RAW Breakdown: Bron Breakker’s Star Potential SHINES, Big E Teases Continue & Is Sami Stalled?

Peter Klein

🔥 This week’s RAW left us with more questions than answers—Peter Klein reacts: KEY TAKEAWAYS ⭐ Bron Breakker’s Star Power - Dominated Sami Zayn (crowd chanted "One more time!") - Contradictory Booking: Mega-popular heel with face reactions – time for a turn? Verdict: Future world champion if WWE capitalizes now  🔮 Big E Teases Escalate - Becky Lynch’s cryptic hints during New Day "Mourning" Segment Suspicion: Is a SummerSlam return brewing?  🛑 Sami Zayn’s Creative Limbo - "Indefinite" absence after just returning post-Mania Opportunity: Character needs serious evolution post-injury  QUICK HITS - Goldberg/Gunther build has been great even if the match won't be. - Lyra’s awkward crowd silence during her promo  #WWERAW #BronBreakker #BigE #SamiZayn #WWE #Wrestling  🔔 Subscribe for wrestling analysis without the corporate spin: 💬 "Should Bron turn face NOW?"  👇 Debate below!  🎧 Listen on: Apple https://apple.co/49NGm2L | Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3QgazeHcSKSteZbBIubcuM?si=icY7NEBvT7yZadv_JFlT6Q  💬 Follow for live breakdowns: X.com/primetimepk | Twitch.tv/primetimepk  | Kick.com/primetimepk  🔗 Support the Show:   - Tip Jar: https://streamelements.com/couchpotatodiary/tip (fuels more content!)   - Partners: C of Dead http://cofdead403.ca/ | Swift Energy https://www.swiftenergy.gg/?ref=mriusnqm PROMO CODE: PKPrimetime for 25% Off!

Transcript

00:00The road to Saturday and Sunday began with Monday Night Raw. It had some ups,

00:05it had some downs. Let's talk about WWE's flagship show as we head into a very busy weekend for them.

00:13So, yes, boy, I need to fade that out better. So, we, again, getting ready for a busy weekend

00:30in wrestling. I want to remind you we'll get into a little bit more, but for just wrestling talk,

00:35you can subscribe to the Living Room at Lariat Podcast. Let's get into Raw. As we start the

00:39show with what they call in post-wrestling, and I can't get that out of my head now,

00:44the Seth Riders. This team needs a name at some point. We all, like, we're not necessarily

00:49dressing the same again, but everyone is on the same page. It is obviously a faction.

00:53Factions need team names. I need a team name for these guys. Minor thing. But I do like that

00:59Bron Breaker and Bronson Reed now get some mic time. Because ultimately, the point of a faction like

01:04this is to get a main event spotlight on guys who you are trying to build into that, but maybe aren't

01:08ready for the main event yet. And the best way to do that is to give them reps like this. And so,

01:13Bron Breaker, again, I am going to say this every week. I may as well just copy and paste it into

01:19the Raw recap next week. Bron Breaker looks like a star. I love that, Conrad. Yeah, they just did

01:25the Dunks and Destruction pack, the DLC for WWE 2K25 with a bunch of basketball guys in it. Let's get

01:31LeBron in there now, too, and call these guys LeBrons. Love it. Lock that in, Conrad. Always awesome

01:38having you in the chat, sir. Bron Breaker comes across like a star. Like, just the promo where

01:44he's like, I hate his music and his face and all these different things. Like, if that, like,

01:48drive by here. But if Ricochet cut that promo, it seems lame, right? But there's just something

01:53about this guy who is more tanned than a human being should be. Certainly more muscular than most

01:59human beings are. Just yelling about things that he hates. About this otherwise very likable human

02:04being in Sami Zayn. So, I think that there is, there's just an it factor to this guy. And it

02:12feels like lazy analysis, but there is. You just, like, he passes that airport test where if he

02:17walked by, he's like, oh, that's a something. I don't know what, but he is a something. And he gets

02:21on the mic and you're just captivated by him. Bronson, at this point, he's not quite there yet, but he is

02:28getting some chances too. And I like that. And obviously, a lot of his charisma is physical in

02:34what he can do in the ring. I also love that one, Big John. Bronze over brains. That is very good.

