And welcome, welcome one and all to not just
Finishes and Factions does Monday Night Raw but
welcome to the beginning of WrestleMania week.
And what a WrestleMania week we started out with.
We had Raw come to us from Sac City, Sacramento,
California, in the Golden One Center. And they
had 14 ,158 fans in attendance, plus the millions.
millions around the world tuning in for what
has to be the busiest and best week for any wrestling
fan out there. Now my name of course is Adam
I am your host this evening unfortunately I am
doing this on my own but will try to make this
as entertaining as we can as we are as I record
this four days away from the beginning of WrestleMania
and we're here to talk about the final Monday
Night Raw before the show of shows so enough
of the fanfare let's crack straight in now We
started off with a VT recap of last Monday night,
which was and this centered on Jey Uso WrestleMania
main event Jey Uso and His promo that he cut
on Gunther in the middle of that ring now We
covered this all in last week's episode and basically
the general gist of it was that Jay as he doesn't
fear Gunther anymore he doesn't want he's ascended
to a higher plane of some kind where he does
not fear the ring general and yeah we we go from
this VT recap into an in -ring promo which according
to Michael Cole on commentary this week was supposed
to take place a little bit later on but Gunther
had other ideas now Gunther came to the ring
and very much sort of expedited this this interview
that was supposed to be going on and Bless him.
Cole is trying to treat this like an interview,
but for all it was worth, I think Cole could
have stayed sat at the announce desk for all
the talking that that man did during the interview
itself. Gunther basically is not happy that Jay
is claiming that he is no longer afraid of him.
He thinks he's very much inside of old Ouse's
head. Yeah, it's a case that I mean Yeah, that
Gunther has had Jay's number for months and months
and but this predates his his victory at Royal
Rumble or anything like that Gunther has very
much had his number and that is how he's played
it up to this point, but In Gunther attacking
Jimmy Uso a few weeks ago leaving him a bloody
mess in the middle of the ring, yeah, you don't,
you're not getting the same yeet -jay -oo so
that we had so many times in the past. So, and
apparently a lot of people have been saying that
Gunther's out of control, Gunther, he's not,
he's not having, control of his own sort of abilities
and everything along those lines but yeah he's
basically saying screw you to everybody and very
much bigging himself up. I mean, Gunther's got
a lot to big himself up for. I mean, even by
his own reckoning. And I think the math more
or less works out that roughly about 80 % of
Gunther's WWE career he has spent as a champion
in one form or another. And yeah, he's not...
He's not going to let a clown like Jey Uso take
his strap from him, which, I mean, any champion
would come out and say probably more or less
the same thing, but Gunther basically doesn't
think that Jey is worthy enough to lace his boots,
and this is the superiority. I'm gonna call it
a superiority complex for lack of a better way
of putting it, that we've had from Gunther in
recent weeks and yeah, I think that he has almost
become a little bit complacent with Jey Uso.
We're now starting to see a very different, much
darker, visceral Jey Uso coming out and it's,
yeah. It's it it's gonna do one or two things
it will be the undoing of Gunther as a world
champion or it will be the precipice that pushes
Gunther right over the edge and Either way, we're
here to see all of it. So Yeah Gunther claims
that he has never lost control in 37 years and
at this point I mean he's he's got that sickening
smile broadened like oh yeah no there's nothing
good comes out of that smile on that man's face
but the closing message from Gunther was that
he is very much looking forward to calling his
mother and telling her how enjoyable it was to
beat the living daylights out of Jeyuso. I mean,
if his mother wants to hear about that, then
fair enough, go Mrs. Gunther. We then go from
that promo into a VT recap of... Friday night
smackdown where we had the world tag team at
the women's tag team gauntlet number one contenders
match which was won in the end by Bailey and
light the team of Bailey and Lyra Valkyria our
current women's intercontinental champion and
and Yeah, this is basically setting up for a
one -on -one match that comes along in just a
few moments time. We've got one more item to
talk about before we get to that point, however.
And that is a VT promo. Now, this is the first
of three promos we get throughout the evening.
This first one is hosted by Bianca Belair, talking
about her road to WrestleMania, the stuff that
happened between her, Naomi, and Jade Cargill,
which she... oddly seems to be weirdly separate
from now. The beef in all of that seems to be
between Naomi and Jade Cargill, whereas Bianca
has sort of been pushed to the one side because
I'm assuming she has this big world title shot
that she earned at Elimination Chamber just last
month. And then she starts talking about all
the stuff to do with her EOS guy and Mommy Rhea
Ripley. Now, these are the other two ladies we
will be hearing from later in the program. But
then we move on from there into her first match,
into the first match, which is a women's singles
match, which sees Liv Morgan, who is accompanied
by a tag team partner, Raquel Rodriguez, and
Bailey, who comes out to the ring with a well.
