Netflix and absolutely no chill. The WWE’s franchise show “Monday Night Raw” made its debut on the streaming platform last night, and major stars came out, championships and bragging rights were earned, and hip-hop beefs were addressed.
Only in the WWE can you see Travis Scott don a championship belt, Kendrick Lamar get dissed in his hometown, and Hulk Hogan get booed in one show. Yet that’s par for the course at something like the “Raw” event, which broadcasted live from the new multi-billion dollar Intuit Dome in Inglewood, CA, home of the LA Clippers.
The evening began with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson shedding his badass “heel” persona (that’s wrestling for bad guy) and talking sincerely, thanking the WWE Universe and even giving gratitude to rival Cody Rhodes, the Universal Champion that he bloodied and pinned in the ring last year.
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The Rock also gave props to his real-life cousin Roman Reigns, who wrestled soon after in one of the show’s main attractions against Solo Sikoa, one of The Rock’s other cousins. Reigns and Sikoa, each of whom lead their own versions of two separate factions of family members (both named “The Bloodline”), have been feuding for months, battering each other’s bodies and egos along the way. Ultimately, Roman won the contest and the bragging rights of being called the undisputed “Tribal Chief” of their family. After the match, The Rock presented Roman with a sacred Samoan Ula Fala that was at stake.
Later in the night, Jey Uso, who is Sikoa’s real life older brother and Reigns’ cousin, took on and beat Drew McIntyre. Uso, who is one of the most popular wrestlers in the company, ignited the crowd by bringing Travis Scott into the ring with him. Scott, rocking gold chains and a custom WWE title belt, stood in the crowd a few levels above the ring as a snippet of his hit “Fe!n” blared out. Uso joined him, standing by his side as the grappler’s beloved theme “Main Event Ish” roared. On cue, the entire audience replicated the up-and-down arm movements that Jey does with every match entrance.
Scott got in on the action by sliding into the ring with Uso, climbing the ropes and standing on the second turnbuckle to hype the crowd. He then perched on the ring announcer’s table, arms going up and down in tandem with the audience. And, to cap off his WWE appearance, Scott appeared backstage in the parking lot, exchanging pleasantries with The Rock.
“Travis Scott, we talk about celebrities coming in here who are outside fans so to speak, coming in here and loving what we do,” Triple H, WWE’s chief content officer, said during the press conference after “Raw.” “Travis Scott is another guy like Bad Bunny who grew up watching this, is like this incredible fan that loves respects what we do. [He] wants to participate in what we do.”
His appearance begged the question: Will Scott ever step into the ring and wrestle like Bunny has done in the past? It’s still unclear, however HHH did say Scott and WWE is a union that will last.
“I think everybody should expect to see more things from Travis Scott in a big way,” the in-ring wrestling legend added.
Other celebrities who attended “Raw” included Seth Green, who sat next to Macaulay Culkin, as well as Tiffany Haddish with rapper Grafh. O’Shea Jackson Jr., Ashton Kutcher, Wale, Flo Rida, Oya Baby, and Michael Che were also spotted in the crowd.
And although Kendrick Lamar was not present, the hometown hero’s name caused some ruckus. During their promo interview, tag team The New Day dissed him: Xavier Woods proclaimed that Kendrick was “trash” and Kofi Kingston insisted Drake won their iconic rap battle. The New Day’s trolling elicited boos from the crowd.
Yet no one got booed more loudly and longer than Hulk Hogan. The once-adored Hulkster came out to promote his new beer and the audience almost drowned out his words with their verbal displeasure.
Other matches throughout the night included CM Punk beating Seth Rollins, and Rhea Ripley winning back her Women’s Title from Liv Morgan. John Cena returned to commence his yearlong WWE farewell tour. Cena, who has drifted towards Hollywood, promised last year that 2025 would be last as a wrestler. On Monday, he told the crowd that he was going to enter and win the February Premium Live Event “The Royal Rumble.” The winner of the “Rumble” gets to face a champion of their choice at “WrestleMania” this spring in a main event title match.
“Raw” airs every Monday at Netflix at 8 p.m. EST.