02:39You could even do, like, bronze and brains if you want, because Seth Rollins is the revolutionary

02:43architect, meh, meh, meh, meh, meh, meh, meh, guy. So, yeah. Bronze, bronze and brains, brains and

02:49bronze, something along those lines. We're working on it here, but a couple excellent, excellent

02:53suggestions and way better than anything I could come up with. The one thing I didn't like about

02:58this promo segment is that Rollins didn't have a chance to say anything, which, if you are a long

03:04time consumer of my content, you will know that, um, Seth Rollins not talking is not necessarily a

03:10downside for me. I am not a fan of the promo style of him. There's just something about it that takes

03:16me out. So, him not cutting a promo doesn't necessarily break my heart, except he's in one of

03:22three matches that's, uh, scheduled for Saturday night's main event. Could we not have mentioned

03:28that in our opening promo when we're talking about ripping people's throats out and vendettas

03:32that we have? Like, can we not address that? Everyone's chatting CM Punk, we know that's the

03:37match that we are getting to. Like, could you have made this seem like any more of an afterthought?

03:42I don't think so. So, now look, Knight gets a vignette later in the night, and then he comes

03:47out for an attack on Seth Rollins, but yes, this, this feels very much like killing time

03:52for Seth Rollins, and just, let's just get us to SummerSlam with CM Punk. So, I, I just, this is,

04:00it's gonna come up a lot. It is my frustration with all of this weekend happening for WWE.

04:06They need a Saturday night's main event quarterly. This falls into the quarter, so I guess. Evolution,

04:13it's a really great thing that they are doing this. But all of this feels so rushed,

04:19none of it feels consequential. All of it feels very skippable from WWE here this weekend. And

04:26it all just feels like afterthoughts coming into it, even with an attack to close the show.

04:31Uh, Conrad in the, the Twitch chat. Uh, it's almost like his dad had the best promo of all time.

04:37Promos are obviously genetic. And yes, uncle, not dad. Uh, as, as Conrad would correct there

04:40in a second. I can't wait for Braun's, uh, breaker math promo era. He did, he entered into

04:45that pool when he, he did that with the, um, what was it? The triple threat or the,

04:50the, the fatal four-way, whatever they did. It was fatal four-way, the intercontinental title match

04:54at WrestleMania. He did his own kind of breaker math, but he is just scratching the surface on

04:58that. He's gonna, it was at a countdown thing, so he could kind of workshop it. There is going to be

05:02a breaker math on Monday Night Raw that is going to surpass whatever the Scott Steiner one was

05:08in TNA. Um, but yes, no, like it is just every little bit is him just kind of scratching the

05:15surface right now. Like this guy is going to main event WrestleMania for a hundred years now. He is

05:20just so good. And then in the match, he destroys Sami Zayn, who again, very likable character. We all

05:27love Sami Zayn, but he goes out and just annihilates the dude and the crowd is chanting one more time,

05:34one more time. And Karrion Kross comes from the back before this and attacks Sami Zayn and the

05:38crowd is cheering for Karrion Kross. I feel like in 2025, the massive beatdown is not the way to get

05:48a heel over as a heel. Now, Karrion Kross, over. Braun Breaker, over. O-V-E-R, over. But,

05:56not as bad guys, which is what I think they are going for. So, it will be interesting to see where

06:03they pivot with this. And I have said, like this guy, people got a little tired of babyface Braun

06:08at the tail end of the NXT run, but I think that there should be something else now with him from

06:15a babyface perspective. Because I think you have an absolute mega babyface, um, on your hands with

06:23this guy right now. And I, like I said, sky is the limit with him. Sami now out indefinitely.

