John Cena, the new WWE Champion, will be on RAW one night after defeating Edge at Unforgiven. Last night, Cena beat the Rated R Superstar in his hometown of Toronto in a fierce, body bruising Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match. Cena was able to reclaim the WWE Championship after giving Edge an FU off of the top of a ladder and through two tables. The win at Unforgiven keeps Cena from relocating to SmackDown and puts the most coveted prize on RAW back around his waist. Will Edge have anything to say to the new WWE Champion? Does Cena have a message for the Superstars of RAW now that he’s not going to SmackDown?
D-Generation X fought their way through ECW’s World Champion Big Show and the McMahons in a Hell in a Cell Match at Unforgiven, but the victory wasn’t the only reason DX had to cheer. HBK and Triple H ruined Mr. McMahon’s morale when they thrust the Chairman’s face into Big Show’s exposed backside. What will the most powerful man in sports-entertainment have to say about the public humiliation he suffered at the hands of DX?
A rematch of Unforgiven will take place on RAW, as Kane will once again meet the undefeated Umaga. Last night, the Big Red Machine and the Samoan Bulldozer battled to a double count out when the physicality of their match brought both mammoth Superstars out of the ring for too long. The question of which is the more dominant – the Big Red Machine or the Samoan Bulldozer – has yet to be determined. Will we find out on RAW?
For all the answers, tune in to RAW Monday night at 9/8 CT on the USA Network
Mia Yim made her return to WWE during Monday Night RAW following her release from the company back on November 4th, 2021, during a segment between The O.C. and The Judgment Day, by attacking Rhea Ripley.
AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson had been looking for some help as they battle with the faction, and Ripley has been a factor in their battles. Now, Yim joins them to help neutralize Ripley.
Yim commented on her return during a backstage interview, and made reference to the former Retribution stable that spelled the end for many promising runs.
“Oh my gosh, it feels so good to be back. It took me a year to try and find myself but now I’m ready. I’m ready to go. I’m ready to kick some ass and get my retribution. But the boys are waiting on me so I’ll see ya later.”
Following the walkout of Sasha Banks and Naomi, who were at the time the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, details have been mum on what would go on with the vacated titles, but now there finally are some details to share.
With rumors that both Banks and Naomi will be returning to the company with Vince McMahon now in charge, the Women’s Tag Team titles are now back in the spotlight after going off the radar at the time of Banks’ and Naomi’s departures.
WWE has officially announced a new tournament to crown new Women’s Tag Team Champions that will finally begin on Raw this upcoming Monday.
While it seems to lineup the returns of Banks and Naomi, no official word has surfaced as of yet.
For Raw, the main event between Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan in a Wrestlemania rematch was a good way to end their show. With this new “Wildcard Rule” being introduced at the beginning of Raw, this led to two Smackdown superstars main eventing a Raw show. While we will look into the “Wildcard Rule” later, the match between these two was back and forth and ended with Kingston retaining his championship. Kofi has all the momentum going into the Money in the Bank PPV, which is great considering he is the WWE Champion.
For Smackdown, after the Hardy Boyz had to forfeit their tag team championships due to injury, the match to determine the new champions was great. After Shane McMahon originally was going to give the titles to Daniel Bryan and Rowan, the Usos interrupted and stated that they should at least get the opportunity to earn them. Daniel Bryan and Rowan ended up winning, which is a positive sight moving forward because it will bring more attention to the division with these two as champions.
The Bad
For Raw, even though things were good for the Usos on Smackdown, they were really bad on Raw. They came out during the Revival’s match and told them that they put Icey Hot on their ring attire. This led to bad acting and just an attempt at humor, which didn’t go well.
For Smackdown, while the Aleister Black promos have been good so far, they are starting to over welcome their stay. This has been going on for about a month, so hopefully we see him in the ring before he loses all momentum.
The Final Verdict
Both brands had interesting shows this week because this new “Wildcard Rule” was introduced. This “Wildcard Rule” means that four superstars from Raw will be on Smackdown and four Smackdown superstars will be on Raw every week. This idea does seem like a bad one though because it will take time away from superstars in their respective brand. Along with that, this is right after the Superstar Shakeup, which now feels completely pointless. As to who had the better show this week though, Smackdown had better matches and was still able to help put good build towards Money in the Bank. In conclusion, Money in the Bank is still about two weeks away, but proper time has been put into it and all the matches gain momentum in build week by week.