She doesn't come out. We don't see Bailey enter
the ring, so I'm assuming that Lyra Valkyria
joined her out to the ring for it. And you know
what? This was a phenomenal first match to kick
off Raw with. Liv played a normal playbook at
the beginning of the match, gets a bit gobby
and then decides, hang on, no, I don't want any
of that. And it starts a bit of a cat and mouse
game around the ring. At which point... as Bailey
is getting herself back in the ring having chased
Liv around it. Liv takes full advantage of a
prone position and sort of stakes her dominance
over that from that point on. Now, those who
have heard the podcast before or even spoken
to me in person will know that I am a big Liv
Morgan fan. That woman is hotter than lava and
There is one thing there is one tiny little gripe
I have with her and it's that She seems to do
one hell of a lot of screaming and it's a No,
it's not even a scream. It's a screech. It's
this battle screech that she seems to come out
with and it is Phenomenally irritating. I don't
know if anybody else feels this way, but I certainly
do But, yeah, she ends up, at one point, the
ref doing his job, and doing a remarkable job,
I must say, comes in to break up Liv Morgan,
who's managed to get Bailey pinned in a corner,
and is met with nothing but a screaming Liv Morgan
right up against his face, which, under different
circumstances, I'm sure the referee himself wouldn't
mind, but I'm not sure... Dirty Dom would feel
the same way, however, but yeah, it's one of
those. Obviously we've heard a lot over the last
week or two about Bailey specifically feeling
quite frustrated with how her... how her more
recent career has been going over the last few
months where she hasn't even been able to score
a win on a match. Rewind back to last Monday
night and last Monday night obviously Bayley
faced Lyra Valkyria for the Women's Intercontinental
Champion and she couldn't quite do enough to
put Lyra away and take the strap off her then
which yeah, I mean it's it's frustrating for
the future Hall of Famer because we all know
one day maybe soon maybe not but Bailey will
end up with one of those Hall of Fame rings on
her finger and it will be every bit deserved
so we look forward to that of course now It is
revealed at the beginning of this match that
Liv Morgan has never beaten Bayley one -on -one.
However, little caveat to that is that she did
actually end up eliminating Bayley in the Elimination
Chamber this year. So there have been victories
held over Bayley by Liv Morgan, I believe, but
never in one -on -one competition. One bit that
does seem to have gone a tiniest bit viral, even
in 24 hours removed from Monday Night Raw, is
Liv and Bailey end up on the outside. Liv starts
three Amigos, which obviously was made famous
by the late, great... Eddie Guerrero Mr Latino
Heat himself and yeah Liv Morgan has taken to
using it since her affiliation with Dirty Dominic
Mysterio and she does two of the three amigos
on the outside but gets the third one foiled
by Bailey but manages to get herself into a position
just a few moments later where Bailey is all
of a sudden finding herself receiving that third
amigo coming off the steel steps, hitting that
barely padded concrete floor of the outside.
And hats off to Liv Morgan. She will have got
as much of that as Bailey did and still managed
a brief... sort of, what do you call it, like
the shoulder thing that Eddie Guerrero used to
do, my mind has gone completely blank on what
to call it, but she even manages one of those,
even fighting through the pain. So ever the professional
Liv Morgan, which we love to see. Liv, I mean,
most of my notes here seem to be centered around
Liv Morgan. Most of them start Liv or Morgan,
and yeah, it just seems to be the way it goes.
I mean, I've got down here that Liv dodges a
sunset flip buckle bomb, sending Bailey into
the turnbuckle herself. But never fear, Liv Morgan
does manage a, or Bailey rather, does manage
a... It does manage a sunset flip buckle bomb
later in the match. Now Liv even sort of goes
to the extent of delivering a code breaker on
the apron. But one of the absolute moves of this
match was Bailey catching Liv off the ropes with
a modified stunner. then goes for a bailey to
belly which should have put Liv Morgan away had
it not been for Raquel Rodriguez and moving Liv's
foot to break the count and we've seen Liv Morgan
and Raquel Rodriguez do this for each other on
a number of different occasions. It is eternally
frustrating when they do because it means that
some of our favourite superstars don't get the
win when we think they're supposed to get it
but their heel characters we know what we signed
up for with these two. Now after this happens
Lyra Valkyria makes herself known comes in to
teach Raquel a lesson but Lyra is put down with
ease which honestly does not bode very well considering
Raquel is one of the one of the two people she
will be facing at WrestleMania for the women's
tag team titles with Bailey and Yeah, if she
can't find a way to get the better of Raquel
Rodriguez, then we may well have found Liv at
Lyra Valkyria's sort of kryptonite essentially
Now The last note I have on this is that Liv
hits a backstabber to Bailey as Liv goes for
oblivion on Bailey Lyra Valkyria blocks the attempt
by holding on to Bailey from the outside. This
gives Bailey the chance to finish the job with
a jackknife pin which finishes up that match
from there. Now we go from there into a VT recap
promo where we are basically recapping the favour
announcement and the fallout and we see Paul
Heyman after this waiting on the tribal chief
Mr Roman Reigns in the back and it's revealed
at this point that since that favour announcement
Mr Heyman has not had any form of conversation
with his tribal chief. And yeah, it's obviously
spelling the end now. The rumour and innuendo
out of WWE is that the Tribal Chief will be retired.
