WWE Raw live results: WrestleMania 40 fallout

With WrestleMania 40 over, it’s time for a new story to begin.

WrestleMania week in Philadelphia concludes with Raw taking place from the Wells Fargo Center tonight. The first hour of the show will be airing commercial-free.

It’s the start of a new era with Cody Rhodes as Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. With help from John Cena, The Undertaker, Seth Rollins, and Jey Uso, Rhodes ended Roman Reigns’ 1,316-day title run. We’ll get Rhodes’ first appearance as champion tonight.

Raw also has a new World Heavyweight Champion, Intercontinental Champion, and Tag Team Champions. After Drew McIntyre had won the title from Seth Rollins, Damian Priest cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase and left WrestleMania as World Heavyweight Champion. McIntyre’s obsession with mocking CM Punk cost him his WrestleMania moment.

New Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn dethroned the dominant Gunther at WrestleMania, while The Miz & R-Truth won the Raw Tag Team titles in a ladder match.

One star who was able to retain their title was Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley, who defeated Becky Lynch.

Join us for live coverage of what’s sure to be an eventful Raw after WrestleMania starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

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– After the new WWE signature open, we went straight to the sold-out Wells Fargo Center and the entrance of WWE’s Chief Content OfficerPaul “Triple H” Levesque, who entered to a loud reaction from the crowd.

Paul Levesque and Cody Rhodes open the show

Levesque started by saying that he wanted to thank the crowd for making something special happen, namely the “Greatest WrestleMania of All Time” this past weekend. He said that he simply wanted to say “thank you”. Levesque continued by saying that on Saturday he had the privilege of welcoming everyone to that new era before introducing the new Undisputed WWE Heavyweight Champion, Cody Rhodes.

Rhodes entered to a huge reaction from the Philadelphia fans, with his new Undisputed WWE Championship in hand. Levesque shook Rhodes’ hand before he raised his arm.

The fans chanted “you deserve it” at Rhodes.

Levesque said that before he left, he wanted to congratulate Rhodes for his accomplishments this past weekend, specifically defeating Roman Reigns to become the new champion. Levesque said that he he had something special for Rhodes from two guys back at the studio, before cueing up a touching video tribute to the new Undisputed WWE Champion. A split-screen reaction showed Rhodes crying tears of joy.

After the video concluded, Levesque and Rhodes embraced in the ring as the fans chanted “you deserve it” once again. Levesque left the ring to let Cody have his moment.

“So, Raw after WrestleMania… Philadelphia, what do you want to talk about?” Rhodes asked. Rhodes turned his attention to ring announcer Samantha Irvin, appreciating her efforts and kindly asking her to once again announce the new Undisputed WWE Champion.

Rhodes continued by saying that two years ago, he laid out his goals and that last night, those dreams became reality. He said that the air in Philadelphia was feeling a bit thin because he and everyone were now on top of the mountain. Rhodes discussed the former champion, the Head of the Table, Roman Reigns. He said that we didn’t have to like Reigns, but he had to acknowledge what he had done in 1,316 as Undisputed WWE Champion.

The fans chanted “Thank You Roman” in appreciation.

Rhodes said that Reigns was the “most important Superstar of this generation”, and that he was the man destined to defeat him. He told everyone to direct their attention to the screen for one of the reasons why he did this for a living, showing a video of his daughter Liberty. 

Rhodes talked about that this was a unique predicament because the line was now for him. “Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Cody Rhodes. Once undesirable, become undeniable, and now Undisputed WWE Universal Champion!”

The Rock’s music hit, which signaled the arrival of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who entered the scene with his “People’s Champion” title belt in hand.

With microphone in hand, Rock stared down Rhodes in the ring as the crowd chanted “Undertaker” at him. The crowd continued to booed Rock loudly before he could say a single word.

“Now The Rock says is a lot of things, but ‘sucks’ isn’t one of them,” Rock started off before the crowd started booing him and chanting “asshole” once more.

Rock said that he came out here to deliver flowers to Cody Rhodes and to announce that Philadelphia broke the record for “largest gathering of trailer park trash”. The crowd loudly booed Rock again and chanted “shut the f*ck” up at him.

Rock continued again by saying that he came out here with no fireworks or blood spilled, and that he wanted to acknowledged that Rhodes overcame the odds and defeated Roman Reigns one-two-three and completed a story. He talked about how Mama Rhodes should be proud of what her son did and that Dusty Rhodes up in heaven would be proud of him, too.

