Nothing makes an otherwise ordinary start to a week in pro wrestling turn sober faster than unexpected injury news, and that unfortunately is the case for tonight’s episode of WWE Raw in Montreal.
Earlier today, a report from PWInsider emerged that Rhea Ripley had been injured during her backstage brawl segment with Liv Morgan last week. Other outlets like Fightful have since confirmed that Ripley is indeed injured, but what isn’t clear is whether she will have to vacate her Women’s World Championship.
If she does, that heavily suggests she’ll be out of action for an extended period of time. If not, she might be back sooner than feared. But either way, since Ripley was promoted to be on tonight’s show to address Morgan’s attack, the expectation is that Liv will be blamed (or credited, if you’re on her side) with putting Ripley on the shelf for storyline purposes.
It’s an unfortunate situation, to be sure, and yet it could work out for the best in the long run. Morgan seems like more of a badass for being able to step to Mami like that — while in real life, her heart surely goes out to Ripley given her own bad luck with injuries — and Rhea will be just as over when she returns.
The other big thing to watch tonight is the Intercontinental Championship match between new champ Sami Zayn and the man who trained him to help win it, Chad Gable. The thought is that Gable will play it straight and fall short tonight, leading to him snapping and turning heel for an extended program with Zayn that probably leads to a title rematch at Backlash.
Finding out is why we watch. We’ll be doing that, so follow along with us if you will.
WWE Raw results from Montreal:
(please scroll down for more details on any match or segment in bold)
- Various stars are shown entering the arena, including Sami Zayn, Damian Priest, Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso
- Rhea Ripley has her arm in a sling and gives the fans the news they’ve dreaded: She’ll have to say goodbye to her Women’s World Championship as she spends months recuperating from injury
- Ripley gets a group hug from The Judgment Day and some words of encouragement from Damian Priest, then tells them to keep the group on top and look after Dominik Mysterio
- Sheamus def. Ivar by pinfall
- A lengthy hype video plays up Sami Zayn’s Intercontinental Championship victory at WrestleMania and his title defense tonight
- Triple H is in the house to present Awesome Truth with their new World Tag Team Championship belts
- #DIY def. The Creed Brothers and The New Day to become No. 1 contenders for the World Tag Team Championship
- Jackie Redmond is surprised that Drew McIntyre is laughing after watching what CM Punk did to him last week, but that smile goes away fast and the Scottish Warrior takes his wrath out on a TV monitor
- Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell def. Ivy Nile and Maxxine Dupri by pinfall, with Hartwell showing the first signs of following the rule-breaking path LeRae has been trying to get her to take
- A lengthy hype video plays to promote Priest; afterward, he psyches up the team and trues to motivate both Dominik and Finn Balor, who is questioning his match with Jey Uso tonight but ends up smiling
- Redmond talks to Chad Gable, who runs down his experience with hostile crowds and says he won’t be intimidated by Zayn’s hometown advantage tonight
- Andrade def. Dominik Mysterio by pinfall; after the match. JD McDonagh helps Dom with a two-on-one beating until Ricochet comes to even the odds and chase off the heels
- Cathy Kelley asks Jey Uso about Tama Tonga and his attack on Jimmy Uso, and he questions adding “members we don’t even know” while also saying he needs to concentrate on Balor tonight
- Chelsea Green and Piper Niven def. Katana Chance and Kayden Carter by pinfall
- Kelley speaks with Morgan, who says she’s confused that people are mad at her, as no one had that reaction to Ripley when she injured Liv’s shoulder: “This is karma at it’s very finest, so Rhea got exactly what she deserved”; this also isn’t the end of the Liv Morgan Revenge Tour as she still needs to become champion again
- And now, a word from our champion, Cody Rhodes, who reflects on WrestleMania and offers to watch Jey Uso’s back, though Jey says he needs to do things himself tonight
- Kelley talks to Nia Jax about the Rhea situation, and as you might expect, she’s not too sympathetic and says that the title is hers
- Jey Uso def. Finn Balor by pinfall; after the bell, Uso is assaulted by The Judgment Day but manages to escape into the stands and up the stairs toward the concourse, where he high-fives a bunch of people (and shoves one aside) …
- … then he runs into Sami Zayn on his way to the ring, encouraging him to get it tonight as he defends his title
- While Gable is on his way out, Bronson Reed stops him and says no matter who wins, that person will have to answer to “Big” Bronson Reed
- Sami Zayn def. Chad Gable by pinfall to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship
- Zayn lays his title belt down in the middle of the ring and asks Gable to meet him there, then heads to the corner instead; Zayn offers a hand to lift Gable, who initially seems to accept the show of respect, but then waits until Zayn is in front of his wife to attack the champ, battering him around ringside and the apron and wrapping an ankle lock on Sami around the top turnbuckle as Raw goes off the air
Rhea Ripley does, indeed, have to vacate her title
Though she is greeted warmly by the fans in Montreal, Ripley looks unhappy and says everyone knows what’s going on right now, yeah? She says she’s been told she’s “stuck on the bench” for months, and that she must vacate the Women’s World Championship, which gets a “bulls–t” chant going.