The gimmick, not the wrestler. after this WrestleMania.
So this main event, this triple threat could
be the very end of Roman Reigns as the Tribal
Chief. Which honestly I think is possibly a little
bit overdue. For me personally, I've had enough
of the bloodline and the Tribal Chief stuff.
I know some people have really got a kick out
of it and there are some parts of it, yeah. 100
% I mean I am still waiting for somebody else
to call Roman the tribal queef because that rib
got me something rotten and still to this day
lives rent -free in my head however We go from
there into a VT promo for Rhea Ripley. Now, this
is two of three. And this is Rhea's chance to
vent on her frustrations with Bianca Belair,
primarily, as well as a little caveat for Io
Sky, our current women's champion for Monday
Night Raw. And yeah, I mean, she's she's pissed
off. She doesn't feel like she. She wasn't. necessarily
looking for a way into WrestleMania as she wasn't
expecting to have to fight for it in the way
that she has. I mean, she wasn't expecting to
lose her title to EO Sky. In fact, it says during
this promo that she even gave EO... the only
reason EO Sky had that title shot was purely
out of pity. She felt sorry after everything
that went down. She cost EO a chance and... Yeah,
wanted to make it up to her, but that feeling
of obligation has all but backfired on her a
little bit. And obviously all the stuff with
Bianca Belair, Rhea feels that Bianca is playing
with her emotions, I believe is a phrase she
used in this specific promo. Obviously, initially
only being out at ringside during... the match
where Io picked up the belt off Rhea and she
was only supposed to be there as impartial but
seemed to be trying to help Io back into the
match and then when she was a special guest referee
Rhea feels that she cost her in that opportunity
as well. for once cannot agree with Rhea Ripley.
It's one of those things. I think she has cost
herself her own opportunities and is basically
looking for a scapegoat in the form of the EST
of WWE. Now we went from there into a men's singles
match which sees Rey Mysterio with the rest of
the LWO. versus Julius Creed with his tag team
partner Brutus Creed as well as Ivy Nile and
Chad Gable there on the outside. The only person
who was not present during this match, or at
least at the beginning of this match, was El
Grande Americano. Or, as anybody who's ever been
into a coffee shop in the UK knows, a large black
coffee. How nobody but me has picked up on that
as of yet. I have absolutely no clue. But yeah,
we digress from there now We got before this
a Quick VT recap from last week where we saw
El Grande Americano won the six -man tag team
match but did so with a loaded mask which was
not picked up by the referee but Rey Mysterio
certainly saw it and had more than a few choice
words which has ended in a WrestleMania match
between Rey Mysterio and El Grande. And I'm going
to take a guess that at one stage or another,
someone's going to end up losing their mask.
And we'll finally find out who is El Grande Americano.
Although I've personally still got, I'd be willing,
if I had any, I'd be willing to put money on
it saying that it's Chad Gable. despite the fact
that we have indeed once seen him and El Grande
in roughly the same place at the same time. It's
only been that once. And I'm just not convinced
that it isn't Chad Gable behind the mask. So,
yeah, we're we're waiting eagerly for that. But
we go into the into the match and. As far as
Julius Creed goes, this is actually his very
first career singles match in WWE. And yeah,
I've got to admit the fan in me took over. I
had real trouble keeping my professional head
on as a wrestling podcaster in trying to take
notes for this match because I was just in absolute
awe of the match that these two superstars put
on. Now relatively early on we do see both the
LWO and American made interfering in the match
almost at the same time as one another to the
point that the referee has had enough and kicks
them but all six American made and LWO faction
at faction members out of the arena and sends
them into the back for an early shower and yeah
this leaves Julius Creed and Rey Mysterio to
to battle it out mano a mano with no outside
interference which is let's face it it's the
way we would want to see it so Yeah, I mean the
next thing that I've got out of this was that
Rey Mysterio did, they referred to it as a baseball
slide and I can really understand why they called
it a baseball slide but normally when we see
wrestlers do a baseball slide it's feet first
not face first as tactically not the best move
in the world to do so Yeah, I'm gonna continue
to call it a baseball slide on this occasion
because it did facilitate what Julius Creed did
next which was catch Ray Mysterio in this baseball
slide and Manages to hold him up in a suplexable
position and walks walks around the ring, up
the ring steps, and only when Rey Mysterio gets
to within grasping distance of the ropes themselves,
does he manage to free himself of that position
because it was a... Honestly, I mean Rey Mysterio
is not a big guy, but I can imagine the the guy's
dense Like he's he's probably at he's not gonna
be a light. He's not gonna be a light fucker
at all Despite how that man flies through the
wind flies through the air making birds jealous
No The neck at so Suplex position Ray removes
himself from the hold on the apron as Julius
is sent or Julius is dodged by Rey Mysterio sent
into the ring post after Julius Creed decides
to create a bit of space between them with a
This is Sparta style kick on Rey Mysterio sending
him flying backwards on the apron Now, the next
note I've got after that was Mysterio counters
a counter with a spiked DDT on Julius Creed.