06:30Um, will we hear that? Sorry, it looks like we're getting a little leggy here, so I hope everything

06:34is all right. Um, Sami out indefinitely. I do think a bit of a break is fine, but he did just come back

06:40after WrestleMania. I have been saying for a little bit, this character needs to evolve, so I am hoping

06:46that it evolves and it gets better. That is genuinely what I am hoping. Because this is not a

06:53character right now that feels like it is ready for that championship level. We have just been in

06:58this thing for so long with the, oh, I think I can. Oh, maybe I can. Oh, I'm the underdog. Oh,

07:03I'm not. Like, it is just, it is the same note all the time. And it's a good note. Sami's awesome at

07:08it. But there needs to be a little bit more evolution in this. And so I am hoping that maybe

07:12a couple week break leading into SummerSlam gets us this new Sami Zayn attitude that we might be

07:18hoping for. Uh, some entertaining stuff with the New Day mourning the tag team division. I thought that

07:23was really, really funny what they did. Another interesting note though, because this is the

07:28second week in a row now we get a Big E mention on Raw. And I just, I know that it has kind of been

07:35the subtext of the whole thing is that these guys turned on Big E in a way that we all hated. And so

07:41that is why these are the bad guys now, but they are actually going out and mentioning him now more

07:48than they were before. And so I just feel like we are building up to some, not that Big E is going to

07:53have a match. Let's get that out of our heads. If he does, it's awesome. But let's, let's not assume,

07:57um, but some kind of a Big E something coming up at SummerSlam with them. That, that is kind of my

08:02prediction of how they are, uh, trending. The Becky Bailey Lyra promo. I do like that you're adding just

08:09a little bit of a layer to this one with Becky suggesting that maybe Lyra actually wanted Bayley

08:14to be taken out at WrestleMania and oh, didn't seem all that upset when it happened. It is better than

08:20the, well, you're not talking to me. So thusly, let's wrestle for the Intercontinental Championship.

08:26Not really a storyline to really sink your teeth into all that much. The match itself is going to

08:31be incredible. And like the, the promo stuff here isn't bad. It's just some of the, some of the

08:35beats along the way were a little eh. The one thing, um, I have said before, I think Lyra is very close

08:41to being like a star level type. She has all the in-ring ability you could want. And there is some kind of

08:47charisma there now that she has stopped pretending she's a bird, but it's still not all the way there.

08:52And you could see it this week because this crowd in Rhode Island was pretty hot, but she comes in

08:59like Becky does her promo thing. Bailey comes walking out. Lyra, music hits, comes storming past

09:05Bailey, says something about Becky being delusional and that she's going to win her title at Evolution

09:11on Sunday. And it was, she may as well have read pause for applause because she stopped expecting

09:19the crowd to go, yeah, get her. And it was nothing. That was a, oh, oh no. Cause it was obviously set

09:28up as an applause, obviously set up as an applause line. She paused as if it was going to be one

09:35and then the crowd paused with her and that it's not a great sign. That's not great. I like they've

09:42given her quite a bit now. And so I don't think you can just say, oh, well they haven't given her

09:46a lot yet. Like she won the intercontinental title and has had a lengthy feud now featuring two of the

09:51best women's performers in the history of the industry. It's not early anymore. So there, there

09:57is still some work to do with this character. The problem is I don't see her as a heel, you know,

10:02like I just, she does not strike me as a bad human. So I, I have a tough time seeing where the

10:08next pivot is. But again, I do think they are close and I hope that there isn't an overreaction

10:12to it, but that was a, oh boy, that, that was not great. Uh, Bronson Reed and Jey Uso. It never

10:17really gets going. The whole point of it is Bronson Reed hitting the tsunami after the match is done.

