WWE Monday Night Raw comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Mar. 25, 2024) from the Allstate Arena just outside Chicago, Illinois, featuring the latest build to the WrestleMania 40 extravaganza early next month in Philadelphia.
Advertised for tonight: CM Punk makes his return to television in front of the home crowd, Sami Zayn takes on “Big” Bronson Reed, Jey Uso squares up with Shinsuke Nakamura, Ivar gets the chance to steal the show again, this time with Andrade, Ricochet attempts to continue his run through Judgment Day with a match-up against JD McDonagh, Ivy Nile vs. Candice LeRae, and more!
Come right back here at 8 pm ET when the Raw live blog will kick off once the show starts on USA Network. It will be below this line here. Reminder: GIFs and pics allowed, but no links to illegal streams, please.
WWE RAW RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR MAR. 25
I’ve been in this town so long that back in the city I’ve been taken for lost and gone and unknown for a long long time. Fell in love years ago with an innocent girl from the Spanish and Indian home of the heroes and villains, but now I’m here to liveblog this pro wrestling show for you, folks.
The show opens with footage of CM Punk arriving at the arena earlier today.
We immediately throw to a recap of the final segment on SmackDown last week.
“American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes makes his entrance and gets on the mic.
He asks Chicago what they want to talk about and says he could say nothing, we’re in that final awkward two weeks before WrestleMania where the time for talk is over and the wagon is in the barn, y’know? Last week on SmackDown, or even before SmackDown in his media rounds, Roman Reigns said a lot.
And he said a lot on Pat McAfee’s show and Cody leads cheers for both Pat and Michael Cole at the commentary desk. Rhodes makes a big show of saying Roman’s name and letting the boos ring out, before saying that Roman said he’s making promises he can’t keep, and that got under his skin.
But Chicago should know better than anywhere that when he makes a promise, when he places a bet, he keeps it, 100 percent. He talks about some guy who held a sign up asking for Cody to be his best man and talks about how hard it was to tell his wife about but he’s doing it. He talks about a little boy he’s paying to WrestleMania, about the Wrestling Club, and says he does this and asks for nothing in return and that’s lost on Roman Reigns.
Reigns thinks it’s desperation, but it’s not. He dresses how he dresses, walks the way he walks, talks the way he talks, he pretends to be the champion because the champion isn’t here! He tells Roman to understand that he respects him, but he hates his guts, and he understands if he hates him back.
It’s his fault Roman and his cousin can’t have a wankfest at WrestleMania, and it’s his fault because he won the Royal Rumble not once, but twice. And when you win the Rumble, you point at the sign, and if he learned anything from last year, it’s that he can’t do it alone.
He said he asks for nothing back, but he’s asking for something. On April 6, heading into the biggest tag match in the history of WWE, him and Seth Rollins against Roman Reigns and the Rock, will we ride with him? And on April 7, in what is hopefully a fair fight against Roman Reigns, will we fight with him?
Chicago, 15,000 strong, if he points at the sign, will you point with him? And they do.
Enter Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson.
He comes to the ring and squares up with Cody but rather than posturing on the mic he whispers in Cody’s ear and leaves.
Ricochet is shown shadowboxing to send us to break.
Back from commercial, we get a recap of the Rock’s appearance in our opening segment.
The Rock runs into an interview on his way out of the building but he simply tells her to go ask Cody Rhodes if she wants to know what he said to him.
Judgment Day are playing darts in their clubhouse and Rhea Ripley is finishing up a chat with Dominik Mysterio about communication. Damian Priest tells JD McDonagh to take care of Ricochet and Finn Balor berates him about how he’s sick and tired of seeing JD and Dom made fools of, but Damian backs him off.
McDonagh promises to take care of it, Mysterio says he’ll have his back, and that’s that.
JD McDonagh vs. Ricochet
McDonagh hot out the gates, whip across, back elbow lays Ricochet out! Back suplex, lands on his feet, roll under a lariat, back handspring into a tijeras and a dropkick sends JD to the floor! The One and Only off the ropes, Dominik Mysterio shoves his buddy out of the way but Rick gets a Space Flying Tiger Drop out the other side to wipe McDonagh out and send us to break!
Back from commercial, springboard back elbow from Ricochet and both men are down! Rick with a lariat, a standing shooting star press... NOPE! JD with a Spanish Fly and a brainbuster... STILL NO! Up top, big chops... RICOCHET AVALANCHE POISON FRANKENSTEINER AND HE FOLLOWS IT WITH RECOIL BUT MYSTERIO PUTS HIS BUDDY’S FOOT ON THE ROPES!
Up on the apron, springboard 450 splash... THE KNEES ARE UP! Counter cover on Ricochet, only two and we go to break!
