Monday Night Raw Review - March 17, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes Confronted John Cena

To answer the question we've been wondering since Elimination Chamber, no, Cena didn't come out to new entrance music or with new music, and while I'm not a fan of him not changing up anything about his presentation now that he's a heel, I appreciated that he at least attempted to explain why that's the case. On the whole, this was strong stuff. He was whiner than I would've liked, but it was better than him either staying silent or doing the same shtick he's been doing on the mic for years. He got phenomenal heat from this crowd, too. I just wish this turn would've happened years ago when it made more sense. He and Rhodes had a good verbal exchange for as long as it lasted, but it barely scratched the surface of what they're capable of, which was probably the point with a month to go until WrestleMania 41.

Penta def. Ludwig Kaiser in a No Holds Barred Match

Between WWE, AEW and even TNA, I feel like I've seen so many hardcore matches in wrestling in the last two weeks that this one obviously paled in comparison and didn't offer anything new, but the Mexican Destroyer off the top rope toward the end was cool and the crowd was super behind Penta throughout. This was another nice win for him. He made it clear in his post-match promo that he has his sights set on the Intercontinental Championship.

Dakota Kai def. Ivy Nile

The extent of this "feud" has been the two of them exchanging wins and unsuccessfully challenging for the Women's Intercontinental Championship. That's it. Thus, I don't blame the crowd for not caring, but to the credit of this crowd, they were livelier than almost any crowd in the United States would've been. Chad Gable being at ringside helped, too. This was perfectly fine for why it was, but the outcome felt irrelevant because I don't know where either of them go from here.

Rhea Ripley Crashed the Women's World Championship Contract Signing Between Women's World Champion IYO SKY and Bianca Belair

The portion of the contract signing with SKY and Belair was too short to really say anything about. Ripley quickly interrupted and (almost) put both of them through the table before signing her name to the contract. Needless to say, that doesn't automatically mean she's been entered into the championship match at 'Mania and they thankfully cleared that up afterward, but that's where we're headed.

Jey Uso def. Austin Theory

To be honest, I had sub-zero interest in this match, not only because the outcome was never in doubt but also because A-Town Down Under are practically stepping stones at this point. That said, I had zero issue with this being as short as it was. Of course, it made Theory look like a total loser, but oh well. The latest post-match interaction between Uso and Gunther was again very basic. Why is WWE struggling to add more layers to their feud? We all know Uso is winning the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania, but the approach to their program has been rather lazy since their match was made official.

The LWO (Rey Mysterio and Dragon Lee) def. The Creed Brothers

We already got The LWO earlier on when thwarted The Creed Brothers' interference in Kai vs. Nile, so this didn't seem necessary. What we got was solid, but why not make it a number one contender's match for the World Tag Team Championship to raise the stakes? Gable's masked alter-ego got the better of The LWO afterward. I was slightly surprised to not see The New Day get involved given their issues with The LWO. The War Raiders are getting less television time than any of these teams despite being the champions.

Seth "Freakin" Rollins Addressed Roman Reigns and CM Punk

Much like Paul Heyman's promo on Friday's SmackDown where he advertised that Reigns was returning the next week, this largely felt like a waste of time. More time was spent on the crowd singing Rollins' song than Rollins actually saying something significant. I understand he addressed the ending to last week's Raw, but he intentionally didn't say anything of note because he's likely saving it for when he also appears on SmackDown this week with Reigns and Punk.

Intercontinental Champion Bron Breakker def. Finn Balor

I'm sorry but this did not feel worthy of the main event spot to me. I realize it was a first-time-ever encounter and I enjoyed it for what it was, but no one legitimately believed Balor was taking that title from Breakker. The terrible booking of Balor continues and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Penta saving Breakker from a Judgment Day beatdown afterward would seem to indicate we're getting a multi-man match for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania, though I don't know what Balor and Dominik Mysterio have done to deserve a shot.

Overall Show

The peak of the show was the opening segment with Cena's explanation and Rhodes' rebuttal. It was steadily downhill after that, but the electric atmosphere in Brussels made a major difference. Without them, this show would've been much more of a chore to sit through. As it was, this was an adequate edition of Raw, but there wasn't a ton of meaningful progression when it came to the WrestleMania build.

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