Rock talked about how his “People’s Champion” belt meant something before asking if there was any way he could hold Rhodes’ new championship. He said that he never had a chance to hold that championship in Rhodes’ shoulders.

Rhodes said that Rock could hold his title for a moment, as long as he could hold Rock’s People’s Championship title. The two men exchanged their championships Rock held the Undisputed WWE Championship around his shoulder.

“I just got to say, this just kinda feels right,” Rock said before handing Rhodes’ championship back to him.

Rock said that he had to go away for “a little while now”, which prompted the Philadelphia crowd to sing “na na na na, hey goodbye” to him. He said that when he returns, he was coming to get Rhodes. Rock concluded by pointing out how he beat Rhodes on Saturday at WrestleMania. He said that Rhodes’ story with Roman Reigns was “over”, but that Rhodes’ story with him was just beginning.

Rhodes mentioned the Rock’s role as his literal boss as a TKO Board of Directors member, responding by saying that he was the champion of not only WWE, the fans, but also “your” champion (in reference to the Rock).

Rock said he had one thing to give him before he left, handing something to Rhodes, stating to never “break the Final Boss’s heart” again, before he left. Rhodes didn’t reveal what that item was, and looked somber.

Strong opening segment to start off Raw with the new champion Cody Rhodes. Rock’s temporary exit but making things clear that he wanted to face Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship creates an instant story for when Rock returns from filming his movies. The segment took up nearly 45 minutes of Raw’s first hour, which was billed as commercial free.

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– We got Earlier Today arrivals for The Judgment Day, Awesome Truth, and Sami Zayn before we went to Michael Cole & Pat McAfee at the commentary desk.

Ilja Dragunov defeated Shinsuke Nakamura

During Dragunov’s entrance, Cole announced that the WWE Draft was returning at the end of the month on April 26th during SmackDown and April 29th during Raw.

Dragunov and Nakamura started off by trading blows before Nakamura had the early advantage. Dragunov responded with a second-rope splash, followed by a series of German suplexes. He got Nakamura with the Constantin Special clothesline before ascending to the top rope.

Dragunov tried for the top rope senton, but Nakamura dodged at the last second. Nakamura trapped Dragunov in the corner and hit him with a sliding German suplex. Early cover attempt, but Dragunov kicked out at two.

Nakamura hit Dragunov with a kick to the back of the head and went for the cover, but the NXT Champion kicked out. He caught Dragunov with a knee, but got hit with a kick to the head. Dragunov flattened Nakamura with the H-Bomb before he finished things off with the Torpedo Moscow headbutt for the win.

This was a nice surprise to see Dragunov on Raw meant to promote the unpredictability of the WWE Draft later this month. This was a great showcase and introduction to Dragunov and his unique in-ring ability and he could very well be a good fit for the main roster.

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– A recap of the World Heavyweight Championship matchup and Damien Priest cashing in Money in the Bank on Night Two of WrestleMania XL aired. They showed Drew McIntyre arriving at the arena as we got a graphic promoting a No. 1 Contenders’ Fatal Four-Way match between Ricochet, Jey Uso, McIntyre, and Bronson Reed happening later tonight.

– Judgment Day was shown walking backstage, as we’d hear from them after the events of this past weekend, coming up next on Raw.

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– After a shot of outside the Wells Fargo Center, we got a recap of WrestleMania XL, specifically the Tag Team Ladder Match and the Women’s World Heavyweight Championship Match

The Judgment Day speaks

Finn Balor, JD McDonagh and Dominik Mysterio were already in the ring.

Balor started off by addressing all the “haters” who thought that Rhea Ripley couldn’t defeat Becky Lynch and that Damien Priest couldn’t cash in Money in the Bank by saying that they were all wrong.

Dominik tried to introduce Rhea Ripley, even as the crowd booed him into oblivion. Ripley entered to a great reaction from the Philadelphia crowd, with a smile on her face.

Ripley said that WrestleMania was “almost perfect” and that they’d be dealt with soon, but two important things came out of it: Mami was still on top and that this was a new era for the Judgment Day.

Balor then introduced the new World Heavyweight Champion, Damian Priest. Once Priest entered the ring, he shared a group embrace with the rest of his fellow Judgment Day members.

The fans chanted “you deserve it” at Priest, to which he responded with a simple “you damn right you do.”

Priest said that the “Terror Twins” (he and Ripley) stand before us as world champions and that the whole world needed to follow suit by rising for the Judgment Day, R-Truth snuck up with his new Raw Tag Team Championships and tried to raise them with Priest and Ripley.

