WWE Raw live results: Heel John Cena returns
Date: March 17, 2024
Location: Forest National in Brussels, Belgium
The Big Takeaway —
John Cena cut a long promo addressing his turn and his relationship with the fans, but he did not discuss The Rock, Cody Rhodes, the WWE Championship, or WrestleMania. Rhodes confronted him, and both men will be on Raw again next week in Scotland.
That segment opened the show, and the rest of the show was not particularly interesting.
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Show Recap —
There were exterior shots of Brussels, Belgium, which was certainly a contrast to the usual shots of North American cities. Finn Bálor, Bron Breakker, Bianca Belair, Iyo Sky, and Dakota Kai arrived at the arena in Brussels. It’s another boisterous crowd, like Smackdown in Spain.
Corey Graves is on commentary with Michael Cole.
There was a video package for Cody Rhodes/John Cena.
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John Cena and Cody Rhodes segment
Cena entered to his usual music and loud “John Cena sucks” chants. He had a stern demeanour and wore a shirt with Belgian graphics and colours. He stood still in the ring as the crowd went back and forth with loud chants of “Let’s go, Cena” and “Cena sucks.”
He dropped the mic and acted like he would leave, so the crowd booed. He picked up the mic, and they chanted, “You sold out.” He pretended to leave again but returned.
He said, “When someone is properly grounded in life, they shouldn’t have to look outside themselves for approval.” (He posted this earlier on X.) He continued, “You are making this so easy for me. For 25 years, I’ve been the victim. I have been the victim of an abusive relationship.” The fans booed, so he shut them down.
He called them hurtful and abusive, and all they ever did was bully him into being their puppet while expecting him to do it with a smile on his face. No more. They chanted, “F*ck you, Cena,” and he held up the mic because they were proving his point.
He said he was not a babyface or a heel—he was a human being, and all of the fans have been awful to him. It’s been the same noise for 25 years. When he first arrived, they let him know they hated him. He changed himself, hoping they would like him, but it wasn’t enough.
So, he worked hard like he always did, and then he won and won and won and won. He won a lot, and they hated it. He spent the next 10 years of his life trying to give everything he possibly could, but it wasn’t enough. (The fans yelled obscenities again.)
In his final moments, he could have just walked away. He announced his retirement in advance and tried one last time to get along with the fans, but they ruined it, just like they ruined everything. Like always, it was great for two seconds, but it wasn’t enough. (The crowd sang the goodbye song.)
He said these fans were proving his point. No matter what he did, it was never enough. All they ever did was take and take and take. They only cared about themselves. Cena put his values on the line, but all they could think about was what they were getting. None of them asked how he was feeling. Now, they were getting what they earned, and that was nothing.
They weren’t getting a new look. They dressed like him, he didn’t dress like them. They weren’t getting new music. That was his voice in his song. Their time was up, his time was now. All they were getting was a chance to look in the mirror and realize how awful they have been for 25 years.
The fans chanted for Cody Rhodes. Cena knew they would because he was their shiny new toy. They kept proving his point. They were all awful people, and none of them were safe, especially those he could pick out in the crowd. He pointed out people who were still wearing his shirt, the “Let’s go, Cena” people.
The “Cena Sucks” jackoffs have already proven themselves awful people, but the “Let’s go, Cena” people were too. He asked what they had ever done to support him. All they ever did was steal from him. They stole from him and took his time. They made the same invisible joke for 15 years, and they still thought it was funny. It was pathetic. They were pathetic.
He said they wore his shirts to feel good. They wore words like hustle, loyalty and respect, but he lived them every day. They didn’t support him. They used him as an excuse for their pathetic failure of a life. All they ever did for 25 years was sit on their asses watching him be great.
He was in a toxic relationship, and he was breaking up with all of them. Whether they liked it or not, they were dumped. (They showed a sad, young Cena fan in the crowd.)
He said, “I don’t need you anymore. I don’t care about you, and you don’t matter to me. There’s no noise you can make. There’s nothing you can do because you know I’m right, and you know you’re wrong.”
Cody Rhodes entered to a huge reaction. Rhodes said Cena thought the fans had given him their worst, but they had also given him their best. They did that for 25 years because he was special and because he could carry it. Cena said, “Listen, kid,” but Rhodes cut him off and said, “Enough!” Rhodes told him it wasn’t “Kid,” it was “WWE Champion.”
Rhodes was excited to go face-to-face with the real John Cena, but he got this instead. This version of Cena better not show up at WrestleMania because Rhodes would run it over. Rhodes already took Cena’s best shot, and it wasn’t enough. Rhodes would retire him early.