Back from commercial, JD with a lariat, a Liger Bomb... STILL NO! Ricochet with a flip piledriver, headed up top, but Dominik trips him up! Referee Rod Zapata’s had enough and ejects Mysterio from ringside! Rick recovers...
Ricochet wins by pinfall with a shooting star press.
CM Punk is shown walking backstage to send us to break.
Back from commercial, “Main Event” Jey Uso is shown walking backstage.
CM Punk makes his entrance and gets on the mic.
He says he’s got a lot to say and a lot of business to get to, but it’s good to be alive in Chicago on a Monday night. Everybody’s asking CM Punk if he’s going to be at WrestleMania, and the short answer is yes. Everybody’s asking how his elbow is, and it’s not great and it’s not 100% and he’s not medically cleared but damnit his mouth works!
Not only are people asking what he’s gonna do but they have suggestions— is he going to host WrestleMania, and ten years ago he would have said that was beneath him, but now he wishes Mania was in Chicago. People say he’s great in the ring and on the mic and even at commentary, why not try to be referee?
Is there a title match that needs the most impartial referee? Not only do people ask him questions, they talk about him, and he calls Pat McAfee out and talks about Roman Reigns making an appearance on his show and says he’ll see him soon. Another guy that likes to talk about him is Seth Rollins and they go way back and they don’t see eye-to-eye probably because he wears high heels now.
Punk doesn’t take kindly to him laughing at him getting a busted arm, but somebody who hasn’t said a word about him is the Rock. He’d like to think that’s because ten years ago he remembers coming face-to-face with the Second City Saint and realizing his arms are just too short to box with god.
And then there’s Drew McIntyre.
He hasn’t said a word on the internet because he handles his business live and in living color, face-to-face in Chicago like a man—
Enter Drew McIntyre.
Punk tells him to get his bitch-ass in the ring but Drew simply paces on the stage and gets on the mic, saying he’d love to beat his ass but doesn’t he remember what happened last time they were in the ring together? He stomped his arm because he deserved it, and CM asks if he’s a Scot in a kilt or an internet troll in a skirt.
Drew tells him he could be canceled for talk like that and this is divine intervention, and McIntyre talks about his t-shirt, to which Punk says he ain’t ever had to put another man’s name on a shirt to sell it. Drew says the straight-edge thing is ironic because Punk doesn’t drink or do drugs but he spends all his time in rehab.
He can see Punk doesn’t like him but he doesn’t hate him, no, CM completes him. When he’s in the gym and can’t get that last rep, he thinks about Punk and the weight goes up. Elimination Chamber with a burst ear drum, he thought about Punk and he got the job done. He’s his muse!
Punk says he can’t hear him and tells him to come in the ring and speak into his good ear, but Drew’s not having it, saying Punk must want to take him out before WrestleMania. Punk lays down in the ring in an obvious show of good faith but Drew takes a seat on the announce desk and says he wants CM to have a front-row seat at WrestleMania so he can understand that Drew McIntyre has always been the chosen one.
Punk asks him what paragon of good virtue chose him, taunting and goading him and telling him it wasn’t the people chanting CM Punk. McIntyre tells him to get it out while he can and he wants him to have a front-row seat and to be on commentary for his match so he can see Drew finally have his moment and raise the title in front of his fans in a stadium.
Enter Seth Rollins, as Punk drops to his knees in anguish and slaps the microphone against his forehead a few times.
Seth gets in Punk’s face and says this is his show and calls him and Drew both children. CM tells him it can be his show, but this is his city, and Rollins says if they’re done trolling each other maybe they can get to business. If they had even one brain cell between them, they’d know that you don’t get to make decisions about world title matches when you’re not in it.
But he’ll put it to the crowd, and asks if Punk should be on commentary, and he gets a good response, but then a “referee” chant breaks out. Seth points out his counting arm is hurt but Punk drops to the mat and counts with his good arm before admitting he can’t be objective with these two dipsh*ts.
Seth asks if Punk wants to know what he thinks and CM says no but Rollins carries on and says he doesn’t think about Punk at all. Seth says he doesn’t care what Punk does at WrestleMania as long as he stays out of his way, and CM says it’s decided, he’s gonna do a little commentary at WrestleMania.
And he’ll do something that Drew with the lifts in his boots and the dye in his beard and Rollins with his bell bottoms and his championship and his wife could never do, and that’s make them both interesting.
McIntyre cuts Punk’s music off to yell at him for obsessing over him and call him a stan, but Rollins drops Drew with a superkick! Blackout connects! Message sent!
Shinsuke Nakamura cuts a promo about how it’s unfair that Jey Uso gets his dream match against his brother and tonight he’ll turn that dream into a nightmare.
And so we go to break.
