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Seth Rollins is carrying "Monday Night Rollins" like he's the Intercontinental Champion in 2019. (Michael Marques/WWE via Getty Images)
WWE via Getty Images
It's starting to feel like "Monday Night Rollins" more than ever before.
Seth Rollins closed last Monday's "WWE Raw" after WrestleMania with a massive surprise alliance with Bron Breakker to assemble their new feared trio alongside Paul Heyman. "The Visionary" is ready to take the company into his vision of the future — and that started in Kansas City with a familiar face.
Decisions, decisions
The Rollins "Evolution 2.0" saga was an instant rollercoaster ride on "WWE Raw." Paired with his new sidekicks, Paul Heyman and Bron Breakker, the trio really did have an Evolution-type feel to them, with the latter two wearing suits. The crowd is still incredibly keen on Rollins and this concept despite them being completely heel in nature, as seen last week. So much so that the crowd booed CM Punk upon Rollins' first mention, and barely let up when the chants were practically forced in by other patrons.
There's been plenty of online speculation about who a good fourth member might be, if there is one. I've tried to have my fun with it, imagining the perfect fit. Sami Zayn received plenty of mentions within that conversation, considering his dramatic interaction with Jey Uso last week. And before Monday hit, I liked the thought. Then — what do you know? Zayn interrupted the opening of tonight's show.
Instead of applauding his longtime friend's big WrestleMania 41 win, Zayn called what Rollins is doing a "load of crap" before pointing out Rollins' hypocrisy — and apparent jealousy of Punk and Roman Reigns — by aligning with Heyman, thus prompting Zayn to make a comparison to The Bloodline. Ultimately, because of Rollins and Zayn's friendship, Rollins didn't want him to become a target of the domination Rollins was plotting. So, this "WWE Raw" became centered around Zayn's impending decision.
This was fun to watch play out throughout the night, as Zayn was progressively looking worse and more disheveled every time he was on camera. One moment, in particular, was interesting when Karrion Kross walked by and continued to plant his seeds throughout the backstage landscape.
By the time we got to the end of "WWE Raw," Zayn said no after Rollins mentioned friendships in general, highlighting theirs and calling Rollins out for "playing games" with a promise of getting Zayn a world title shot against the John Cena vs. Randy Orton winner if he accepted to move to "WWE SmackDown." Zayn and Breakker had an impromptu match that ended with Breakker and Rollins spearing and stomping the Canadian into oblivion. So much for Zayn's addition to the stable.
But here's what has to happen next.
Zayn made it a point to Rollins how much it matters to him to become a world champion, and we saw the teases of that as recently as Zayn's celebration with Uso last week. We even saw Uso speak to Zayn backstage before the end of the night. So, where was Zayn's supposed brother when he needed him? Nowhere to be seen.
This is how we get the turn. The next time we see Zayn, he needs to be pissed at Uso for not being there for him. That could be the way you push him into aligning with Rollins despite what they just did to him. Zayn realizes he truly has no one to rely on and can't get things done by himself, so to get his dream of world championship status, he joins Rollins and makes it his mission to bury Uso.
Maybe Zayn will even cost Uso the title first...
Mixed feelings of the night
Is everyone ready for another Logan Paul title match? Well, it doesn't matter because it's happening! OK, it's not official, but "The Maverick" called out World Heavyweight Champion Jey Uso, and they planted the seeds for this likely filler feud.
If Paul is going to become a more prominent figure, I'd like to see him really start to build a story and history with someone. Uso could be that guy and is arguably the right one to fit that mold. In their faceoff, Paul actually made the better points.
As much as I'm not on the Uso train — nor have I ever been — he came off as very inspired, and is already feeling like the champion he's become. Their match will be purely super babyface-heel fanfare and deliver some OK moments, but I will say this now: Uso should not be one of these year-long reigning champions, and Paul should dethrone him in their first match.
These two could have a rivalry akin to Edge vs. John Cena. The heat generated by the crowd would be indescribable, and since we've already gotten this far, I want chaos.
Ireland vs. Ireland
Becky Lynch almost threw too much at us by instantly admitting to the attack on Bayley that led to their kayfabe WrestleMania 41 swap. Everything with Bayley and her shoot comments about the situation was alluded to, turning this whole thing into an angle of sorts. Ultimately, Lynch's explanation for her attacks was that Bayley has been a consistent rival since 2019. Therefore, by proxy, Lyra Valkyria becoming friendly with Bayley made her an enemy.
Valkyria was awesome on the mic, calling back to their last match in NXT, and seemed very passionate about a program like this with her idol. She continued to show some fire and attacked Lynch out of the ringside area. This was all so fast, as Valkyria and Lynch essentially came to a scattered agreement to wrestle at Backlash. WWE is doing their best to salvage this whole Lynch return and shenanigans with Bayley, and unfortunately, that will come at the expense of Valkyria — unless Bayley costs Lynch the inevitable match.
Ruined match of the night
I'm tired, man. This formula is tired, man. It's like clockwork, over and over. Triple H is obsessed with great matches that can't end without a DQ. Unfortunately, Rhea Ripley vs. Roxanne Perez was the latest ultra-predictable case of this garbage booking.
It sucks because their match was great, and Perez looked strong, and smart with her great leg work to chop Ripley down. Perez even kicked out of a massive Razor's Edge, followed by a slide kick, which she realistically shouldn't have. But again, that made her look even more legit and like she belonged.
Perez lost cleanly to Tiffany Stratton weeks ago. So, you want me to believe the same thing couldn't have happened again? WWE even teased Ripley overcoming the way the booking made her look like your typical, stupid, distracted face when Giulia waltzed down the ramp.
What do you know? When Ripley overcame her own stupidity and nearly won by setting up a Riptide, Giulia attacked and gave her the DQ win. Iyo Sky made the save, as this is heading toward a tag team match (which will be great), presumably at Backlash.
There's no reason all of that couldn't have happened after the Riptide — if it had to happen. It feels like a match gets ruined at least once every show because of this trend. Lazy, lazy, lazy.
MONDAY NIGHT MONEY
1. Stephanie Vaquer defeated Ivy Nile. Vaquer on "WWE Raw" two weeks in a row? Yes, yes, yes, and more yes. She scored the win in a pretty lengthy showcase. They meshed well together, and Nile is better than she gets credit for. Big overall W.
2. Rusev got a vignette and claimed to have left WWE to return to Bulgaria rather than AEW. He also dropped a "Redeemer" reference. This was pretty solid, and ideally, won't be all we see from him like we started to in AEW. He'll face Otis on the next "WWE Raw."
RAW DEAL
1. We have reached the stall period with Penta because he's still involved with The Judgment Day and feels like a random floater for a trios match next week. Instead, it will be Penta vs. McDonagh
2. Pat McAfee ... cut a promo on Gunther. What the hell are we doing?
This is what Gunther gets after his World Heavyweight Championship reign. It was fun to have McAfee drop F-bombs, but I'll never buy this former punter-turned-podcaster as a tough guy. They'll have a match at Backlash. Insane.
3. AJ Styles vs. Dominick Mysterio was teased backstage. That's cool, but there needs to be more to the Styles-Kross dynamic. Please don't just abandon that, WWE.
Uncrowned Gem of the Night
JD McDonagh hasn't ever impressed me much, but he was allowed to shine in his match against The War Raiders alongside Finn Balor. It almost felt like a showcase, and that's what it became, as he moonsaulted all over the ring. Although he took the loss from a War Machine, the dude looked great out there.
Also, The New Day was hysterical on commentary.
I give this show a Crown score of: 7/10.
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