From Roman Reigns vs. Solo Sikoa to CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins, the big headliners hit their mark leading to high marks for WWE in their debut episode of Raw on Netflix. Here are the full grades and analysis.
The Rock kicks things off
A pretty noneventful introduction, but if you were watching it in real time, it never gets old seeing The Rock do his schtick, get a pop, and try to put over the new generation of greats.
Hearing Rock praise Cody Rhodes was especially sweet, even it was canned, given their history last year and seemingly very real rivalry behind the scenes after the People’s Champ turned “shoot” heel by trying to take the WrestleMania main event for himself.
Totally skippable the day after but pretty cool live.
Grade: C
Roman Reigns becomes the only true Tribal Chief
Cinema. If you want to watch a televised match that perfectly encapsulates the Bloodline, then this is the match, which makes it all the more fitting that WWE chose this specific match format and layout for its first episode of Netflix.
The match itself was fairly straightforward as far as the actual execution, following the admittedly formulaic approach Roman Reigns has taken since embarking on this Bloodline journey.
But the formula is pretty close to airtight, especially when it comes to mainstream professional wrestling. What sells is is the acting. After spending so many years as the fans’ unwilling underdog, Reigns has become an absolute titan of the game in selling, and after Dolph Ziggler’s exit, I can’t think of a single wrestler who is superior at this.
Look at how he took the headshot from the monitor or his 2.99 kickouts. Roman milks the drama like nobody else, and, to be honest, I was impressed with how Solo Sikoa stepped up and woke up to the match’s crescendo after a tepid start and a few very canned “I love you” diatribes while beating down Roman in the corner.
Special shoutout to Paul Heyman for the creepy, conflicted facial expressions in the corner. And a bigger shoutout to The Rock for squeezing every second of suspense out of his walkdown to the ramp, his crowning of Roman with the Ula-Fala, and his foreboding stares in the corner while Reigns soaked in the adulation of the crowd; clearly. this story isn’t over.
Obviously, neither is the one between Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens, with this match serving an important secondary purpose of feeding into the actual world title match at Royal Rumble.
As expected, Reigns vs. Sikoa was a WrestleMania-caliber match on television for the new onlookers of Netflix. It was fun with actually good false finishes, a raucous ending, and a chilling closing that will, hopefully, have some of the casual fans intrigued for more.
Grade: A
John Cena declares for the Royal Rumble
I LOVED this segment. To me, these kinds of promos are what pro wrestling is all about and shows you the caliber of Cena as a performer, in that he can make something routine a home run; I honestly hope the majority of the roster took thorough notes with how he set up the end, used the crowd’s reactions, and timed his facial expressions.
Basically, this promo could have been any run-of-the-mill Cena, work the crowd, say hi to Netflix, and declare for the Royal Rumble segment. But I enjoyed how he teased breaking kayfabe by bringing up his losing streak and the fact that he’s putting over new talent now, then tied that into the fact that everyone wants to know if he’s finally going to break Ric Flair’s record of most title reigns after sitting on 16 for so many years.
Cena skillfully set up that he’d “never” win 17 because of the streak and because he’s about pushing new talent, milked the crowd being disappointed with that for a change, and then hyped up all the possible ways he could punch a ticket to a world title, including the next chronological step, the Royal Rumble.
Grade: A
Rhea Ripley is back on top
Everyone could call this from a mile away, Rhea Ripley taking back her world title on Netflix over the only wrestler who has been able to defeat her, Liv Morgan, solely due to conniving tactics and the “guile”of Dominik Mysterio.
All of Morgan’s customary tactics to defeat Ripley had failed her, and the exasperated “What do we do now?” towards Dom was very well done. In the end, Ripley Riptided the hell out of Morgan, then proceeded to kick Dom in the nuts and send her extremely disloyal former partner to the curb with a Riptide.
There was nothing special about this match, but it didn’t need to be anything special; it just needed to be cathartic beatdown delivered by the obviously superior Ripley.
Also, using the Undertaker at the end solely to give Ripley the rub was a lovely and fitting touch. Hopefully, we see more of that going forward from WWE, particularly with a new audience on Netflix that may only be familiar with Taker and not the rapidly ascending Ripley.
Grade: B
Jey Uso escapes with a win over Drew McIntyre
Although this was far from the best match that Jey Uso and Drew McIntyre could have put on, the slower, methodical pacing of the match with Jey getting beaten down by an imposing McIntyre served its purpose in setting up a far more fiery and personal rivalry between Seth Rollins and CM Punk.
In the context of the show, Jey vs. Drew wasn’t bad, particularly since the finish was smartly executed. Jey had to win the match, since he is arguably the most “over” wrestler in attendance out of the workhorse core of the roster that isn’t competing for the world championship.
So Jey outsmarting McIntyre and lucking his way into the win out of pure exhaustion, rolling up an arrogant McIntyre, was the right way to go. I’m glad WWE didn’t go with a cop-out finish – meaning, a total nonfinish – and McIntyre isn’t hurt at all by losing to Jey.
Even when these two are clearly holding back their best, you can see that they have a different level of technical quality in comparison to most of the other wrestlers on the roster, which is saying something since this is, by far, the most technically proficient roster in WWE history.
Grade: B-
CM Punk proves why he’s WWE’s best right now
Easily the best match of the night. With so much at stake in WWE’s Netflix debut and a stacked card, the pressure was on Seth Rollins and CM Punk to live up to their billings as the best in-ring wrestlers in the company.
They delivered wholeheartedly, and Punk was especially impressive, cementing his status as the “A+” player on the roster after his barnburner with Drew McIntyre to put an exclamation mark on 2024.
For all the baggage that Punk allegedly comes with, he’s been the most impactful member of the roster, and this feud with Rollins has the makings of the finest work of his career, potentially even matching his feud with John Cena.
That’s a high bar to clear, and this match with Rollins was just the first step, but it was impeccable with storytelling and in-ring prowess that far exceeded that of their peers on this night.
Grade: A+
Kevin was an editor at Daily DDT, covering professional wrestling, and is now doing the same here at Let Them Wrestle.