Candice LeRae vs. Ivy Nile
Nile with a spinebuster and elbows, running kick in the corner, front chancery into a delayed vertical suplex for two! LeRae comes back with a flurry, blasts her off the apron, clutching her knee in the corner so Indi Hartwell can attack Ivy but Indi’s not doing it! Ivy back inside, referee Eddie Orengo pulls her away, Candice rolls her up...
Candice LeRae wins by pinfall with a folding press and her feet on the ropes.
Backstage, #DIY and New Day snipe at each other about their team names in a mostly good-natured way when Awesome Truth roll up enthusiastic about New Day vs. DX tonight. R-Truth says they’re gonna be on commentary tonight, and we go to break.
Back from commercial we get a clip of Jey Uso talking about how special it was for Yokozuna to main event WrestleMania.
#DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa) vs. New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods)
Awesome Truth are on commentary for this one.
Ciampa and Kingston to start, monkey flip out of the corner, whip across, tag to Gargano, double-teams, big lariat takes Kofi off his feet! Chops in the corner, whip reversed, up and over, schoolboy, Kofi ducks the kick, Fameasser connects, only a nearfall! Woods in, stereo dropkicks and hip swivels and we go to break!
Back from commercial, Gargano with a tag, assisted shiranui, both of New Day sent to the floor, Johnny Wrestling dives on both of them to take them out but here comes Judgment Day, attacking both teams...
The match goes to a no-contest, presumably.
Post-match the brawl continues, Miz joins the fray but Truth stays on commentary until Damian Priest notices him and Judgment Day go after him as he frantically requests a commercial break. He does not get it, as Judgment Day throw him in the ring, but the former 2-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion fights a valiant battle against them until Priest hits the Razor’s Edge and Balor follows it with Coup de Grace!
Cody Rhodes is interviewed backstage for a quick bit of promotion.
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, GUNTHER is interviewed.
He says after sitting on it for a week he doesn’t have much to answer because Sami Zayn’s words were empty and he doesn’t believe he can win. There are thousands of schlubby nerds in the crowd tonight just like Sami, and none of them believe he can beat him, and in fact, he doesn’t think Zayn can beat Bronson Reed tonight.
Andrade el Idolo vs. Giovanni Vinci
Vinci tries dumping Andrade early but he hangs in the ropes, tranquilo. Back body drop puts Giovanni on the apron, he pops el Idolo in the mouth but eats a dropkick on a springboard and crashes to the floor! Andrade with an Orihara moonsault, back inside, moonsault, nobody home, standing moonsault connects, only two and we go to break!
Back from commercial, Vinci goes for a powerbomb, el Idolo slips out, back and forth, Andrade with the elbow, hammerlock...
Andrade el Idolo wins by pinfall with the hammerlock DDT, now called The Message.
Rhea Ripley and Dominik Mysterio are shown walking backstage to send us to break.
Back from commercial we get commentary bickering over whether Pat McAfee is kissing ass or not.
Whatever.
Rhea Ripley makes her entrance, flanked by Dominik Mysterio and she gets on the mic.
She says she feels like a certain someone isn’t giving her their full attention, because Becky Lynch keeps fighting week after week. She cajoles Dom into calling her out, but before he can go with it...
Enter Becky Lynch.
Lynch gets on the mic and says she’s here with Rhea fresh as a daisy, unlike her who has to wait until she’s wrestled a twenty minute match to feel safe. But she couldn’t do that anyway because Ripley doesn’t wrestle on Raw anyway. Rhea asks why she’d want to compete before the biggest match of her career.
Becky unloads on her and says there’s always gonna be someone newer, younger, and hotter, but the long game in this business is about skill and merit and survival and coming back from the muck when the chips are down and you’re not the chosen one anymore, and Ripley hasn’t experienced that yet.
Rhea says Becky’s hard to kill but not impossible, and she’s not going to take that far, because she wants Lynch alive, on her couch, next to her daughter so she can listen to her call Ripley Mami.
Becky trembles in obvious anger before giving her one pass and telling her if she ever mentions her daughter again it’ll be the last thing she ever says. It’s not funny to her, because her dad never got to meet her daughter and she knows the thing he’d be most proud of is the woman she’s become.
It might be a joke to her but it’s not a joke to Becky and neither is the title. She says she didn’t attack her out of respect but there’s nothing respectful about her, she just knows that after throwing the first punch there’s no going back, and after WrestleMania neither of them will be the same again.
They get in each other’s face and Dominik backs Rhea off. He turns to face Becky and she drops him with a right hook! The brawl is on! Ripley blasts her with a kick and throws her shoulder-first into the post! They brawl to the floor and referees pull them apart!
Sami Zayn is shown walking backstage when he runs into Chad Gable, who wants to talk about how they ended things last week.
