WWE Raw Review: Love for 24/7 Title ‘double commitment ceremony’
By Ryan Satin
FOX Sports WWE Analyst
A wild 24/7 title "double commitment" ceremony took place this week on Raw — and fans seemed to get a kick out of the whole thing.
Welcome back to my "Highs and Lows," this time covering the April 18 edition of WWE Raw, featuring a dual wedding presided over by R-Truth, Ezekiel undergoing a lie detector test, and Cody Rhodes in the main event.
Here’s a quick recap of the match results:
- Sasha Banks & Naomi defeated Liv Morgan & Rhea Ripley via pinfall after Banks/Naomi hit a series of tag maneuvers on Ripley
- Veer Mahan defeated a local enhancement talent via submission
- Ezekiel defeated Chad Gable via DQ after interference from Otis
- "The Street Profits" Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins defeated "RK-Bro" Randy Orton and Riddle via pinfall
- Theory defeated Finn Balor via clean pinfall to become the new United States champion
- Cody Rhodes defeated Kevin Owens via count-out
RAW HIGHS
A wild wedding ceremony
Maybe I’m still buzzing from getting engaged last weekend, or it could be the Bachelor party I was at for the past few days which caused me to miss Friday’s SmackDown review (sorry), but I enjoyed all of this.
Tamina, Tozawa, Reggie, Dana Brooke and R-Truth were entertaining throughout, and the ending, where things got out of control, was exactly what you’d expect from a WWE wedding.
I’m not saying it was the best WWE wedding segment of all-time. There have been way too many memorable ones over the years for this to make the list. What it was, though, was good fun.
R-Truth was in his best form as master of ceremonies.
The former 24/7 champ kicking things off by welcoming all the honored guests to the ceremony, "And all you schemers, too," hilariously gave you an idea of what was to come. He then did an even better job of trying to control the crowd as they "What" chanted this segment into oblivion.
As for the wedding participants, Tamina stood apart while continuing to be pretty-damn funny in this role. After years of being so serious, it’s nice to see her get an opportunity to be comedic for once.
The criticisms I’ve seen on Twitter over Sasha Banks and Naomi being involved in this segment seemed to lack perspective, as well. There was zero harm in the two of them being there in support of Tamina. In fact, with most weddings, there are people involved in the wedding party who aren’t as close as they used to be.
A Team Bad reunion therefore made perfect sense and was a nice little nod to anyone who remembered they were once a group together.
Okay, that’s like 300 words on this wedding, and I know anyone who follows me on Twitter has had enough of wedding/engagement talk. So I’ll move on.
Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens
While I may have been disappointed in the count-out finish, everything else about this match was fantastic.
It was two men at the top of their game trying to outsmart each other at every turn, and in the end, I only wanted more. That’s why this was way more of a hit than a miss.
We know a program between Rhodes and Owens will eventually take place. This was a solid tease of what’s to come between them once that happens, while also building up the program with Rollins.
Rhea Ripley turns heel
This heel turn badly needed to happen.
Even if fans could see it a mile away these last few weeks, the turn was executed well and Rhea’s beatdown looked vicious. Her intensity when asked for an explanation after was refreshing as well.
Ripley has felt lost since falling out of the title picture and a reset of some sort will help immensely. She could easily be built up as a monster heel over the next few months before eventually becoming a future opponent for Bianca Belair.
If WWE is looking to the future these days, a long program on Raw between Ripley and Belair should be a goal.
Zeke Speaks
I hate to admit how much I’m enjoying this change of character for Elias, but it’s been hilarious watching him stick to his guns on being Ezekiel (the brother of Elias).
It was impossible to not laugh at the guy saying, "Who wants to hear Zeke speak?" exactly like his brother’s, "Who wants to walk with Elias?" catchphrase, and KO losing his mind over it was the extra cherry on top.
Whether this whole shtick will get old quickly or not remains to be seen, but right now it’s been a refreshing change for the former drifter.
RAW LOWS
Theory becomes United States champ
The match itself was entertaining, and I have nothing against giving a push to Theory himself, but all of this has felt too forced.
I also don’t understand why a group of heels he’s never interacted with came out after to celebrate with the guy. Shouldn’t they have attacked him because they want the title he now possesses?
In addition to that, treating Finn Balor’s US title reign as an afterthought is a huge miss in my opinion. Not including him on the WrestleMania card and now this just doesn’t make sense.
Balor is someone who could be world champion and fans would buy into it if he was treated with proper respect on TV. I’d love to see him built into a proper threat to the world title rather than a stepping-stone.
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Ryan Satin is a WWE analyst for FOX Sports. Satin previously appeared on FS1's "WWE Backstage" and founded Pro Wrestling Sheet, where he broke countless news stories as editor-in-chief.
