Bron Breakker Joins Seth Rollins! WWE Raw After Mania 2025 Review!

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On Saturday night one of WrestleMania 41, Seth Rollins teamed with Paul Heyman. On Monday, the Raw After Mania from Breaker. joined this new heel faction, who else could be joining them in the new dangerous alliance? Well, huh, it just so happened. Seth Rollins' real-life wife, Becky Lynch, also turned heel on this show. And the Dangerous Alliance had Medusa. You need a woman in the... It's 2025, you needle woman.

I'm Oli Davis. I'm joined by Luke Owen, DAD. Welcome to this Raw After Mania review edition of the WrestleTalk podcast. If you haven't already, please press the thumbs up button. Give us a subscribe. Leave a comment down below with what you thought of this episode and send in your... Chat Gables to wrestletalk.com forward slash support. Read out. Going through a tunnel. Everybody. every single one over five US dollars before the end of the show.

But to open this episode, we are reviewing the main events. with just 14 minutes left of a longer than usual broadcast. Usually it clocks in about two and a half hours on the on-demand version. Yeah. And this was about two hours 55. Yeah, it went basically three hours. It was a pay-per-view, really. And Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman were shown at the start of the show arriving in their car. We knew they were going to do a promo. It got the main event slot.

Seth comes out. He is not as different as I would have hoped him to be. Yeah. So just to give you a little bit of my vibes on this segment, which I thought was tremendous. I was not into it at the start. I was really not vibing with this segment at the start. I'd had such a really good time. The first hour I didn't think was very good at all.

uh i don't know i didn't enjoy the first hour but then the show really once eoskye came out they did the 70s stuff i thought the show was like off to the races and i was having a wonderful time with the show proper like raw after mania i was really having a And then when Seth came out and it was the same Seth Rollins, I was like, this was like a really good opportunity for a reset point for me. And it's just the same old Seth.

And then he does his heel delivery, which is just the same heel delivery that John Cena's doing. which is just, well, I'm doing all of the same catchphrases, but now I'm doing it slower because I'm a bad guy. And I was like, and then punk came.

And I was talking to editor Adam Whitney about this. He's like, did you groan when Punk came out? Because I'm just sick of seeing them fight. And I was like, honestly, yeah, a little bit. I was like, oh man, I'm sick of these two feuding. They've been feuding since November 2023. and then actually because then the graphic came up the little corner graphic I was like man they're just

They're out of time. This is just it. Paul Heyman hadn't even spoken yet. Yeah, I was like, this is just it. What a weird end to the show. I didn't believe the little corner logo. Well, the thing is, I didn't believe the corner promo when the John Cena match happened at WrestleMania 19.

too because I was like surely there's more to this than that. That was dumb for a reason to make you think this one was going to end up. And it completely worked because this segment kicked up again. I thought it was so so great and it made me not only really excited for uh like you know for bron and this seth act and this paul hayman group it actually has reignited my interest in Seth and Punk.

and seth and roman i was actually more into seth and roman than i was seth versus punk but it's reignited my passion and my interest in seth and punk yeah the bron uh flavor has added a whole new taste to the recipe, hasn't it? Yeah. So what happened is Punk comes down. Seth and Paul really don't say much. Because Punk comes down right away, he's taping up his sp- He beats up Seth for a bit, goes for Heyman, but Seth stomps him. Then Paul Heyman declares Seth.

the number one top star in this industry. Love that. And the crowd are chanting for Roman Reigns. And I thought... That's the same thing. Idiots. Come on, lads. It's after Mania. We're not going to see him until SummerSlam. That's good as that. And then Roman's music hit. Yeah. I was like, that is a bigger surprise than Becky turning heel. Rusev. Rusev. JD McDonough. Yeah, all of those combined. Yeah.

It's like a full-time member of the roster at this point. It feels weird. Is he okay? Is he doing okay for money? He's not getting any film roles, I guess. And he comes down and a Roman... beats up Seth and then hits a Superman punch on Heyman loved that I mean I do love it but Heyman was up a minute afterwards yeah to get hit by the spear yes but I If Paul's getting a Superman punch, I think he should be knocked out on the floor. It's nitpicking. He's not a referee.

he's paul hayman yeah exactly roman reigns his signature move yeah and he was like it wasn't a shove to the ground he was and he was got up and he was just selling because he was going to turn around and get hit by the spear um well you know Roman gets up and he's going to spear Heyman, but this hooded guy gets in the ring.

It's not Jimmy Uso. It's the exact same black hoodie that Roman has used over and over again with, hey, it's Jimmy Uso turning heel. Hey, it's Solo Sokoa costing Drew Mackenzie. But it wasn't. This person speared Roman and then reveals themselves as Bronn. So when Roman came out, I was like, are they going to introduce a new member to this group? Oh, did you? And I was like, it's going to be Jeff Cobb. And in my head, I was just like, that's Jeff Cobb.

Braun's such a more interesting choice. And it kind of pays back because Braun had that segment with Paul Heyman like two and a half years ago on NXT. And he has always been like number one. And when people were like, who else could be a Paul Heyman guy? I'd be like Braun Breaker. And what I love, this is elevating someone. Sure, Jeff Cobb would have been cool, but this is taking someone from the mid card and elevating them into the main event scene.

And that is what War After Mania should do. It should be a reset point. It should be. Here is your next chapter of story. And I love it. I think it's such a great choice. Luke and I just recorded our predictions for WrestleMania 52. Yeah, you heard that right. 52. 11 years in the future. Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk on Friday for that. which means I've got quite obsessed with ages to work out who is around for the card a decade plus in advance.

And Jeff Cobb, he's 43 now. If that was his role, if it was Rusev, these are people who have already had their shot, really, and time has kind of passed. A little bit, yeah. However, with Brom Breaker, the guy's 28. And if you look at the main event scene right now, you punk, Roman, Drew. Cena. You're talking late 30s to 50 years old. That's sort of what a main event guy in WWE has been for a very long time.

But Brom Breaker being inserted into this faction, immediately working as a top star against Roman and Punk, coming off the Intercontinental title run as well, you know. You instantly forget he lost that belt just the previous night because, boom, he is totally reset here in a level of threat. And next year's WrestleMania. I've got one idea where it could be Seth versus Bron for the World Heavyweight Champion. That means a guy who's 29 years old.

could be in a title match at Mania. I love it. That is unheard of under the Vince U. I love it. It's such an inspired choice to put Bron into this act. And I kind of was on this train. I thought this was going to be a Seth and Paul thing. Like this is just Seth Rollins is managed by Paul Hayman. and i was like the faction idea just wasn't really like in my sort of my vision for But I love the idea that we are getting a new dangerous alliance.

And the way that I've seen some other people talk about it. Oh, not a Monday Night Messiah?

I said this is a messiah. It's bringing back that great faction from the pandemic everyone loves. It's all Heyman. Heyman is the driving force here. They even said he's the new Paul Heyman guy. So I think a dangerous alliance is... should be the template for this but with triple h in charge you can also look at evolution as the template and the whole point of evolution and why evolution was such a successful

is that you had the vets in Ric Flair and Triple H using their star power to get over two newer guys. So if you have... Seth and Paul as the two vets of this group. And you're using this to elevate a Bron Breaker into that Batista level guy where you can do the thumbs up, thumbs down stuff. That leaves a spot open for more people to be added to this group. I give it's Dangerous Alliance.

dangerous alliance had like 20 people in that faction so you can add loads of people because it's like spanned across multiple things and the reason why i like the dangerous alliance idea is that you can have a nxt version You want a bullet club, Heyman guys. Dangerland is spread across multiple different companies. But yeah, I like the evolution side of it as well, of just using this to get new guys.

into that main event scene because this is what we wanted from bron when he first dropped the ic title to jay last summer we were like great move him out of the icy picture. If you're going to take the belt off of him, elevate him into that main event scene. And he even had like a thing with Gunther where like, this is it. They're going to do Bron and Gunther, which they never did. They just put him straight back into the icy picture.

Great, now he's in the main event scene. This is exactly where Bron should... I think this is probably setting up in the immediate term.

