WWE’s European Road to WrestleMania landed in Brussels, Belgium this week with Monday Night Raw emanating from the Forest National Arena.
An action-packed Raw saw John Cena come face to face with Cody Rhodes for the first time since Elimination Chamber.
Penta faced Ludwig Kaiser in a no-holds-barred match.
Iyo Sky and Bianca Belair had a contract signing for their title match at WrestleMania.
Elsewhere, Dakota Kai defeated Ivy Nile, LWO defeated American Made, and Bron Breakker faced Finn Balor for the WWE Intercontinental Title in the main event.
Here are the four main talking points from Monday night –
John Cena delivered his first promo since turning heel
The wrestling world has been a buzz since Cena turned heel on Rhodes at the Elimination Chamber just over two weeks ago.
Would Cena come out with a new theme? Would he drop the jorts and signature Cena attire?
The answer to both was no. In the most heel move of all, Cena refused to change anything about his character.
The 16-time world champion came out to a chorus of boos from the Brussels crowd and chants of Cena sucks.
The negative reaction for Cena was up there with his entrances at ECW‘s One Night Stand in 2006 and Money in the Bank in 2011 when he faced CM Punk in his hometown of Chicago.
Cena blamed the fans during his promo claiming he’d been stuck in a ‘toxic relationship’ with them for 25 years.
Rhodes then came out with the Belgian crowd singing every word of Kingdom by Downstait with a thunderous ‘woah’ to match.
The American Nightmare then put Cena in his place on the mic claiming to “retire him early” at WrestleMania if this “whiny b*tch” version of Cena turns up.
Both Rhodes on Cena will be on Raw again next week.
The Intercontinental title picture is heating up ahead of WrestleMania
Breakker’s Intercontinental title reign has lacked direction en route to the show of shows, but Raw in Brussels saw a positive step.
Penta beat Ludwig Kaiser in a no-holds-barred match to open the show, and after the match, he announced his intention to fight for Breakker’s IC title.
The main event then saw Breakker defend his title against Finn Balor.
Balor and Dominic Mysterio have seen tensions rising in recent weeks, with Mysterio suggesting the Judgement Day add a new member.
He even suggested Penta as a new member which frustrated Balor even further.
Mysterio and Carlito came down to ringside during the main event with the former eventually costing Balor by trying to distract Breakker.
After the match, the two judgment day members beat down Breakker until Penta made the save and concluded Raw with a stare-down with the champion.
Penta, Mysterio, Balor, and Kieser are all in the frame for Breakker’s title which could lead to a multi-man match at WrestleMania.
European crowds continue to impress
From the beginning of the show until the end the Brussels crowd was electric.
From Cena’s overwhelmingly negative reaction to Cody’s ovation, the Belgian crowd was in fine voice.
They even got AJ Styles to momentarily pause his backstage interview due to their chanting of “Phenomenal.”
The European crowd then serenaded Seth Rollins with his theme tune later in the night before chants of CM Punk and OTC drowned out the Revolutionary’s song.
The sold-out 8,000-strong crowd also yeeted with Jey Uso before his 29-second match with Austin Theory.
WWE’s European tour continues this Friday with Smackdown live from Bologna, Italy before the road to WrestleMania hits the UK with Monday Night Raw in Glasgow on March 24.
Another triple-threat match is set for WrestleMania
It looks likely that one triple-threat match is set for WrestleMania following Roman Reigns’ attack on CM Punk and Seth Rollins last week on Raw.
All three men are set to appear on SmackDown in Bologna, Italy this Friday.
Aside from this, WWE could be set to make another blockbuster triple-threat match at WrestleMania 41.
Belair won the Elimination Chamber at the beginning of the month giving her a title opportunity at ‘Mania.
Her opponent would be the winner of Iyo Sky vs. Rhea Ripley on Raw the following week.
Sky won the match but not without interference from Belair, which enraged Ripley.
Belair and Sky officially signed their contract on Raw last night before Ripley marched to the ring and laid both women out before adding her signature to the contract.
A backstage scuffle ensued later on the night with Ripley coming out on top once again.
It looks inevitable that it will be Ripley vs. Belair vs. Sky for the Women’s World Championship at WrestleMania next month.