Winners, News And Notes As WWE Announces John Cena’s Return

WWE announced John Cena’s return for WWE Raw in Laredo, Texas on June 27 as part of his 20th anniversary celebration. Cena has teased a potential feud with Theory—whom Vince McMahon reportedly sees as the next John Cena.

John Cena recently posted a photo of Kevin Owens stomping the United States Championship, which was another thinly veiled reference to Theory, the current United States Championship.

“My current favorite WWE Superstar is Theory…what current WWE Superstar is most in need of an Attitude Adjustment? Theory,” said Cena in a recent Q&A on TikTok.

WWE Raw advertised fallout from WWE Hell in a Cell after Cody Rhodes’ instantly classic performance with a torn pec. Rhodes was written off television during an injury angle when Seth Rollins took him out with a sledgehammer.

Raw also advertised a new member of the Judgment Day, which turned out to be

WWE Raw last week garnered a near-record-low audience of 1.497 million.

• May 30, 2022 | 1.497 million
• May 23, 2022 | 1.732 million
• May 16, 2022 | 1.736 million
• May 9, 2022 | 1.652 million
• May 2, 2022 | 1.581 million

• WWE Raw Venue: Resch Center (Green Bay, Wisc.)
• WWE Raw Tickets Distributed: 5,032
• WWE Raw Tickets Available: 543

WWE Raw Results| June 6, 2022

Cody Rhodes Destroyed by Seth Rollins

The only positive of Cody Rhodes being away for so long are the millions of dollars WWE will save on pyro.

Cody Rhodes was treated like every bit the gladiator he is coming out of last night. After being booed through setting himself on fire in AEW, it has to feel good for Cody to be appreciated for his latest ballsy performance.

Cody Rhodes gave fans a glimmer of hope by teasing he could be back in four weeks to compete in Money in the Bank. Unfortunately, after praising Rhodes, Seth Rollins returned with a sledgehammer and laid out the American Nightmare. Though Cody Rhodes was able to walk off on his own power, to a thunderous ovation, this angle will likely be used to write him off television for the time being.

Dana Brooke def. Becky Lynch

Dana Brooke won the 24/7 Championship, only to successfully defend it against Becky Lynch (due to outside interference from Asuka). When Becky Lynch main evented WrestleMania 35, nobody with a pulse could have predicted she’d be losing a match for the 24/7 Championship at any point in her career.

Riddle def. The Miz

The MizTV segment that preceded this revolved around the size of The Miz’s balls.

Similar to his feud against Damian Priest, The Miz wrestled in street clothes and was stripped down his underwear. Fortunately, he didn’t beat Riddle in his underwear the way he did Priest.

Of course, once Miz was stripped down to his undies, fans chanted “tiny balls!”

The Street Profits def. The Usos by DQ

Angelo Dawkins hit a super-duper athletic dive to the outside as he continues to be one of the most underrated performers in all of wrestling.

WWE refuses to beat The Usos, yet they also don’t put them over half the time, so The Usos have become the kings of the DQ victory. An Usos vs. Street Profits feud feels like more of the same, but at least they have good matches.

Theory Confronts Bobby Lashley

WWE is clearly intent on pushing Bobby Lashley for a world title feud, but the fact that they seem ready to feed Theory to Lashley tells you they’re serious about it.

It’ll be interesting to see just how much WWE protects Theory in what should be an inevitable loss to Lashley, especially with a potential match against John Cena on the horizon.

Veer Mahaan def. Dominik Mysterio by DQ

Dominik’s sole purpose since WrestleMania 38 has been to get Veer Mahaan over.

This week’s countdown timer counted down to The Judgment Days’ newest member, which was 20 minutes away by this point.

This was not the squash match that seemed inevitable on paper. Dominik actually got in some offense. This match went through a commercial break, and Veer didn’t even get a submission victory, the match ended when Rey Mysterio went “full softball dad” and interfered on his son’s behalf.

Finn Balor, Judgment Day Turns on Edge

Poor Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley both endured “what” chants, which has been a theme throughout the Judgment Day’s run.

Finn Balor fake-joined the Judgment Day. I actually thought he was a great candidate to be a legit new member, but when he was revealed as the newest member in this fashion, I immediately knew it was going to be a swerve. It was a swerve, except the swerve was on Edge, who was attacked by The Judgment Day and its new leader Finn Balor.

Though it seems like Edge is getting buried, he’s wise to ditch this stable, which simply was not working.

Omos def. Cedric Alexander

Though Cedric Alexander said he was going to stand on his own moving forward, his fresh start was nothing more than getting squashed by Omos.

The Dirty Dawgz announced they were back on Monday Night Raw, when I didn’t even know they left.

The Dirty Dawgz are clearly headed for a feud with Omos and MVP, which tells me WWE has randomly turned Omos babyface.

Ezekiel def. Otis

Ezekiel shed his armband fringes for this match, so maybe he’ll be taken more seriously?

Otis awkwardly rolled out of the ring right after his loss instead of attacking Ezekiel like a real heel.

Kevin Owens accepted Ezekiel’s challenge, but only if Ezekiel would admit he was Elias. Fans popped for the potential. Ezekiel admitted he was Elias, making the match official, only to say he was lying.

Rhea Ripley def. Alexa Bliss, Doudrop and Liv Morgan

This match immediately teased a “powerhouse” showdown between Liv Morgan and Doudrop.

Rhea Ripley took a very scary bump early on but immediately recovered without any sign of injury.

Rhea Ripley hit Riptide on Doudrop, finally setting up a long-awaited feud between Ripley and Belair. This Fatal 4-Way alone tells you how loaded the women’s division is.