Now, most of what Ray Mysterio has done throughout
his entire career is impressive because of how
high the man flies, of how fast he runs, but
nothing... and I mean nothing is any more impressive
out of that man than how he can take on a much
larger stronger opponent and very much bring
them to task on what it is they can do and being
able to spike DDT somebody like Julius Creed
is is no mean feat at all now I did tease this
towards the beginning of this segment where El
Grande Americano hadn't come out to the ring.
Obviously we know that American made including
Chad Gable had been sent to the back minutes
earlier to this point but El Grande Americano
does make his way down to the ring and him and
Ray get into a bit of an altercation on the outside
where Ray is basically trying to unmask El Grande
to reveal him to the world as he feels the El
Grande Americano is an insult to the name of
Lucha, which obviously Rey Mysterio has dedicated
a vast majority of his life to portraying and
bringing to the larger world, which we thank
him enormously for as Lucha Libre as a style
is so very entertaining. Now, after, so Creed
tries to get the roll -up on Mysterio, but only,
well, I take issue with this because the count,
the referee, if you listen, so if you deprive
yourself of the image of what's going on in the
match and listen to the sound, Ray Mysterio kicks
out of the roll -up in one. Michael Cole says
that he gets out at the count of two, which is
ridiculous. Yeah, and then Mysterio drives Julius
into the ring ropes which sends El Grande flying
off the apron. Rey hits the 6 -1 -9 to win the
match as El Grande decides to sneak attack Rey
and drops the rest of the LWO who come out after
the match to try and help Rey Mysterio with El
Grande as it is revealed that El Grande Americano
still has that loaded mask and yeah not a He
basically when we say loaded mask if you've missed
it already he puts a steel plate We are told
it is a well, we're not going to describe the
metal. It is a metal plate now whether that's
an aluminium Steel iron, whatever the hell it
is metal don't bend metal that thick doesn't
bend easily and is certainly unforgiving. So
having a headbutt dropped on you where that person
has got a forehead of metal or a plate of metal
on his forehead is not going to be pleasant for
either person, but the person on the receiving
end definitely gets the worst of it. And after
that match, we go into a rare VT promo from our
Raw Tag Team Champions, The War Raiders, who
are basically addressing the new day on what
happened during their last match. As we saw,
I believe it may have been last week, where...
not only were the New Day coming after the War
Raiders tag team titles, but they were coming
after what looked like poor Eric's career, maybe
even his life trying to damage his neck further
as they have both Eric and Ivar come out of neck
surgery which has ended other wrestlers careers
before now. Now, the basic gist of the War Raiders
VT, other than calling the New Day cowards, was
that they are promising, they're not promising
a match at WrestleMania. They are not promising
a fight at WrestleMania. They are promising war,
which somebody called the War Raiders, not entirely
unsurprising. But still following directly on
from that we see none other than Jackie Redmond
Who manages to catch the new day playing? Well,
they described it as Clash of Clans WWE crossover,
which is a an event that Clash of Clans have
at the moment I haven't played it myself, but
it's WWE related. I'm sure it's amazing But new
day feel like they are constantly at war and
well they fit they say they are constantly at
war but not before admonishing poor Jackie for
her lack of etiquette in terms of interrupting
somebody while they're gaming I mean As a fellow
gamer myself, I can sort of understand it But
that doesn't necessarily mean that you stop poor
Jackie Redmond from doing her job Kofi and Xavier
now, I will be honest I was impressed by Xavier
Woods this week in this promo as it's not I don't
think with the first run of the new day the face
new day we didn't really get much of an opportunity
to see much of Xavier Woods apart from a trombone
playing unicorn penis wearing goof basically
and since the loss of Big E and their heel turn
Xavier Woods has really sort of taken the reins
and really taken the mantle and it's nice to
see him get something because up to this point
I really don't feel like he's had anything other
than riding the coattails of Kofi and Big E.
Some might say that this is only to be expected.