Truth said that he thought he was still part of Judgment Day, much to Priest’s protests. He introduced his co-Raw Tag Champion, The Miz, who walked down the ramp.

Miz said that he wanted to be in Judgment Day, as Truth continued to claim he was in the group. He then wanted to introduce Philadelphia to the new Raw Tag Team Champions, Awesome Truth.

Balor asked if he thought Miz was being funny and that it’d be funny if Awesome Truth had the shortest Raw Tag Team Championshp reign, challenging them to a Tag Title match for tonight.

Truth said that he couldn’t accept that challenge because there were three of us, to the confusion of Miz and Balor. Truth challenged Judgment Day to a six-man tag match and declared that he and Miz’s partner was someone we couldn’t see. Judgment Day attacked Miz and Truth and threw them out of the ring, as the commentators were baffled at what they were seeing.

– A promo for the 2024 WWE Draft was shown.

Six-Man Tag Match: Awesome Truth (R-Truth and The Miz) & John Cena defeated The Judgment Day Finn Balor, JD McDonagh, Dominik Mysterio)

Raw returned with the match in progress and Dominik and JD McDonagh working over Truth in the Judgment Day corner. McDonagh continued to punish Truth and held him in a headlock.

Dominik was tagged in and he continued to attack Truth. He missed a splash in the corner, which allowed Truth to tag in Miz, who teed off on Dominik in the corner with kicks and a clothesline. He held Dominik and McDonagh for a double DDT in the middle of the ring. Miz tried for the Skull Crushing Finale, but Dominik escaped.

Balor hit Miz while the referee was distracted by Dominik. Raw went to commercial with Judgment Day taking Miz out at ringside.

Raw returned with Miz doing his best to get to his corner to tag Truth in. Miz created separation by taking out McDonagh, but Dominik tripped up Truth to prevent the tag as he and Balor attacked Truth at ringside.

As McDonagh posed in the ring, John Cena’s music hit, revealed as Truth’s “guy that we couldn’t see. The crowd went wild for Cena’s arrival.

Miz tagged in Truth and he hit his patented shoulder tackles and Protoplex on McDonagh. Miz and Truth hit Protoplexes of their own on Balor and Dominik, as all three of them hit simultaneous Five Knuckle Shuffles, followed by triple Attitude Adjustments on the Judgment Day. The three men did a simultaneous pin for the win.

This was a great surprise fitting for the Raw after WrestleMania and a nice way to pay off R-Truth’s idolizing of John Cena. The fans enjoyed the surprise and that’s what matters.

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– The commentators recapped the Andre the Giant Battle Royal on last Friday’s Smackdown before we went backstage to a promo from winner Bronson Reed. He boasted that he was going to show the three other competitors in the No. 1 Contender’s Fatal Four-Way match what “raw dominance” would look like. During Reed’s promo, the screen briefly glitched and showed a strange image.

– A promo for Friday’s SmackDown advertised the blue brand-specific fallout from WrestleMania XL.

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– Backstage, Rhea Ripley & Dominik Mysterio were shown walking. Ripley said that Andrade was the problem that needed to be dealt with, not John Cena. Dominik went to see Adam Pearce, which allowed Liv Morgan to jump Ripley by throwing a chair at her. Morgan brutally attacked Ripley, which caused referees and Dominik to separate the two.

Roxanne Perez defeated Indi Hartwell (w/ Candice LeRae)

The new NXT Women’s Champion was revealed to be Hartwell’s opponent prior to the match. Michael Cole talked about the shared history that Perez and Hartwell had in NXT, which started with Hartwell winning the NXT Women’s Championship that Perez had to vacate last year.

Perez slapped Hartwell to start before pouncing on her with a headlock. Hartwell threw her down to break it up. Perez regained the advantage with a dropkick, followed by a series of furious blows, then a Russian leg sweep. She then tried to work over Hartwell’s legs, but got pushed aside.

Hartwell got momentum back by attacking with clotheslines on Hartwell. She tried for a big boot, but Candice LeRae pulled at Perez’s legs, which frustrated Hartwell. As the referee tried to chastise LeRae, Perez took advantage with an eye rake, followed by Pop Rox for the quick victory.

Another short match to establish another NXT standout ahead of the upcoming WWE Draft, also helping further establish Candice LeRae’s heelish behavior costing her friend Indi Hartwell a match. Prior to the match, we got a fantastic continuous camera shot transitioning from Liv Morgan’s attack on Rhea Ripley to the action in the ring, as the great new production format from WWE continues.

