Right Hook Weekly Review (4/8/2024 – 4/12/2024)

*Sorry for the late post ran into technical difficulties with the laptop*

The week after WrestleMania 40 was quite interesting to say the least. A pretty decent restart when it comes to the WWE and a complete and absolute failure with AEW certainly brought things down if you are an overall wrestling fan, so here is my review of the week where of course I start with the Raw after mania.

Monday Night Raw (4/8/24)

The Raw after mania started with the first hour being commercial free and we started with Triple H coming out to start the show giving us the day everyone had been waiting for to be a WWE era without Vince McMahon. Then our new WWE undisputed champion Cody Rhodes comes setting the tone for the show emotionally. Triple H shows a special video made for Rhodes which was emotional simply perfect and yes he deserves all of it!

But when Rhodes got going with his promo out came the final boss himself The Rock, who took a little bit to get started because the Philly crowd would not stop booing him. Rock starts up and at some point asks Cody if he could hold his championship saying it feels right. Both had a solid back and forth where Rock says their story has just begun, but before Rock leaves he hands something to Cody that he did not have to open his hand to know what it is and to never break his heart again. So, is it a piece of Roman Reigns’ red necklace (Ula Fala)? Could it be a piece of MJF’s scarf or diamond ring? Or a certain tooth for a Samoan Werewolf? Hopefully, we will find out soon.

Then first match of the show was Shinsuke Nakamura versus one of the surprises that happen at raw after mania who was NXT champion Ilja Dragunov! Great match both guys are great, but Dragunov wins the match and should be heading to the main roster very shortly.

Out next was the Judgement Day who just look impressive especially Priest with the world heavyweight title and hope they do not break them up anytime soon. Then R-Truth interrupted the celebration which led to a 6-man tag between Judgement Day (Balor, JD, and Dom) against Awesome Truth and a partner nobody could see *hint hint* match is going on when out came John Cena to save the day and help Awesome Truth get the victory.

After a commercial break we see Mami Rhea Ripley and Dirty Dom walking where she tells him to have never trusted Andrade and to handle it when a chair hits Ripley in the head and it was Liv Morgan who attacks Ripley until referees pull her away potentially setting up Mami’s next challenger.

Next was Indi Hartwell against another surprise in NXT women’s champion Roxanne Perez who beat Hartwell in decent fashion but after the match Natayla confronts Perez saying she will see her the next night at NXT. Sami Zayn comes out to massive “You deserve it” chants and how much it meant to him as well as he owes for the help and support until Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci of Imperium come out to ring until Chad Gable appears to even the odds setting up a tag match next.

Before the match there was a hype video for the return of Sheamus seemed promising, then we got the tag match which ok where Zayn and Gable won the match, a promo from Jey Uso about the main event got the crowd going followed by Ricochet getting ready. All the GMs from all brands were talking when Chelsea Green walked in complaining and had a match next. Green is out waiting for her opponent was… Jade Cargill who made quick fashion of Green continuing Cargill’s impressive start.

After that Zayn found Gable and said he knew the favor Gable would ask for so next week on Raw in Montreal Zayn will defend the IC title against Gable which should be an exceptional match. Drew McIntyre comes out with purpose demands the mic saying what happened Sunday night was complete BS; McIntyre said his moment last 5 minutes and 45 seconds which was 5 minutes more than most of the fans last in bed which was. Then McIntyre thanks CM Punk for sharing a moment and that Damian Priest messed it all up.

Our main event was here a fatal 4-way for the number one contender of the world heavyweight championship with Drew McIntyre, Bronson Reed, Ricochet, and Jey Uso. Good match, Ricochet does something insane with a senton on to Bronson Reed through the Spanish announce table, at the end McIntyre lines up for a Claymore until CM Punk appears from under the ring to grab McIntyre’s foot which lead to Jey Uso hitting a superkick, spear and Uso splash to win the match and become the number one contender for Priest’s championship.

NXT (4/9/24)

NXT after WrestleMania was good I would say, starting with Roxanne Perez and her promo which was good with her gloating over her victory Saturday afternoon to regain the championship until Lyra Valkyria walked out with a brace on her arm saying Perez can go up to main roster but the NXT women’s championship says in NXT when Tatum Paxley emerged from behind the barricade standing aside of Valkyria until she threw her into steps.

