Raw recap and reactions: Ain’t no other Man

Chad Gable gives answers, Damian Priest operates alone, and we crown a new champion on the latest Monday Night Raw.

The Next Level

There’s a lot of Judgement Day drama this week, so we’re going to hit it all right here. While not quite the spine of the show, it certainly ran the course of an important through line with more than a few twists and turns. Let’s get into it, shall we?

Everything started with Jey Uso. Not a Judgment Day member but he’s important to the story. Jey opened the show with nothing but his championship match on his mind. For him, proving that he is everything he says he is (Main Event and all) remains the most important thing in his life. That’s when Damian Priest’s music played. The World Heavyweight champ had nothing but kind words for Jey, reasserting the respect he showed last week before his crew jumped Jey. Damian didn’t keep it all friendly since, ya know, he’s him and he’s the champ. But he’s also the champ so a little arrogance is A-OK.

Then everything turned sideways when JD McDonagh showed up for another sneak attack. He failed, because he’s JD McDonagh, and Damian caught a Superkick to the chin because of it. Jey meant that shot for JD but the Irishman moved quickly and the champ caught a stray. Jey apologized in his own hilarious way and left the ring quickly.

Later, the champ was rightly furious at JD. Besides the fact that he didn’t ask for JD’s help, JD also screwed it up. You can’t show unwelcome ambition then fail because your planning skills resemble that of Wil E. Coyote’s. Even worse, the dynamite blew up in the top dawg’s face, which only compounds the mistake. The drama got thicker when Dirty Dom showed up with news: Santos Escobar is replacing him in a tag match against Andrade & Ricochet. Continuing Dom’s nasty habit of not telling anyone his plans, this came as a complete surprise to JD and Damian. Damian made it clear that he doesn’t need their help. He didn’t need it last week and he doesn’t need it now. He also told JD, Dom, and Santos that they better take care of business because he’s tired of the crew taking more L’s than Method Man & Redman on 4/20. I’m editorializing that last part, obviously.

Then there’s Andrade, who says he’s Judgment Day’s biggest problem. He didn’t join their group because they only wanted to use him and he’s nobody’s worker.

That set the stakes for the tag match. Lots of pressure on JD & Dom for different reasons.

And of course, JD & Santos loss. They looked good together in moments and if anything, the match made me want more of Andrade vs. Santos, but again, the point is that no matter what they did, they didn’t win. More importantly to our tale, JD took the pin.

Then this happened:

Well, he said it. They need him more than he needs them. There’s clearly beef they need to cook and next week’s six-man tag won’t help matters. Like I said last week, something is off with the crew with Rhea away. Maybe this is their way of ending things or at least pushing out Damian, and creating something new in its wake. Much like another group fissure you’ll read about later, it feels like the right time.

Ain’t No Other Man

We got a new Women’s World champ! Why didn’t I lead with that even though it’s in the headline? Well, because the Battle Royal to crown said champ was kinda meh. Besides Becky Lynch getting her hands on the championship she wanted a couple weeks ago, the most notable moments came when Maxxine eliminated Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell. Quite the revenge for her and it felt good seeing her get some justice.

Nią dominated, as usual, and almost put Becky out of the match with a Power bomb through the commentary table. But it came down to Becky, Nia, and Liv Morgan. Becky & Liv eliminated Nia when they combined their powers, then Becky dispatched Liv.

Very meh match that came with the usual Battle Royal chaos but just didn’t run smoothly. Battle Royals are hit or miss with me; this one was a huge swing at the plate that missed the ball entirely.

Becky is a good pick given what happened to Rhea, even if I wanted new-ish blood. But I get it. She’s got two obvious opponents in Liv and Nia. I bet Liv gets the first shot since her revenge tour rolls on to a city near you.

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B-Sides

Sportsmen

It all came down to this. Actually, it all starts with this. Awesome Truth defended their tag team championships against DIY. And the match started with multiple shows of respect between Johnny Wrestling and R-Truth. They dapped each other up, Johnny applauded Truth’s agility and acrobatics, and everything seemed very copasetic. That was the perfect way to start this standard tag match between two teams who fought together and call each other friends.

Once the competitive juices started flowing, the match took on a different feel. Johnny came to win but not as much as his partner. Tommaso Ciampa. He didn’t wrestle any differently but everything feels different with Tommaso. Even when he beckoned Johnny to sit on the apron and pat themselves on the back, a disrespectful move, seemed extra disrespectful given their relationship with the tag champs.

The third act is when everything went wild and both teams shelled out their best stuff. Johnny surprised Truth with a Superkick, followed by a Pedigree from Tommaso. And somehow, someway, Truth kicked out. The frustration on Tommaso’s face said it all. He knew that might be their best shot and they blew it. They later followed that with a Meet in the Middle on Truth, but even that wasn’t enough as Miz broke up the three count. The funny thing, well, not that funny if you’re DIY, is Tommaso looked for Miz during Johnny’s pin attempt. But he faced the wrong direction and Miz snuck in the proverbial back door.

That gave the champs a window for the Truth Crushing Finale, which was all she wrote.