– We got a recap of Sami Zayn’s miraculous Intercontinental Championship win at WrestleMania XL before we saw Zayn walking backstage and being congratulated by Jey Uso on his big victory. The commentators mentioned that we’d hear from Zayn up next.

– Roxanne Perez was shown walking backstage, confronted by Natalya, who said she’d see her tomorrow night on NXT.

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Sami Zayn speaks

New Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn entered to a very loud reaction from the Philadelphia crowd. Once he got to the ring, Zayn soaked in the crowd singing his theme song.

The crowd chanted “Sami!” and “you deserve it” at Zayn, who responded by saying how much it meant to him. He talked about how he had done some historic things at WrestleMania in the past few years, and that this year, he wanted to top it, acknowledging that he may have done so.

Zayn gave credit to former Intercontinental Champion Gunther and his 666-day reign, calling him the “greatest Intercontinental Champion of our time”, before saying that he beat him. He said that he couldn’t take sole credit for the win, giving that credit to the WWE fans, his wife and child, and Kevin Owens. He said that there was one other guy that he needed to thank before being interrupted by Imperium’s Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser.

Kaiser said that it broke his heart that someone like Zayn was holding the Intercontinental Championship that Gunther spent two years holding. “Congratulations WWE Universe, your new Intercontinental Champion looks like a bum!” said Kaiser.

Kaiser said that on behalf of the General, he and Vinci were here to make this right, as they surrounded Zayn in the ring. Chad Gable showed up to even up the odds for Zayn.

– A teaser for Sheamus’ return was shown, with no specific date mentioned.

Chad Gable & Sami Zayn defeated Imperium (Giovanni Vinci & Ludwig Kaiser)

Gable and Vinci started this match off in the ring, with the Alpha Academy head having control of the match before Vinci took him down with a running crossbody. Vinci tagged in Kaiser, who continued the attack on Gable.

Gable found an opening and tagged in Zayn, who countered Kaiser’s attack and got him with a top rope standing elbow. With Zayn in the Imperium corner, Vinci tagged back in and tried his best to stop Zayn’s momentum, but to no avail. Gable tagged back in as he hit a flying splash on Vinci and Kaiser at ringside.

Back in the ring, Gable connected with a flying crossbody on VInci. While the Imperium duo were working over Zayn, the crowd chanted “we want beachballs”. Raw went to commercial with Vinci and Kaiser in complete control of the match at the moment.

Raw returned from break with Gable fighting off Kaiser and Vinci in the ring. He had Vinci isolated and hit a flying headbutt for the near-fall. He went back up to for a moonsault, but Vinci avoided it. Gable tried to go for the Chaos Theory suplex, but Kaiser tagged in and tried for his and Vinci’s double team move. It connected, but Zayn broke it up.

Gable avoided calamity as he and Zayn hit stereo repeated German suplexes on Kaiser and Vinci. Zayn tagged himself back into the match as he applied the ankle lock on Vinci. Kaiser took out Gable on the apron and broke Zayn’s ankle lock.

Things broke down in the ring with all four men brawling, but it boiled back down to Vinci and Zayn. Vinci got crushed by an exploder suplex as Zayn tagged in Gable. Helluva Kick by Zayn, followed by Gable’s Chaos Theory suplex got the one, two, three.

A fun little tag team match and great showing for the new Intercontinental Championship to continue his partnership with Chad Gable. They have a wonderful chemistry as a tag team and I wouldn’t mind them being a team moving forward.

– Another recap of WrestleMania XL was shown, focusing on the Philadelphia Street Fight and the Jey Uso versus Jimmy Uso match. We then got words backstage from Jey Uso, who had some words for the main event No. 1 Contenders’ Fatal Four Way.

– Elsewhere, Andrade was shown shaking hands with Raw General Manager Adam Pearce, NXT General Manager Ava, and SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis. They discussed the upcoming WWE Draft before Chelsea Green chimed in. She complained about not being on WrestleMania, as Pearce and Aldis revealed that Green would have a special matchup against a mystery opponent coming up next.

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– The commentators talked about WWE’s 17 consecutive televised event sellouts before they pointed out the combined five-event total attendance for WrestleMania weekend.

Jade Cargill defeated Chelsea Green

Jade Cargill was revealed to be Green’s mystery opponent and she entered to a great reception from the crowd.

Green mouthed off to the commentators as the bell rang, angry that she didn’t want the match. She turned to a Cargill big boot, before being lifted up for Jaded. One, two, three.

