn’t think there were as many as the past few weeks today. Professional wrestling is about making you care who wins and who loses, not putting on 5-star matches. And nobody is doing this better than The Rock in 2024. Watching that ending, did you guys think Cody is winning the tag and losing on night 2? How confident are you that he gets the job done?
Nas from NYC
Just got back from Barclays Center. Amazing start, amazing finish. The place was packed. The line to get in, the merch line was crazy long. A lot of people got to their seat late. Really great go home angle. Seriously considering making a terrible financial decision to get Philly for the weekend.