Sami says there’s nothing to talk about, it’s fine, he said what was in his heart and that’s okay. Tonight’s about making GUNTHER eat his words, but Chad tells him to focus on the task at hand and get his head out of his ass. Zayn says he’s right and he knows what he has to do, and he appreciates Gable saying it.
They shake hands and Sami moves on.
“Big” Bronson Reed vs. Sami Zayn
Zayn with a side headlock, Reed breaks away, big headbutt, back elbow out of the ropes, drop down, leapfrog, Sami passes him to the floor and follows it with a tope con giro to wipe him out! Back inside, Zayn with a crossbody, Bronson catches him but he slips out and throws some elbows, whip across, duck a lariat, Reed clobbers him with his left shoulder and he goes sprawling!
Big chop sends Zayn to the floor, diving shoulder follows and we go to break!
Back from commercial, Sami on the comeback, GUNTHER comes to the stage and he gets distracted but he fights Reed off with back elbows! Blue Thunder Driver blocked with overhead elbows, sidestep a body avalanche, cover for two! Slam attempt, Bronson counters, slam of his own, only two!
GUNTHER continues to stand watch as Reed goes up top...
Bronson Reed wins by pinfall with the 747 Splash.
Jey Uso cuts a promo at the camera about how tonight Shinsuke Nakamura is going to get woke.
“Big” Jim Uso and Solo Sikoa roll up to stare menacing at Uso and send us to break.
Back from commercial, Pat McAfee does a telestrator breakdown of Becky Lynch’s right hook that dropped Dominik Mysterio.
Sami Zayn is angry backstage when Chad Gable rolls up.
Zayn unloads, frustrated that he let GUNTHER get in his head and asks Chad how he let that happen with everything that’s at stake. Gable says this is what GUNTHER does, he plants seeds of doubt. Chad says Sami is one of the best he’s ever been in there with and if he wants to get to the other side of WrestleMania with his hand raised, he needs a different approach and they should talk.
Sami agrees.
Jey Uso is warming up in Gorilla and Seth Rollins rolls up to say something doesn’t feel right tonight but he and Cody have his back and he should go get that W.
Uso makes his entrance and we go to break.
“Main Event” Jey Uso vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Collar and elbow, struggling into the corner, Uso turns him around, Nakamura turns him back, duck a right hand, Jey with punches, whip reversed, slide low, big slicing right takes Shinsuke off his feet! Uso off the ropes, gets caught with a kick and sent sprawling! Axe kick follows, Kinshasa sends Jey to the floor and we go to break!
Back from commercial, Uso blocking punches and throwing his own back, superkick, drop down right hand, Nakamura blocks one kick but eats an enzuigiri on the return! Ode to Rikishi sidestepped, boots up, passed into the ropes, sliding German suplex connects... NOPE!
Off the top, nobody home, superkick gets the Kinshasa to the back of the neck and both men are down and out as Jim Uso and Solo Sikoa jump the barricade! Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins are here to even the odds and they brawl the Bloodline away! Drew McIntyre comes down to attack Seth after he deals with Solo and lays him out with Future Shock!
Shinsuke with a sleeper hold, suplex, land on his feet, superkick, off the ropes... SPEAR! IT’S OVER!
“Main Event” Jey Uso wins by pinfall with a spear.
We go backstage where Cody and Jim are still fighting and Solo tries to cut the #1 contender off but Rhodes is ready for him! THE ROCK IS HERE AND THROWING HANDS! HE BOUNCES CODY OFF A TABLE AND TALKS TRASH BEFORE SMASHING HIM INTO THE TRASH AND THROWING THE CAN AT HIM!
Big right hands, bouncing Cody off a road case and dumping a tool box out on him! He presses the attack before taking Rhodes outside and saying we were upset he didn’t say anything well he’s got our attention now doesn’t he? He tears Cody’s shirt open and keeps jawing at him, fighting out into the rain and telling him he’s the final boss and bending him over a retaining wall overlooking a sheer drop before bouncing him off a truck.
He demands we look at our hero and tells his mom to look at him because he’s got a special gift for her as he bounces Cody into a truck again and kicks his hamstring! Rock picks him back up and throws him into the truck one more time! He says he’s the Final Boss because at the end of the day it didn’t have to be like this but it is now, because of Cody Rhodes sticking his nose in the Rock’s business.
The prophecy has come true, he says, and the camera pans over to Cody wearing the crimson mask! The Rock punches him in the wound and takes a weight belt with “Mama Rhodes” on it and smears Cody’s blood onto his hand and then onto the white leather of the belt!
Rock pulls him up and says Dusty talked about hard times, well this is hard times, this is a lesson about hard times, and one more time he bounces Cody’s face off the truck and rreminds us it didn’t have to be this way before the camera pans down to Cody’s bloodied face one last time.
That’s the show, folks.