An incredibly short squash, but still a nice surprise to see Jade Cargill on the Raw After WrestleMania. Her presence is everything and her entrance is 

– A WrestleMania 40 recap showed Stephanie McMahon’s return, Bayley versus IYO SKY, and the World Heavyweight Championship events.

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– Sami Zayn walked backstage and was met by the Alpha Academy. He said he wanted a moment with Chad Gable. Zayn said that he knew what Gable wanted when he asked for a favor, namely a shot at the Intercontinental Championship. Zayn said that Gable would get his shot next week on Raw in his hometown of Montreal.

Drew McIntyre was first to enter and he took the mic, upset about his five minutes of glory of being the World Heavyweight Championship. He gave respect to Seth Rollins for going out on his Shield last night, as he then turned his ire to Damian Priest and the Money in the Bank contract, calling Priest a “bondage Undertaker” and the briefcase something that’s screwed him over one too many times. McIntyre addressed CM Punk’s actions last night, calling him a “coward” for costing him the World Title. He said that it would be on sight for Punk the next time he saw him.

Jey Uso interrupted McIntyre’s tirade with his entrance as we went to a commercial break.

– Next week on Raw: Andrade versus Dominik Mysterio and Sami Zayn versus Chad Gable for the Intercontinental Championship.

No. 1 Contenders’ Fatal Four Way Match: Jey Uso defeated Drew McIntyre, Ricochet, and Bronson Reed

The match started with McIntyre and Jey fighting while Ricochet and Reed fought in their own battle. With Reed, Jey, and McIntyre outside, the ring, Ricochet took out the three men with a high-risk maneuver off the top rope. Raw went to a commercial break early on at this point.

Raw returned from break with everyone back in the ring and a table set up in the corner. As Jey sent McIntyre outside, Reed flattened him with a running elbow drop. Reed ran at Jey in the corner with a fierce hip charge. He eyed the table in the corner and tried to powerbomb Jey, who briefly fought ou tof it. Spear attempt by Jey was blocked by Reed as he then got sent crashing to the table corner. Raw went to yet another commercial break.

We came back from break with Reed and Ricochet fighting in the ring. They showed clips of action that took place during the commercial break in the picture-in-picture replay. Ricochet was caught by McIntyre and thrown across the ring. Reed responded with a Biel throw of Ricochet as he then stared down McIntyre. The two meaty men exchanged chops as McIntyre lifted Reed for the Michinoku Driver. Jey interrupted the pinfall.

Now all four men were inside the ring, with Ricochet and Jey hitting a superkick on McIntyre, before being joined by Reed for a triple superkick. Brief exchange between Ricochet and Jey ended with Reed clotheslining Ricochet and getting hit by a Jey spear. McIntyre stopped the count as all four men were laying in the ring.

McIntyre tried for a superplex on Jey, who fought him off and trapped McIntyre in a tree of woe position. McIntyre managed to throw Jey aside from a precarious position, as Reed hit a buckle bomb on him. 

Reed tried to go to the top rope for the Tsunami, but McIntyre intercepted him. Reed leapt with a senton on McIntyre before clearing the Spanish announcer table. McIntyre hit Reed with the Glasgow Kiss and laid him on the commentary table. Uso took out McIntyre, but got hit with a kick on the button by Ricochet.

Ricochet looked over the prone Reed and hit a springboard 450 that didn’t quite hit the mark. In the ring, Jey and McIntyre were the last two men standing in the ring as they fought.

McIntyre had Jey sized up for the Claymore, but CM Punk appeared from under the ring to grab his leg, which opened him up for Jey’s superkick, followed by the Uso splash. Jey pinned McIntyre to earn a shot at Damian Priest’s World Heavyweight Championship.

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A good main event match to cap off an alright Raw after WrestleMania. The big story, of course, was CM Punk’s appearance at the end to screw over Drew McIntyre. Jey winning was the right call to cement him as Priest’s first challenger for the World Title. I found myself enjoying the match, though the strange commercial break placement for it did kind of take me out of things, but the last half of the four-way was entertaining stuff.

Next week’s Raw in Montreal will prove to be interesting, particularly with the Intercontinental Championship situation. The possibility of a Chad Gable heel turn whether he wins or loses is higher and it’ll be something to watch for in his match with Sami next week.

Overall, this year’s Raw after WrestleMania might have not lived up to certain lofty expectations some might have had for the show coming out of an excellent WrestleMania XL, but at the very least, it didn’t feel as meandering and disappointing as last year’s post-WrestleMania 39 Raw was. I was adequately entertained and didn’t feel bored watching the entirety of it.