RAW kicked off once again with Royal Rumble winner Jey Uso. Only just when you thought this would be a repeat of last week's YEET-fest, Gunther appeared and wrecked the party. He pulled Jey's legs out from under him as he stood on the announce desk, eliciting boos from a raucous crowd. Gunther then beat down and power-bombed Jey, and just when you thought the segment was over, a winded and wounded Jey suddenly had a microphone. "I shouldn't say this..." Jey exhaled. "Me and you at WrestleMania". His choice solidified, the words felt appropriately epic, Jey's Cool Hand Luke like swagger adding to the strength of the phrase "Me and you...". Jey then dove over the top rope onto Gunther and a pile of security officers before the potential brawl was broken up and both men separated.

Good. Now we know one of the WWE's main title matches, which brings the rest into focus. It was wise to have Jey make his decision with weeks left until the Elimination Chamber because it raises the stakes for that match, limiting the choices of the contestants to Cody Rhodes and his WWE Undisputed Championship. CM Punk, John Cena, Logan Paul, and Drew McIntyre are all in the Chamber with two more opponents to be named in the weeks ahead. Now that the Mania main events are taking shape, it's up to WWE to keep things interesting between now and April. I recommend using the full breadth of narrative devices at the company's disposal.

RAW REVIEWSTim KailFebruary 14, 2025raw, Monday night raw, raw review, Tim kail, Tim Kail's raw review, wwe, Seth rollins, cm punk, lyra valkyria, bayley

Tim Kail's Wrestling Journal, 2/13/25

For this blog entry I simply want to reflect on the state of my wrestling fandom and The Work Of Wrestling. It's not a review or an essay - think of it as a journal entry with little structure. I wrote it because I felt like it with no immediately apparent purpose. Let’s see what shakes loose.

For the past six weeks I've watched and reviewed Monday Night Raw. During that time I've also caught up on AEW Dynamite. One show is not particularly better than the other. They share so many similarities that their differences hardly register. If I showed one show to a non-fan and then the other show a few minutes later and asked them to tell the difference, I don't think they'd be able to.

I'm particularly perturbed by AEW's backstage camerawork.

It's indistinguishable from WWE's, and they've even started doing that thing where the camera lingers on the subject or interviewer for a few seconds after the scene is over. I cannot fathom why AEW would do this. Someone in a position of power is actively making this terrible creative decision. There is no visual wrestling rule book dictating it be done this way. Also, don't they want to distinguish themselves from WWE? Why not do so in easy, simple ways like camerawork?

The Writings