His tag team partner is out and he should be
doing things like this. But I'm still going to
give credit where credit's due. Xavier Woods
hasn't had as much time on camera since him and
Paige last did a video together. Promise we won't
make as many page porn jokes as as we seem to
do when it comes to Xavier Woods But this is
the thing is that he needs to now give us something
to remember him by rather than being Yeah one
of two dicks in a page Anyway So new day are
basically saying in this promo that They are
ready to re -ascend the mountain. They are ready
to go back up to the tippy top of Raw's tag team
division. I've very much got the impression that
they feel like they've got something to prove
to the rest of the wrestlers in the locker room
as apparently they've been getting teased and
all the rest of it. Which yeah, I can probably
sort of see some of the stories I've heard about
the boys and all the rest of it is yeah No matter
what age you live in that That is always going
to be what defines the wrestler the wrestler
and the wrestling era for it now from there we
went into another VT this was a Hall of Fame
promotional video and I haven't I still haven't
quite figured out why they're using old matches
but getting to relive this match in particular
was absolutely amazing Now the match that I'm
talking about of course was from WrestleMania
28 all the way back in 2012 which saw Undertaker
versus Triple H in a hell in a cell match with
the special guest referee being Shawn Michaels.
Now What a match this was. If you haven't seen
it, I would question whether you're a wrestling
fan at all. If you haven't seen it, I happen
to know that every single WrestleMania is on
Netflix right now. Go and watch WrestleMania
28. One of the main events of that night was
this match and... You cannot deny the gravitas
that went into this match. This was billed as
the end of an era in terms of the two that were
in the ring. Now, I'm not going to spoil anything
about the match by talking about it in great
detail as much as the wrestling fan in me wants
to because I remember watching this match. And
if I remember correctly, I'm pretty sure the
ending brought tears to my eyes. And if you've
seen it, you know. And if you haven't seen it,
go and watch it so you can fucking well find
out. But that is a teaser for WrestleMania's
Hall of Fame ceremony, which takes place on Friday
the 18th of April following Smackdown Now we
at finishes and factions have produced an episode
which will be coming out I believe if I remember
correctly the day before that at 8 a .m. GMT
so Please, if you are interested, I break down
each and every entrant into the Hall of Fame
Class of 2025. And it's not a terribly long episode,
but it's all there. I break it all down so that
you can, if you don't know who these people are,
then you will find out who they are and what
they've achieved and why they deserve to go in.
But enough about the Hall of Fame for now We
go from that VT into the third match of the night,
which is another men's singles match which sees
a the phenomenal AJ Styles versus Karrion Kross
Who we haven't seen wrestle at all. I think this
If I may be able to be corrected here, but this
is a this is carrying crosses first match of
the Netflix era as I don't think we've covered
anything like this on finishes and factions previously.
But. Do you know what a match this was? This
match was born of Karrion Kross really trying
to encourage the darker side of AJ Styles out
for his WrestleMania match versus Logan Paul,
the internet dwelling interloper into WWE. And
yeah, I mean, I'm gonna be honest, for the first
part of this match, it was the Karrion Kross
show. Carrie and cross was dominating and I mean
dominating AJ Styles and yeah it's it's a case
that Carrie and cross tries using every trick
in the book to see if he can goad that absolute
animalistic side of AJ Styles I mean AJ Styles
in general in the ring is a phenomenally gifted
athlete but if you have watched him as long as
I have watched him and I mean I used to watch
him when he was back in TNA competing for the
X Division Championship before he had his soccer
mom haircut and all the rest of it and Yeah,
he is a phenomenally gifted athlete but when
he hits that dark switch it is a case that we
see an entirely new side of AJ Styles come out
and this is the AJ Styles that Karrion Kross
is trying to unlock and Yeah, I mean cross at
one point feigns an injury to cheap shot AJ,
which only serves to anger styles, which as I've
said, I think was the entire point of everything
coming out. And to anybody that's already watched
this match and is simply listening to the sound
of my voice at this point, if you have watched
this match, please tell me. It can't just be
me who has seen eight who saw Once that phenomenal
forearm was geared up once carrying cross knew
what was coming You saw the look of acceptance
cross his face That was the look of a man who'd
done the job He went out to do and that is the
impression I got from from that match now after
this after this Logan Paul makes an entrance
into the arena claiming to come out to congratulate
AJ on his win as well as ragging on the crowd
of Sacramento who do not take kindly to Logan
Paul's presence as pretty much all of us don't
realistically Let's see, let's see, let's see,
let's see, let's see. Paul comes out to introduce
his own VT that he has created, which is basically
all about himself being anything but humble,
which is what apparently he is, according to
his own rhetoric. And after we watch this complete
drivel... AJ says that he's good to go with Paul
right now. Who needs to wait for WrestleMania?