Rhodes told him to go find the real John Cena because he wanted to fight that Cena, not this whiny bitch. Rhodes dropped the mic and left as the crowd cheered him on.
Cena grabbed his little branded towel and left as the fans booed and sang the goodbye song.
(Cole acted livid over Cena’s comments. The show was 32 minutes in when this was over.)
This was a great performance by Cena, but it felt like the promo was missing something. It makes sense that he would feel this way about the fans, but he never mentioned The Rock or even his actual pursuit of the WWE Championship. There’s still time, of course.
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No Holds Barred: Penta defeated Ludwig Kaiser (10:51)
Since his debut, Penta has now had six matches on Raw… against three different opponents. His last five matches have been against two different opponents.
Penta was all over Kaiser and cleared the announce table, but Kaiser raked his eyes and gave him a rolling DVD on the table. Penta tried fighting back after a break, but Kaiser hit another rolling DVD in the ring for two. Kaiser ran around the ring and charged at Penta, but Penta gave him a back body drop onto the table. The table didn’t break, so the crowd chanted, “We want tables.”
Kaiser took control again and used a chair, but Penta snapped his arm. Penta superkicked the chair twice into his face and hit a Canadian Destroyer off the middle rope. Penta followed with the Penta Driver for the pinfall win.
The crowd was super into this. This was pretty much exactly as good as every other Penta match so far, in part because it was against the same guy again.
— Cathy Kelley asked Penta what was next. Penta cut a fiery promo, and he was eyeing the Intercontinental Championship.
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There was a backstage segment earlier today to set up a match with the Creed Brothers against Rey Mysterio and Dragon Lee. American Made played dumb about Chad Gable in the mask last week, but LWO wasn’t buying it. Turns out, Brutus Creed is actually dumb because he really doesn’t know who was in the mask.
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Judgment Day met in the back. They were all on the same page until Dominik Mysterio suggested to Finn Bálor that Penta join Judgment Day.
Bálor was pissed and got in Dom’s face. Bálor mentioned that Penta just declared his intention of going after the IC title, the same one he was going for tonight. Bálor called him a snake. (Dom didn’t know Penta made that declaration.)
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Dakota Kai defeated Ivy Nile (w/American Made) (2:48)
Chad Gable, wearing a suit, ran out as the match began to join the Creeds at ringside. Nile used a distraction by her buddies to hit a uranage variation for two. Mysterio and Dragon Lee ran out to clear American Made from ringside while Kai gave Nile a GTK for the pinfall win.
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IYO SKY and Bianca Belair contract signing
Iyo Sky said that no one, not Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley or anyone else, would disrespect her again because, after WrestleMania, she would still be Women’s World Champion. The crowd loudly cheered and chanted, “You deserve it.”
Belair said she had all the respect in the world for her. However, she had the same message for Sky that she had for Ripley last week. If you thought you could put her hands on her and get away with it, you didn’t know her at all. Belair planned on leaving Mania as the champion. They both signed.
Adam Pearce thanked them for being professional, but he flipped his wig when Ripley’s music hit. Ripley entered, and the crowd erupted.
Belair teased Ripley about having a Mania title match, and Ripley claimed she was just there to watch. They bickered, so Sky tried to get involved again, but Belair brushed her aside again. Ripley headbutted Belair onto the table.
Sky went after Ripley, but Ripely powerbombed her onto Belair (the table didn’t break).
Ripley signed her name on the contract and took it with her. Pearce followed her to the back.
(Hopefully, they have a good follow-up to this because even the announcers didn’t think this made sense.)
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Jey Uso cut a promo backstage. He hasn’t been himself lately. His mind was playing tricks on him, so he flew halfway across the world to whip someone’s ass. Tonight, it was Austin Theory, but at Mania, it would be Gunther.
Gunther confronted him, but officials got between them. Gunther told Jey that he had spoken to Jimmy, and he was just as dumb as he was. Jey shoved Gunther, but officials separated them, and Jey entered for his match.
Jey Uso defeated Austin Theory (w/Grayon Waller) (0:29)
Jey almost immediately hit Theory with a spear for the pinfall win.
— Jey superkicked Waller and wiped them both out with a flip dive.
Gunther tried to put him out with a sleeper again, but Jey drove him into the turnbuckle. Jey chucked Gunther out of the ring and posed with the world title belt before tossing back at Gunther. Jey posed for the fans.
(This was exactly what it should have been.)
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There was a video package for tonight’s IC title match.
Theory and Waller cut a promo during a break. The crowd didn’t care about them. They challenged Jey to a tag match if he could find a partner.