Rhea says the title is what means the most to her, which makes this even more painful. Ripley also delivers a warning: When she comes back, she’s coming back for blood, and when she finds Liv Morgan, they’re going to have to lock her up in a Montreal jail.
She won’t have to wait long, as a cackling Morgan comes out and a swarm of security guards emerges at the direction of Adam Pearce to keep them separated. One security guard takes some of Mami’s wrath, but that’s that.
No longer Raw champions, Awesome Truth are now World Tag Team Champions
“You guys are on fire tonight, I gotta tell you that,” the WWE CCO says to the crowd in Montreal. He says it was only a few days ago we were in the midst of the biggest WrestleMania of all time, one that gave us two sets of tag team champions.
To that end, he and Adam Pearce summon the Awesome Truth. Triple H congratulates them R-Truth and The Miz for making history, then tells Truth it was awesome to see him have his WrestleMania moment.
But to represent this brand and a new era, they need to do it in a new way. They will now be known as the World Tag Team Champions and are shown their spiffy new title belts. R-Truth thinks Triple H is a magician and suggests Little Jimmy used to be visible until a magic accident.
Much confusion on Truth’s part follows, especially about who Triple H is, but the CCO finally hits his limit and hands Awesome Truth their new title belts. Pearce then reveals there’s going to be a Triple Threat match to find them No. 1 contenders.
Cody Rhodes reflects, offers to watch Jey Uso’s back
Rhodes kicks things off by thanking Adam Pearce for letting him hang around Raw when he’s technically a SmackDown superstar. He reminds us all that at Backlash, he’ll defend his title against either LA Knight or AJ Styles, but before that, he wants to reflect a little bit.
There’s one man in particular he wants to shout out, and it’s the man who said he would be Cody’s shield, Seth “Freakin'” Rollins. Rhodes also talks about The Rock and says it was news to him that he did a 12-week training camp, stating that the Final Boss has a lot more than one more match left in him. Cody adds that The Rock is probably right about making him bleed again, but no amount of training can stop the fact that if he bleeds, The Rock will bleed with him.
One thing he’s confused about is the introduction of Tama Tonga to The Bloodline with Roman Reigns nowhere to be found. His last bit of reflection is to bring someone out to the ring, Main Event Jey Uso.
Rhodes offers to have Jey’s back for his match with Finn Balor, knowing that The Judgment Day usually rolls as a group. Jey appreciates that but says he has to do it on his own.
Cody says he totally understands and wishes Jey good luck, “until we yeet again.” Cody’s words, not mine.
Sami Zayn digs down deep to defeat Chad Gable
Sami takes some time to drink in the reaction from his hometown fans once he gets his in-ring intro from Samantha Irvin. Michael Cole says there are “many ghosts in this building” for Zayn, the biggest of which was being defeated by Roman Reigns while competing for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
The announcers discuss how Gable claims he knows all of Zayn’s weaknesses while he’s taking it to Sami on the outside. The champ’s rally includes a springboard moonsault to the floor, which gets the fans to reach another level as commercials arrive.
We return to see Zayn going for a ride courtesy of a Gable Olympic slam off the top rope, and Sami’s wife is shown with her hands over her mouth after that. Zayn takes two German suplexes before firing back with two of his own.
They trade one more German each before Zayn wins a battle of standing switches for one last suplex, this time with a release that sees Gable land a bit awkwardly on his neck.
Sami has just a tad of blood on his face as he hits an Exploder, but his Helluva Kick attempt is countered with an ankle lock. Gable tries to fly off the top but is caught and powerbombed by Zayn, who is thinking Sharpshooter but seeds his ankle give out.
Gable hits a release German suplex into the buckles, then wins a series of counters to drag Zayn back into the center of the ring for another ankle lock. Sami rolls through and nearly wins it.
Another Exploder sets up the Helluva Kick, and Zayn crawls over Gable to score the very popular pinfall.