WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW INVADE A SOLD-OUT PNC ARENA IN RALEIGH, NC

last woman standing, nia jax, becky lynch, rhea ripley, wrestling, pro wrestling, hunter hearts helmsley, Alpha Academy ,Akira Tozawa , Otis, The New Day ,Kofi Kingston , Xavier Woods, Drew McIntyre, seth rollins, The Awesome Truth, The Miz , R-Truth, Indus Sher ,Veer Mahaan , Sanga, Jinder Mahal sami zayn, gunther, Katana Chance , Kayden Carter , Indi Hartwell , Candice LaRae, Tommaso Ciampa , Johnny Gargano, The Creed Brothers, Julius creed, Brutus Creed, pat mcafee, michael cole, I'm music magazine, wwe, wwe raw, wwe monday night raw, monday night raw, raleigh, north carolina, pnc arena, Zoey Stark, Natalya, , Giovanni Vinci , Apollo Crews, jey uso, jimmy uso, solo sikoa, the bloodline, cody rhodes, paul heyman, smackdown, roman reigns, the rock,

WWE Monday Night Raw returned to a SOLD-OUT PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina on March 18. The show was just over two weeks out from WrestleMania 40, so the anticipation from fans going into this show was pretty high. Before the official 8:00 kick-off for Raw, there were two matches taped for the March 21 episode of WWE Main Event. Zoey Stark defeated Natalya, which ended with a great show of sportsmanship. Also, Giovanni Vinci defeated Apollo Crews.

Raw officially kicked off with the music of Jay Uso as he walked through the entrance and the chant of “Yeet” was almost deafening. He had everyone doing his dance of sort (both arms moving up and down) including Pat McAfee standing on his chair and announcers’ desk. Jay called out The Bloodline who he said he knew was in the building. Within seconds, his brother Jimmy and Solo Sikoa made their way to the ring. Jey and Jimmy had a stare down before Jey took to the mic and told his brother that after everything, he missed him. Jimmy went off on him telling him that he is the one who left and that he was responsible for everything that Jey had accomplished. Jey laughed and told him “no, the biggest moment of my career, my dream match, will be at WrestleMania 40, me versus you, when I knock the Yeet out of your ass.” That’s when Jimmy attacked him; he and Solo had the upper hand until Cody Rhodes ran to the ring and broke it up.

Next up was a WrestleMania 40 Six Pack Tag Team Title Qualifier match between DIY (Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano) and The Creed Brothers (Julius and Brutus Creed). I have to admit that The Creed Brothers have grown on me and I really enjoy their matches. Their creative offensive maneuvers continue to “wow” me in every match that I watch of theirs. This match was definitely no exception, but DIY proved to be the better team and won the match. DIY is now headed to WrestleMania 40 where they will be one of five challengers to face Judgement Day for the Tag Team Championship in a Six-Pack Tag Team ladder match. Can you imagine the action that’s going to happen in that one?

Next up was Katana Chance and Kayden Carter versus Indi Hartwell and Candice LaRae. Chance hurt her knee early in the match with the ref pausing the action to check on her. When Hartwell backed off into her own corner, LaRae tagged herself in and immediately attacked Chance slamming her knee into the ringpost. LaRae then won the match for her team but her actions did not seem to set too well with Hartwell. It will be interesting to see where what this new aggressive attitude of LaRae’s leads to.

Cody Rhodes was up next and entered the ring in a suit and tie and went after The Rock and his remarks that he made last Friday on Smackdown. He proceeded to call The Rock “Roman’s side-chick” and asked “Is it going to be big Dwayne energy or just LDS: Little Dick Syndrome.” Paul Heyman interrupted and made his way to the ring. He challenged Cody to show up on Smackdown on Friday. He told him that Roman Reigns would show up alone and that Cody had to as well. Of course, Cody accepted.

There was a backstage segment earlier in which Damian Priest, Finn Balor and Rhea Ripley gave JD McDonagh a hard time for not beating The One in last week’s gauntlet match. Rhea said that Ricochet made a fool out of JD and that Dom was going to make things all right. Well, it ended up being more of the same as Dom as well was beaten by Ricochet.

