Monday Night Raw premiered on Netflix on January 6th in front of a sold-out crowd at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, CA.
The show was promoted and treated like an enormous PLE! The epic night of Raw featured many big stars, matches, and storylines.
Let’s look at the biggest takeaways from the first Monday Night Raw of the year on Netflix and what we possibly have in store for the future!
Roman Reigns Gets Anointed By The Rock
After a huge introduction by Triple H, The Rock kicked off the show, and the crowd was electric. From there, the first match was Tribal Combat between Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa.
After a war between the two that included members of both Bloodlines, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Cody Rhodes during the match, Roman Reigns stood tall, reclaiming his title of “Tribal Chief” that he never lost.
Paul Heyman had the Ula Fala, which Solo Sikoa originally stole. As he prepared to put it on Reigns, The Rock came down and did the honors.
Regardless of the long-term story and the possibility of Reigns vs. Rock happening at some point, it was nice to see these two share the ring in this very symbolic moment!
John Cena Is Kicking Off The New Year By Entering The Royal Rumble
John Cena came down to the ring, and the LA crowd showed him a lot of love! He spoke about this being his final run, and the crowd chanted, “Thank you, Cena!”
Cena had the crowd in the palm of his hand. He spoke about opponents he could potentially face and how unlikely it was for him to make history by winning a 17th World Championship. The crowd chanted, “You deserve it!”
Then, he announced his entrance into this year’s Royal Rumble, vowed to win it and go to Wrestlemania to make history as the crowd erupted.
Rhea Ripley Reclaims Her WWE Women’s Championship & Gets Greeted By “The American Badass”
The action kept on rolling. Rhea Ripley had an opportunity to win back her Women’s Title, which she never lost while defeating Liv Morgan, who took everything from her.
The match was very good, and even with interference by The Judgement Day, Ripley would not be denied. She defeated Liv Morgan to the roar of the crowd to reclaim her throne on top of the WWE Women’s division.
Ripley and the crowd were in for another surprise as The American Badass, The Undertaker, showed up on his motorcycle. He rode around the ring once before returning to the entranceway where Ripley was waiting to embrace this historic moment.
Seth Rollins Vs. CM Punk Delivered In A Great Main Event
The anticipation was growing for this main event the whole night, and it did not disappoint! Seth Rollins vs. CM Punk lived up to the hype in their first one-on-one encounter.
The crowd was loud throughout the match, with chants for “Rollins” and “CM Punk.” There was good storytelling and quite a few false finishes!
CM Punk pulled out the win. I hope this feud is just getting started. They have so much story left to tell that it will continue to Wrestlemania.
Other Moments:
• Logan Paul will return to WWE and join the Monday Night Raw roster.
• Bayley was spotted speaking to Adam Pearce backstage. It begs the question, what were they talking about?
• Travis Scott accompanied Jey Uso to the ring during his entrance. Jey Uso went on to defeat Drew McIntyre.
• Hulk Hogan appeared with Jimmy Hart to promote his new beer and Raw on Netflix but was booed loudly by the crowd.
Final Thoughts:
The show had a good flow and showcased some new camera angles. The crowd was electric the whole night, and the Intuit Dome in LA was a great venue for this event.
The WWE did an excellent job, and this episode of Monday Night Raw was one of the best in recent memory!
