WWE Monday Night Raw 5/12/2025

WWE Monday Night Raw 5/12/2025

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/05/wwe-monday-night-raw-552025.html

Next week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/05/wwe-monday-night-raw-5192025.html

They have a graphic for Sabu, who passed away this week. He had a real mystique about him and probably deserved a better run than he got.

We are in Louisville, KY.

We see various wrestlers arrive. 

CM Punk comes out to talk. He says he's p!ssed off. He says he's most pissed off at himself for trusting Paul Heyman. He says Paul crushed a ladder into his head 13 years ago. He says Jey Uso warned him about Paul. He says Paul is a fat little snake like he always has been. He says he's madder at Seth Rollins. He says he can't wait to get his hands around Paul's neck and squeeze him until his eyeballs pop out.

Paul Heyman comes out and Punk calls him "Penguin". He tells him to explain himself as they will be his last words. Seth and Bron then come out. Seth says Punk topped himself in being egotistical. He says Paul was Punk's best friend and Punk made his life hell. He says Punk is now trying to make us believe that Paul betrayed him.

Seth says Paul believed in Punk. He says he believes Punk is cum and trash. Seth says Punk is the reason he's not champ. Seth says Punk loves to play the victim. He says Punk wants to be a martyr and Seth says that can be arranged. He says he hopes he prepared his last words.

Bron and Seth head to the ring. Punk and Bron have a weak brawl. Punk gets the edge for a bit. Sami Zayn comes out and helps Punk. Bron overhead suplexes Sami. Seth gets a chair and Jey Uso comes out and superkicks him. Sami and Punk grab chairs and Seth leaves with Bron.

Pat McAfee comes out to join Michael Cole before the next match starts.

Penta vs Chad Gable

Penta forearms Chad over and stomps him in the corner. Chad does a flying double chop on him and pounds on him. Chad back elbows him then backdrops him for 2. Chad rips at Penta's mask on the buckles. Penta springboard armdrags him then flying headscissors him. Penta plancha's outside but Chad dives at him with a headbutt and says "lucha libre sucks".

We go break and return.

Chad flies at him and is superkicked. Penta handstand pendulum double boots him in the corner. Chad catches Penta's springboard and germans him. chad comes off the top and is caught with a codebreaker for 2. Chad blocks a backstabber. Chad hits a top rope moonsault for 2. Chad ankle locks him and is superkicked for 2.

Chad ankle locks him. Penta rolls him up then Chad tries a pin. Penta hits a panama sunrise and wins.

Thoughts: I wasn't a big fan of it. Chad really spammed the flying double chop/flying headbutt here. I'm glad the panama sunrise ended things though. 

Roxanne Perez and Giulia talks. RP says they take on Iyo and Rhea. She says they made it clear that this division isn't safe anymore. G says they are strong but hungry and they didn't' come here to take their turn, they came to take over. RP says that means going after the women at the top. RP says they are here to make their own history and they are looking at the future of the history. G says the future starts tonight.

The Judgment Day talk in the back. Carlito hits on Raquel. Raquel mentions Liv being gone. They say Dom doesn't understand time zones. Dom says Finn used a chair and almost lost him in the match at Backlash. Finn says it didn't go smooth but he's still the champ. Finn says he will take care of AJ for him tonight. They then show Dom how a time zone works.

The crowd cheers for Pat. He shows his scars from Gunther and says he respects him and he's a bad man.

CM Punk and Sami Zayn talk in the back. Sami says they will team at SNME. Sami asks if he's good. Punk says he's having a hard time trusting people right now. Sami says the same thing but he trusted him at Wargames and it went well. Sami says they should work together and take Seth/Bron out at SNME. 

The War Raiders (Erik & Ivar) vs. American Made (Brutus Creed & Julius Creed)

Erik snapmares JC then JC does it to him. The New Day are on commentary. Erik slams JC. Ivar slams BC and JC. Erik slams Ivar onto JC. JC hits a hard lariat on Erik. Erik is stomped on by The Creed's.

Ivar is rammed into the corner and double teamed. BC hits a top rope double axe handle on Erik. JC suplexes Erik. JC is back body dropped onto BC outside. Erik is hit on a tope attempt. Erik is then suplexed on the floor. The New Day love it. We go to break and return. 

Ivar low crossbodies JC. Ivar butt drops JC in the corner then spinning high kicks BC. Ivar corner bronco busters JC. Ivar is up top and JC jumps up to the suplex him. BC hits a top rope moonsault. Erik exploders both Creed's.

Erik knocks down BC then takes a flying knee from JC. BC exploders Ivar. Ivar is caught on a handspring and takes a double backdrop for 2. Erik forearms BC outside. Xavier Woods distracts Erik. Ivar goes up top and is hit by Kofi. BC nails Erik from behind. Ivar takes an electric chair brutusball and is pinned.

Thoughts: It was the usual match from these two teams that we've seen many times but it's hard to excited about it without anything really being on the line. They also didn't get to go all out. There was nothing wrong with it, just we've seen this before.

Seth and Bron talk in the back with Paul Heyman behind them.  Bron is angry. Seth says Punk/Sami/Jey feel like they got them back up against the wall and are maybe winning this battle. Seth says they have no idea. Seth tells Bron he wants him to do one more thing in his ear. We can't hear it and he tells him to have some fun.

Jey Uso and Adam Pearce talk in the back. We see clips after last week's how of Logan Paul attacking Jey Uso. He then says Jey has something he wants and he's gonna take it from him. They will meet in a title match at SNME.

Jey Uso comes out through the crowd and does his typical long entrance. He does his usual lines. He says Logan is talking trash but is ducking him and sneaking him. He says they fight 1v1 at SNME. He promises to be champ after the show ends.

