RAW began with a montage of wrestlers arriving to the arena, Sami Zayn and Charlotte among them.

It’s a nice dash of realism and a logical way to convey the idea that “this party is getting started”. A recap of The Royal Rumble played next, summarizing the premium live event for those who missed it. Then Jey Uso emerged through the crowd, celebrating with a widespread “YEET!” While I’ve been asking for RAW to begin with a match, preferably one already in progress, it made sense to start this episode with the men’s Royal Rumble winner.

Jey delivered an emotional address about overcoming self-doubt. The crowd cheered him as his voice wavered and tears formed in his eyes. There’s nothing more powerful in the arts than a human being vulnerable. Jey’s vulnerability brought out the best in him, an honest gratitude for the support of the fans. Then, as expected, Gunther interrupted him and said he’s going to “put Jey down like a diseased dog”. What could be a hokey, overwritten phrase resonated because of Gunther’s palpable disdain for Jey. The question hanging over the scene was whether Jey would choose Gunther, the World Champion, or Cody, the Undisputed Champion, to face in the WrestleMania main event (as is his right as Rumble winner). He did not make a choice, instead opting to “holler at Cody” on Friday.

I question the wisdom of this narrative path, not just for needlessly delaying the announcement of a match, but for the entire WrestleMania season’s structure. It’s incredibly convoluted.

Allow me to illustrate…

There are two main champions in WWE, the World Champion and the Undisputed Champion. The Undisputed Champion title was the result of Roman Reigns winning both the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and The Universal Championship to become The Undisputed Universal Heavyweight Champion. He effectively absorbed the WWE Championship (black belt) and merged it with the Universal Championship (blue belt). Triple H then addressed concerns about Roman’s limited schedule by unveiling a new World Championship. This would be considered the “fighting man’s” Championship, defended more frequently than Roman’s Undisputed title.

Furthermore, these titles are vaguely assigned to specific WWE shows. The World Championship presently represents RAW and The Undisputed Championship represents Smack Down.

Still with me? If you’re a wrestling fan you are, because you’ve been indoctrinated. You take all of this for granted. Now I must explain The Royal Rumble.

The Royal Rumble is a thirty person battle royal where competitors are eliminated by being tossed over the top rope with both feet touching the floor. Think of it as wrestling’s version of “the floor is lava”. The winner of The Royal Rumble earns the right to challenge the champion of their choice, either The World Champion or The Undisputed Champion in the “main event” at WrestleMania. Keep in mind, it’s possible The World Champion or The Undisputed Champion will have to defend their title at some point before WrestleMania. So it’s possible the person who The Royal Rumble winner initially challenges for either title might not be the person who holds that title at Mania. So the winner of The Royal Rumble, when you boil it down, is challenging for a specific belt, not a specific person.

That’s inherently less emotionally gratifying than if they were challenging a specific person. People, not belts, are built on emotion. Rivalries are between people, not titles. Titles are like accents - they raise stakes but they are meaningless without raw human emotion powering them.

Rhea Ripley confronts Charlotte on Monday Night Raw

What does this mean for “the build” into WrestleMania?

It means nothing is settled until a few weeks (if that) before Mania. It means we get episodes like this RAW, where neither the men nor the women’s top titles have clear Champions and contenders, as we listlessly wander from one half-baked segment to the next.

The problem, as far as I can see it, is with the fundamental two-title structure, and the mere fact of a premium live event (this year it’s Elimination Chamber) one month before WrestleMania.

The Royal Rumble winner delaying the gratification of knowing who they’ll challenge just comes across as petty. Making no choice is not a terribly heroic act so it makes babyfaces look bad. It works for a heel, which is what Charlotte quickly became when the crowd rejected her promo about how difficult the past year was. And Champions, like Rhea Ripley, come across as diminished if they ask to be chosen by the winner. Kudos to Charlotte, by the way. She read the room and made an adjustment. It was clear she had a lot more dialogue about her recovery but the crowd took it as whining. Let’s consider the not so subtle sexism of those boos. How often do male wrestlers come back from injury and then go on to give speeches about their recovery, only to be met with cheers and life affirming chants? Charlotte was not afforded the kind of emotional space given to Jey earlier in the evening, which I find fascinating.