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Backstage, Pearce demanded Ripley give him back the contract. She refused and tried to claim it was legally binding with her name on it. He said this was like speaking to a child, and, in fact, she was acting like a child. Pearce took the contract and left.
Belair rushed in and attacked Ripley. Sky ran in next to join the party. They all shoved each other into stuff, and Ripley wound up standing tall after security stepped in.
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Rey Mysterio & Dragon Lee defeated The Creed Brothers (5:44)
The Creeds dominated through a break, but Rey made a hot tag after the break. Rey fended off Brutus’ interference and gave Julius a DDT before Dragon Lee yanked Brutus off the apron with a hurricanrana. Rey hit Julius with a 619 and springboard splash for the pinfall win. The crowd loved Rey Mysterio.
— Chad Gable/the masked man ran in after the match and beat up both Rey and Dragon Lee. He suplexed Rey onto Dragon Lee and hit Lee with a diving headbutt. The crowd yelled, “Shoosh!” at him. He ran away as security chased him to the back.
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There was a CM Punk/Seth Rollins/Roman Reigns video package.
Seth Rollins segment
This was a ten-minute-long segment to let us know that Rollins will be on Friday’s Smackdown to confront Roman Reigns and CM Punk.
Rollins entered, and the fans sang his song pretty much all the way through a commercial break and for a long while after the break. He welcomed them to Monday Night Rollins, and they kept singing.
He finally got to his promo. He was ready to be mad, but it was hard to be mad hearing the fans sing his song. Perhaps they wanted him to be mad because they chanted for CM Punk.
Rollins said he would get to Punk but wanted to talk about Reigns first. Rollins wasn’t mad at Reigns for coming for revenge because he would have done the same thing. The problem was that Reigns couldn’t come up with a plan of his own, even with a wise man in his ear.
Rollins called Punk the luckiest loser on the face of the planet. If he had just a few more seconds, Rollins would have done what he promised. He would have ended Punk’s Mania dream and put his career on ice. He would have taken care of the Punk problem for everyone—including Reigns. Just like in the good old days, he was left to clean up Reigns’ mess.
It just so happened that Reigns and Punk would both be on Friday’s Smackdown, so Rollins was planning on heading to Italy to join them. The crowd kinda went quiet because this had nothing to do with them, so he invited them to sing his song one more time before they got to tonight’s main event. That was that.
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Next week on Raw in Glasgow, Scotland, airing one hour later (4 pm ET/1 pm PT).
- Lyra Valkyria vs. Raquel Rodriguez for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship
- CM Punk appears
- Jey Uso & partner vs. Grayson Waller & Austin Theory
- Cody Rhodes and John Cena under one roof again
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Backstage, Kelley tried interviewing AJ Styles, who was momentarily distracted by the fans singing for him. Karrion Kross and Scarlett interrupted. (Kross wore his hair like Styles again.)
Kross tried to egg him on by noting how fast Logan Paul got to WWE and accomplished as much as he had, while it took Styles 17 years. Styles cut him off. Styles knew what Kross was trying to do, but it wouldn’t work. He left. Kross told Scarlett, “I think it’s working.”
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Bron Breakker crossed paths with Penta backstage.
Bron Breakker defeated Finn Bálor to retain the Intercontinental Championship (12:31)
Early in the match, Bron went for a running spear outside the ring, but Bálor cut him off with a slingblade. Bálor had control during a break and cut off Bron again after a break with a side Russian leg sweep.
Bálor dismissively smacked and kicked Bron. Bron fired up and no-sold Bálor’s strikes. Bron fought back with a leaping back elbow, overhead suplex, and powerslam.
Dom and Carlito ran out, and Bálor used the distraction to apply a schoolboy for two. Bálor followed with a headlock elbow drop for two. Bron knocked Bálor out of the ring with a running clothesline and followed with a leaping clothesline off the apron and over the announce table.
Bálor cut him off again with a slingblade in the ring, followed by a shotgun dropkick. Bron avoided the Coup de Grace, but Bálor avoided a spear and used a schoolboy again for two. Bron hit a powerslam for two.
Bron set up for a superplex, but Carlito distracted the referee, and Dom knocked Bron off the turnbuckle. However, Dom accidentally caused Bálor to get crotched on the top rope.
Bron knocked Dom and Carlito off the apron before hitting Bálor with a Frankensteiner and spear for the pinfall win.
— Dom and Carlito attacked Bron after the match, but Penta ran out to make the save. Penta handed out superkicks, and Bron speared Carlito.
Penta grabbed the IC title belt and held it up for a moment before handing it back to Bron. Bron held the belt high while Penta did his zero miedo taunt as the show ended.