Cook’s WWE Raw Review 3.10.25

Hey kids! Steve Cook here with you for another week of WWE Raw on Netflix! Tonight Raw is taking place in one of pro wrestling’s most hallowed venues, Madison Square Garden. Things always kick up a notch in the Garden, so it should be an exciting show!

Cook’s Raw Review 3.10.25

Then. Now. Forever. Together!

Raw is in New York City’s Madison Square Garden! Cody Rhodes is WALKING! IYO SKY & Dakota Kai talk & walk. Bianca Belair poses by an MSG sign. Seth Rollins is WALKING! CM Punk is WALKING! Michael Cole & Pat McAfee are at ringside to Yeet.

Jey Uso vs. Grayson Waller (w/Austin Theory): Time for everyone to Yeet! Tieup, Grayson with a headlock, then a shoulderblock and a kick to the back. Elbow by Jey, bodyslam sends Waller crawling to the corner. Waller dropkicks Uso’s knee and punches away on the prone Uso. Jey gets sent into the old school ringpost. Grayson misses a splash in the corner, Jey hits a stepup enziguri. Waller is sent outside, then Uso hits a tope suicida on him. Theory provides the DISTRACTION and Waller kicks Uso to the floor. A-Town Down Under poses as we go to commercial.

We return and Grayson hits a middle rope elbowdrop for two. Waller with some lazy boots to Uso, then Jey responds with some punches. Kick, uppercut and a Samoan Drop! Running ass smash in the corner that mostly hit turnbuckle, but Jey goes up and misses a splash. Jey recovers quick and sends Waller outside. Jey misses the tope suicida, then back in the ring Waller hits a flatliner for two. Grayson blocks a spear with a kick, Jey with a couple of superkicks before he hits the spear for the three count!

Winner: Jey Uso (6:07 shown via pinfall)
Match Rating: **1/2
Nothing too spectacular here, but a decent enough opening match. Jey seems to be developing more regular singles offense, I don’t think he’s as poor as a lot of people say, but his moveset seems to be increasing a bit.

Austin Theory attacks right away, and A-Town Down Under does the ol’ doubleteam. Waller gets backdropped over the top rope and Theory eats a spear! Jey hits a splash on Theory, but Gunther attacks from behind with a rear naked choke! Jey is limp and it takes three referees to break it up. Gunther poses with his foot on Jey’s chest before leaving.

Cole & McAfee throw us to a video recapping the history between CM Punk & Seth Rollins. Who is the best in the freakin’ world? We see Rollins standing in his locker room while Punk stretches in his.

The Alpha Academy commiserates with Jey Uso and his ice pack. They got him! Well, they didn’t have him a few minutes ago.

Logan Paul’s music hits, and the fans are thrilled to see him! Well, not really. He rips a fan’s shirt off! The fans boo through Logan trying to talk about AJ Styles. Styles was supposed to call him out, but Paul figured he’d beat him to the punch. When you hear the name of Logan Paul, you think about names like Rock & Cena that have transcended wrestling & entertainment. He’s shocked that Cody Rhodes was dumb enough to reject the Rock’s offer. It took Cena 20 years to realize that nice guys finish last. Logan’s known that since Day 1, and wants to sell his soul to the Rock. He’s the celebrity and the talent, that’s why celebrities come to this show. He shouts out Andrew Schultz, who says that he came to see the steel cage match between CM Punk & Seth Rollins. Apparently nobody is here to see Logan! This isn’t Cleveland, it’s New York City! A real city & arena, and they like real wrestlers. He wants to see AJ Styles! Logan throws Schultz over the barricade and rolls him into the ring. Paul sets him up for a suplex, and AJ’s music hits! Styles hits the ring and catches Paul with a clothesline. Phenomenal Forearm! AJ gets a microphone and tells Logan to get his ass back in the ring. Logan walks his sorry ass to the back as Styles & Schultz celebrate. I haven’t seen any of Andrew Schultz’s work before, but there’s nothing wrong with WWE plugging somebody with a Netflix special.

The Highlight of the Night shows us IYO SKY besting Rhea Ripley for the Women’s World Championship last week. Later tonight, Cole will interview IYO.

Freddie Roach & “King” Callum Walsh are at ringside to plug Walsh’s upcoming boxing match.