Perez finishes her promo with guess there is no match tonight sorry… Not sorry until Natayla comes out and challenges her for the NXT women’s title when GM Ava Raine appeared and said it was a new era for NXT and set the match for later in the show. Then the debut of young highflyer Je’Von Evans happened where he defeated Scrypts and has some promise to be important in this version of NXT.

Up next was the match for the NXT women’s championship between Roxanne Perez and Natalya, the match good with Natayla being the proven second-generation pro and Perez as the young prodigy. Simply good back and forth throughout the match until they went outside when Lola Vice kicked Natayla in the leg during a mix up with Perez and referee, then Perez hit her Pop Rox for the victory retaining her title.

After that, the tag champions of Bron Breakker and Baron Corbin discussed their title reign and how it ended being a good thing for them and that it is Wolf dogs for life! Following that Lola Vice was backstage saying she is tired of waiting for opportunities when Natayla attacked Vice as a form payback for her interference in the title match but was broken up but hopefully sets up a match between them that will be nothing but beneficial for Vice and her progress.

Then NXT men’s North American champion Oba Femi came out who is simply cannot miss as future star, Femi went on the gloat his early success until Ivar one half of the Viking Raiders came out. Ivar then said he saw the match on Saturday and loved the chaos but hinted at challenging Femi for the title, Femi headbutts Ivar only for Ivar to deliver a kick followed by a springboard forearm knocking Femi down while Ivar holds the title.

Now to the main event match for the NXT tag team title which was a stand and deliver rematch of Axiom and Nathan Frazer challenged the champions Bron Breakker and Baron Corbin. Just another solid match with these two teams and their assorted styles, towards the end Breakker almost hits Corbin with a jumping knee only to be taken out setting Corbin up for Frazer’s Phoenix Splash for the pin and are the new NXT tag team champions.

The match was also Bron Breakker’s NXT farewell match where he heads to Smackdown full time, but after the match the authors of pain attack Axiom and Frazer when the rest of the Final Testament joined them (Karrion Kross, Scarlett and Paul Ellering) where AOP hit their super collider double powerbomb on the new champs setting up their next opponents for the titles and hopefully gives Kross and the Final Testament a much need restart to be a serious threat as a group.

Finally, out came Trick Williams who the crowd absolutely loves, Williams starts his promo hyping Stand and Deliver along with saying NXT is hotter than it has ever been. Williams continues saying he would not be in the ring or in the position he is in without Carmelo Hayes. Although he does not agree with how Hayes operates but Melo is him, which was why Trick Williams had to show he was. Trick talks about how at WrestleMania he saw Bayley get her title and Cody Rhodes finishing his story wondering what was next for him?

Trick then says he knows what is next for him and it was to be NXT champion but in order to do it he has to beat Ilja Dragunov who he called out to talk about it. Dragunov comes out saying how proud he was of the star that Williams had become and that he is exactly what the NXT brand needs, then wanted another shot at the title which Dragunov said no. Ilja said he had his chance but failed and wanted to give another star a shot for the title Williams persisted which Dragunov appreciated and told him in 2 weeks at NXT Spring Breakin’ but if Williams loses he must leave NXT which he accepts and shake hands.

But Carmelo Hayes attack Trick who went crashing into Ilja, then tells Trick Williams he won’t make it to NXT Spring Breakin’ because he is going to beat him next week in a steel cage match standing tall holding the NXT championship over Dragunov and Willams ending the show, things are certainly shaking up the next couple of weeks for NXT leading up to the draft at the end of the month.

Friday Night Smackdown (4/12/24)

We end the weekly review with Smackdown on Friday (Don’t worry a review or take on AEW Dynamite is just separate because of their immaturity and stupidity from these past couple of weeks) but like I tried to do with NXT and Raw just going to hit some of the high points of the show on Friday so here we go.

Our new champion Cody Rhodes started the show where he used a line from his wife while in AEW referring to the Rock confronting him on Monday saying “Who the hell told you it was open mic night. Bitch?” Rhodes continued saying he knew immediately what Rock handed him was uncomfortable and that when Rock returns Cody will be standing there waiting.