Bronn and Seth versus Roman and Punk. The idea of Roman and Punk having to work together at Backlash. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. That's a great story right there. I feel like in that bit, that's where you introduce another member. They cost... punk and roman the match yeah you would and then by the time we get to war games survivor series in the in the baseball thing whatever it is uh it would be negligent

to not book the Dangerous Alliance in a War Games match. Absolutely. Seeing that they had some of the greatest War Games matches of all time in the early 90s. So that means you sort of need four, five male members. I'd love to see, you know, one female in the act. We'll talk about Becky Lynch in a second. But I don't realistically think WWE are ever going to book. that in a in that step no it's not gonna be an intergender war game So, you've got Bronn, you've got Seth,

What two other people could you add? So I don't want to give any spoilers away for my video that's coming out. Oh, God, you're not going to... Oh, you're going to go for those ones. Yeah, so we've got a video coming out this Friday where we are trying to predict WrestleMania 42 way too far in advance.

and in my dangerous alliance i have added the street profits as like that's the tag team because you need a tag team within this faction so i added the street profits and into my group I won't say who the other guy that I added in as well, because that's a hook and tease for you to watch the video. I said it on the Mania Night One review podcast where I really like the idea of Seth.

getting his own bloodline yeah so like all this stuff that roman's been lording over people for years like try and beat me because you've got about eight guys who are members of my family to beat first Seth can now do the exact same thing and flip it back on Roman. And if he goes against Jay...

That's what we sort of predicted, that Seth could be going for Jay right away. You even wanted them to beat Jay for the World Heavyweight title immediately. Well, I mean, if anything... this again is really midifying the world heavyweight championship scene which is at this point is jay sammy and jimmy uso like it and now all of the top main stars literally that's the gimmick they are the top stars

are nowhere near this world title scene. We need to elevate this title back up something fierce. Well, they will. Money in the Bank or SummerSlam when Seth beats Jay. Yeah. But yeah, I guess we're not getting that for the immediate time. This idea that someone else could join, and that is Becky Lynch. Earlier in the show, you had Becky Lynch and Myra Valkyria take on Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. This was a WrestleMania rematch that just won the women's tag belts the night before in a...

Quite disappointing match, but it had the big popper moment of Becky's return. And here... Judgment Day won them right back. Yep. It was a better match. Much better match. And Liv sort of got the surprise win on Lyra. I thought they gave Lyra a lot. but the numbers just overwhelmed her in the end. It was kind of Becky getting knocked over outside the ring that really cost them. And judgment day when the title's back, one day rain. It's like the shortest rain in the tag, the women's tag belt.

history, and Becky hugs Lyra afterwards and then clotheslines her and turns heels so effectively the crowd chanted one more time. I think Becky made such an error in when they were chanting one more time. giving the fans what they wanted and doing it one more time because she was getting cheered doing this beat down and then when they start trying one more time if you then walk away from that the crowd are going to boo you because you didn't give them what they wanted

Start, no, get back in. No, start to walk away. Then go, yeah, all right. Go back in, pick her up, drop her to the floor, walk away. Boo. Because this did not get the desired reaction I think they wanted to. Although it's probably the reaction they would do. because it's the raw after mania crowd it's that traveling european crowd who are often going to cheer their heels boo the baby faces can i push back

because I think that traveling crowd, yes, they are more inclined to do that. But if you give them a reason to get invested in characters and story... they will be so into that. Like they will be more into that than your casual fans because they, they love stories being told. Well, and what we have here with Beck. and Lyra and the women's tag belts and Bayley.

It's a story that isn't even a story. It's just a sequence of here's some things that happen. It's moments. It's moments. It's all it was. It's high spots. Yeah, all of Becky's return was, was a WrestleMania moment. so what why would people go boo you're bad so i don't i think they would have expected her to be cheered by this traveling craft

because it's a moment and the crowds tend to just cheer for the moment. Plus, you're right, it's not a compelling storyline so they're not going to play along with it and give them the response that the script wants them to give. But that's then down to Becky to make the crowd boo her. And that's the point I was making, is that if you know you're going to get cheered, then do something that will make the crowd boo you.

And she didn't do it. What she opted to do instead, she might as well have got a bloody table out. For the crowd to cheer her. But yeah, I don't think it was particularly effective in terms of the crowd reaction. So, yeah, watch it play out. We watched it play out now. Bayley was written off for kayfabe reasons. Becky made a return, and the next night she dropped the titles and turned heel. I think this is utterly...

You may as well have just done the heel turn at WrestleMania and had a double moment. Yeah. um what after she just won the tag belt just no just immediately go in there and they'll be like look like you're gonna tag with her give her the manhandle slam and walk away And Liv and Raquel can just crawl into the cover. It's not like it would have been a worse match because it wasn't a good match anyway. What was the finish of SummerSlam? Was it 2022?

And Bianca retains and Becky just walks out. Pins are in like seconds. Yeah. It's like, it feels kind of similar to that. Yeah. In not being thought out and just Becky spots. I do think this is why people turn against Becky sometimes. I agree. Because they're creative. Pretty crappy. Oftentimes, yeah. And like, we can't blame Vince now. This isn't Vince going for Charlotte over her. And no one likes to blame Triple H. Yeah, she's the top star in the country. Yeah. Country.

But do you think that she will join this dangerous alliance? What role will she have in this dangerous alliance, I suppose? what should be the she'll win the women's championship give some more gold not only a dangerous alliance, you've got a two-person power trip, like the power couple in Seth and Becky. Triple H loves doing stuff from when he was successful, so they do the Hunter and Stephanie McMahon.

you can always push her as well as like the first Paul Heyman girl. Yeah. And she is called the man. I said this the other day. She can be the Heyman. if you were to you know something about like bron being like leveled up the card this way is there anyone else because i if i was to you know put a name out there and i haven't got a name to put out there by the way but if i was to say

I would pick someone from NXT and use this. A totally new face. Exactly, yeah. Because if you're using another Triple H created faction, you're looking at the shield as the temple. big positions but that was calling three guys up from NXT to create three new stars. So you can use the Dangerous Alliance to bring up someone from NXT and be part of this group and immediately just be surrounded by Seth Rollins, Paul Heyman, Becky Lynch, and this rising Brom Bray.

You've got Seth, you could have Becky, you've got the big muscle speed guy in Bron. So you probably want a cruiser to add a new flavour to it. Javon Evans, probably too young. Yeah, maybe. I mean, it's a hell of a call up for him. One of the names I have seen, I don't know if the live chat have said it, but I think Stephen Larson certainly suggested it, but Ethan Page.

Yeah, wow. That would be good. Great on the mic. I don't know if the faction needs him. I also don't think if... you know like how old's ethan page 35 probably yeah probably yeah i'm so obsessed with ages right now also you gotta remember 35 is not like an old age at this point that's still like a young guy i think you want to be building guys in their 20s in their mid 20s to really get them over. Seth's 39.

yeah um but yeah overall a really really hot end to the show and exactly what wwe needed after a terrible end to wrestlemania i think WWE can do wrestling very well. but it's not what they're best at. They are best at storylines, angles, soap opera drama. And the last two hours of this Raw After Mania... was them hitting home runs in those criteria. There was no resting of note on this episode.

You can say, oh yeah, the tag match was alright. Io and Stephanie were having a great match until the very predictable finish came in. Yeah, but I never got the final third of it. They were having a great first two-thirds of a match and then a crappy finish. So I'd write that off. That's fair. This was a show with no wrestling. It's interesting because Stephen Larson also made this point. I hate to just parrot what they have said on their very, very good show.

But Larson made the point of that WrestleMania is a show that is designed for casual audiences. It's not really made for wrestling fans. That's why there's all the celebrity and like integration within there. It's why it's relatively short matches that kind of feel sort of... But Raw After Mania is for the sickos. It's for wrestling fans.

And this show felt like it was designed for those wrestling fans in WWE who want to see the next big storyline of things. Got zero interest in a Travis Scott. Got zero interest in a Dude Wipes match. But they are interested in seeing... big angles, big promos, big returns, big surprises. And I think it overall did deliver on all of that. I didn't love the first hour of this show. But even in that, it gave you the big moments, the big returns and the big surprises.

On BBC iPlayer. The last five years has just gone bam. Stacey Solomon and Jo Swash are opening their doors to their home. People's Cottage is a lot like our relationship. Constantly working on it. And their perfectly imperfect family life. We have more arguments parenting together than we do parenting separately. I'd like to get myself down to the level of the kids. You bring them down! Stacey and Joan. That was a magical moment. Watch on BBC iPlayer.