Let's go! And Paul makes his way to the ring
as Karrion Kross comes up from behind and tries
to sneak attack AJ. And while AJ puts up a valiant
effort against the newly teamed up or the temporary
team of Kross and Paul, he eventually succumbs
to the numbers and is eventually laid out with
a pulveriser in the middle of the ring and that
was all she wrote on that particular segment
of Raw this week. Now one special mention we
do have to give during this time of year especially
this year, is to Mr. Michael Cole, who has sort
of taken on the mantle of the voice of the WWE.
And this WrestleMania, WrestleMania 41 from Las
Vegas, Nevada, marks Michael Cole's 28th WrestleMania.
which he has sat at the announce position. That
is a phenomenal number. I don't think anybody
else can even come close to that in terms of
announcers. In fact, I don't even think there's
talent that have wrestled in that many WrestleMania's
if I'm completely honest with you. So. Well done
Mr Michael Cole on your 28th WrestleMania this
weekend and we look forward to watching it as
always. The only way that it could honestly get
better for me is if good old JR comes back to
voice over another WrestleMania but we severely
doubt that will happen but we digress. We then
go into well and in ring promo which is mostly
taken up by the crowd getting some arm exercises
in as they yeet all over Sacktown and as we see
WrestleMania main event Jey Uso come out to the
ring and uh yeah it's been mentioned a couple
of times during the uh during the monday night
roar episode that sack town is yeet town um and
yeah i mean jay uso is that he has surprisingly
little to say uh we do find out that mrs uso
mrs jay uso is in the arena tonight, but it's
unknown as to where she is. It surprises me that
she could not get a front row seat. So, yeah,
what's up with that? But Jay isn't here to address
Gunther or anybody else. He is here to address
the fans. And basically, Jay is saying, you know
what? I'm locked in. and he knows that he's got
Gunther pissed. Now, it is a case that he's pissed
off the world champion. Now, this is a man that
could probably defeat most common people with
a chop on its own. So to piss off the ring general
is probably not the smartest move, to be quite
honest, Deuce. But do you know what? everything
about this promo is specific to to piss off the
ring general Gunther as we get about three or
four rounds of it's all me ooze day one it's
just me ooze seeing Pat McAfee yeet till he sweats
now we go from there that surprisingly short
promo into a VT promo which sees... which basically
recaps Penta's win over Dominic Mysterio last
week. And what I have dubbed as the viral spears
from Bron Breaker that followed. I mean, poor
Carlito is lucky he can walk at this rate. But...
we see after that promo after that promo finishes
airing it is a case that Kathy Kelly is interviewing
Bron Breaker about the match at WrestleMania
and before Bron Breaker can really get many words
out if any the judgment day completely lay waste
to him leaving him in an absolute heap which
is only really gonna settle to piss off Brom
Breaker and there are lots of people in the WWE
you don't want to piss off. I think Brom Breaker
sits pretty close to the top of that list if
we're honest. Now this feeds into our main event
of the evening which is another men's singles
match which sees the always impressive Penta
versus Finn Balor. This match I'm gonna be honest
Actually was this the main event? I've got a
double check myself. No it was it was the main
event match of the evening Now things have obviously
been heating up in the men's Intercontinental
Championship matches, especially now that we
know that for the first time ever in WrestleMania
history, the Intercontinental Championship is
being defended in a fatal four -way position.
And again, never before have we seen the IC title
being defended in a fatal four -way position
at WrestleMania. we have to make that distinction
so yeah I mean Penta has now been here long enough
to know that you do not let Judgment Day get
a foothold in and like the the ever -adaptable
superstar that he is Penta gets the drop on Balor
as soon as he hits the ring which is probably
the best way to deal with it if I'm completely
honest with you Now again, I really enjoyed this
match the fan in me got out of got sort of in
the way a little bit and I was just sat watching
the match like yeah like nothing on earth so
I've got a few notes from it here Penta basically
shushed the entire crowd got everything silent
for an absolutely echoing chop to Finn Balor.