 But for right now he will be flying to France for Backlash where he will one of the six men in that  night’s series of triple threat matches who were Santos Escobar, Rey Mysterio, LA Knight (YEAH!), Bobby Lashley, AJ Styles who he noted like Rhodes was one of four people be NWA world heavyweight champion and WWE champion in their careers) and his good friend Kevin Owens. Rhodes ends the promo with he was once undesirable to undeniable and now was our WWE Undisputed Champion.

The Bloodline is shown coming to the arena only to see what used to be Roman’s office had been changed to Cody’s where Kevin Owens walks past them into the room. Solo Sikoa says he going to take care of it only for Paul Heyman to stop him saying there are wins and loses and consequences and that they lost on Sunday so it is not their room anymore but will be again as an order from the tribal chief setting the tone for the bloodline that night.

Next was the first of the two triple threat number one contender matches with Bobby Lashley vs. Santos Escobar vs. LA Knight (YEAH!) where LA Knight came out victorious and was in the tournament final for number one contender.  Then Bloodline make their entrance with Heyman where he offers no excuses for WrestleMania by orders of Roman Reigns and that accountability is a big word on the island of relevancy and ordered they accept accountability.

Heyman goes on saying Roman could have smashed Rhodes with the chair on Sunday but instead chose to get revenge on Seth Rollins for breaking up the SHIELD taking his eyes of the ball to do so when Solo cuts Heyman off. Solo then says if winning and losing matters, and there’s consequences to losing that means consequences should lead to change where he pushes Heyman aside to stare at Jimmy Uso.

After some confusion Solo hugs Jimmy Uso telling him he is his brother, and he loves him when a hooded figure attacks Uso who was TAMA TONGA! Tonga begins to beat down Jimmy when Solo pulls him aside and throw their ones up leaving Heyman in shock who tries to call Roman Reigns only for Solo to take the phone and smash it telling us that him and Tama Tonga are running the show now. Solo then puts a chair around Jimmy’s neck telling him he loves him again only to Pillmanize Uso’s neck then leaving the ring with Heyman mortified behind them.

After that big moment, out came our new WWE women’s champion Bayley who had loud “YOU DESERVE IT” chants which she said felt good, Bayley praises the talent of that locker room and thanks the fans to never giving up on her only Tiffany Stratton to interrupt.

Stratton enters the ring assuming Bayley is going to announce some open challenge which meant it Tiffy Time only for Bayley to say it was nice to meet her but wasn’t going to offer an open challenge because she was planning to have match with Naomi as her first challenger where Stratton says Naomi win the title if it glowed which brings out Naomi saying she wasn’t going to accept Bayley’s offer because she wanted to fight Stratton right then and there going to break.

Coming back from break Kayla Braxton stands in front of trainer’s room for an update on Jimmy Uso where Heyman comes out  and about to answer Braxton’s question when Tama Tonga appears and stares down Heyman then says “By orders of the Tribal Chief” where Sikoa finishes the sentence with his taped thumb sticking out which Heyman asks “What the hell that’s supposed to mean?”

The match between Tiffany Stratton and Naomi starts which was a fun with two of the more athletic women on the roster but Naomi comes out victorious. The new Smackdown tag team champions of Austin Theory & Grayson Waller (A-Town Down Under) celebrate backstage the Street Profits and New Catch Republic watched with GM Nick Aldis who will find challengers for the new champions next week.

Afterwards a tag match with Chelsea Green and Piper Niven against Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill happened where Belair & Cargill made short work of Green & Niven wining match hopefully giving us this dream team to challenge for women’s tag team titles soon.

Our main event was here the second of tournament semifinal triple threat match was next where the winner would face LA Knight to decide who face Cody Rhodes at Backlash. AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens vs. Rey Mysterio was a great match should expect less from these guys, the ending was AJ Styles avalanche Styles Clash Mysterio on to Owens winning the match giving us a WrestleMania rematch next week between Knight and Styles.

Overall, a good start following WrestleMania across the board, but the Bloodline leaves us with some questions like “What is going to happen next?” and “Who else is going to show up” Maybe a particular Samoan Werewolf is on the way or some guerrillas maybe? Just absolutely excited to finally see Tama Tonga on WWE TV where he should have been for a while now and that hopefully in the Triple H era some stars will be hopefully make their way to WWE keeping the roll Triple H and WWE have going strong.