Raw recap & reactions: GUNTHER thinks he’s K. Dot – Cageside Seats
Filed under:AJ Styles returns, Judgement Day might get a new member, and GUNTHER shows who he really is on this week’s Monday Night Raw. The World Heavyweight Champion has had ENOUGH of the YEETING! #WWERaw #RawOnNetflix pic.twitter.com/fa6pfMIPEeOne of Kendrick Lamar’s lines on “Euphoria” references how he likes when Drake makes music that makes people dance and put their hands in the air. The tough guy version though? The version that tried being serious about this Hip Hop thing with diss tracks and pretending he understands the culture? He has no time for that guy. I thought of that during Raw’s potent opening this week. The territory smartly made Jey Uso’s entrance meaningful besides showing how over he is with the crowd. Jey came to the ring with the usual plaudits and cheers that, I assume, are deafening for those attending. I’m surprised he didn’t crowd surf his way to the ring but I wouldn’t be shocked if that’s next. Once he walked to the ring on his own accord and the crowd kept going, his music faded. But the crowd wanted more. Jey, a man of the people, obliged them, just like he did last week. While I’m wondering how long this might go on, Jey hops on the announce table. As soon as I think I have my answer (another 15 minutes), GUNTHER attacks Jey out of nowhere. It was both comical and awesome because it happened so fast. That’s when it hit me that the World Heavyweight champ thinks he’s the Kendrick Lamar of this WWE thing. He’s wrong but if I squint, I can see it, if only a little. GUNTHER likes when Jey stays in his place; when he entertains people far away from the champ. He’s offended that the Main Event thinks he’s a serious singles competitor. It’s elitist as hell but expected from a guy who believes he’s wrestling’s savior. The mat is sacred in his eyes, so any entertaining around said mat is blasphemous. Kendrick has a bit of that same complex. He believes Hip Hop is better when it takes his image instead of Drake’s. He wants to bring a certain amount of grit back to the game that he believes it lacks. The mic and the culture are sacred things to him, which means he has to protect them at all times. Especially from people he believes are entertainers who don’t take those things seriously. MONDAY NIGHT YEET! LET’S GOOOO!!! #RawOnNetflix pic.twitter.com/j6I2Tu1ANALike I said, there are similarities. But Kendrick is a man of the people that Jey is, while GUNTHER is, well, isn’t. And that’s where the commonalities stop dead in their proverbial tracks. GUNTHER secretly seethes at the love Jey gets and this is how he reacts to it. He’s not Kendrick; he’s Drake. He wants to prove he’s better than this guy the people genuinely love in a way he will never receive. He goaded Jey into challenging him at WrestleMania because of his inferiority complex. Yeah, to prove a point too, but mostly because of the first thing. He wants what he claims he doesn’t and publicly shuns what he secretly embraces. GUNTHER wants the people going crazy for him because of what he does in the ring but they don’t. No matter how many times he talks about his pedigree and how WWE came to him and basically paved his way with gold bricks, the audience will always love Jey more. That’s what eats him up inside, the same way it ate up Drake. That’s why Jey challenged him at Mania and why his days as champ are numbered. Yeet. This was an excellent week of Raw. I mean, every match rocked, including the tag team championship match that ended in DQ, and the women’s Elimination Chamber qualifier between Bayley and Lyra Valkyria. I didn’t initially like Bayley going over a new champ in that spot but it set up something between Lyra and Ivy Nile, so I’m okay with it. Raw was filled with things like that; all the dots connected later in the show and nothing felt isolated. I always need my wrestling show to feel like an actual television show with a beginning, middle, and end; Raw was that this week. What say you, cagesiders? Are we getting a new Judgment Day member? Check your inbox for a welcome email.Oops. Something went wrong. Please enter a valid email and try again.