We see clips of Bruno Sammartino beating Ivan Koloff in a cage match in MSG back in 1975. No, I wasn’t there for that one.

Tornado Tag Team Match: Rey Mysterio & Dragon Lee vs. Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston: NXT Champion Oba Femi is at ringside, he’ll be taking on Moose tomorrow night on NXT. Big week for Moose, he’ll be facing Jeff Hardy Friday night at TNA Sacrifice, which I’ll be covering live right here at 411mania.com. Since it’s a Tornado match, everyone is in the ring fighting. Lee & Rey do stereo offense in opposite corners on Woods & Kingston. It all ends with a double bulldog & New Day rolling outside. Rey sends Xavier into the announce table, then into the ringpost. Dragon & Rey look under the ring and pull out a table. Xavier & Kofi attack before they can set it up. Xavier slides the table under the ring. Rey jumps knees first into an elevated Kofi, then he & Lee get the table out again. They set up a double team move, but New Day breaks it up. Rey gets sent into the steps. Lee gets caught on a dive and powerbombed on the floor by Woods & Kingston. We go to commercial!

Lee is set up on the top rope as Rey gets chucked outside. Apparently New Day messed with the announcers during the commercial, which I generally approve of. The superplex gets broken up, as Kofi ends up in the Tree of Woe. Rey ranas Woods off the top, then Lee hits a doublestomp onto the prone Kingston for two. Lee tries to rana Woods through the table, but Woods overshoots it and ends up breaking the table after bouncing off the barricade. Rey hits a twisting crossbody for two! 619 to Kofi, Rey tries a frog splash but Kofi blocks it and covers for two. Lee broke it up. Lee dives onto Kofi on the floor! We’ve got a random luchador attacking Dragon Lee! He sends Rey into the apron and then hits a delayed German suplex on the floor! Security chases the luchador out of there, then New Day hits the modified Demolition Decapitation for three!

Winners: Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston (8:33 shown via pinfall)
Match Rating: **1/2
I thought this was good for the most part but got kinda sloppy towards the end. I can’t get too mad at them though, I’ve never tried to get raned through a table but it doesn’t look like the easiest thing to do.

Cole is claiming that the masked man was Chad Gable, but I can’t confirm or deny such a thing.

Last Monday, Bron Breakker got into it with the Judgment Day. Finn recaps it to Carlito, who isn’t listening. Dominick Mysterio, Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez come up to talk about their business tonight. Dom says he got Finn a match with Bron for the IC title next week! Finn hugs Dom and runs off to make it official. Liv wonders why Dom didn’t get himself a match with Bron, Dom says he believes in Finn.

Peter Rosenberg is at ringside, as is Fabolous. Macaulay Culkin is also here, dressed like Orange Cassidy.

Cody Rhodes makes his way to the ring! After some commercials and MSG facts, Cody speaks. He asks NYC what they want to talk about. He’s here because it’s the home base for WWE and the center of the wrestling universe, the Garden. His opponent John Cena, who will be at WrestleMania 41, is not here tonight. Cena’s told his inner circle that he’ll be in Brussels, Belgium next week. Cody doesn’t know if he likes that, Cena has had a lot of classic moments at MSG, but it was an “easy decision” for him not to be here. He begrudges Cena for going onto social media the day after the Elimination Chamber. The fans break out in the Let’s Go Cena/Cena Sucks chant. Cena posted a motivational quote the day afterward about doing what needs to be done. Cody calls John a goddamn moron. Cena no longer knows what’s best for business, the business has changed. One stat that is one man’s fantasy is 17. Cody gets the privilege of giving Cena one last chance, when Cena will find out that Cody is the captain now.

Raquel Rodriguez & Bayley are WALKING. They’ll go one on one next!

Our look back at cage matches in MSG continues with Jimmy Snuka & Don Muraco in 1983. You may have heard that match inspired Mick Foley to be a wrestler.

Ali Ahn is at ringside, as is some of the cast of Selling the City. Rich the Kid is also here, as is Amanda Serrano.

Raw will air on Netflix at 3 PM next week due to being in Belgium. Crap, I might have to switch around my dental appointment! It’s pretty cool that Raw will air live in the afternoon though, I usually ended up skipping the shows from Europe because I’d see the spoilers before the show actually aired.

