WWE Monday Night Raw 4/21/2025

WWE Monday Night Raw 4/21/2025

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/04/wwe-monday-night-raw-4142025.html 

Next week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/04/wwe-monday-night-raw-4282025.html

We are in Las Vegas, Nevada. Wrestlemania 41 just wrapped up last night. Pat McAfee and Michael Cole are on commentary.

We see a Mania highlight package. 

We see Paul Heyman arrive with Seth Rollins. We also see other wrestlers arrive. Finn Balor doesn't arrive with the rest of Judgment Day.

John Cena comes out with the plain black and white entrance video. Cena give a statement for the ring announcer to read. Cena says winners write history. He says the fans aren't worthy. He says the fans think he is supposed to forgive them. Cena says that's not how a functional relationship works. He says the fans owe him an apology. The fans chant "We aren't sorry".

Cena says the fans are indeed sorry. He says the fans don't mean anything to him. He says the fans are idiots.

He says the fans mean nothing to him. He points to the phrase "36 Dates" on the tron. He says he's gone after that. He counts down some of his appearances and is now down to 27 dates. He says those are appearances, not matches. He says he doesn't have to wrestle and says the wrestling timeline stops when it hits 0. He says the title then comes home with him. He says he outwrestled Cody and said there's no one with the aggression or speed of him. He says the last real champ is here.

Randy Orton pops up behind him, Cena says "sh!t" then Orton RKO's him. Orton then holds up the title and puts it on Cena.

Thoughts: It was the typical heel Cena we've been getting. Orton coming out was random but I'm up for seeing one last Orton/Cena match and that match doesn't need a ton of build.

WWE Women's Tag Titles - Becky Lynch and Lyra Valkyria (c) vs The Judgment Day (Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez)

The announcer messes up the intros. Gigi Dolin and Tatum Paxley are at ringside for this.

Liv attacks BL as it starts. She step up knees her in the corner then basement dropkicks her for 2. Liv kicks her. BL hits euros. Lyra gets in and Liv takes a double hiptoss. Lyra crossbodies Liv. Lyra boots Liv in the corner and hits a strike combo. Lyra step up enzugiri's her. Lyra springboard crossbodies Liv. Lyra and BL do a double baseball slide. We go to break and return.

Lyra step up enzugiri's RR. BL leg lariats Liv then hits a corner forearm. RR is sent into Liv. BL hits kicks on both opponents off the ropes then exploders Liv. Liv rolls up BL then codebreakers her. BL blocks oblivion and uranages Liv for 2. Liv jawbreakers RR. RR is stuck on the 2nd rope. Liv hits a powerbomb on BL while she's on the 2nd rope. RR 2nd rope powerbombs Lyra for 2.

Lyra 2nd rope tornado ddt's RR. Lyra cradle shocks RR for 2 when Liv puts RR's foot on the ropes. BL thesz presses Liv and hits punches on her outside. BL is pushed into the post. Lyra dropkicks Liv through the ropes. RR facekicks Lyra for 2.

RR tries to powerbomb Liv on Lyra but Lyra gets her knees up. Lyra dumps RR over the top. Liv step up enzugiri's Liv. Liv hits oblivion on Lyra and pins her.

Thoughts: Well that was stupid. What was the point of having Becky return, win the tag titles then lose them the next night in a clean way? Lyra had issues manipulating RR here but they did kept things moving and it was entertaining. 

Becky helps up Lyra after then turns on her. She hits her and flips out on her. Becky then pounds on Lyra. Becky uranage's her twice. Becky hits another uranage.

Thoughts: I'm not sure what they are going for here, but the only outcome that will happen if they go with this is Becky getting cheered for beating up Lyra.

Kross nods at New Day as they walk past him backstage.

The New Day come out to talk. Kofi says they are the new tag champs. Woods says thank God for Th New Day. Kofi says there's no tag team alive better than them.

Alpha Academy come out. Maxxine Duprii says the last time New Day faced Otis and Tozawa, they beat them in 60 seconds. Max asks them to put their titles on the line right now. New Day say no. Max calls them the minutemen and asks if they are scared. Kofi then agrees.