Balor responded to this a little while afterwards
with a superplex to Penta and Penta then answers
this again little ways down the line with a backstabber
and hits the sacrifice which yeah I think they
make a... don't get me wrong I fully believe
that the sacrifice hurts like fuck. but I do
think that commentary possibly oversell it just
a little bit fully understand where they're coming
from where it'll sort of get to a point where
if it's done in the right way it could certainly
dislocate a shoulder but yeah it's one of those
I think it's been overhyped just a touch um but
Yeah as Penta was in control looking to end it
we see Dom and Carlito come to the come to ringside
to give Finn the opening as or to give Finn an
opening as Finn has Penta in the position for
the coup de grace. We see or we hear Brom Breakers
music hit as the dogs in the yard start Yeah
just going absolutely nuts. Brombreaker obviously
before the match was set upon by Judgement Day
and did not take to this very kindly. Now Paul
Carlito seems to have found himself in a bit
of a deja vu position as he finds himself at
the foot of the entrance ramp right in... Bron
break us crosshairs but this time he is we can
say a lot of things about Carlito we cannot call
him daft but by any measure as he makes his way
as Bron is making his way down to the ring fin
but Carlito thinks nah fuck this mate I'm off
and apparently runs over the ring over the announce
desk and hides under the announce desk very nearly
apparently breaking Michael Cole's leg Inverted
commas as I realized this is an audio file not
a video and you can't see me when I use inverted
commas Now The match ends up getting called a
no contest as when Brom Breaker misses the opportunity
at Carlito decides to take out Finn Balor instead
and the minute that he took out Finn Balor it
was all called a no contest so yeah I mean it's
lot of physicality with not a lot of promo skills
from Brombreaker and I wonder how sustainable
that character is going to be unless they can
widen his character development a little bit
as I feel that a lack of a lack of an ability
to cut an effective promo can sometimes limit
a superstars stardom and When when looking to
go a little bit further we've seen superstars
with phenomenal promo ability and very little
in -ring ability get a lot further than superstars
with in -ring ability over promo ability so it's
it's all about how you market yourself at the
end of the day but yeah At the end of it all,
Penta is the one who is left standing tall in
the ring as we go into WrestleMania and see those
four gentlemen duke it out over the IC title.
Will Brom Breaker walk out of WrestleMania an
Intercontinental Champion or will we see it fall
to either Finn Balor, Dirty Dominic Mysterio
or see his very first title reign of PENTA! We
will have to wait and see of course! Now, coming
out of the main event match, we come to the last
of the trilogy of VT promos for the Women's Championship
match. We save the champion for last in this
case, as we see EO Sky cut an entire VT promo
in nothing but Japanese. Now, thankfully, WWE
did supply... subtitles for it and again we say
this on a regular basis is that it it really
takes me out of the experience to not have a
Superstar let alone a champion not cut the promo
in some form of English It's I know it sounds
bad, but it does it just it breaks the mystique
for me If I wanted to listen to a wrestler cut
a promo in Japanese, I'd go and watch new Japan
Pro Wrestling Is my honest answer? I've got no
issue with their wrestlers coming over into WWE
and vice versa as we've seen many crossovers
in the past where wrestlers will break with one
of the other and end up going into the counterpart
and do really well over there. Japan really love
their wrestling and why not? The style of wrestling
over there is very different but it is a case
that you're coming to western promotion and yeah
it just I'm just not I'm not there for it I'm
not there for it but the gist of EO Sky's promo
was that she's basically sick and tired of playing
second fiddle to Bel Air and Ripley which do
you know what as the Women's World Champion you'd
expect to not have to play second fiddle to any
fucker let alone the EST and Mommy. But Eoskai
has been playing second fiddle to both of them
and at WrestleMania plans to give them neither
of them reason to forget about her or disregard
her again. Now we go from there to backstage.
Throughout the evening we have seen small excerpts
of Paul Heyman. who has been waiting all night
for Roman Reigns to make his appearance and you
know what I think CM Punk has watched him all
night and has felt sorry for Paul Heyman and
has come to keep him company which you know what
good friends do if you see your friends sat on
their own for no apparent reason you go over
you find out what's going on and CM Punk basically
says do you know what Paul you look stressed
Even makes a play on his on his entrance music
by saying look look into my eyes. What do you
see? as Paul Heyman timidly responds a cult of
personality Now It's a case the as they're sat
there Being all Pali as best friends have a tendency
to do Roman arrives and clocks eyes on his wise
man being all up and cosy with the enemy for
it and storms off like a bit of a jealous ex.
Now moving to in -ring as Paul Heyman, Nyon runs
after the tribal chief. he Roman Reigns makes
his way from backstage to in -ring the entire
time being aware that he is being followed by
Paul Heyman but not acknowledging Paul Heyman
now we know the tribal chief's big thing is to
be acknowledged um but it wouldn't kill him just
to say Just to sort of acknowledge the fact that
he's there which once he's in ring in fairness
he does do just not necessarily in the nicest
manner as After he has finished being acknowledged
by Sacramento Roman very first thing he does
after or before even getting acknowledged or
be asking for the acknowledgement from the Sacramento
crowd Paul Heyman is stood there microphone in
hand ready to hand his tribal chief the microphone
to cut his promo Which Roman Reigns every other
time has taken that microphone and cut his promo
but in a a small act which says or a small nod
that says a lot Paul Heyman is rejected as Roman
Reigns goes and gets his own microphone doesn't
want to use the betrayers microphone heaven forbid
and then cuts a promo calling out Heyman's betrayal
as the crowd start chanting start chanting at
Paul Heyman you fucked up and the thing that
I found funny about all of this was Netflix trying
to bleep out the swear words in what the crowd
was saying and their rhythm was completely off
in the edit that I watched so yeah but the crowd
chanting you fucked up at Paul Heyman as Roman
asks his wise man why Why are you siding with
him? As Paul himself points out it's not a betrayal
my tribal chief I owed a favor and I am paying
that favor back which Like him or like him or
hate him Paul Heyman is a man of his word He
will keep a favor if he if he owes one. He will
repay that favor in the manner in which he is
expected to, even to his own detriment, which
we are seeing here, of course. Now, Roman takes
all of this in his stride and basically continues
on, well, the only one in this favour transaction
that feels like they're getting screwed here
is me. Why should I, the tribal chief, Who doesn't
owe anybody a favor has never asked for a favor.