The contract signing for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 40 was next between challenger Sami Zayn and long-time champion Gunther. Zayn vowed win the take the title away from Gunther even though many didn’t believe in him as a champion. Gunther took to the mic to play psychological warfare with Sami telling him that his friend Chad Gable doesn’t believe that he can beat Gunther, nor do the people in the building. If Sami was being honest with himself, he knows deep down that he can’t beat him. As Gunther was leaving the ring, an extremely fired up and determined Sami stopped him and reminded him that he was the man who was going to take him down at WrestleMania. That smart-ass smirk of Gunther gets me every single time!

The Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth) were up next against Indus Sher (Veer Mahaan and Sanga) with Jinder Mahal were up next in the WrestleMania 40 Six Pack Tag Team Title Qualifier matchn elbow from Mahaan to R-Truth sent him falling backwards and he landed on Sanga for the pin. Miz grabbed Truth, who had no idea he had just scored the victory, hugged him and celebrated.

It was time for more talking and less wrestling next as Drew McIntyre’s music started and he began walking to the ring. Before he got a third of the way down, Seth Rollins’ theme started blasting and he quickly passed Drew and entered the ring. Seth told Drew that he was a “spotlight junkie” and he got his fix every time he stepped through the ropes. It was typical back and forth banter for the two but Seth got very serious towards the end of the segment and delivered some intense mic work.

Another Tag Team Six Pack challenge was next between Alpha Academy (Akira Tozawa and Otis) and The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods). There were several great spots in this one with The New Day coming out on top and headed towards WrestleMania 40.

The main event was a Last Woman Standing match with Becky Lynch versus Nia Jax. I had someone seated near me say something to the effect of “I can’t believe Becky versus Nia is the main event.” After the match, the guy tapped me and said, “I was so wrong. Damn, that was a great match!” It really was a great match with several stiff shots, high risk moves and more. It was an abbreviated TLC match because we had all three elements in the match! There was so much that happened in this one that you really need to check out the YouTube clip to get it all. After leg dropping Nia through the announcers’ table from a really tall ladder, Becky made her way back into the ring and dropped from exhaustion. Suddenly, Rhea Ripley’s music started and Mami made her way to the ring. She stood over top of Becky talking smack which made Becky slowly rise to her feet. The show ended with Mami holding the belt up high and the two of them, with Becky on tiptoes, talking trash.

After the show went off the air and Mami left the ring, they tossed Becky a microphone and she talked to the crowd for a few minutes. She told everyone that she became an American citizen on Sunday. That got a huge chant of “USA” going. She also told the crowd that her autobiography was coming out next week and that she was going to give a copy away. She saw a kid at ringside named Logan and it was his birthday. She had the crowd sing to him and she went down and gave him the book. Becky then went walking around for a very long time signing autographs and posing for pix.

Overall, it was a really great show and a ton of fun! Speaking of fun, how about Michael Cole and Pat McAfee? Those two have quickly become a great time! The crowd in Raleigh was pretty loud which always adds to the show. Not that anyone asked, but the Last Woman Standing match was definitely my favorite of the night. I remember there were a lot of people on social media talking smack about Nia Jax returning but she has been really solid since her return. She has really impressed me and stepped her game up. Smackdown should prove to be interesting with Heyman’s challenge and acceptance by Cody. Raw next Monday night is in Chicago and CM Punk is going to make an appearance. It should prove to be yet another hot show for the company who are on a tear!

A big thanks to the WWE for allowing me, a long time wrestling fan, to come out and cover this episode of WWE Raw for our magazine. It was truly appreciated and I can’t wait to do it again!

Review and (larger than usual) photo gallery by I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor Johnny Price

The best ring announcer going today: Samantha Irvin!

Natalya versus Zoey Stark

Giovanni Vinci versus Apollo Crews

Jey Uso getting his “yeet” on and then getting into it with his brother Jimmy

DIY (Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano) versus The Creed Brothers (Julius and Brutus Creed)

Katana Chance and Kayden Carter versus Indi Hartwell and Candice LaRae

Cody Rhodes addressing The Rock’s remarks from Smackdown and then accepting Paul Heyman’s offer.

Pat McAfee addressing the North Carolina crowd and acknowledging the home of the 2024 ACC Basketball Champions N.C. State! He even threw up the N.C. State Wolfpack sign!