Bayley vs. Raquel Rodriguez (w/Liv Morgan & Dominick Mysterio): The winner of this will be #1 contender for Lyra Valkyria’s Intercontinental Championship. Raquel powers Bayley down in the corner, then works her arm. A hair pull sends Bayley to the mat. Bayley tries to drop Raquel on the rope, but Raquel sends her to the floor. Back in the ring Bayley gets shoulder tackled. Raquel misses in the corner, but shoulderblocks Bayley down a couple of times. Bayley gets the boot up in the corner and hits an arm drag. Bayley gets caught and rag dolled by Raquel. Fallaway slam by Raquel. Bayley breaks up Raquel climbing the ropes, then hits a broncobuster in the corner. Bayley elbows Raquel on the apron, then yells at Liv as we go to commercial.

Raquel dominated during the break, but misses a legdrop on the apron. Bayley with a stunner on the ropes, then a sliding clothesline gets two. Raquel beals Bayley across the ring, Bayley with a rollup for two. Bayley goes up top for the elbow, she hits it for two! Raquel misses Snake Eyes in the corner, misses a clotheline and Bayley hits a back suplex for two. Bayley goes for the Roseplant, but Raquel blocks. Raquel ends up outside the ring, Bayley kicks her down, but slides into a forearm by Raquel. Raquel tries to ram Bayley into the post, but Bayley slips out and sends Raquel into it. Dom distracts the referee while Liv grabs at Bayley. Dom gets knocked to the floor and Bayley tries a dive, but Raquel gets her and slams her into the announce table. Bayley comes in at the 9 count but Raquel hits her with a boot. One Tejana Bomb later, Raquel wins the match.

Winner: Raquel Rodriguez (7:57 shown via pinfall)
Match Rating: **3/4
I think this is the right booking move here. Raquel could use the bounce up in the singles ranks, and Bayley has a level of credibility that means losing never really affects her position.

Cathy Kelly is backstage with Chad Gable and claims that Chad wore a lucha mask earlier and attacked the LWO. Chad denies the allegations and thinks it’s ridiculous that a fan would do something like that. The security should have drug the guy out of there before anything happened. Cathy argues with Chad, but then we see the fan getting drug off by security! Obviously Chad wasn’t the mystery man! I haven’t seen reporting this bad since the last time I turned on a cable news channel! (I’ll let you guys decide which one, people seem to take their favortie TV channels way too seriously. Me, I watch everything except cable news.)

IYO SKY is WALKING, she’ll get interviewed next!

Our look back at MSG cage matches takes us to 1988, when Randy Savage defended the Championship against Ted DiBiase.

William Jackson Harper is here, as is Kris Diaz, Josh Segarra & Nardo Wick. I wonder if I could get some ringside seats if I told them I was a rapper.

Michael Cole is in the ring and introduces IYO SKY. She seems happy to be champion. Cole congratulates IYO and says she’s going to WrestleMania. The fans say that she deserves it. IYO thanks the fans and says it’s a dream to be here at MSG as champion. She proved that the impossible is possible. She’s over the moon to be champion and head to WrestleMania. Cole brings out the #1 contender that will challenge IYO at WrestleMania, Bianca Belair. IYO & Bianca nod at each other. Bianca congratulates IYO, they haven’t always seen eye to eye, but she’s excited to face her at WrestleMania. Cole points out that Rhea Ripley might still be champion if not for Bianca. Bianca’s just trying to focus on WrestleMania, and Rhea’s music hits! Rhea already has a microphone and wants to know why Bianca was out there anyway. Did Bianca want to face IYO instead of Rhea? Maybe Bianca should have let Rhea handle her business like she handled her business with Naomi & Jade. Bianca says that Rhea can’t beat IYO, and don’t blame her. Rhea & Bianca get up in each other’s faces, and both slap IYO away. IYO slaps Rhea & Bianca down! She had enough of being disrespected and will not be an afterthought! Good for IYO!

Next Week: John Cena & Cody Rhodes in the same place, Penta vs. Ludwig Kaiser with No Holds Barred, Jey Uso vs. Austin Theory, Dakota Kai vs. Ivy Nile, Bron Breakker vs. Finn Balor!

CM Punk & Seth Rollins are WALKING!