Pete here from the Football Ramble, which is being sponsored by LiveScore Bet. This football season, experience total betting for yourself. It's everything you love about LiveScore, like the latest scores and cutting-edge stats, alongside great odds, offers... free-to-play games, and a slick bet builder. It's everything you need in one place. Less app-hopping, more action. Download the LiveScoreBet app. T's and C's apply. Please bet responsibly.

Let's see what everyone thinks on the chat cables. WrestleTalk.com forward slash support. We'll read out every single one that comes in there over five US dollars. Eric 13 writes, love the Ram, especially since Rollins has always been my favorite. And I love heel Rollins. I would have preferred, though, if Lyra reluctantly joined Becky and for both of them to join the Rollins. So the Rollins. So at the WrestleMania 42, both her and Bron could dethrone Seth and Becky.

i think that's that's too much i think that's too much yeah i think if you had turned lyra uh if you don't becky heel on lyra and then lyra at the end of the show also turns heel and then joins the grid that might be sort of a hat upon a hat but i i i yeah heel Rollins is way more interesting than babyface Rollins but and i cannot stress this enough he's supposed to be a top heel don't give him a theme song that people like to sing along

I am Team Ollie, my GM. Sorry, Luke. That's someone's name right there. You should be. Here's the Wolfgang. Hyped for this set. faction keen to see if true fits into this group if they had a woman i'd like to see them not go with the obvious becky choice and add charlotte instead as i think she needs it and she would fit the savior of wrestling gimmick I think it works for Becky as a heel. This division needs me.

AnonymousGuy92, Rollins is Triple H, Heyman is Flair, Bron is Batista, Evolution 2025 is looking good. The pay-per-view? Do you guys think they will add a fourth man? If so, who do you think it will be? Personally, I think Austin Theory. I actually forgot Austin Theory was part of this roster. Well, you've got your pick. You've said Street Profits and there's someone else in this Friday's video. I saw someone in the live chat say Bronson Reed, which I like. Yeah.

Metaskipper. Potential story beat. Becky says she came back at Mania for Lyra. She attacked Bayley for Lyra, and she was all ready to fold Lyra into Seth's Future of the Business faction, but Lyra threw it all away when they lost, and Becky is so disappointed. Becky did look like disappointed that Lyra got pinned.

It's like, have I taught you nothing in our 24-hour tag team? Yeah, see, all of that stuff, Metaskipper, I don't believe it because there's no substance there right now. Morlam writes, why should Seth reset his character?

If the crowd rejected him or stopped singing his song, that'd be valid. But you guys seem to think he should change up something that's gotten him over and they're still getting reactions because you personally don't like it. Well, that's actually the opposite of the reason. It's because people do like it. If you're a heel and you want the crowd to boo you, don't give them something they like to do and cheer along.

The crowd, and it happened in this segment The crowd were cheering along with his entrance They were chanting along his song during his promo They were chanting for him in this segment You need to give people a reason to not do that Yeah, Morlan, I think we're right in both things. So what Luke said, and also, yeah, I also don't like it. I think it's naff.

Hey guys, this is my Heyman faction and I want your thoughts. One, Seth Rollins. Two, Bron Breaker. Three, Becky Lynch. Four, Mariah May when her contract expires as the protege of Becky. And five, Nathan Frazier as the protege of Seth. I don't think so. I think he's... I cannot imagine... ever not being a baby face talking about have you seen fraxium yeah yeah look at that i don't think he fits with this act

Although, you know, I was saying a high flyer guy would be much better. Mariah May, she shouldn't be doing the protege thing again. No, absolutely not. If she comes in, she's a star. She doesn't need to do what she did with Tony Stark. Uh, Unzio. My idea about Seth being the same is he isn't a heel. Not for me at all.

He says a lot of things that some people, including me, agree with. While I agree he needs something refreshing, I also like the idea of him acting like nothing changed. Yeah, him acting like nothing has changed, I agree with. But yeah, I don't want to just be like... he needs to not have a song that people Akon 22. I love this segment. I was watching it with my girlfriend and I went nuts when it was Bron and my girlfriend wanted to kill me because she thought someone died.

But I think the next best guy to join this group is Austin Theory. The second person. Well, as they point out, because of his relationship with Seth. What relationship was Seth? That was the Monday Night Messiah gimmick, right? I thought it was Buddy Matthew. Was Austin Theory in that group? I think Brandon Virk was for a week. I only remember Buddy Matthews and AOP being in that faction. Was Austin Theory there as well? I think Theory was there for a...

Keep an eye out. He had a buddy and theory. I do not recall that at all. LawrenceCN2004. Love this episode. My Dangerous Alliance is Seth Braun, Ethan Page, or Carmelo Hayes is a good shout. That's a great shout. That's a really good shout. Also, it gets him away from The Miz, and that is just dragging him down.

Street Profits or Lost Gaza, Becky or Julia? I don't, Julia I'm not so hot and I think she's better on her own. Carmelo Hayes and, you know, Bronson Reed to an extent. Those are the names. Texas Goose. Theory would benefit the most from joining Heyman and Seth. Fraxium for the tag team with NF. Nathan Frazier and Seth's history. What's that?

They were probably in Johnny Gargano's little faction or something. Becky's turn is only a moment if you forget about the history with Lyra on NXT, the mentorship and the friendship, and look at it in a vacuum. I mean, maybe there'll be a great video package, but this has not been a good story. No, and also you can tell that story over a longer period of time. When I saw the title change go back, I was like, oh, right, so it was just for the moment then. This is not for an actual story.

this was just to get a Wrestlemania moment and that again goes back to that mania is just there for the casual to it it's just there for the moment and the roar after mania is when it's like okay but this is actually stories we want Concrete Entree. What are your thoughts on Nathan Frazier being the next Paul Heyman guy? Well, we've kind of said it. I don't see it personally, but, you know, seems like a popular choice. Someone here said that Seth trained Nathan Frazier. Okay.

And JD Blaze for now writes, Morning, gents. Hope all is well. That Ram episode was honestly refreshing and a joy to watch. Just throwing in my two cents. If I were to add a female, I'd go with Mariah May. And as far as a tag team, swipe right. They're like a level-up team. They're not even NXT. They're probably too green. They're probably too low. But they're very fun. Becky should do her own thing, in my opinion. I mean, she most likely will do, I think, for the time being.

But I really like the idea. When you pitched to me them being like the McMahon-Helmsley regime, I love that as an idea. And lovely mods have said, just shy of 34 minutes of total wrestling on Raw, according to Cage Man.

Cagematch.net. Fine. well if you can send the cage match.com it's going to give me the right web address um please keep getting in your chat uh chat gables to wrestletalk.com forward slash support or read out every single one over five us dollars and go over to patreon.com forward slash wrestle talk where you can watch loads of exclusive videos like this weekend on friday luke and i will be predicting wrestlemania 52 ludicrously far enough

But there's more things you can watch on the Patreon. Here it is. Do you want more WrestleTalk videos? From $6.50 a month you can get exclusive series of Monday Night War. and chairs, WrestleTalk Extra, and more. I just don't want anyone to get out. Uh-oh. Oh, what's the end of that sentence? Get all that by joining us over at patreon.com. People love that promo. They say, keep playing it. That's what I've heard.

Can I get some pops for the promo? It's a good promo. It makes us feel like a real streaming service. Let's get some love for the promo in the comments. like when i uh wwe got everyone to chant 9.99 for the network not these days with inflation or they uh made a pop song for the best of both worlds Right, this episode of Raw play-by-play recap opened with a video package. Interestingly, on WrestleMania, here's all the things that happened at WrestleMania.