WWE Tag Titles - The New Day vs Alpha Academy

The lights go out before it starts. Rusev's name then shows up on the tron. Rusev comes out.

New Day leaves and Rusev drops both Otis and Tozawa. Otis' top rope crossbody is caught and Rusev fallaway slams him. Rusev high kicks Otis then pump kicks him. Rusev then camel clutches Otis. 

Thoughts: I'm not a Rusev fan especially after his AEW run. I can't say I'm excited to see him back and I just hope they keep Lana away.

The Judgment Day talk in the back minus Finn. Dom says it was the greatest weekend of his life. Finn Balor walks in. He stares down Dom. Finn says what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas and he congratulates Dom. Carlito says him and Finn don't have titles, but they feel like they have titles, right?

Iyo Sky comes out to talk. She says she beat the best there is last night so she is the best. She says the fans didn't forget her and says she is the genius of the sky and the women's champ.

Stephanie Vaquer comes out. SV congratulates her and says she is the NXT Women's champ. She says she wants to show her respect. She says she's amazing. She says Iyo is the best and she wants to fight with the best of the best. Iyo accepts a match with her and says what about right now?

Adam Pearce comes out. He asks if the fans want the match and says he wants it too. He says it starts now.

Stephanie Vaquer vs Iyo Sky

They shake hands and lock up. SV waistlock takedowns her. Iyo wristlocks her. SV trips her. SV headflips out of a wristlock and armdrags her. They trip each other and stand off.

SV flying headscissors her but Iyo headflips out. Iyo cartwheels and flips into a dropkick on SV. Iyo topes her outside. SV crossbodies her off the rails.

We go to break and return. SV headbutts her and knocks her off the 2nd rope. Iyo 2nd rope armdrags her. Iyo dropkicks her. Iyo hits a top rope dropkick. Iyo corner meteora's her for 2.

Iyo misses a top rope moonsault. SV dragon screws her. SV hits a corner meteora for 2. Iyo rolls into a double stomp on her. SV backdrops her then bangs her head off the mat for 2. Iyo sunset flips her and SV headscissors her into a roll-up.

Iyo hits a double underhook backbreaker for 2. SV forearms her then Iyo germans her. SV hits a german. SV takes an uppercut while up top. Iyo hits a top rope spanish fly. Roxanne Perez then comes in and nails Iyo for the DQ.

Thoughts: This was a match for the smarks and not much else. I thought it went a little long and wasn't super interesting due to being so random. The work fine but the finish sucked.

Perez yells at SV. Giulia comes in and facekicks SV. They then beat up Iyo and SV. Rhea Ripley comes out. She grabs Perez and Perez goes out. Rhea has words for Giulia and Giulia goes out. 

Rhea gives Iyo the title and Iyo stares at her.

We get a long Jey Uso video.

Jey Uso comes out through the crowd and actually yeets some this time. He teases talking then has his theme played again. He says the world heavyweight champion is now in your city. He says he's here now. He said he gave it all to beat Gunther and made him tap.

Sami Zayn comes out. Sami hugs him. He says it was hard not being here the last 8 weeks and says missing Mania was hard. He says they are game day players and don't do good on the sidelines. He said he almost didn't come to Vegas but had to so he could be the first one to tell him how proud he is of him. He says he's his brother and he loves him. He says he deserves the title. Sami says it's the Raw after MAnia, they are here to celebrate and says to hit Jey's music. 

Sami stares at Jey as he celebrates and hugs him. Jimmy Uso comes out. Jimmy joins in and they yeet together. They then all walk out together.

We see a Logan Paul interview from last night. He is asked if he could have won without his buddy and Karrion Kross. LP says a win is a win and says whatever he wants is next. He says he will wrestle anywhere and anytime against anyone. He says he's the best and will continue his Wrestlemania winning streak.

AJ Styles is interviewed. He says losing last night is a hard pill to swallow. He says he's gonna move on from the "L". Karrion Kross and Scarlett come in. Kross says there's bouncing back from getting pinned by Paul. Kross says AJ legitimized Paul. AJ says he doesn't know why Paul wants him to go back to being a bad guy. He says he doesn't want to go back. He tells Kross to solve the problem with AJ himself.