Stephanie Vaquer & Giulia are ringside, they’ll face off tomorrow night at NXT Roadblock. I can dig that, sucka!

Steel Cage Match: CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins: I think Punk said a naughty word! Rollins wastes no time and attacks Punk as he enters the cage. Punk & Rollins exchange shots, neither man really gaining an advantage. Rollins & Punk each block a shot into the steel. Rollins tears Punk’s shirt off and chops away. Punk fires back, and trades shots with Rollins. Slaps! Punches! Chops! Punches! Punk with three straight before Rollins fires back. GTS is blocked. Rollins catches Punk on the knee in the corner, and powerbombs Punk into the cage wall! We go to commercial!

Rollins is in the driver’s seat when we return, dominating Punk throughout the break. Rollins has no interest in winning just yet, the door opens and he tells Punk to go through it. Punk flips Rollins off and fights back. Rollins goes for another powerbomb, but Punk ends up ranaing him into the cage instead. Rollins gets hit with the GTS, but Punk is still recovering and can’t capitalize. Punk hits a running knee, then rubs Rollins’ head against the cage. A knee to the back of the head sends Rollins down. Now Punk invites Rollins to escape the cage, and Rollins flips him off. Another running knee by Punk, then a neckbreaker. Elbowdrops by Punk. Punk goes to the top rope and hits an elbowdrop from there. Another top rope elbowdrop, and a double bird from Punk this time. Punk goes back up like it’s WrestleMania VII and hits a third for a two count. Needed a few more, I think. Now Punk climbs to the top of the cage, he teases an elbow from there but Rollins recovers and follows him up top. The drone shot of them fighting in the corner is pretty dang cool. Rollins gets knocked back on the ring side of the cage, he grabs Punk and hits a superplex while standing on the top rope! That’ll get a two count. The fans say it’s awesome, I’m inclined to agree at the moment. They exchange punches again. Punk goes for GTS, Rollins goes for a Pedigree but Punk turns that into GTS for two! Punk goes for another one, but Rollins blocks the knee, grabs Punk’s leg and locks in the STF! Shades of John Cena! Punk breaks out and locks in the Anaconda Vice! Rollins reaches the rope, but that’s irrelevant in a steel cage. Rollins rakes Punk’s face to get out and hits the Stomp on him for two! Rollins climbs the rope, but Punk knocks him off! A third GTS only gets two! Punk might need a new move! He uses the Stomp! Rollins kicks out of his own finishing move! The door is open, and Punk ponders leaving. Rollins crawls over and tells Punk if he wants his house to earn it. GTS is blocked by Rollins, and Rollins hits one of his own! Rollins follows that up with a Stomp, and Punk kicks out at two! Now Rollins looks at the open door. Punk crawls over to Rollins, Rollins mounts the second rope and hits the Stomp from there! The crowd is making a lot of noise…IT’S ROMAN REIGNS! He pulls Rollins out of the ring, which means the match is over!

Winner: Seth Rollins (19:26 shown via exiting the cage)
Match Rating: ****1/2
I expected a lot out of this match and that’s exactly what we got here. The return of Roman Reigns as a thorn in the side of both of these guys ramps up the road to WrestleMania a little bit more. Punk & Rollins were both as solid as one would expect, and not so shockingly this feud still seems far from over.

Rollins gets hit with a Superman Punch and a Spear! Reigns tosses Rollins over the ring steps! He Stomps Rollins on the floor, just as Rollins did to him at the Royal Rumble! Well, there was also one involving the steps, and now Roman sets that up! Adam Pearce & other WWE officials try to break it up, Roman looks like he’s about to do it anyway but then he sees the Wise Man Paul Heyman consoling Punk in the ring! Now Reigns enters the ring throws Punk off the cage twice and hits the Spear! Heyman stands in the corner praying for his life while the OTC gives the Bloodline salute and the show comes to an end!

Thanks for reading! If you’ve got any thoughts, questions or concerns for me, hit me up at [email protected] or on the social media. So long and good night!

8.5

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

As usual, big things happened at Madison Square Garden. Now we can see that CM Punk, Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns are headed for a collision course. Whose side will Paul Heyman be on? Does he choose between Roman & Punk, or swerve everybody and back Rollins up? Needless to say, I am hype. A great night for the WWE in their home arena.