But it wasn't really about what happened at WrestleMania. It was about the coverage of what happened at WrestleMania. They're a big company right now. They're so hot and people are talking about it. And that's the thing that they're most proud of.

everyone was shown arriving as normal and then just like we had on the european tour that wonderful five seconds of nothing before like just holding on the crowd in the arena before john cena's music it's really really well done I really appreciate that and he comes out he's got the WWE title on his ass when he had it on backwards I thought he was going to turn it around and reveal the spinner belt

that would have been good he had the same sort of presentation as mania so that just the black screen with john cena and white text scott no rock

at all. No. So I think let's just make our peace and move on from all that stuff. They've actually got even less dates to appear with now. Cena gets in the ring and the ring announcer, you know, is John Cena and Cena calls him in in like a really... he's not making a big deal of it just one finger come over here gives him a little note and the the ring announcer says well sorry that one that first one was disrespectful and does this huge

which gets him like the biggest baby face reaction because it was a cool thing to do and again what i like about that is that knowing that that was going to be the reaction cine used that as the impetus for the start of his promo which is like you guys are the worst

And you're everything that I said that you were. You were bullying me on Friday, yet you were cheering me on Sunday. You're cheering me again now. You were booing Cody Rhodes on Friday, and you were cheering for him then, and then you're booing him again now. You're booing him now. You don't know what you want.

And then he went one further. This one cut deep. He went, oh, is this the Raw After Mania crowd? This is to show you hijack, is it? You guys have got soft. And I was just like, oh, but we have. Because the Raw After Mania has not really felt like a thing for like... years now. WWE just killed it with bad booking over the course of a 10 year period.

And he said that, look, you fans don't mean anything to me. I've taken your best shots for the last 20 years. What makes you think that you can break me now? It's just great heel work. Yeah. A lot of the problem with the Cody match was the fact that The Rock wasn't. I think Cena is a champion, Cena's character. Anytime he's not wrestling, this is top tier stuff. And I love, love, love watching it. And it's why I think people are finding this Rock storyline so frustrating.

because the character you're doing here is not this soldier soul character that the rock set up which is again i i cannot believe anyone who would try and tell me to my face, this has been the plan all along because it fundamentally can't be. And that's not through backstage reports. That is me watching the product on TV because none of it really connects. It's like, no, no, they recast the mum in Fresh Prince of Ballet. Don't tell me it's the same person. Yeah.

And then he, I think this is such a genius addition to his storyline. This is the best bit of his whole thing. On the white text, on the black background, on the... John Cena produces the number 36 and he says 36 that's the number of dates I said at the start of this year that I'm

And already this year, I've done the Rumble. I've done Chamber. I did the European tour, two nights of WrestleMania. Every time he says one, it counts down by one. And we're left with 27. And he's just like, when that number hits zero. The professional wrestling timeline stops.

36 appears on the screen and I first thought that's not a lot of dates left that's the starting number and then he was just listing off the places that he's been boom it's counting down and counting down and i'm just watching this feeling like oh this is going wafer and it gets at 27 i was like

That is not a lot of that. And then he goes to the point like, and these aren't matches. These are appearances. You say I can't wrestle. I don't have to. I can just show up and do this. I want at least one week. He walks. looks at the screen it goes down by one drops the mic and that'd be so great just running down the clock that this whole like this line that the professional wrestling timeline stop That really got me excited in a comic book way. Absolutely. And I said...

feel like he's talking to James. I feel like they've got a WhatsApp group and they're like, you know, what do you think about this? Oh yeah, you should do that. Yeah. And the way to build tension throughout the year is this literal ticking clock. There is a massive... Room full of dynamite underneath WWE Universe headquarters. And we know that it's ticking down and someone has to defuse that or everything we love is gone. Yeah. And we know who it is.

Because he set it up in this promo. You already had your best shots with Cody Rowe. If that's the best shot, then he has to be the final shot. And he can do it by finally doing what he couldn't do at WrestleMania 41, which is crack him in the head with the world title. Yeah. But before then, we've got Randy Autumn. Yeah. So, OK, before we get to Randy.

The other thing I loved about Cena's promo, that whole, it's the end of the pro wrestling timeline. He even effectively said, this is the end of this WWE championship, which he's been talking about since before he won the belt.

Winning it was the hardest part. Now it's the easy bit for me. You had your best shot at me and Cody Rhodes, and now you're booing him. You're heartless. But this title, this title that was held by Bruno San Martino, held by Triple H, held by Stone Cold Steve Austin, held by Roman Reigns for a thousand days, done. and i'm taking it home and then you can crown a new champion it'll be a whole new timeline but it won't be as special i you know i i feel like cody

I don't know. They don't usually run a pay-per-view in December. So maybe it's this epic Netflix special of Raw where you've got to beat him, guys. Someone's got to beat him. It's the last one. It's his last date. And he walks out and the screen goes from one to zero. This is it. This is the last chance to get this done. I just want to see when the last Monday of the year is. Oh, it's the 29th. That's not as impactful, is it? But I think he did say that his last date was going to be in December.

Yeah. And then he tells you, get your cameras out now because this is the last time you're going to see John Cena in Las Vegas, the real world. And then from out of nowhere, Randy Orton appears. John Cena turns around and he goes, OS! Yeah. And Randy hits him with the arcade. Yeah, makes total sense. Of course. Look, we got 27. No one believes that Randy Orton is beating John Cena in 2025. You should absolutely do this feud. Just one sort of PLA in Cena's lap.

Yeah, better to do it right at the start. then it's the second to last one you're like well this is just filling time now when it's in randy's hometown as well like it makes the most sense it's um yeah look i said this when john cena first announced he was retiring in

2024 there's like 2025 is my final year and someone sent her an old chat that was like do you think he'll do one more match with randy orton i was like that's the last thing i want to see is him do a match with and like even more now having watched him do that match with cody rhodes i want to see an orton match less than than ever before because i was tired of seeing this match 15 years ago and i've got to watch it now in 2025 i am dreading this

match. I think the crowd will be up for it. They will do. I think it'll be really fun. The crowd will be great for this match. The in-ring action will be dog s*** and I am not looking forward to it in the least. This is not my childhood nostalgia. I have got zero attachment to the idea of John Cena vs Randy Orton. I've got nothing.

no love for it whatsoever. It actually gives me a headache. When I think of John Cena versus Randy Orton from that time, that was a time I didn't like Randy Orton at all and I didn't like John Cena. I actually really like them both now. yeah it gives me a headache i i've uh last 24 hours man i i'm really liking this idea Sina kills the title. Yeah, I wouldn't just resize it completely. They have to have the win. You have to have your endgame win.

Maybe you've got to have the Infinity War moment first. Is this the Infinity War where Cena wins or is the actual Thanos snap when Cena... kills the belt it's no the infinity war moment is the rest of this year we're going to be seeing the effects of the snap across this year with like that five-year gap that's between infinity war and end game that we don't see we get to watch that play out in real time as wwe becomes this desperate entity

that has to win back their title and save professional wrestling. I'm saying the snap is at the end of the year. I think the snap happened. The snap happened at WrestleMania. I'm not saying that's what they're doing. I'm just like, sometimes you look at stories.

uh particularly when you're writing stories at the start and you're like oh this is a really good idea and you're like but what's the idea that would be worse to all the characters because you know drama and tension and it's that it's that cena wins as the band Or you could do a bit where near that, like in the last month, he starts to become a good guy and he's like, please let me retire. And he retires and he vacates. I don't know if that's as interesting.

But yeah. Well, we'll see. I like chaos. For me, it's we've got the moment. casino won he beat our hero and he won this title and he is now slowly killing professional wrestling and we've got this doomsday countdown clock And it's going to have to take a Superman to come in and save the day. And he'll shout, whoa, really loudly. And he'll hit five crossroads and hit him with a belt shot. And he'll win that belt and save.

the key to now so apparently Cody's taken some time off for a little while which I think is a great idea I think it's a great idea can't miss you if you don't go away I don't think that there's any concern because I know that some people are like, oh, he got booed on SmackDown. He got booed at WrestleMania. I think that's just, those are edge cases. I think he will come back and he will be below. After that, the New Day are walking to the ring and Karrion Kross gives them a nice nod.

New Day get in the ring. They do. We've skipped over Liv Morgan and Raquel because we've already won. New Day do a little promo about, you know, say thank God for the New Day. They're the tag team champions. Alpha Academy interrupt with Maxine. Uh-oh. Doing Minute Maid sponsorship as well in there. Yeah. Yep, because that's what the tag division is on Raw. It's how can we get the sponsors happy.

Maxine's like, hey, look, last time you took on the Alpha Academy, they beat you in 60 seconds. That's the Minutemen thing. So you should have a match now. They're about to have a match, but who should return but Rusev? Yeah. Killing the tag division. Well, no, he killed Alpha Academy because, you know, their job...

