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“WWE Raw” in Madison Square Garden is historically always a noteworthy show, and this visit was no different. From final appearances from all-time greats, star-making title wins, multiple returns and additions to WarGames teams, this show truly had a bit of it all.

Back to the well

Have we gone back in time? Yes. Yes, we have.

If WWE had to do one thing to cure its current creative issues, it was of course to go to one of its most tired rivalries of the past decade, right? Wrong. But it doesn’t matter what we think, because Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns are once again intertwining.

There has been plenty of time between these two, so I don’t necessarily hate it. It’s not interesting, but it’s whatever at this point. Lesnar being a part of teams is the more compelling aspect, as he’s been a lone wolf for essentially his entire WWE career. Regardless, what I don’t love is him looking superior to both of WWE’s world champions, CM Punk and Cody Rhodes. Especially when the latter — as I mentioned the last times we’ve seen Lesnar — handled Lesnar in his run before returning.

Lesnar emerged to ragdoll both champions at the end of the show after a booked faceoff that was always going to be a guaranteed empty brawl. These devalue a big stipulation match like WarGames so much, but the Lesnar and Reigns additions admittedly saved it — at least mildly.

All I’m left thinking now is: Where’s Omos when you need him? Also, what are the odds we see Lesnar on Logan Paul’s iMPAULSIVE podcast before Survivor Series?

Goofy wrestling for life

As great as John Cena’s grand slam moment in Boston was last week, his final “WWE Raw” appearance ever felt like a complete waste. Rather than have one final epic promo battle with someone tied to his history before a match, we saw Cena in a trios match against The Judgment Day. There was a brief verbal exchange to get here, building off last week’s win over Dominik Mysterio, who made the interruption.

That was essentially it, though. Cena attempted to have his moment. He accepted Mysterio’s Intercontinental title rematch on the spot, only to be countered for Survivor Series and accept. Then — suddenly — Judgment Day’s Finn Balor and JD McDonagh decided to finally support and back up Mysterio after consistent disagreements. Make that make sense.

The attack prompted an arrival from a random Sheamus, and then Rey Mysterio. So all of this immediately eliminated any possibility for Balor or Sheamus to win the Cena retirement match tournament — not that they should have been heavily favored anyway. But there was their final Cena interaction.

Cena ultimately just went on to use his super authority powers and make a match on the spot, calling for a ref and getting to work. The match was completely harmless and had an admittedly fun, cool finishing sequence. This just felt like a wild misuse of Cena in this special final moment, which could have taken up the first hour of “Raw” with no one complaining.

The classic loser heel attack for a title shot

The theme here will continue to be goofy wrestling, as you’ll see.

If someone attacked you after being nice and friendly, you would be understandably upset about it, right? There you go. As you should be. Yet Jackie Redmond entered the ring to set up what she called an interview to ask Stephanie Vaquer how she feels about Nikki Bella’s turn on her last week. It’s just funny stuff, really.

Then Bella attacked Vaquer mid-entrance, demanding her title shot that she doesn’t have to earn — because she gets a title shot without winning any recent matches. This is one of those good old-fashioned, empty, idealess wrestling tropes we’ve seen many a time. It was pretty much the Samoa Joe formula when he was a part of the world title picture.

Bella is playing into her “pioneerhood,” saying she owns the division and all the heel nonsense. It just isn’t convincing until she does something, or changes her look at the very least. Unfortunately, expect neither of those things to happen before she challenges Vaquer in two weeks and loses, wasting the champion’s time.

Here to save the world!

… He did not, said the narrator.

Nonetheless, the return of Dolph Ziggler was awesome. The former World Heavyweight Champion was Solo Sikoa’s mystery opponent in the Cena retirement match tournament, providing a pleasant surprise.

The Zig-Zag near-fall in this match sold me a ticket. This felt like a match that WWE may actually find a way to justify the shocker surprise win in, but I was wrong. And for as random as their pairing rightfully was, it was fun while it lasted. The Samoan Spike finish was filthy, too. Ziggler just went out there and wanted to remind us all how phenomenal of a seller he is. The dude is great.

It’s disrespectful to the knowledge of wrestling fans by returning Ziggler and Zack Ryder to their WWE names after they had solidly established themselves with their real names outside the company. Especially when you remember the moment below. More so with Ziggler, aka Nic Nemeth, who’s been in TNA. Ultimately, it doesn’t diminish either of the moments.

👑 Uncrowned Gem of the Night 👑

WWE did the right thing and had Maxxine Dupri dethrone Becky Lynch for the Intercontinental title.

I don’t even care that this came at the expense of an AJ Lee return distraction at the end of the match because Dupri deserved this, and the moment built perfectly after the pair’s previous two matches. It also sets up the easy potential for a revisit between Dupri and Lynch down the road, thanks to the excusable distraction win off the top-rope crossbody. This whole program was excellent, and the point of this titl:is too build a potential new star. The match was easily the worst of what they’ve done prior, but the conclusion was so, so satisfying, and leans nicely back into a more focused rivalry between Lynch and Lee.

👍MONDAY NIGHT MONEY👍

1. Charlotte Flair saved Alexa Bliss and “Rhiyo” from their rival team after Bliss called her out for abandoning their Survivor Series team. This receives a pure upvote due to the continued great character development and the relationship between Bliss and Flair — particularly the latter. It’s all been a great and welcome change, so much so that I feared Flair would turn for no good reason amid the tired brawl they were in. Thankfully, we’ll see how this unfolds.

2. Gunther submitted Je’Von Evans with the rear-naked choke to advance in the Cena retirement match tournament. What more needs to be said? This match kicked all the butt. Barring some spotty botch moments that may have shown Evans’ inexperience, or a rough early meshing with Gunther’s style, this was the Uncrowned Gem of the Night. Dupri’s win was just too good not to claim that spot tonight.

As a side note, it was also interesting to see Gunther get cheered, have some tweaked theme music, wearing a robe — some face-type things. However, in the match, he was very much the heel. I’m curious to see what he does long term.

👎RAW DEAL👎

After The Judgment Day lost to Cena, Mysterio and Sheamus, they got into a silly little scuffle with players from the New York Giants ringside — and comedian Andrew Schulz. I get why WWE does this thing — the cheap crowd pop with hometown heroes. But the latter being included in this is the confusing part. Why? Just why? Literally why?

👑 This “WWE Raw” hit a lot of marks, but didn’t help dispel the notions of outliving 2018 comparisons. I give this show a Crown score of: 7.5/10. 👑