The vision has clouded. After weeks of doubts and questions about what would happen if Seth Rollins lost at Crown Jewel, Rollins did what was necessary to defeat Cody Rhodes on Saturday. This cost him dearly immediately. Bron Breakker, metaphorically, poked Seth Rollins in the eye with a shocking speech at the end of “Raw”, sending The Vision’s trio into the rearview mirror. This was particularly surprising, as Rollins began “Raw” lavishing effusive praise on Breakker, Bronson Reed, and Paul Heyman individually. The big and unexpected breakup ended a show full of unexpected twists, from Dominik Mysterio using deception again to keep his Intercontinental title to the turbulent relationship of Asuka and Kairi Sane, to Lyra Valkyria, who finally, perhaps, discovered Bayley?
“Raw” Results from October 13th
- Dominik Mysterio, Intercontinental Champion, defeats Penta by pinfall.
- Rhea Ripley defeats Kairi Sane by pinfall.
- Bronson Reed defeats Jimmy Uso by pinfall.
- Bayley and Lyra Valkyria defeat Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez by pinfall.
- CM Punk defeats LA Knight and Jey Uso.
A Vision breakup already?
Rollins opened the show with a forceful promo celebrating Breakker, Reed, and Heyman, but the fact that Heyman had issued an ultimatum before Crown Jewel to leave Rollins, should he lose to Rhodes, was conspicuously absent from Rollins’ speech. In fact, Rollins doubled down, saying later in the show: “This is the top of the mountain… Thin air.” Now he needs an oxygen mask at the top, because Breakker and Reed have put a target on his back. The collapse of The Vision was certainly a big surprise, firstly because it came immediately after CM Punk won a triple threat match over Jey Uso and LA Knight to position himself as the number 1 contender for Rollins’ World Heavyweight Championship. Secondly, Heyman raised the arms of Reed and Breakker after their attack on Rollins, seemingly leaving Rollins alone and broken. With adversaries in every corner and no one on his side, the water is dangerous for the Visionary and his hopes of remaining world heavyweight champion. I question the timing of this attack. Breakker is a future world champion and Reed has reaped incredible victories over Roman Reigns, but this rivalry feels sudden and premature. Perhaps an extra layer of intrigue was needed in the Punk vs. Rollins saga? Maybe the Brons will cost Rollins his world title and then fight each other?More conclusions from “Raw”
Dominik Mysterio continues to find cunning but ingenious ways to retain his Intercontinental Championship. Against Penta, he distracted the timekeeper to steal the bell hammer, then placed his Intercontinental title in the middle of the ring. While the referee was busy clearing the belt from the ring, Mysterio hit Penta in the knee with the hammer and then put it in his boot to deliver a 619 and execute the frog splash to retain his title. These ingenious “by a hair” victories continue to work well on screen and entertain the WWE audience, who count 1-2-3 along with the referees and cheer on Dom’s antics. The Kabuki Warriors have implosion written all over them, but for now, they’re hanging on by a thread. Asuka yelled at and slapped Kairi Sane before Sane’s match with Rhea Ripley, which Sane lost. But Asuka got revenge by applying a DDT to Ripley on the commentary table, and the scene ended with Asuka arm-in-arm with Sane over Ripley. Will these two teams (Ripley and Iyo Sky and The Kabuki Warriors) find three more partners and fight at Survivor Series: WarGames on November 29? In the last 48 hours, Reed and Ripley have a 4-0 record in front of their fans. What kind of alternate WWE universe are we living in?Do you remember the character Festus from the 2000s? He was kind and soft-spoken, but as soon as a bell rang and he heard it, he turned into a monster. It feels like Bayley has a version of that. Lyra Valkyria received the happy version of Bayley when they entered their match with Judgment Day, but Valkyria needed the vicious Bayley, so she slapped her to unlock her evil, which led to victory. As WWE commentator Michael Cole pointed out, “Has Lyra discovered Bayley?”