Why is it that I am left? Foot in the bill for
a favor that I didn't ask for that I didn't need
or anything like that now we have to remind at
this point that the favor came about because
they were looking for an extra man at war games
last year and Paul Heyman not Paul Heyman Roman
Reigns didn't have too many allies as this was
the the strength at one of the strengths of the
bloodline storyline and His house was fractured
at best but Yeah, it is a case that Roman Reigns
would never owe a favour, he would never ask
for a favour, so why should he foot the bill?
At which point we hear, BURN IT DOWN! As Seth
Rollins enters, do you know what, dressed somewhat
normally for a change? I was actually quite pleasantly
surprised to see him. dressed somewhat normally.
I'm not going to say he was completely normal
in it because he wasn't. Seth begins by basically
telling Roman that you're starting to come into
the light. You're starting to see how I've been
saying things and how I've been telling this
story. but you're missing a piece, you're missing
something that I know about that you don't and
being very sort of evasive with the tribal chief
which I don't think Roman really appreciates
speak to him straight and you'll get a straight
answer speak to him in riddles and you'll still
get a straight but it'll be a left hand straight
Seth says that this triple threat is the most
important in WrestleMania history and possibly
the history of the WWE as the winner gets to
define what the future of WWE looks like. Seth
goes on to say that it can't be Roman. As if
Roman wins and defines what the future of WWE
looks like, the business dies as... a part -timer
is it comes out on top and and says that it can't
be punk as will then be left with a flood of
punk clones who pick up there to Take their ball
and go home and go and sign with another promotion
when things get a little bit tough and then come
back ten years later to to feed off the scraps
of Of the hard -working stay -hards that have
been there all this time Now Seth believes after
last week that He is owed a favor because he
did not put Paul Heyman in the hospital now He
does also say that he does not expect Heyman
to honor this favor as I mean I'm sure Heyman
would have done had he been asked but he was
never asked he never asked not to be put in the
hospital which is a weird thing to not have to
have to ask for but it is a case that Yeah, he's
It's a case that he's just not expecting much
out of Heyman because his belief at this point
is that Heyman is not Doing this out of obligation
out of an obligation of a favor owed and needs
to be repaid That he's doing this out of choice
He is choosing to side with CM Punk and not the
tribal chief And yeah, basically Seth is really
start is really trying to stir the pot as Roman
seems to really be buying what Seth is selling
here, or at least that's what it looks like.
As Reigns all of a sudden turns round and attacks
Seth, then shoves away the wise man which triggers
the entrance of the second city saint CM Punk
to come and save his best friend. Now, as CM
Punk took care of Reigns and then turns around
to check on Heyman. He's there like, mate, you
okay? You okay? He sees a horror look in Heyman's
eyes as he turns around and gets the spear from
Roman Reigns. Now, Roman Reigns himself is...
In by no means safe at this point as he get as
Roman Reigns gets back to his feet We see Seth
Rollins appear in the background Chair in hand
very reminiscent of the downfall the final nail
in the coffin for the shield as Seth absolutely
lays into Roman Reigns in the back with the steel
chair and between CM Punk and Roman Reigns they
each eat a curb stump from Seth Rollins and the
final pictures we see of Monday Night Raw this
week is CM Punk laid out, Roman Reigns laid out,
Seth Rollins cackling to himself like a demented
joker in this story and Paul Heyman looking fearful,
fearful for his own existence as the picture
fades to black and we come to the end. of finishers
and factions does Monday Night Raw. Now, myself
and Rich normally do a lot of these episodes
together. However, we are trying to split the
workload on what is going to be a phenomenally
busy week. for us here at Finishers and Factions.
So please, please, please, the next time you
will get an episode of Finishers and Factions.
It will be rich! Who brings you Finishers and
Factions does NXT on the go -home episode before
Stand and Deliver. I will be watching it as a
fan and I hope... that you all come and give
Rich the same level of support if not better
than what you give me for this episode. Now I
am going to go before I lose my voice entirely
and leave you guys to ponder. What happens next?
We of course still have NXT and we have Smackdown
to come before the show of shows, WrestleMania
41 at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Until then, thank you and we'll see you all soon
where you come to catch some action. Thank you
so much.