WWE RAW in London Delivers Explosive Storylines Ahead of WrestleMania

The last leg of a three-week tour in Europe for WWE came to a close Monday in London.

And boy…did the tour go out on a bang.

The entire show was arguably the best episode of RAW we’ve seen in months. It was a perfect encapsulation of storytelling and action ahead of WrestleMania later this month in Las Vegas.

We saw John Cena open the show yet again, but this time Cody Rhodes came out immediately right after. The two sparred in the ring verbally, and it was one of the better back-and-forths we’ve seen from two wrestlers cutting promos in quite some time. AEW and Vince McMahon both caught strays during the explosive exchange. Cena was super withdrawn during the last exchange he had with Rhodes, and this time he more than brought the energy.

Simply put, we cannot wait for those two to square off versus one another for the title belt.

The Main Event featured Iyo Sky defending her title versus Rhea Ripley with guest referee Bianca Belair calling the match. Of course, Belair’s involvement led to a skirmish from all three. Ultimately the match was called off for a double-disqualification which enabled Sky to retain her title.

At the end of the match, Ripley was possessed — and she took out both competitors before standing over them holding the belt. At this point, we’d be shocked if a triple threat match at WrestleMania wasn’t in the cards.

The most exhilarating match came courtesy of Jimmy Uso and Gunther. For weeks, we’ve seen the building storyline of Jey Uso doubting himself as he has the unenviable task in trying to usurp the belt from Gunther. His brother has been trying to instill confidence in him — and that came last week when he slapped Gunther in the face after challenging him to a fight.

The slap was vicious, though Gunther took it and slyly smiled. This set the stage for a wicked beatdown. Gunther was vicious in systematically dismantling Jimmy. Now a rarity within WWE, Jimmy even got color and was bleeding profusely as Gunther held him a choke. At one point, Gunther wiped Jimmy’s blood all over his body as if he was lathering up with sunscreen for a day at the beach.

Jey inevitably came out to save his brother. Gunther exited, and we thought the scene was over. However, Gunther reemerged and tied Jey to the ropes using a ziptie. As Jey stood helplessly, Gunther continued his pummeling of Jimmy while taunting him.

Gunther is brilliant as a heel, and his charisma/work in this match was sensational.

With less than a month until WrestleMania, the next few weeks should provide further fireworks in fleshing out these stories even more.