Miz & Truth extended their hands and Johnny reciprocated. But Tommaso walked away. Now, given his history, this shouldn’t shock anyone. There’s nothing more important to that man than gold. And coming so close to winning some, along with all that frustration from not having any on his waist after this long, something had to give. When the rubber hit the road he burned it, along with a friendship.

Does this splinter DIY? Possibly. I do think breaking them up is the move. Tommaso is better as a heel and this whole kumbaya thing with everyone just doesn’t suit him. Like I said, this felt like the beginning of a thing rather than the end of it.

Imperial Attack

GUNTHER is back! He declared himself for King of the Ring. The New Day interrupted and Xavier declared himself for the King of the Ring to defend his crown and get another one. Eventually this war of words led to a match between New Day and IMPERIUM. But that’s not the story here. Not even a little bit of the story. New Day wrestled Giovanni Vinci & Ludwig Kaiser in a fashion they usually do. Meaning they walked away with the W, embarrassed IMPERIUM, and pissed off GUNTHER. The Ring General threw a chair at the barricade like a toddler mad at his cereal bowl, then gave Ludwig the death stare.

GUNTHER stormed off and left his mates in the ring. Ludwig consoled Giovanni and became very tender with him. He kissed his forehead multiple times. For anyone who’s seen The Godfather, just one of those kisses said enough. It signaled this:

Then this:

Ludwig sauntered off and met GUNTHER backstage at gorilla. He had a few words for the IMPERIUM leader, who smiled at his soldier’s handiwork and ruthlessness.

This was a long time coming. A very long time coming. And this feels like the right time to severe Giovanni from IMPERIUM given the draft, GUNTHER losing the championship, and the fact that he and Ludwig feel like a barely functioning tag team. GUNTHER’s reign was the glue that held them together. Without that, and with the tag team stacking L’s, what else is there?

I imagine Giovanni goes on the shelf for a while before making a beeline towards Ludwig when he comes back. That might be a grudge match wroth watching.

Backstabber

From one friendship to another. Drew McIntyre got on the microphone and focused on his usual obsession: CM Punk. It’s Punk’s fault he lost, Damian could never beat him in a fair fight, and he never got his rematch. Life is so unfair for WWE’s Malcolm in the Middle.

Then Sheamus’ music hit and business picked up. They talked the way only friends can talk to one another. Sheamus kept it real and told Drew about himself. It’s his fault he loss and he doesn’t understand why his friend keeps blaming everyone else. In a very petulant moment, Drew shot back, “It is their fault!” That’s a very telling and good character moment from a man doing really dope work. Drew understands this iteration of his character so well that things like that just happen. It’s a small moment but one I really liked.

Then things got really personal when Drew did this:

To quote a famous Clown Prince of Crime, even to a guy like me that’s cold.

But Sheamus held his own. And it got to Drew’s ultimate point: He loves his friend too much to let people talk about him behind his back. Sheamus may not care about anyone whispering insults in tones he can’t hear, but Drew does. Of course I don’t believe it. Well, I don’t believe all of it. I believe Drew respects the man he says put in work for 16 years and helped build WWE into what it is today. I believe that he wants everyone else to show that same respect. I do not believe that he has Sheamus’ best interest at heart. He “watched Sheamus’ back” during the Irishman’s match with Shinsuke Nakamura, but it felt ominous. Mostly because everything with Drew these days has a hidden agenda.

As for the match itself? I dug it a lot towards the end. These two are pros so I never doubted their ability to do something thrilling. But I really got into it when they exchanged the big shots. Sheamus started with the Kneecap to Shinsuke on the apron. Shinsuke eventually returned the favor with big knee shots of his own. Sheamus eventually ruled the day with a Brogue Kick out of nowhere that knocked out Shinsuke’s lights. The big man is on a bit of a winning streak for his comeback tour, but it looks like we’ll eventually get something between he and Drew. How is the question.

Why do I ask that? Because Drew noted that Sheamus used to be worth a fight but in his current state, not so much. What will it take for Drew to change his mind? I’m intrigued.

Cold Blooded

If you read this heading and heard a certain sketch from a certain sketch show from the early 2000s, you and I are friends for life.

But I digress. Let’s keep it real here: Chad Gable went off on Alpha Academy. Otis, Maxxine Dupri, and Tozawa accompanied their leader to the ring. He dressed in a suit while they donned their ring gear and looked like hostages when he addressed the audience. Why, Chad, why? Well, using perfect heel logic, it’s Sami Zayn’s fault. The video above these words speaks for itself, but that’s what Chad’s on right now. He dressed down his crew and it obviously won’t be long until he cuts bait and brings in some new recruits.

I like this new Chad and think it has potential. Tension in Alpha Academy is also ripe for drama, while also making me wonder what of them once this group disbands. A lot of questions here and I’m hoping the answers do everyone justice. And right before all that happened, Bronson Reed attacked Sami, so the new champ has his hands full. Chad wants that championship as does Bronson.

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A very packed show as Raw rearranges the deck chairs for the draft. A couple factions cracked or showed cracks, and we got a new champion. It was an okay show though. It told two main stories from beginning to end, added wrinkles to those stories, and we got solid matches. It’s probably a testament to Raw’s consistency as of late that this one felt like standard procedure rather than must-see tv.

What say you, Cagesiders?