Gunther is yelling at Cole as we return from break. Cole asks what he's upset about. Cole says Gunther tapped out. Gun knocks Cole's headset off, Pat tries to get involved and is pushed. Gunther grabs Cole like a choke and Pat flying forearms Gun. Security and Adam Pearce then come out. Gunther chokes Pat. Some people in the front row who seem to be plants jump the rail and security grabs them. Gunther chokes out Pat. Adam has Gunther kicked out and Pat is down. The guys who jumped the rail then walk to the back with Pat. Pat's totally pink and yells the f-word.

Thoughts: Well that was a surprise angle. It was fine but I'm not sure what it is leading to.

Joe Tessitore is now on commentary.

Pat McAfee recovers in the back and is taken to the trainer's room. Cole wants to go back out but Pearce tells him no. Cole asks how can they do their job? Pearce says they will deal with this. Cole says he won't let some bully not allow him to do his job at Mania.

Cole comes back out and Joe is not fully dressed up here.

WWE Intercontinental Title - Dominik Mysterio (c) vs Penta

I have no idea why Penta is getting this since he lost last night. If anything, Bron should be out here.

Dom pounds on Penta. Dom backrolls and is kicked. Dom pounds on him in the corner and stomps on him. Penta flying headscissors Dom. Dom dropkicks him. Dom goes for a tope and is kicked. Penta top rope crossbodies him.

Penta hits a tope con hilo. We go to break and return. Penta slingblade bulldogs him. Penta handstand double pendulum boots him in the corner for 2. Dom does a tilt-a-whirl driver for 2. Penta hits superkicks. DOm tornado ddt's him for 2. Penta hits a canadian destroyer for 2. Penta headscissors Finn from the apron.

JD McDonaugh comes out. He pushes Penta off the ropes. Dom hits a top rope splash on Penta and wins.

Thoughts: It was short and didn't seem to serve a ton of purpose but to bring back JD here.

We get a video on El Grande Americano.

Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman come out to talk. Seth says he took a wiseman from Roman and stole Punk's best friend. He says he's the winner of the main event of Wrestlemania. CM Punk then interrupts.

Punk and Seth hockey fight. Punk pounds on Seth then stomp flurries him. Punk goes for Paul. Seth curb stomps Punk. Seth and Paul then stand there over top Punk as the credits roll. Paul says they will conclude the weekend by propelling the news all the way to Wrestlemania 42. Paul says there's a new reigning, defending, undisputed #1 top star in this industry - Seth Rollins.

Roman Reigns comes out. Roman hits a big spear on Seth. Roman superman punches Paul. Roman goes for a spear then Bron Breakker comes out. Bron spears Roman. Seth pops back up and stares down Bron. Bron spears Punk, side-stepping Seth. Seth then hugs Bron. Bron goes out and is hit by Roman. Bron runs around the ring and spears Roman through the timekeepers rail. Seth curbstomps Punk. Seth tells Roman the future runs through him and he curbstomps Roman. Paul, Bron and Seth then pose together.

Thoughts: It was a good angle. Bron is now on his path to being a main eventer and I don't think anyone has a problem with it. We have a clear feud going forward and also just happen to have two sides with people on it.

Overall thoughts: It was an extremely light show wrestling wise, as has been the case lately. We only got 3 matches here. While I would agree that wrestling is the least important part of the show, it is a wrestling show at the end of the day and we do want to see matches.

I thought they did a pretty good job of setting things up here and making this an important show. Orton/Cena is the next title match. The women's title has a few directions it can go and it may lead to tomorrow's NXT show. We likely have a Becky/Lyra feud. Rusev returned. JD McDonaugh is back. Gunther is maybe going to feud with Pat McAfee and now we are gearing up for some kind of Seth/Bron vs Roman/Punk feud. The Rock also didn't show up, though we now know he's in Hawaii. It was an important Raw that will help set the stage for months to come and definitely one you need to see. I'd give it a 7 out of 10 overall.