It's not the... It's a cool return, I guess, in a way. Is it? Well, it's a cool... It's a moment. I mean, it happened. I can't tell you. Apart from Rusev walking out, I can't tell you what was cool about this. He hit his... He did it. he returned that's and that's all this was there for is just a moment i i think you could have done a way better version of this which i'll come on to later

But, you know, it's just like... Oh, do you not want to do it now? Does it tie into something else? It does tie into something else, yeah. Okay. He's back, and I think it's cool. He looks great. He looks in really good shape. It's just that it's not the most exciting way to bring him back because he's beating up Alpha Academy.

And I guess next week he'll have a match with Akira Tezzaro and he'll beat him quickly. And then I'll have a match with Otis and beat him quickly. But is he going for the tag titles? Is he in the tag team division? I thought it makes the new tag team champions look a bit wank. It made the tag belts themselves look like an afterthought. And to be honest, it makes Rusek. coming in his big like return thing what's the first big thing he does oh you're at the alpha academy level

It screams Andrade. Yeah, a little bit. People used to say this about Taz. The Out of Jadera podcast, in fact, made this very good point about Taz. Came in at Royal Rumble 2000 and, you know, taps out. And it's awesome. He's just beaten Kurt Angle. He was on this undefeated streak.

And then on Raw, he's quickly beating the boss man and he's quickly beating Prince Albert and he's quickly beating these guys. And before you know it, oh no, he's just feuding with them now. Like these aren't just enhancement guys that he's beating. Now he's just with the enhancement guys and he's locked in with them.

We're in the clubhouse with the judgment day and they're celebrating because they just won the tag belts as well. And Dom's intercontinental title, Finn walks in and everyone's a bit. Awkward, because Dom pinned you, apparently. And Finn said, hey, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. which someone pointed out in the comments of the news video today, they're still in Vegas.

And, you know, for all those people who thought that they're going to kick him out of the group and they're going to do a big angle on the Raw After Mania, this is the judgment day. He will be with this group till December. Eosky then came out, said she's the genius of the sky and the women's world champion and all that stuff. And Stephanie Becker's music hits. This is where Raw After Mania kicked in for me. This is, I would say, this is the moment when I really got in.

She said, well, I'm the NXT Women's Champion. And she wants to show Io respect. And she wants to fight the best of the best. And Io's like, well, I'm game.

And Pierce comes out and is like, well, does everyone else want to see the match? This actually ties into what we were talking about with Becky and we were talking about with Seth. This idea of making people boo you because you're a bad... master this you know the creative sort of quite he came out to be like whoa whoa whoa are we just gonna do this match now and the crowd boo him because they want to see this match

Unless you want to see it now and the crowd cheer massively because you're giving the fans what they want. Yeah, and there was a brief moment where there was a risk of it getting taken away. Absolutely. It was really good crowd work and laying out how they got to that.

And the match itself was really, really good. Awesome. I've got to admit, I never really fully invested in it because I just didn't believe there was going to be a finish. What I loved about this match is that, like you, I never believed there was going to be a finish. Io Sky is the Women's World Champion. Stephanie Vicar is literally defending her title tonight. So you're not going to pin Io. You're not going to pin Stephanie.

But the longer the match went, and because it was given a good amount of time, I did something like, oh, they might actually do a finish to this. And the second I had that thought, Roxana Perez appeared and caused the deacon. I was like, oh. more fool me for believing there was one can I just quickly make one point though because I did say this on the live reactions but I wanted to say this on a podcast

I'm really, really glad that Stephanie Fakura has got her little leg slam with her little face thing into the mat. And the crowd, like she like posed with it because it's the traveling crowd. pop massively for it because they they love that move and it happened at standard liver people loved that move when alex shelley used to do that move in tna the crowd chanted at him that's gay

He would do that move. And then he would pose and go, that was gay. That was gay. Because it was 2006. And I like that here, 20 years on, she's doing that move. It's just a traditional wrestling move. And people are like, that's a cool move. Yeah, it showed the crowd knew who she was, which is really strong.

But yeah, as you said, there was a light Fight Forever chant from the crowd. Spanish fly from Io off the top rope. Really good stuff. But then Roxanne Perez comes in out of nowhere, hits Io. It's a DQ. The curve's looking confused. I'm like... Is there another heel faction getting formed? And then Julia pops up. She attacks Stephanie. And it's Rhea Ripley with a black eye who ran down to Sabio Sky. And then she... I'm coming for that. Because Ria never got pinned at Mania.

And I guess Bianca can now just go back to SmackDown to get involved in the Jade Naomi stuff. Yeah, so Rhea, Io, our direction for Backlash, and then I think the NXT thing was just a nice cameo. It's a Rafter Mania cameo thing. It's exactly what you should be doing on the roster. The idea being that if a lot of people are tuning in for this, maybe they'll tune in for NXT on Tuesday.

ju so got a video package on his whole career next which was it was excellent it was really cool to see that and then he got a long entrance i didn't think it was as much i've seen again i've seen bigger the moment on the yeeting thing has passed and it's not as cool as it once was but now they put the belt on him and they've got a sort of like so they did it like five times in this segment and each time it was getting less than that

And I pointed this out to you when I was looking at the WWE YouTube numbers they posted up for clips on Raw. The least watched video is Jey Uso doing it. like that was like under the you know the tag title stuff the only thing that had less views and not by much was the el grande americano video It's not as over as it once was. Sami Zayn came out pretty quickly. Jay didn't really...

of a promo, apart from I'm going to be a champion. He was so gassed when he was doing it. I kind of miss this era of Jey Uso when he does so much of an entrance that he's always going, I'm here, Raid of Hennessy, your city! Sami Zayn hugged Jay, which was really nice. He says he's missed the last eight weeks, but he had to come back right here to be the first to look Jay in his eye.

I'm proud of you. Some really nice stuff. And then Sammy said, let's do another yeet. I'm like, Jesus Christ. Well, another one. Skip, skip, skip. But. They start celebrating. Sammy's on one turnbuckle, Jay's on the other. Sammy hops off, and then there is just this brief moment of Sammy standing behind Jay, who's still on the turnbuckle. You can see it on the camera.

Like there is an intake of breath because another heel turn, right? And then Jay just hops off and they look at each other and they hug. You're like, oh, that's what I live for sometimes in wrestling. It's the little glances that I know in three, six months time, that's going to be the start of a storyline. It's the hangman page. Holding onto the ropes after the tag match with Kenny. My favourite one is Macho Man, just a little... What now? Why are you holding my wife?

hulk's like hey it's all right okay okay uh but then jimmy like a really good way to diffuse that tension Hey, and Jimmy Uso's come down now. They're all celebrating. And that's how the segment ended. I thought this was, you know, I'm not into Jay Uso. I'm just not. But this was really well done. Should have done the Russo return. The Roos have returned to go into a World Heavyweight Championship feud with Jay. Yeah. Why not?

Well, it's, you know, the only thing that this segment didn't really do is establish what is the next... like challenger the immediate it was the immediate next challenger for jay unless of course it It's Sammy, which is, you know, quite an obvious choice to go with, but a good choice to go with. And more terrifyingly, Jimmy. I don't think anyone could look at that WrestleMania 40 match and be like, now this should be a world title program.

But if you re-debute Rusev here and he came in and just decimated all three of them and locked the accolade in, it establishes him as feeling like a really big deal more than just doing it to Otis. Yeah, you're totally right. We get a clip of Kathy Kelly interviewing Logan Paul after Mania. I don't really know what he said. This was...

And then it's Jackie with AJ Styles right now backstage. And he talks about wanting to move on from the Logan Paul feud. And that's when Karrion Kross storms in and says, no, you shouldn't have done that. You should have taken the brass knucks. And AJ says, look. That's old me. I don't want to be a cheater anymore. If you want to be angry, don't take me down with you. And Karrion's like, oh, I will. Yeah. So this, yeah, this is off the back of Karrion Cross cutting a promo, a shoot, a work.

on the Post Mania podcast with Sam. And if you haven't seen it, it's about three minutes long. It's excellent. So good. And he really blurs the lines of fiction and reality. He's talking a lot about his frustrations with not getting more pushes on screen because he's doing everything. He's been the good soldier. Which was advice given to him by Goldberg. But then he weaves it in with like, and that's why AJ should have.