10:23But the highlight of it is Jey is going for a tope suicida and Bronson Reed, not just a folding

10:29chair. Bronson Reed throws a whole ass office chair at Jey Uso. DONG! Knocks him back into the

10:37ring and then splashes his 400 pound body on that poor human. And we are to assume that Jey Uso is

10:42out for a little bit. So there is a good edge to, uh, the, the little bronze, the bronze overbrain,

10:48um, that there is some excellent, excellent edge to these guys and kind of creating a, we run this

10:53town sort of a feel with them is a good thing. Uh, lastly, we get just enough physicality from

10:59Goldberg and Gunther. I said, I kind of wanted there to be a bit of a, oh my God type of a thing

11:06from Goldberg, but it was nice to see him looking healthy because when they started this whole thing

11:12and Goldberg was coming down to challenge Gunther, there was a bit of a hitch in the giddy up of, uh,

11:18Goldberg. I don't know if it's just because, uh, he had some adrenaline flowing from driving into

11:23that parking lot, impeccably timed, uh, driving into that parking lot at a rate that one should

11:29not drive into parking lots in and then stormed his way to the ring, but he looked fine, which is

11:34basically all you needed from him. Again, I don't know what this is going to look like on Saturday.

11:39I would imagine at some point it is going to look like a match that Jim Ross would, uh, compare to

11:44a bowling shoe, but I am, I am still fascinated by it. Goldberg. I just, I grew up in that time,

11:51right? I'm 35 years old now. I am that wheelhouse, you know? Um, I, I was yelling who's next and all

11:58those different things. So it just, it, this is the nostalgia that just gets me. So they've hit it

12:05and Gunther, God, is he amazing, right? This whole thing has been absolutely fantastic. But to big John's

12:13point, like you said, it's going to be sad. I love Goldberg. It will be sad. Uh, yeah, I, I don't

12:18know. Like the, the mat, the, the, obviously the peak of Goldberg's sadness was the match in Saudi

12:23with the Undertaker where he kind of got knocked out and it just, the whole thing sucked. But there

12:27was a pretty good bounce back where like his, it is weird to say his great, his, his early 50s title

12:34run was one of the saving graces of it. But honestly, like the, the, the run that he had with the title

12:40where he surprises Kevin Owens and all that, and then goes to, to WrestleMania against Brock,

12:44like that whole run was probably better than his first WWE run. So look, maybe it can happen,

12:50but, um, yeah, I'm, if this match goes over 10 minutes, someone, someone fucked up in a real

12:56big way. We are here to watch Goldberg smash his head into a locker. Um, let's gimmick the thing for

13:02fuck's sakes, but smash his head into a locker, do a that thing, have the pyro play, have the music

13:07going, having all of Atlanta chanting Goldberg, have him come out. Don't even pretend. Don't

13:13want to have Goldberg come out, spear, jackhammer, and then have Gunther kick out at one. And then

13:19we have a three minute match after that. And then we all go home. That is what I want from this one.

13:27That's it. That's all I need after it. Uh, Gilbert run in would certainly, it would be

13:32interesting. And really that is the retirement match we should have got, right? It's not Goldberg

13:37against Gunther. Give us Goldberg, Gilbert. What are we doing here? Why are we not doing this?

13:41Give us Goldberg, Gilbert, um, two out of three falls and main event anywhere in the country.

13:48So anyway, I'm, like I said, I do not have high hopes for it. I am prepared to be sad,

13:53but I am excited to see the whole Goldberg presentation basically until the bell rings,

13:58essentially, uh, Conrad in the chat. So Goldberg drove like 80% of drivers getting into the Cowboys

14:05parking lot for flames game. Yes. 100%. Yes. Basically any person who has driven down 17th

14:11Avenue drove like Goldberg, um, where you get the motors revving and everything like that.