It’s partially because Charlotte is so regal and composed that she doesn’t inspire much sympathy. But think of all those self-aggrandizing, cocky babyfaces from the past who discuss their recovery openly. There stories are met with interest and even patience, allowing them to express themselves clearly and emotionally. I for one wanted to hear what Charlotte had to say about her recovery, but alas it wasn’t meant to be.

She verbally spared with an overacting Rhea Ripley. Yes, Rhea is an over-actor which is not the worst thing in the world in professional wrestling. She has a way of dragging out her lines, reciting them ever so carefully and slowly so every single solitary syllable is heard by the listener. Her job isn’t easy; transform WWE-writers’ prose into believable dialogue. But that is her job. She must find some way to unite her character’s truth with the words she’s saying. As of now, Rhea coasts by on the fact that she’s cool. She looks cool, she has cool moves, and she emits 100% cool at all times. Her look, in particular, catapults her into stardom. But her promos need work. She’s not connecting with the material on a human level. She’s not clearly wondering, “What will asking Charlotte to pick me do to my character?” But she should, and then figure out a way not to inadvertently bury herself.

Nevertheless, if it is Charlotte v Rhea at WrestleMania that would be great. The two have matured since their last encounter and could easily main event one of WrestleMania’s nights.

Back to the matter at hand, though, this trouble with the titles during WrestleMania season…

This issue of giving wrestlers agency over which specific belt they fight for needlessly delays the narrative surrounding that title. If it were simpler, then the system could be that a member of the RAW roster challenges for the RAW title and a member of the Smack Down roster challenges for the Smack Down title, whoever wins the Rumble. Even better, if there was one title, the Royal Rumble winner would just automatically challenge for that belt in the main event of WrestleMania. If one wanted to take things even further in the interest of simplifying the Mania-build, adopt a special clause that states that after The Royal Rumble the WWE Championship will not be defended again until WrestleMania.

If there was a WWE Championship match at The Royal Rumble it would add even greater intrigue to the event, guaranteeing the winner would be one half of the Mania main event. Later on that very evening, we would learn who their challenger would be.

Is my point clear? It literally takes paragraphs to describe the structure of WWE’s title system and the build into WrestleMania. I believe it should only take a sentence or two. I contend the road to WrestleMania would be a lot more fun if it was streamlined and a single main event title match had the benefit of two months of anticipation.

Or, if there’s going to be a title defense at Elimination Chamber by Cody, Gunther, Ripley, or Tiffy, then that’s something we should already know. It should be stated clearly in no uncertain terms that there’s no guarantee the Champion at The Rumble is going to be the Champion at Mania. Instead, we are left in a liminal space where we’re told to hurry up and wait.

I could support the idea of the Champion having “one final stop” on their road to WrestleMania at Elimination Chamber (or whatever the PLE theme is) one month prior to Mania. It can create intrigue and drama if the right pieces are in place. If I may set aside my analytical cap for a moment and backseat book:

Jey Uso has the most amount of history with Sami Zayn. Sami, who just lost his opportunity to compete at Elimination Chamber, also has history with Gunther. Why not have Sami challenge for the World Championship at Elimination Chamber, win, and go on to defend against Jey at WrestleMania. Such would be a resoundingly well-received double babyface main event. I can see the sea of YEETS and I car hear the refrain “Olé! Olé! Olé!”

Consider that one for free, WWE.

Kevin Owens delivers a pile driver to Sami Zayn

In other RAW-related news the company has positioned Penta exactly the way any new superstar should be. He’s a winner with a cool look, a unique vibe, and a repeatable catchphrase & gesture.