Use the brass knucks to win this kayfabe wrestling contest. I didn't ask for the match with Randy at WrestleMania. I'm happy for Joe, but all the work that I've done, I'm not getting on this WrestleMania card either. And like, what's being a good soldier done for me? It got me released. And then I came back and I was a good soldier. What has it got me? Absolutely nothing.

It was this incredible promo. And he ends it by saying, and this is a message for you. This is a message for, you know, the guy in the suit in the production truck. Go F yourself. It's from Killer Cross. And he stormed.

And I think it was so awesome. And clearly, a lot of people have seen it and talked about it online because he got an amazing reaction on this show. Got a great reaction on SmackDown as well when he was in the Battle Royal and got very much, the crowd was booed when he got eliminated. But I don't feel that this is actually tying into that. Because that really was like a, I'm now killer cross. But on this show, he was still carrying.

And then he cut back to Michael Cole who was like, he made some very choice comments on a podcast that we condemn and we do not agree with as WWE. They just sort of instantly moved on. It honestly has felt like a non-canon event. I don't know. I feel like something's building for Cross. I think Triple H obviously really likes him.

Maybe this is more hope than anything. I hope he gets an... proper meaty substantial storyline and a bit of a push coming out of this and i think he will and i'm not saying that this it's going to have no But I think this segment would have happened even if he hadn't done the shoot promo. And it would have played out the exact same thing because he's been part of this story for a while with AJ Styles. So he was always going to go into another feud with AJ Styles.

But what I mean by that, they feel like the promo itself is not part of this storyline. Oh, yeah. It was just a very, and it's such an awesome promo. And I really do implore people to go out and check it out. I really think it was a missed opportunity to not do more about it considering it was creating such a buzz. Where they did a better blend work and shoot on this actual episode was they come back from break and Gunther is just yelling at Michael Cole.

And Michael Cole, probably unwisely, says, hey, it's not me. Oh, Michael Cole. What a dick thing to say. And Gunther goes to choke Cole. McAfee tries to shove him off. Gunther shoves him. He grabs Cole again. He's going to choke him. Pat McAfee saves him. puts the sleeper on Pat McAfee and makes him, well, not really pass out. Pat never really, never passed out. Loads of officials are there. Pat McAfee's podcast guys who are in the front row. They've hopped the barricade.

I thought this felt so real in a wrestling context, especially because the commentary guys weren't doing commentary because they were trying to stop this thing from happening or actually being involved in it. I can't believe they turned Gunther Babyface. But in all seriousness, where was this during the world title reign? Where's this guy been while he was world champion? I don't know what happened. I have no idea what happened from last August through to last week.

what the hell have they been doing with Gunther? Because they know what to do. They knew what to do with the Intercontinental title run. They knew what to do with the... the tournament, the King of the Ring tournament. They know what to do the night after WrestleMania concludes. He had one moment when he choked out Jimmy. That's it.

But the rest of the time, you give me subpar... self-doubting bird wheel gunther yeah remember when they were gonna turn in baby face for a couple of weeks because he respected finn balor yeah and he was like ludwig kaiser yeah okay that's a cool part of my act you're not around anymore they have just done i don't know Yet they have systematically taken everything away from him during that World Heavyweight Championship run.

So thank God they're doing something here and hopefully he can have a match against Pat McAfee at Backlash and he can kill him. And that's how you write out Pat to do College Game Day or whatever it is. september actually yeah this this felt like a a very good reset point that gunther sorely needed it is just a shame that it's cursed come now that he is no longer the world champion uh i'd imagine this will actually write gunther off tv for about it this will happen

because Michael Cole is making an official complaint, more or less, really, to Adam Pearce. And I think this will allow Gunther to go away. Go home and be a dad for a bit, and then he can come back later on this year, and maybe that's when they can do the Pat McAfee match to leave. for the sports. I feel like you need to capitalize on this angle sooner. Do the bullying of Michael Cole.

I thought, I think Cole should get a match. I know I've seen him wrestle and it was one of the worst experiences of my life. One of the worst WrestleMania matches ever. Hey, he goes backstage and Pierce is like, take the wrestler night off. I think you've got a broken nose. Michael Cole says, I'm not going to let some bully stop me from doing.

And he marches back down to the ring and the crowd go wild for this guy. Chanting for Michael Cole. He became one of the most over babyfaces of the promotion. It was brilliant. It was really good. It really felt like that. Oh, you are the moral force of good.

for this whole company. And he then basically went on a bit of a tear against management of Raw being like, look, I'm a journalist. I'm supposed to be able to say my feelings about this. I can't have wrestlers attack me for voicing my opinions. And Joe Tessitore on commentary, like he's filling in. He's.

Trying to take Pat's place, but he's not prepared. His shirt's untucked. He hasn't got his tie on. I thought this... I always hold up the New Age Outlaws pushing Terry Funk and Mick Foley off the stage on Raw in the dump truck as like the coolest way to do a wrestling angle or traditional wrestling.

in the broadcast makes it feel like oh no wait this is actually real yeah and you went you guys went too far yeah and and this felt like that and i thought it was brilliant yeah i thought this was a exceptionally good angle And credit to Pat McAfee, who I don't often have a lot of glowing words for, sold it very well. I think he should have done a stretcher.

It's too hard for that. I know there's the, well, it's a sleeper, you just sort of wake up afterwards. Yeah, but not if you've been asleep for a minute. I'm pretty sure that's brain damage territory. I thought he did a fairly good job of this. He's standing up afterwards. I know he's going down on one knee. I would have preferred him to be completely dead, though. Yeah, that's fair. I thought they did a pretty good job.

and I very much enjoyed this angle I think Gunther goes well After that, we got Dominic Mysterio in his first Intercontinental title defense against Penta.

now by the way well also not a big deal I mean really this was actually just a backdrop for more of the Michael Cole angle because Michael Cole wasn't really talking about this match at all he was just talking about what happened with Pat McAfee and asking for updates on Pat's who's now the trainers room so Penza is not only just losing matches he's also the least important thing in a match but he's taking WWE by storm I get told that every single time he's coming out for a match

I love Dom as champion. It's going to be interesting to see how they make this title reign good because, you know, he's never been presented as really credible in the ring. Finn tried to interfere, it sort of backfired, and it took a returning JD McDonough to crutch Penta on the top rope for... and he retained and then we got an El Grande Americano video package and then the main event angle And that's the show. Really one of the best wrestled raw after manias.

garden i don't know how long it's been years and years and years and years and years since we've had a raw after menu that has felt this exciting um this was you know they talk about in that in aw like the restore the feeling uh thing which they kind of hammered home a little bit too much last

this is a restore the feeling show of hey do you remember when we used to be really excited about raw after manias like we used to do live reactions to them and then we stopped doing them because wwe stopped trying

so and we and there's one of those times i was like i kind of wish i had done like i wish i had stayed up to watch the show because it was really really exciting and now when you come to next year people will be like hey do you remember how awesome it was last year also i think as well i think wdb needed this little shot in the eye

because there's kind of a lot of downbeat feelings about WrestleMania. And all of a sudden, it's almost like the downbeat feelings never happen because everyone's just back and excited about this. I'd add I'm way more excited for SmackDown as well. Yeah, absolutely. Right, before we get into our remaining chat gables, so last call for those, I'd say a big thank you to our wonderful Pledge Hammers on Patreon, patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk.

like Ross Pooper Scooper Cooper. Rue the day, Rory Oobrian Kelly. The man with the scoop. Sean. Hear me roar. Zero to lion. The torrential tribute, Spencer Vaughn Hagen. The pharaoh, Stephen Massaferro. The incredible Tarzo. The people's broker, Ash Ajax. Keep rolling. The Rick Peck. Commentator of the century, Vince Phillips. He clashed at the castle, William Wallace. And lastly, for this Hall of Fame class on Tuesday, the 22nd of April, Willie Biggie Singleton.

Just before we go into the Ultra Chats, just very quickly. You know, we had that one yesterday that was like, could you imagine if the main event of WrestleMania 17... had The Rock and Austin and then Busta Rhymes came down and it's been in the main event. And we thought that was quite funny, but it hit me as I was going home yesterday. Oh, no, the actual apt comparison is if...