14:16Another question here from Conrad in the Twitch chat. Um, this is Hunter feeling TKO pressure to

14:22end his long-term storytelling in favor of fucking, um, AEW over. I like the, the,

14:28the long-term storytelling. There is still some stuff there, but this is definitely where I think

14:33TKO, they just don't have the sense of any of these things right now. And so they're,

14:40they are not a leave the audience wanting more. They are, we can maximize every dollar out of this

14:46thing. So let's do it. And we don't care about storytelling. We don't care about, um, uh, audience

14:52fatigue or anything. This is entirely about just getting every last dollar they can out of this

15:00WWE thing. And look, that is kind of what companies are supposed to do. But I do think there is an art

15:05to it when it comes to the creative process. And this is not art. This is, um, taking a paint can,

15:12putting it in front of a canvas, and shooting that paint can with a bazooka. That, this is not

15:16anything to do with any of the storytelling. So it does, it does feel very just irresponsible,

15:25almost, of them to do all of these events. Because again, like, they, they had the video

15:31things up there. But coming away from this, nothing was drilled into your head. And this is the problem

15:36with doing all of these shows, is that yes, at its peak, WWE could be really repetitive with telling

15:44you, um, like, hey, this is what you are watching on Sunday. But by the time Sunday came, I knew that

15:50Stone Cold was facing Shane McMahon and the, uh, and Vince McMahon in a ladder match for the company.

15:55I knew these things. I do this every day. Watch all of these, have created a second podcast off of

16:04the amount that I do this. And I don't think without help, I could run through the entire weekend

16:09of shows that they have. It is just, it is too much. And that is the TKO model. It is not less

16:13is more. It is more is more. And we are seeing that with the UFC, where it's like, yeah, we could,

16:19like, have a better television product if we put our fight nights in places with humans. Or we could

16:26save some money, keep fulfilling our TV contracts, put in the apex in front of a couple people, at least

16:31one of them might be a robot, and we'll just go from there. We'll be fine. Whatever. It is just,

16:37it is mass consumption, uh, right now of all of these things. And it sucks because they had

16:43a real kind of groove going into WrestleMania 40. And now there has been a lot of, well,

16:49we just need the rock back. So we're just going to pop a number and do this, that there's been a lot

16:52of short term, whatever's just to get as much money out of these things as possible, which I do think

16:58has led to a lot of the speculation about TKO, maybe just wanting to cut bait and get out. Like,

17:04let's just, let's buy into this thing, make as much money as we can ride this horse into the ground

17:10and get out, um, by the time it has hit the ground, right? Like as soon as it kind of, boom,

17:15we're not even there for the second little dead cat bounce. We're just jumping off and running away.

17:19Um, there is some speculation about TKO and what they want to do with the WWE. And that is a reason

17:25why for sure. But look, I mean, this is, and we've talked about it in the AEW preview that they're not

17:31going to catch WWE. We are not going to come out of this weekend saying, wow, the new number one

17:35wrestling promotion in the world is AEW. There's going to be a lot of people who say that their

17:39favorite promotion is AEW, and you are certainly within your rights to do just that. But WWE has

17:45left the door open now for AEW based off of the decisions that they have made. The weirdest part

17:51about this, Conrad, is like, as of right now, AEW has momentum, right? Like, I don't think we can

17:59question that maybe not a ton, but they're, they have at least turned things around from the,

18:05oh my God, everyone hates you from a few months ago. And we'll talk about the overall health of

18:09AEW here coming up in a second. But there was no point in this when they scheduled these things.

18:15Like when they booked all in, or sorry, when they booked, um, Saturday night's main event to counter

18:20all in, and then all in moved to the afternoon, and they added great American bash on top of that,

18:25and then put Evolution on Sunday. There was no need to do that at the time, because AEW was kind

18:31of just continuously shooting themselves in the foot. And so you have just looked like the bully

18:37for no reason. You have watered down your product for no reason. And while you are doing that, you

18:43have allowed your opposition to come back in. Like, this isn't, um, oh, Mick Foley's gonna win their

18:49title. Huh, that's gonna put butts in the seats. This isn't like a, a fatal mistake or anything from

18:54WWE, but it is certainly an arrogant one. And it's certainly a mistake to have loaded this whole

19:00thing up. And I think it is just drawing more people over to the AEW side, but we will see.

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