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WWE Raw 30 Recap and Review: Nostalgia is a Helluva Drug

WWE did an admirable job of using the stars of the past to showcase the stars and storylines of today at WWE Raw 30... but where were all the women?

WWE Raw celebrated its 30th anniversary on Monday with a nostalgia-packed show that saw many WWE legends make appearances to relive past highlights and interact with the stars of today. And while the show did feature some past stars whose real-life personalities are worse than any fictional wrestling villain, one legend who did not appear was the scandal-plagued Vince McMahon, who was reportedly not even backstage at the show. And whether it's due to smarter booking by Triple H, or simply because the stars of the Attitude Era and earlier simply aren't capable of getting physical anymore, the old-timers were generally used to put the spotlight on younger talent.

WWE Raw 30 Hour One Recap

Hulk Hogan, with The Mouth of the South Jimmy Hart, opened the show with a promo wishing WWE Raw a happy anniversary, and though viewers might have been concerned that Hogan was getting bleeped for using the n-word, as he has been known to do, the problem was actually a faulty mic. It was probably for the best, however, as over the last few years, Hogan has seemingly lost his ability as one of the best talkers in the business and comes off as transparently reciting lines from a script he can barely remember. Even Santa with Muscles had better acting! At least he managed to get the local sports team correct when he shoehorned The Eagles into his catchphrase for a big pop.

For those of you who don't keep up with football, the Philadelphia Eagles will face the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship on Sunday, with the winners going on to the Super Bowl, which is sort of like the WrestleMania of football. But we digress.

Thankfully, that was over quickly, and after the first of many montages of past WWE Raw highlights that would play that night, The Bloodline made their way to the ring to put Sami Zayn on trial as a traitor to Roman Reigns. After acknowledging the ECW chants from the Philly crowd (and throwing it and a 49ers reference back in their faces), Paul Heyman acted as prosecutor, offering a video montage of handpicked clips of evidence against Sami so obviously taken out of context and spun to fit a narrative that it might has well have aired on Tucker Carlson.

Sami, who was more over with the crowd than anyone else who appeared on the show, including the legends, had no defense for himself. But his former frenemy Jey Uso had his own set of clips prepared, showing Sami "taking bullets" for The Bloodline over and over while helping them to retain their various titles. Reigns decided to find Sami "not guilty for now" and tell him to finish up the night and then disappear until Saturday, where he will face his final test of loyalty at the Royal Rumble.

The Usos (Jey, Jimmy, and Sami) remained while Reigns, Heyman, and Solo Sikoa headed back to the dressing room to watch The Usos defend the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships against Judgment Day's Damian Priest and Dominik Mysterio, with Rhea Ripley and Finn Balor at ringside. The match, which also benefited from the first hour of Raw being commercial-free, was excellent by all measures and had the crowd on the edge of their seats. Midway through, Jimmy Uso got kayfabe hurt with a dive to the outside, forcing Adam Pearce to declare that the Usos would need to forfeit the match and the titles… until Sami Zayn offered to take Jimmy's place. The crowd was even hotter for that as Sami barely escaped multiple near falls before hitting a 1D with Jey to pin Mysterio as the crowd erupted with joy.

That segment and match were the best part of WWE Raw last night, and ought to be featured on Raw anniversary highlight reels for decades to come.

Backstage, Baron Corbin, with JBL, bribed The Godfather and Ron Simmons to get into the poker game in the APA office/casino. There were multiple legends present here, including the only female legend to appear at all, Alundra Blaze. More on that later.

LA Knight hit the ring to cut a promo on Bray Wyatt, who he accused of living off past glory, before leveling that same accusation at the legends in attendance. That brought out The Undertaker in his American Badass gear with Kid Rock entrance music. Taker rode his bike to the ring and Knight retreated, painting it as letting Undertaker off the hook. But Wyatt appeared at the top of the ramp, forcing Knight back into the ring, where Undertaker grabbed him by the neck. Instead of chokeslamming him, however, Taker tossed him to Wyatt to hit Sister Abigail. Taker stopped to whisper something in Wyatt's ear before leaving, ending another segment that used a legend in the best possible way.

WWE Raw 30 Hour Two Recap

At the APA casino, Diamond Dallas Page beat Allundra Blaze at a hand as JBL commented on her still having the belt she threw in the trash on Nitro all those years ago.