Gunther comes out. Gun says the unimaginable came true and Jey became champ. He says it's the first time they have met since the moment. Jey says the moment where he made him tap out.

Gunther says he knows what he is doing and says he knows there's a lot of pressure. He says it doesn't mean his opinion changed. He says he knows this position is not natural to Jey and says he's not a natural champ. Gunther says he's surprised that Jey hasn't spread the news that the winner of Logan/Jey fights Gunther. Gun says he hopes Jey win as he wants to shut him and the people up for good.

He says he wants to outgun him and remind him where his place is. Jey says he's in his place and says he runs this place with the title. He says he will handle the youtuber and says he will walk out champ like he did at Mania. 

Iyo Sky does a taped promo. She says she tried to show Roxanne Perez last week but she and Giulia proved they don't deserve respect. Iyo says both will learn the same lessons at Mania that Bianca and Rhea did. She says nobody in the division can stop her or take the title.

We get a tribute video on Sabu.

Jackie Redmond interviews Ludwig Kaiser. Jackie says we haven't seen him in competition much in 2025. We then see Bron Breakker knock down Jey Uso. Officials then check on Jey. Sami asks what happened then Punk also comes in. 

Finn Balor vs AJ Styles

Finn side headlock takeovers him. AJ headscissors him. Fin wristlocks him and AJ tries to roll out. AJ reverses it and they trade side headlocks on the mat. AJ hits a dropkick and poses. We go to break and return. Finn hits corner spears. AJ boots him out of the corner and backbreakers him. AJ suplexes him. AJ slams him and knee drops him.

Finn hits shots in the corner. AJ hits chops. AJ's gut is pulled down over the top rope. Finn stomps on AJ then abdominal stretches him. AJ gets out, hits a lariat aind a sliding forearm. AJ hits an ushigoroshi for 2. JD McDonaugh distracts AJ. Finn cradles AJ.

AJ up kicks him then hits some strikes. They double clotheslines each other at the same time. We go to break and return. AJ hits a superplex.

They fight on their knees and then get up and trade. AJ blocks a kick and calf crushers him. Finn elbow slices him. AJ hits a lariat. Finn slingblades him. Finn hits a john woo. AJ does the calf crusher then hits a small stles clash from the mat for 2.

Carlito and JD get involved. AJ hits shots on JD then springboards at Finn. Finn catches him and lifts him for a side slam. Penta comes out on the rail and crossbodies Carlito. He then canadian destroyers Carlito on the floor off of JD's back. AJ springboard forearms Finn and wins.

Thoughts: It was a longer and slower match. They sold a lot and it was a very different match than we would have gotten years ago. I guess it was okay but it was not that great. 

Becky Lynch comes out to talk and sits on the top rope. She says she wasn't beaten on Saturday but Lyra was. She says one of them went to their house and one went to the hospital. BL says she made Lyra the best version of herself and gave her the best match of her career. She says she has never mattered more than she has in her career.

She says she realized how much she had been manipulated by Lyra and the fans after the match. She says if she's not here to win world titles then why is she here? She says she has the people to thank for her career and says they were in this together but then something happened. She said she won and the fans couldn't see themselves in her because they only know failure.

Becky says she is what the fans say she is. She says she's greedy and cut throat. She said all the girls who got ahead while she was gone will see what it is like to be held by the man.

We get a video on Rusev. He says he didn't want to do that to Otis. He says he just wants to go home and get rich.  He says he can't leave his brothers until we all wake up. He asks if Otis thinks the people care about him missing his family and dealing with being hurt. He says he destroyed Tozawa and it got him beaten up. He says he can see through the fans. He says he'd like them to fall at his hands then fall to the abyss. 

Tozawa, Natalya and Maxxine talk to Pearce. Tozawa walks a Rusev match. Pearce says he's not cleared. Sheamus comes in and says he knows he will give Rusev hell when he's cleared.

Sheamus tells Pearce he needs to shake his ring rust and wants Waller next week. Pearce agrees.

IYO SKY & Rhea Ripley vs. Giulia & Roxanne Perez

Iyo thesz presses RP and pounds on her. Iyo side headlocks her. RP stomps Iyo in the corner. Iyo is double teamed and G chokes her on the ropes. RR gets tired of it and throws in RP then dropkicks her. G neck twists Iyo.

Iyo handsprings and cartwheels off the ropes then dropkicks G. G tries to crossbody RR off the apron, gets caught and RP drives RR into the post. Iyo then topes RP. G dropkicks Iyo.

We go to break and return. Iyo armdrags RP. Iyo tags in RR. RR hits laraits on RP then germans her. RR htis a razor's edge on RP then sliding knees her. RP is put on the buckles. RP hurricanrana's her down for 2. G headbutts RR. G suplexes RR and RP asai moonsaults RR for 2.

RR drops DP body first on the mat. Iyo comes in and hits a shotei. Iyo top rope dropkicks G. G cradles Iyo for 2. Iyo rolls G into a double stomp then hits a top rope moonsault for 2. Iyo is held for a dropkick on G. Iyo springboard dropkicks RP.

G hits a top rope butterfly suplex on Iyo then northern lights bombs her for 2. Iyo double underhook backbreakers G. RP hits a top rope crossbody on G. RR hits riptide on G and pins her.

Thoughts: I wasn't that interested in it. It was designed to be a workrate match and the story going into it wasn't very strong. I didn't think it was particularly memorable. RP and G are also too new for this spot and it just felt like a way to put the girls in the main. 

Iyo holds up the title and Rhea grabs it with her.

Overall thoughts: It was a dull Raw. None of the matches were that great. The stars weren't wrestling for the most part and it was hard to care about any of it. I give it a 4 out of 10 as I thought they could have done better here and I would not recommend it.