Fred Durst came down. Yeah. Because they did the theme song. Could you imagine if Fred Durst came down to interfere? I can. I weirdly can. We've got to speed through these chats. We've got a load and I've got to go very shortly. But ESPN have just confirmed that The Rock will be on the Pat McAfee show. I can show up for things interesting I bet you he'll show up to be like his plan all along Geek of Arabia writes it's a long one it feels like they've live chatted

Them watching Raw. So here's just a bunch of thoughts. I had a real-time realisation that Becky was going to turn on Lyra as I was trying to logic out the point of removing Bayley from Mania, adding Becky winning the titles only to lose them back the next night. Control-C, Control-V, Jade Naomi, but over a weekend. Yep, that's what I said on Monday yesterday, in fact. I stopped what I was doing when they turned the lights out for the return of Rusev. Turns out it was Rusev Day.

Io vs Vaker was a superb match, marred only by the finish, but it made sense. I don't know about that. Sami's back with KO out. It makes sense for him to return now. Jay's celebration dragged a good while, but I'm letting it slide because he deserves it. Carrion versus Logan feud, maybe. Could be interesting. Kross will be the de facto face, surely.

Gunther choking out Cole and Pat was not on my bingo card. Holy hell. Penta versus Dom was great. The crowd was fully split between them in the best way. Penta will get his IC title eventually, but Dom winning it at WrestleMania was absolutely the correct decision, and we're seeing the results of that here.

begging the question, what to do with the judgement day? With JD returning instead of impo- With JD returning, instead of imploding, the group is semi-organically turning into a babyface Finn's the only one unhappy, and I don't think he can implode the group on his own anymore, so cut him loose.

This has been a great show. Makes me feel much better about night two falling flat at the end. Maybe we should, as the kids say these days, let Triple H cook. Nope, nope. Let's not, let's not get, let's not go down this rabbit hole. Good time. No alcohol required. We shouldn't just forgive bad booking because they then did a good show the next day. Yeah, that screams, no, it's a good relationship to be in. He bought me flowers.

Big O! Look, I know he created the group, but WWE really needs to stop edging the fans with this Judgment Day Finn Balor split. Also, he didn't create the group, Edge did. Yeah, Edge did. It wasn't even one of the first people to join it. It was Damien Priest and Rhea Ripley. Yeah. Also, shout out to Gunther for making it so I didn't have to listen to Pat McAfee's commentary for the last half hour.

Benzy, Beansy. So after what happened on Sunday, I really need somebody to make a parody version of Where Is The Love by the Black Eyed Peas, but with The Rock instead of Love. Keep up the great work, guys. Jam that jam hashtag. Where is the rug? Christopher Hines. Hi, gents. I really enjoyed Raw. The RKO to Cena got me hyped, but then I remembered we're going to have to watch Cena versus Orton.

in 2025. And that made me sad. Also, shout out to the crowd for doing Booker T's ad-lib spot during the Vicar's head scissor face plants. so Booker T when he does it he goes with each one he is the worst commentator in all of professional wrestling and I might even go as far to say he's the worst commentator wow he is awful i had to watch parts of nxt standard liver on mute because booker t's i was like i can't he is just dread

The mayor of Painesville, Dan. Hello, Luke. Hello, Ollie. Hope you are doing well. Being there live was awesome. I started the Fight Forever chant for Sky the Kerr. Oh, sorry, that didn't really catch on. And the finish happened immediately afterwards. To me, Vaqueria is the next big thing. International fans are much more enthusiastic, though. Find your passion.

Mike Elrath, I really enjoyed this Ram. I'm honestly all for Sami being Jay's first challenger for the belt. Could make for a great match. The only thing that irked me was Gunther choking McAfee. They better not be teasing Gunther versus Pat at Backlash. They will do Gunther versus... They have to at this point, right? I think Gunther versus Goldberg. That's what we're building.

Psychic stash. The only way for the El Grande Americano story to end is for the other luchadors to travel to the deepest, darkest parts of South America to bring back the only one who will stop El Grande Americano. El Generico. I hate to be this guy. I think I've said this on shows previously. The El Generico gimmick was 10 plus years ago.

I think it's time we moved on. I don't think we're getting El Generico in WWE. Unless there's some kind of gimmick battle royal in the future. Throw away! Throw away! For the first time I watched a WWE Big Show. For the first time I watched WWE Big Show. Oh, right. The first time I watched WWE, Big Show was on his knees begging for his job. I stayed for a few years after that, but fell away in 2015-16, got bit back in around Punk's return, and just wanted to thank you both for the laughs.

I'm filling in the gaps. Oh, you're very welcome. Thank you. Kazoo, heal Cena and face Orton in 2025. Heal Becky, potential... Sammy heel term, Rusev's return, EO versus Stephanie, Gunther killing commentators, Dom taking over judgment day and a new dangerous alliance with Brom Breaker.

Talk about a return to four. Some guy. After that main event match, I have no interest in seeing a long Cena title reign. It's not going to happen. But Autumn wins at Backlash or at the longest Punk at Money in the Bank. Cody can get his win back, no title at SummerSlam, and we can finish with face Cena. I think Cena's holding his belt.

especially the way he set up the ticking time bomb yeah I think it would actually be disappointing now despite the fact we're going to be getting some really bad main event matches for the rest of the year they've set up such a good ticking time bomb the brilliantly named Beef Stump. Exactly the raw WWE needed. Crazy how good Triple H can be when he doesn't have to accommodate Dwayne.

Jonathan Cantrez, what's going on, lads? See what happens when Dwayne doesn't find button creative. You get a great show. I enjoy the beginning of this new dangerous alliance, and I think it will only be bigger with Becky and even a debuting Jeff Cobb. Yeah. Well, you know, Triple H does have his drawbacks as well, which means he books too long. Becky's in case it's a point. Oh, my thing's...

Akiko Sonata here said guys this show ruled I only got to tune in for the last hour but wow Brombreaker joining Seth and Heyman is absolutely awesome and finally the icy towel is being used to elevate people again Dirty Dom for world champ Oh, and I know the match won't be great, but imagine the heat when Cena cheats Orton in St. Louis. Absolute theatrical goodness. Yeah, Cena wins, LOL. Italian Josh here said, hi, lads. I think Randy is a smart choice.

People right now are too attached to Cena because he's leaving, so you need someone fans will not boo. Also, Cole in a backstage story segment was not my 2025 bingo card. Plus, put Maxine on the mic more often. Wow, lots of love. She was good, actually, yeah. She was. Cyber Commander, what do you guys think of the idea that Judgment Day is becoming a group of heels that people can be put in and taken out?

to always have a top-heeled faction that generates new stories. It's the only reason I have for them still existing. The problem is that I don't think they've ever generated a new story. They've just done the same story for four years. Charles Berg. Okay, hear me out. New Sev Day. Is this because of the New Day segment and Rusev joins them? And their tagline is now, thank God for the New Day. So who better than God's favorite champion?

Nightlord Jargon here said three straight days of podcast. Thank you, WrestleTalk, for your Mania coverage and get some well-needed rest after these eventful days. Jam that jam. That's for all last night. Do you think it should have been Rusev and Alistair Black that joined Rollins to instantly shoot them into the main event picture? They were both already well-known and figured it would work, but I'm glad it was Bron regardless. I love Rusev. I love Alistair Black.

They are, to an extent, yesterday's news. And Bronn is a really exciting current star on the rise. Corey here said, hi guys. Staying up until midnight here in Australia to watch you guys live. I had a thought regarding Cena's countdown that he beats his final opponents on his last day before he leaves and then we have the money in the bank cash in breaker maybe. Oh, interesting.

You know what? I really like that because most people are going to be expecting that win. I mean, people might figure the money in the bank thing, I suppose, but it's kind of like when Punk was signing with WWE. And then he wins the ring of honor championship. Yeah. And like he signs his WWE contract on the ring of honor title. People went into that show not expecting Punk to win the belt and then he did.

And then you can also get a sort of hardcore title, 24-7 title rules, final few weeks of John being really scared he's going to get cashed in on at any moment. Badger Sprite said, I'm convinced they're setting up Drew versus Punk. A Drew vs. Punk-esque Becky vs. Bayley feud. Where Bayley represents Becky Hogan, bumping her off mania because Becky's the big star and Bayley is the good soldier. Bayley is playing up in interviews that she may leave WWE. Well, according to...