Next up was the first major misfire of the night. Bayley was supposed to face Becky Lynch in a steel cage, but instead, Damage CTRL jumped Becky and the match was called off. If you believe the dirt sheets, this was because the Bloodline segment ran long, but it was a choice to cut one of the three advertised matches for the show, and on top of that to have it be the women's match on a nostalgia episode of WWE Raw whose legends were a total sausage party.

Plenty of time was available, however, for DX, who hit the ring with Kurt Angle filling in for Billy Gunn. Imperium came out, but each of the members of DX recognized they're too old to be wrestling guys like that. So instead, they brought out Seth Rollins and the Street Profits to do their fighting for them. Triple H then commented that they needed someone to make things official, and thank goodness it was Teddy Long and not Vince McMahon.

Angle acted as guest referee and the match, which was nothing special, went to the babyfaces in the end. This was another good usage of legends that didn't overshadow the current stars.

Backstage, Baron Corbin won a pile of money from The Million Dollar Man, but IRS showed up to collect all but one bill as taxes, leading DiBiase to hit his catchphrase. MVP tried to cozy up to Bobby Lashley again, but Lashley told him he would take care of his own business later in the main event. MVP didn't take it well.

Ric Flair was out next to introduce his daughter, Smackdown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair, and he somehow managed to do it without bawling for once. He was also wearing a suit instead of a robe, so no chance of mishaps.

WWE Raw 30 Hour Three Recap

WWE Raw Women's Champion Bianca Belair came out to point out this is technically her show, not Charlotte's. Sonya Deville came out to complain that she's the one who deserves the attention (which is odd considering she's also a Smackdown star and not a champion). Belair whipped her ass in a match.

After the match, Alexa Bliss showed up on the tron to cut a creepy promo for her match with Belair at the Rumble on Saturday.

WWE played another video promoting Cody Rhodes, who is being telegraphed for a Royal Rumble win. They also promoted WWE 2k23 and its John Cena showcase mode. Then The Miz came out to complain about not getting enough attention, only to eat a Stone Cold Stunner from Kevin Owens, who will face Roman Reigns on Saturday.

Finally, the main event of WWE Raw saw Bobby Lashley challenge Austin Theory for the United States Championship. Lashley would obviously demolish Theory in any kind of fair fight, but this was a no disqualification match, helping to even the odds a bit. Even still, Lashley would have won… if Brock Lesnar didn't show up and give Lashley a pair of F5s, then place Theory on top of him to retain the title.

Was It Any Good?

For a three-hour show that only featured four matches, WWE Raw 30 actually kinda flew by. The legends were all used well, and the focus of the show was the current stars and storylines, as it should be. People always tune in for these nostalgia-based episodes, and why shouldn't they? It's not like these old stars will be around forever, so (setting aside the ones who are total scumbags), it's nice to enjoy seeing them once in a while, as long as they're used the right way, which they were here.

Going with the Sami Zayn and The Bloodline stuff first was a really smart move. The nostalgia factor of the show ensured a ratings boost, and Raw typically loses viewers as the night goes on, so WWE put their absolute best foot forward and hopefully encouraged some lapsed or new viewers to tune into Smackdown and the Royal Rumble later this week, and maybe even to come back to WWE Raw next week. Usually, a parade of stars from the past overshadows the stars of today, but the opposite was true here. Normally, my praise for WWE is limited to stuff like "it was less bad than usual," but here I have to give it to them: it was unabashedly great.

The low point of the night was the cancellation of the highly anticipated cage match, which, combined with the lack of female legends on the show, ended up sidelining women's wrestling during a celebration of 30 years of WWE Raw. I'm not sure what circumstances led to the disregard for women's wrestling on the show, but it could have all been solved with a little bit of effort either by calling up someone like Trish Stratus, Lita, or one of the dozens of female legends WWE is still on good terms with, or by cutting a few minutes here and there from other segments so Becky and Bayley could have their match. The Bellas were supposed to appear but didn't for some reason, and they seemed ticked off about it on an Instagram live stream. And #WWEWomenDeserveBetter has been trending on Twitter since last night.

That very major gripe aside, the show was generally enjoyable and did a good job of promoting the Royal Rumble to a larger audience than normal, which was its ultimate purpose. Whether WWE can capitalize on that kind of momentum, is, of course, always the bigger question, but they're usually at their best during WrestleMania season, which kicks off next week.

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