The Raw after WrestleMania has often been one of the most exciting episodes of WWE television of the year. This year was no different as WWE delivered a landscape-shifting event one night after the conclusion of WrestleMania 41.
New undisputed WWE champion John Cena opened the show, repeating his claims that he would retire as the “last real champion” in WWE history. This led to Cena’s old rival, Randy Orton, delivering a message with an RKO on the champ.
In the final segment of the night, new “Paul Heyman Guy” Seth Rollins, was joined by a new surprise partner when Bron Breakker took out CM Punk and Roman Reigns. That segment capped off a wild night of action in Las Vegas.
CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Randy Orton lays out John Cena with an RKO
John Cena opened the show, forcing the ring announcer to repeat his introduction to include calling Cena “the last real champion.” Cena then spoke, continuing to run down the fans, pointing out that the fans always try to hijack the Raw after WrestleMania and mocking the fans for trying to cheer for him. The crowd eventually tried to chant “We are sorry,” but Cena claimed that they were chanting “We aren’t sorry,” trying to ease some of the disconnect between a seemingly performative crowd reaction and the story being told.
Cena then ran through the appearances he’s already made on his retirement tour, showing that he only had 27 dates left before walking away for good. Cena claimed once again that he would walk away with the undisputed WWE championship, leaving him as the last real champion and the fans to have to deal with knowing any future champion was illegitimate. Finally, Cena told the crowd to take out there phones for a picture, but he did not see Randy Orton slide in the ring. As Cena posed, Orton struck, hitting an RKO to lay Cena out. Orton posed with the belt before laying it across Cena’s body.
The Raw after WrestleMania may have been the most entertaining part of the entire WrestleMania weekend. Orton vs. Cena is well trod territory, to be sure, but any Cena retirement tour is going to include playing one or two of the greatest hits. Cena’s reaction when he realized what was about to happen was the best part of this segment and really got the show off to a rocking start. Between some fun matches and some big surprises — including in the final segment of the night — Raw was a major success. Grade: A
What else happened on WWE Raw?
- Women’s Tag Team Championship – Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez def. Becky Lynch & Lyra Valkyria (c) via pinfall to win the titles. Morgan and Rodriguez got a rematch one night after Lynch and Valkyria won the titles at WrestleMania. Morgan pinned Valkyria after hitting Oblivion. A frustrated Lynch helped Valkyria to her feet after the match and gave her a hug before delivering a clothesline. Lynch continued the attack until hitting a pair of Manhandle Slams — and then a third after chants of “one more time” — to put Valkyria out.
- Rusev made his WWE return. New Day was out to cut a promo about winning the world tag team championship at WrestleMania when they were interrupted by Alpha Academy. After New Day agreed to a match for the titles, Rusev’s music hit and he returned to the WWE for the first time in five years. New Day ducked out of the ring and Rusev attacked Otis and Akira Tozawa, finishing things off by putting Otis in the Accolade.
- Iyo Sky def. Stephanie Vaquer via disqualification after an attack by Roxanne Perez. The match came together when Vaquer interrupted a Sky promo, saying that she wanted to show Sky respect as the best in the world, but she also wanted to face the best in the world. A fantastic match came to an end after Perez ran in. Giulia then attacked Sky before Rhea Ripley ran in for the save. Ripley then handed Sky the belt.
- Jey Uso celebrated his world heavyweight championship win. Uso danced with the crowd and spoke about his win when he was interrupted by Sami Zayn. Zayn said he wanted to be the first person to stand in the ring across from Uso and tell him how proud he was of him and that Uso deserves the title. Jimmy Uso joined the pair to finish the celebration.
- Gunther choked out Pat McAfee. After the show came back from a commercial break, Gunther was at the commentary desk shouting at Michael Cole. Cole said, “Not for nothing, but I’m not the one who tapped out.” Gunther then grabbed Cole and tried to put him in a sleeper hold when McAfee punched the former world heavyweight champion. After WWE officials tried to break up the situation, Gunther broke through and put McAfee in the sleeper until McAfee went unconscious. Later, Cole told Adam Pearce that they have to have opinions to do their jobs and that Pearce had to do something. Cole then insisted on going back to the desk to finish the show.
- Intercontinental Championship – Dominik Mysterio (c) def. Penta via pinfall after a frogsplash. JD McDonagh returned from injury to attack Penta while the referee was distracted to set up the victory.
- Bron Breakker aligned with Seth Rollins to close the show. Rollins was out with Paul Heyman only to be quickly interrupted by CM Punk. Punk brawled with Rollins before turning his attention to Heyman. That was a mistake as it allowed Rollins to gouge Punk’s eyes and hit a stomp. Heyman announced that Rollins was the new reigning, defending number one star in the industry before Roman Reigns’ music hit. Reigns hit Rollins with a spear and then delivered a Superman punch to Heyman but before he could spear Heyman, he was drilled by a spear from Breakker. Breakker then speared Punk as Punk was about to attack Rollins. Rollins hugged Breakker and said, “That’s my boy.” Rollins then sent Breakker outside the ring to attack Reigns, leading to Breakker eventually spearing Reigns through the barricade. Breakker then brought Reigns into the ring, made him watch Rollins stomping Punk again and then Rollins delivered a stomp on Reigns to end the show.