Fightful Select, she signed a new deal like early last year. says luke ollie this roar is awesome trips planting a seed this early when hayman mentioned till wrestlemania 42 new day is now a bad is badass too rusev is reigning terror see you guys hayman is making a faction uh don callous 2.0 let's go rock f off don't interfere no just interfere occasionally Yeah, and also Heyman had a faction long before Don Callis was the jackal.

Not John Cena. Hey, guys. What about... what are we about to get the inverse of Randy DQing himself to retain against John Cena since John can't wrestle also the meat division with Rusev Seamus Drew Cobb Stroman Bronson Gunther is going to be crazy Kevin here says, Luke, I'm so happy I won't have to hear this Travis song, Scott. WWE, have you heard of video packages? Well, have you heard of the right button? Skip.

I never saw Finn smile that much during Dom's entrance since Vince had the book and told him to smile a lot. He can't wait for 25 minutes of Cena vs. Orton. The funniest thing on this show was security preventing Pat McAfee's crew from interfering to help Pat. while not doing anything to stop Gunther choking Pat out. Worst security ever. But we can all agree that a babyface move for Gunther. Overall, despite the lack of the in-ring action, it was a very fun show and a very needed Wrath of Mania.

sammy teens can turn was nerve-wracking the main event segment was perfect best ram in a while also excellent video package for jay uso hashtag team bottom team bottom Lodgebomb here said, Ram always reminds me of the Dolph Ziggler Cashion. He's been my guy since I was eight. I'm almost 19 now.

How do you think a two-night WrestleMania would affect the PG era, mainly for guys like Dolphin Rider, who were always barely off the card, and Punk would have been a Mr. Night One main event? I mean, Dolphin Rider still would have been off the card. Francisco Christopher, we got set. They would have been in the sponsored, the branded content match. Yeah, or in the backstage.

Francisco Christopher we got Seth Bron and we get someone like Trick Williams that could be good as well Burley Rob Burwell Nathan Frazier makes total sense as he was purposely signed to WWE instead of AEW because of Seth Seth has trained him at his school too I would love to see heel Frazier in the group as long as you do it on TV because You can't just have it be like, oh, well, of course, yeah, because he trained. You need to have like an actual storyline reason on TV.

also splits up Fraxium which we don't want to do Geordie bus driver Harry this is one of the best nights I've seen in a long time it got me really excited for what's to come this year only thing that needs to earn my trust is seen in Orton everything else I'm excited

Holy moly, says, amazing Ram. Very entertaining. Strangely enough, if Seth is Triple H, Bron is Batista, I could see Sol Rooker playing the Randy role. She's full of potential and has the demeanor that reminds me of a Randy Orton and should try a different style. I don't know. I think... I don't look at Sol Ruger and think Randy Orton. Well, she has got like a cutter finish. Yeah, but it's really exciting. Yeah, she takes bumps. She's not like Randy Orton at all.

Hepsy said, I wish MGF was available to join Heyman and Rollins. By the way, this is the wise man faction that Ollie's been talking about. The wise guy. EO's guy. Hey guys, I've got to say WWE finally pulled off an all-time great Raw after Mania. Nothing says WWE like capitalizing on organic movement incredibly late. Raw was WrestleMania night three. Say it with me.

Gantar said, this Rams reboot was much needed, but didn't take away the bad taste in my mouth that WrestleMania left. Horrendous commentary. Too many adverts. unconsistent mid-card storytelling. Hashtag, please leave Pat in the cone zone. Cheers, guys. Jam that jam. The cone zone!

Mario Q. Fantasy booking. Reigns goes after J's world title out of jealousy and wins it. Triple H thinks this will elevate the title. J joins Rollins Heyman's faction and Reigns and Rollins feud for the title all year. Leads to Rock and Reigns at WrestleMania 42. And then Rollins would still be a heel. Jay would be a baby face. If Jay joins the faction, he would turn heel. Reigns is only going after Jay's world title out of jealousy. Oh, I see what you're saying, yeah.

I don't know. That doesn't work for me. Darren Knight said, so I know you said Cody to beat Cena. Does he do that as a Money in the Bank winner? Or does Money in the Bank winner cash in on Cena's last date? Or do they cash in on the world title? I think... they'll get rid of the men's briefcase immediately. So it isn't a thing. I didn't do it on Jay. I think a heel wins it and cashes in on Jay.

Your favorite manga. Won a big up Killer Cross' promo on the Sam podcast. Yes, it's a work, but love the passion that he showed. Regarding the Becky heel turn, what if the people keep cheering her like what happened a couple of years back when she turned heel? That backfired badly. That was different, though. That was a different time where they wanted her to be a baby face.

I don't think we know what we want from Becky yet. I think we just wanted to do a good story. I agree. Maddie Rock here said, this has to be the best Rafter Mania since 34. So glad they're making an effort to make these shows mean something. I don't think Becky should join the group. Struck between Ethan Page, Carmella, or even Elia. Let's hope SmackDown is as great. I think it will be. We're going to get the Alistair Black return of the very least.

Becky turning on Lyra will do absolute wonders for the IC belt. With Becky now going for the title, it feels huge. Add in Bailey down the road and it will feel big time. Far better than Ivy Nile-Raquel and even though I love her, Dakota. The title needs stars. Laurencian2004 says, with Cody presumably having a break, it's time to make Io the ace of the promotion.

She is genuinely better than everyone right now. And some more names that could work in this dangerous alliance, Jordan Grace, Jacob Fatu, Andrade Bianca, Rhea and Elie. I don't see Ilya in that mix. I think be careful of just putting all your favorites in one faction. Agreed. It needs to have a dynamic that works. He's cool. Put him in the group. But yeah, and I actually agree. I think EO is better. Texas Q's, I'm with Oli. Cena walking away with a belt equals Cena losing at WrestleMania 39.

Sorry, yeah, Cody losing at Mania 39. Cena's final night. It's a last chance gauntlet. Top faces Avengers steal team up. Tensions rise as each one falls. Cena wins and the final shot is Cena smiling as the counter hits zero. But then, okay, here is why I don't like it and here's why I push back on it. Whoever is the champion after that is going to feel lesser than.

Because it is going to be... That's a 2026 problem. That we just have a naff WWE champion now. This paper champion that's not an actual proper world champion. Yeah, I haven't figured out how to do the next... but I think it's a great episode you are the rock and it was the plan all along

Colonel EKM, with limited dates, Cena should threaten to take the summer off Money in the Bank. That's almost two months then until SummerSlam, Evolution is the pay-per-view in between. That gives Punk some urgency to beat him at Money in the Bank, but Cena wins and exits through the bank.

Michael Pellegrini, in all honesty, watched both nights of Mania last night. Didn't take long. Lots of skips. The finish of the main event felt flat to me because last year set up the expectation that Cody has friends to help. But where were they? Big fan of Oli, though. Go Oli. Oh, oh, thank you. Yeah, I should have shown up for Cody.

Marty El Charador, I now need a break from wrestling after this awful Mania main event and I've been boring seeing it as champion again. Also, there are too many sponsors slash ads in every show. It affects the products. What do you guys think? See you in a couple of months. Thanks for your content. Oh, well, you can still watch us. Yeah, we'll keep you up to date. Yeah, there's way too many sponsors and ads in the show in a way that encroaches on the creative.

But I enjoyed Ram and I enjoyed a lot of WrestleMania. So don't give up just yet. See how it plays out in the next couple of days. Phil Skelly said, I have a chronic illness that leaves me stuck at home a lot. You guys and the channels have been a big part of keeping me entertained and distracted from the pain. Thanks for the continued fun. Also, excited to see the summer of Dirty Dawn. Best of luck to you, Phil. I hope you feel better and we're glad that we can find something.

And lastly here, Scott W says, just got back from WWE and working on a killer wrestling interview in the next week for my first WrestleMania. Love you guys. Be kind to... Lovely. What a way to finish. Yes, absolutely love it. Let's see the poll. Let's end this poll and see what you thought of the show. And it was 83% thumbs up, 14 in the middle. Damn, that is high.

Well, thank you very much. Please go to patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk to get even more videos if you've not had enough from this weekend from us. But for now, I've been Oli Davis. It's been Luke going DAD. Jam that jam. Jam that jam. We will all support WrestleTalk!

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