{"id":134709,"date":"2025-05-02T16:00:41","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T20:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=134709"},"modified":"2025-05-05T15:07:51","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T19:07:51","slug":"preview-wwe-raw-5-5-25-two-in-ring-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/05\/02\/preview-wwe-raw-5-5-25-two-in-ring-returns\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview: WWE Raw (5\/5\/25) Two In-Ring Returns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Two superstars will return to in-ring action after extended periods away from the WWE as part of the WWE Raw match card, this week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">If Sami Zayn thought the beating he got at the hands of Seth Rollins, and Bron Breakker was bad last week, wait until the follow-up this week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Gunther could also return to smack more respect into Pat McAfee. But that&#8217;s just wishful hearsay. Here&#8217;s everything we know will happen in our WWE Raw preview.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">WWE Raw airs live on<a  href=\"https:\/\/www.netflix.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Netflix<\/a> at 8 ET from the CHI Health Center in Omaha, NE.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">WWE Raw Match Card (5\/5\/25)<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Rusev vs. Otis<\/span><\/li>\n<li>JD McDonagh vs. Penta<\/li>\n<li>Women\u2019s World Heavyweight Championship: IYO SKY vs. Roxanne Perez<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Rusev will officially return to in-ring competition. Last week, he shared a vignette about how he fell into the abyss when he left WWE in 2020.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">He blamed his own mediocracy for this and is back to wipe out mediocracy among the WWE roster. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Otis is the first person he looks to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/05\/02\/can-rusev-successfully-fix-otis\/\" target=\"_self\">make an example of<\/a> <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">when they meet one-on-one<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">But could Otis be inspired by Rusev to leave mediocracy behind himself? Otis has been commited to Akira Tozawa for a while now but could a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/04\/28\/does-rusev-have-a-secret-wwe-raw-tag-team-partner\/\" target=\"_self\">tag team pairing with Rusev<\/a> be more dominating? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">JD McDonagh will also return on the WWE Raw match card after his three-month layoff following a \u2018near death\u2019 injury. He faces Penta who has become enemy numero uno of The Judgment Day in McDonagh\u2019s absence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Penta seems to be engaged in the WWE Raw tag team division. Is this an indication the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/04\/23\/lucha-brothers-reunion-should-happen-post-wwe-wrestlemania-41\/\" target=\"_self\">Lucha Bros could reform in WWE<\/a> sooner rather than later?<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rusev is the tempest rolling in to fix WWE through pain: Raw highlights, April 28, 2025\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/htoBFTVJ6sE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3>Dirty Dom Will Be A Fighting Champion &#8211; Whether He Likes It or Not<\/h3>\n<p>Liv Morgan will take some time off <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/05\/02\/liv-morgan-wwe-stars-mystery-hollywood-role-revealed\/\" target=\"_self\">WWE to film an upcoming movie role<\/a>. It was hinted that we might find out more about the flick during WWE Raw.<\/p>\n<p>Dominik Mysterio was also hoping to take it easy now <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/04\/21\/dominik-mysterio-is-the-greatest-intercontinental-champion-of-all-time\/\" target=\"_self\">he\u2019s WWE Intercontinental Champion.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Last week\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/04\/28\/preview-wwe-raw-4-28-25-guest-gm-tonight-in-kansas\/\" target=\"_self\">guest GM Nick Aldis<\/a> teased to load Dom\u2019s plate high with challengers. AJ Styles appears to be the next opponent for Dom. We can expect that match to happen.<\/p>\n<p>Talking of movies, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/04\/29\/the-smashing-machine-first-look-at-the-rocks-gritty-ufc-biopic\/\" target=\"_self\">The Rock&#8217;s The Smashing Machine trailer<\/a> dropped this week. Netflix might treat Dwayne to an airing of his UFC biopic.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, Jey Uso seems to be heading for his first World Heavyweight Championship defence against Logan Paul. The latest twist in this tale will happen on WWE Raw.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Monday YEET Raw \ud83d\ude4c <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/F7PyUPb0RV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/F7PyUPb0RV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; WWE (@WWE) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWE\/status\/1917723140567769143?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 30, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Header photo \u2013 WWE \u2013 Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on WWE and other stories from around the world of <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">wrestling,<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> as they develop<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">You<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">major<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> news in the wrestling world<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, as well as to<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two superstars will return to in-ring action after extended periods away from the WWE as part of the WWE Raw match card, this week.\u00a0 If Sami Zayn thought the beating he got at the hands of Seth Rollins, and Bron Breakker was bad last week, wait until the follow-up this week. Gunther could also return [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3852,"featured_media":134728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25,3],"tags":[8592,5380,9123,202],"class_list":["post-134709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-raw","category-wwe-universe","tag-jd-mcdonagh","tag-otis","tag-penta","tag-rusev"],"modified_by":"Laurence Gibbons","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3852"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134709"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134849,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134709\/revisions\/134849"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}