Backstage segments still abound, primarily featuring The Judgement Day. As a stable The Judgement Day has descended into farce, existing purely for Dom and Carlito “jokes” and nothing else. Their stock is in an unfixable nosedive. It should be put out of its misery.

There’s one recent trend with backstage segments that’s actually good, however, and that’s where the scene begins as a backstage interview but then, after moving further down the hallway, transitions into two wrestlers conversing. One such scene featured Sami and Jey, with Sami hugging Jey and saying how proud he was of him. It was a rewarding moment for those who have followed their drama closely. It would’ve been ten times better if filmed differently and didn’t carry the unsophisticated stench of backstage short films. Sami was then confronted, once again, by Karrion Kross.

What I’m about to write is harsh, and for that I do apologize. But I must be honest.

Keep Sami Zayn as far away from Karrion Kross as possible.

I would like to believe the WWE respects Sami Zayn enough not to saddle him with a Karrion Kross-feud. Sami is beyond such terrible storytelling and the mere fact of the characters being in orbit is an affront to the good taste that usually surrounds Sami. There is no making chicken salad out of Karrion Kross’ chicken shit. The character is fundamentally broken and should be taken off television and sent back down to NXT to rebuild and retool. I hope his presence in Sami’s backstage life is a red herring meant to help viewers forget about Kevin Owens thus enabling his attack at the end of the night, and that the only thing that comes of it (if something must come of it) is a throwaway match on RAW.

Speaking of throwaway matches, Dragon Lee & Rey Mysterio faced The New Day. The New Day are reinventing themselves as heels. It’s going to take time for that to sink in and they’re going to need a good rivalry against a younger crop of tag talent.

It was announced that Roman Reigns will be “out of action” for the foreseeable future. Good. Roman should never be normalized for the remainder of his career. If he has to “go away” then let him so that we’re left wanting more, eagerly anticipating his return. Roman being off the Mania card (which isn’t a fact yet, just a possibility) frees up space for someone else.

Enter one Seth Freakin’ Rollins. I had hoped that Seth’s “freak out” when he was eliminated from the Rumble would result in some much needed character growth - or, at the very least, a new tone and direction for his character. No such luck as he came down to the ring, preening in his cowboy hat and leather duster, the sum total of the worst aspects of his every iteration.

He called out Sami Zayn to give Sami a “pep talk” about why he needed to defeat CM Punk.

Then Sami and Punk wrestled an excellent, traditional wrestling match with all the logic and nuance one would expect from two veteran pros. They shook hands before Kevin Owens attacked Sami from behind and hit Sami with a brutal package pile driver. If this leads to Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn at WrestleMania, particularly in the first match of one of the nights, so be it. The two are among the best working wrestlers in the world today and theirs is a genre and era-defining saga. Naturally, some portions of the wrestling fandom will cry out against Sami v Owens in anything other than a World title main even match, but we simply can’t have everything (at least not right away). There are only so many spots and too many people to fill them, which is a better situation than the inverse.

IN CONCLUSION

The fifth RAW on Netflix was perhaps the best yet since the switch, ending on an excellent match and a surprise attack that sets characters on a direction.

CM Punk will compete in Elimination Chamber for what will likely be his last chance at the WrestleMania main event he so covets. A somewhat annoying “will they/won’t they” atmosphere surrounds Punk. He is one of the company’s most bankable stars and his work, even at forty-six years old, is reliable and convincing, which hopefully is considered when booking him.

And lest we forget John Cena who is on his farewell tour, promising to win the Elimination Chamber and gain a seventeenth championship at WrestleMania. I approach all of these big and exciting questions with trepidation, both as a fan and as an analyst, because it all could go spectacularly well or spectacularly terrible.

I remain ever optimistic, despite my criticisms.

In professional wrestling, magic is always one move away.

If you enjoyed this review please share it with all your pro-wrestling friends on the social media gimmicks. And subscribe to my podcast The Work Of Wrestling. New episodes every Monday.

Tim Kail's Raw Review, 2/3/25