Trust and loyalty were two of the biggest themes on “Monday Night Raw.”
Nobody on the WWE Raw roster has any trust in Seth Rollins, while Liv Morgan questioned the loyalty of Roxanne Perez after her impromptu meeting with Finn Balor last week.
First, let’s get to Rollins.
“The Visionary” broke the trust of many when he aligned himself with Paul Heyman to topple Roman Reigns and CM Punk in the main event of WrestleMania 41 Night 1 last year. He picked up the World Heavyweight Championship and brought in Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed to his group, The Vision, which later disintegrated under his watch. Breakker and Reed turned on him as he watched Austin Theory and Logan Paul join the faction before WrestleMania 42 rolled around.
After Rollins lost to Gunther at WrestleMania 42, he turned his sights back on Breakker. And even though Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins (the Street Profits) appeared to have his back, they’ve made it clear they have no trust in him. The trust issues became apparent again after Breakker brutalized Rollins at the start of the show and then took care of Ford and Dawkins later in the night.
Ford and Dawkins jumped Theory and Paul as Theory was taking on Joe Hendry in a singles match. Breakker handled Ford and Dawkins with relative ease. Rollins came out to save the Street Profits. But as Ford cleared out Theory and Paul on the outside, Rollins was distracted for a split second. It allowed Breakker to hit another spear on Rollins.
“Tez, thank you for getting me that second spear out there, pal,” Rollins told Ford in the back.
“Well, Seth, thanks to your past antics with The Vision, nobody, nobody, trusts you,” Ford fired back.
“Nobody trusts me. You don’t trust me. I don’t even know you (pointing to Hendry), you probably don’t trust me,” Rollins responded. “Guess what? I don’t even trust myself. Who cares? We’re in the same fight. You’re fighting The Vision, I’m fighting the Vision. Sometimes, those fights are gonna come together. Here’s the deal, you stay out of my way, I’ll stay out of your way.”
Rollins walked off getting the last word. He will face Bron Breakker at Backlash on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Morgan put Perez to the test. She wanted to make clear that “The Prodigy” wasn’t going to side with Balor and fracture the group even further.
“What the hell was Finn doing in the clubhouse last week? You see, I’m not worried about Finn, Roxanne, because JD is going to take care of Finn tonight, “Morgan said to Perez. “I’m worried about you. Why did Finn think it was OK to talk to you and why didn’t you tell me and why do I need to watch Netflix to figure out what’s going on in the Judgment Day?”
Perez said she didn’t say anything because she “made it very clear” to Balor to remove himself from the clubhouse and don’t come back.
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“You’re right though, I should have said something. But Liv, you know I’m loyal to the Judgment Day,” Perez responded.
Morgan made Perez promise that she wouldn’t keep “anymore secrets from the family.” Perez agreed and repeated what Morgan told her.
Perez later helped Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez and Dominik Mysterio distract Balor in his match against McDonagh. It seemed Perez made clear where her loyalties lie.
Later, Morgan said that Rodriguez and Perez were going after tag team champions Brie Bella and Paige next.
Roman Reigns, Jacob Fatu contract signing
Roman Reigns was hot coming into “Monday Night Raw” after receiving a Tongan death grip from Jacob Fatu to end the show last week.
He didn’t want to hear anything that Raw general manager Adam Pearce had to say. But after Pearce told him that Fatu wasn’t in the building yet, Reigns waited his turn to address the “Samoan Werewolf” until later in the night.
The two met in the ring to sign the contract for their World Heavyweight Championship match at Backlash. Reigns made clear to Fatu that he was always watching him from a distance as Fatu grinded his way to get to WWE and became a main-event player.
“I was the one in this company holding the door open for Solo (Sikoa),” he said after Fatu mentioned that it was Sikoa who got him into WWE in the first place. “Solo was the one who brought you in, huh? Well, guess what, I brought Solo in and therefore, I brought you in. And I will be damned if there was not respect to be had in this business from me.”
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Reigns questioned Fatu’s use of the Tongan death grip he said Fatu used as a “desperate” measure.
“You don’t do that to family,” Reigns explained. “You don’t do that to your own. You don’t do that to your ‘Tribal Chief.'”
Fatu stared down Reigns before he responded.
“Yes, I am desperate. Yes, it feels like it’s just me against the world. Yes, my back is against the wall. So, I had no other choice but to take you out, take this title and everything that comes with it,” Fatu explained. “And to keep it 100, then I’m going to put a chokehold on this game, and I’m gonna squeeze out every dollar and every cent just the way this company has been doing our family for decades.”
Fatu said he has no intention of going back to where he came from and was as “desperate” as ever to win the World Heavyweight Championship.
Reigns responded that he wasn’t concerned about just Fatu’s “seven kids,” but the generations of their family that came before them and the ones that are up next.
When Reigns said that Fatu was “beneath” him, Fatu got up and tried to put the Tongan death grip on Reigns again. Reigns threw a desk chair at Fatu. As Fatu tried to go for the death grip again, Reigns broke out of it. Fatu ended up getting the advantage in the end, finally sinching the Tongan death grip on Reigns.
Fatu signed the contract and the match was made “official.”
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Sol Ruca steps up to “The Man”
There were a few moments of celebration on “Monday Night Raw” as newcomer Sol Ruca “officially” signed her contract with the Raw brand.
Pearce said he missed the days when he was at NXT and a “blue-chip” prospect was able to sign a contract with one of the main brands. He said, “Today was one of those days” as he introduced Ruca to the Omaha, Nebraska, crowd.
Women’s intercontinental champion Becky Lynch interrupted the ordeal. She claimed that Ruca’s time should have been given to her to celebrate her own greatness and was upset that Pearce scheduled Iyo Sky in a match against her last week.
“Becky, not everything is about you,” Ruca declared. “Everyone knows who you are. I know who you are. I know what you’ve done, and I know everything that you’ve accomplished. But the thing is, I didn’t expect to find out when I met you that you are exactly what everyone says that you are … a rude, big-headed, b—-.”
Lynch was flabbergasted and asked whether the crowd would let her talk to her like that. The crowd seemingly backed Ruca in the exchange.
“I’m Sol Ruca, and if you ever interrupt me again, not only will I kick your a–, I’ll snatch your soul,” she added.
Lynch went to hit Ruca, but slapped Pearce instead. Ruca hit Lynch with a Sol Snatcher to end the segment. Lynch appears to have a new challenger for her title.
Raw recap
Asuka hit Iyo Sky with a mist in a confrontation before their Backlash match.
JD McDonagh def. Finn Balor.
Ethan Page and Rusev def. Penta and Je’Von Evans.
Joe Hendry def. Austin Theory via DQ.
Oba Femi def. Otis in Oba Femi’s Open Challenge.
Original El Grande Americano, Julis Creed and Brutus Creed def. El Grande Americo, Rayo and Bravo.
