WrestleMania is five weeks away (April 19–20) — stakes are soaring and tensions are nearing a boiling point, as titles are set to be defended and scores settled on the grandest stage of them all.
Today’s episode of Raw on Netflix streamed live from Brussels, Belgium and it marked a pivotal stop on the Road to WrestleMania. The show began with John Cena arriving to a chorus of passionate boos, with the divided crowd chanting a number of phrases including, “Let’s go Cena” and “Cena sucks.”
Cena called the crowd out — even the fans cheering for him — claiming their support is self-serving. After ruthlessly lecturing the audience, Cody Rhodes interrupted, confronting Cena for his recent behavior and criticizing his newfound disdain for the fans. Rhodes said, “I was excited at the prospect of going week-to-week, face-to-face with John Cena. Instead, I got this." After expressing his distaste, Rhodes left Cena standing silently in the ring, taking in continued polarizing chants from the intense Brussels crowd.
The opening clash of the night was No Holds Barred Match between Penta and Ludwig Kaiser. Penta arrived to a welcoming reception and scored a big victory over Kaiser, then made waves by declaring his next goal: winning the Intercontinental Championship.
In other action, Dominik Mysterio and Finn Bálor had a bit of a tiff backstage after Mysterio suggested adding Penta to the Judgment Day and Dakota Kai defeated Ivy Nile with an assist from LWO, who scared off American Made to prevent outside interference.
Iyo Sky and Bianca Belair were set to sign the contract for their Women's World Championship match at WrestleMania, but Rhea Ripley interrupted, headbutting Belair and powerbombing Sky before taking the contract and adding her own signature. (The three later brawled backstage, with Rhea insisting that her name being on a legal document means she’s deserving of being part of the WrestleMania match.)
Jey Uso got the Brussels crowd jumping, then made quick work of Austin Theory, winning their matchup before being attacked by Gunther. But it was Uso who got the last laugh, snatching Gunther’s championship belt from around his waist — perhaps some foreshadowing ahead of their looming WrestleMania match.
After LWO and American Made has a squabble earlier in the night, they met in the ring for an official match. Dragon Lee and Rey Mysterio scored the victory over Brutus and Julius Creed, though they were attacked by a masked luchador, who Michael Cole insists is Chad Gable.
Seth Rollins arrived to thousands of fans singing his music, announcing plans to be at Smackdown this Friday in Bologna, Italy, where he’ll be under one roof with CM Punk and Roman Reigns.
In the main event — Bron Breakker defeated Finn Bálor to retain the Intercontinental Championship. After the match, Mysterio and Carlito attacked Breakker, but Penta came to the rescue, eventually leaving him standing face-to-face with Breakker, perhaps a preview of the next Intercontinental title match…
Next Monday’s Raw (March 24) goes down in Glasgow, Scotland and streams live on Netflix at a special start time of 1 p.m. PT / 4 p.m. ET.
