Raw-After-Mania: Another Chapter Begins

The dust has settled and another historic WrestleMania is in the books in Hollywood, CA. We saw new champions crowned, and incredible matchups of the highest quality. Both nights were amazing with a total of 162,000 in attendance for the grand spectacle.

Let’s address the elephant in the room, ‘The Tribal Chief’ Roman Reigns is still our reigning-defending Undisputed WWE Universal Champion after a hard-fought battle against ‘The American Nightmare’ Cody Rhodes. Rhodes in his first-ever main event came within seconds of fulfilling his lifelong dream of becoming WWE champion, but once again because of The Bloodline, Reigns walked out of Mania still champion.

On the flip side of things, on Night One we saw Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn dethrone The Usos and become the new Undisputed Tag Team Champions. Zayn must feel somewhat vindicated after getting his comeuppance. The Street Profits won a fast-paced showcase tag team fatal-four-way car crash to regain momentum. I can see a massive triple-threat match being made official for all three teams at Backlash.

Gunther successfully defended his Intercontinental Championship against both Sheamus and Drew McIntyre in a wrestling clinic. All three men beat the holy hell out of each other in one of the most hard-hitting contests I’ve ever witnessed.

We also witnessed a passing of the torch between Austin Theory and John Cena in the opening match of night one. Theory took his opportunity to low-blow the former world champion and hit the A-Town Down to successfully retain his United States Championship. What’s next for the champion after his win against Cena. Could we possibly see Bron Breaker make his main-roster debut and accept an open challenge? Breaker lost his NXT Championship after a terrific match with Carmelo Hayes at Stand and Deliver.

The Judgement Day’s Rhea Ripley finished her story three years in the making when she delivered a thunderous Riptide from the top rope to become the new SmackDown Women’s Champion after a MOTY candidate. While ‘The Empress of Tomorrow’ Asuka was unable to defeat Bianca Belair in her quest to become Raw Women’s Champion, I don’t suspect her journey is over. I can see the Japanese sensation getting more vicious and dangerous in this feud.

Brood Exge defeated ‘Demon’ Finn Balor inside hell in a cell after an amazing encounter which saw Balor hit a thunderous Coup de Grace off the cell onto a table. The hall of famer was seeking retribution for The Judgement Day’s malicious assault on Beth Phoenix. After a devastating ConChairTo, Edge silenced The Demon for the victory at possibly his last-ever WrestleMania. The question remains though, is the war with the Judgement Day finally over? Will the dangerous group target some other superstars or will they keep their attention on the Rated-R Superstar?

A burning question that I have is where is Bray Wyatt and will he claim a new victim or continue his lackluster feud with Bobby Lashley? We haven’t seen the ominous character in weeks, and his rumored match with Lashley was put on hold because of an illness.

We are now hours away from another groundbreaking Raw after Mania where everything gets interesting. New chapters are written, and we may see returning superstars, and possibly some main-roster debuts from NXT. The WWE Universe is left with dozens of questions after the global event including what’s next for Rhodes, who will be the first to challenge the new tag team champions, who will dethrone Gunther, and is there anyone left to dethrone The Tribal Chief?

I’m truly excited for the new chapters that will start tonight, and watch everything unfold just like I did in the 90s when I first became a wrestling fan! It’s hard to believe we live in a time where you can watch unlimited amounts of wrestling from so many promotions. Right now WWE’s storytelling has been Oscar-worthy but will that continue to be the case?