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The last time we saw Cody Rhodes on WWE television, so to speak, was in the WrestleMania 40 Kickoff press event, where The Rock slapped him after clashing with “The Great One” over comments about Roman Reigns’ family being ashamed of them. CM Punk implored Rhodes to respond in kind.
This is the fighting game, damn it!
Well, Rhodes appeared in Monday night raw this week to address the events of the aforementioned journalist and my biggest fear was that he would go off and work on the gimmick, opening his promo with the same tired refrain.
“So what do we want to talk about?”
Which, I mean, is fine. It’s his thing and all that. But I’m with Punk, it’s about getting angry and responding, not going back to what’s familiar. But that’s what he did, he worked the trick with a smile and it felt too standard for my taste.
But what can you do?
Meanwhile, he told fans that they made a big difference with their words and how they treated him after the Royal Rumble and this whole situation that arose once The Rock returned. The “we love Cody” chants really mattered.
Almost enough to excite him.
But he can’t do that because then he would be a crybaby.
They then went the comedy route, with Rhodes talking about The Rock’s appearance on Pat McAfee’s show and talking about “Crying Codys” and how they eat chicken nuggets and maybe shove them up their asses too. Then Cody responded, “What am I supposed to do with the nuggets?”
He, he.
Ha ha.
Finally, thankfully, Rhodes brought up the fact that a grown man slapped him and what that means. “I’m going to hit you back.”
Yeah.
At this point, Seth Rollins entered the scene.
He also worked some comedy with a bit of fun. moana reference before saying that he expected another battle with Cody, but understands why he made the decision he did. And then he gave her a big endorsement.
Rollins told him that has to finish his story, for his father and for himself, but equally important for everyone else. This is perhaps the last best chance everyone has to defeat Reigns, the most powerful champion for many years, and take back the power and give it to the people again.
It was a tremendously motivating message, but he phrased it with a question: What’s the plan, man?
Because we all saw how the game developed in WrestleMania 39, with Reigns and all his lackeys and all the help he always has. And now he has even more help, in the form of one of the most influential forces not only in professional wrestling but also in Hollywood, The Rock. So it has become clear that enough is enough and it is time for a change.
And I needed to tell Cody that yes, this is his fight, but he needs to know that he doesn’t have to be alone in this fight.
Rollins then took some of the blame for Reigns and what he has become since they used to run together in The Shield and everything that happened there. But that only means one thing: when it comes to fighting The Bloodline, there’s only one man fit to be Cody’s “shield.”
This was one of the best promos of Seth Rollins’ career, maybe the best, and it did more for the story than even Cody on this show. They took this from Cody trying to finish his story and turned it into a fight for the future of the entire damn promotion. Rollins made it feel like the biggest match in the history of the industry.
I was already absurdly excited about all of this and somehow they turned it up to 11.
Wrestlemania I can’t come soon enough.
Elimination Chamber Qualifiers
Bronzilla (I’ll call him that now) Reed faced Bobby Lashley in the first qualifier of this show, and the match was fun if only to hear Pat McAfee call out Reed and talk about how he constantly looks like he’s carrying more weight. luggage. Besides, he probably can’t wipe his ass.
He’s a big, meaty man, folks.
They had a fun fight and Lashley survived all that meat to advance to Perth.
We went to the women’s side for the second qualifier of the night, as Liv Morgan is back and on what she calls a revenge tour. She needs revenge on Rhea Ripley for putting her on the shelf. She really wants you to keep an eye on her too.
Considering Zoey Stark didn’t even appear on TV, it was obvious where the match was going. She was competitive, but Morgan ultimately scored the pinfall to advance to the Chamber and another chance to get closer to a showdown with her former teammate.
The last qualifier featured none other than LA Knight (YEAH) with possibly the toughest qualifier matchup against Ivar of The Viking Raiders. The latter has had an incredible run of incredible TV matches and this one was no different, as the crowd made clear with chants of “this is amazing” during it.
Knight eventually won the match by avoiding the Doomsault and hitting Blunt Force Trauma. It was a fun little showcase for these two, but they could do more if given more time.
The unfortunate thing is that it seemed clear to me that Knight’s star is fading a bit as time goes on and that he’s not showing up in the way a major star needs to be in order to maintain a hot streak. Inevitable, I suppose. Still, he has the goods.
Becky Lynch cut an unexpectedly emotional promo on this show, speaking openly about the many struggles she has faced while pursuing her dreams in this business she loves. She missed her own father’s funeral because of this, she had to have difficult conversations with her three-year-old daughter because of it, and she said her daughter will have to watch her face be thrown into a cage in Australia.
All in service of winning the Elimination Chamber so she can go toe-to-toe with one of the most dominant women’s champions we’ve ever seen.
Mother.
And well, people love Mami and Becky realizes that. In fact, she knows that people don’t believe that anyone can beat her, but she is not just anyone and Rhea Ripley has not faced anyone like her. So whether you love Rhea or Becky, here’s a toast to the wild ride ahead, from Kentucky to Perth to Philadelphia.
To the bottom.
But wait, we’re forgetting something here: Nia Jax.
They’ve had their differences but Jax wanted to get in the ring with her and say a few words. She also got emotional saying that she has “a lot of respect” for Becky. If her own mother was half the mother of Becky, she would be very lucky. “God wants that one day she will be a mother and she can be the example that you are.”
What was this?
Jax said Lynch will win at Elimination Chamber because she has the passion and drive for it, and nothing will stop her.
(stop crying here)
As if nothing was stopping Jax from beating Ripley in Elimination chamber and move on to WrestleMania to defeat Lynch once again.
Becky’s part was really good, but Jax’s part felt too forced and unnatural. Ripley showed up to fight Jax, saying “you’re going to have to kill me” at one point, and we got another look between Ripley and Lynch, with Jax watching from afar. It really seems like WWE wants to promote the match they will inevitably attend and they don’t care about spoilers at all.
And you know what? At the end of the day, I’m fine with that.
All the rest
- One of the things that I really like Monday night raw is that they can start the show by going right into a six-man tag team match that has nothing to do with the main storylines, but rather pushing the show for the Intercontinental title we’re about to get. In this case, that meant The New Day and Jey Uso teamed up to fight Imperium. What this match made clear more than anything else is that Jey still has fans eating out of the palm of his hands. He even got something resembling a GUNTHER visual pin before he disbanded and the babyfaces teamed up to take care of Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci’s business and get the win. Use vs. GUNTHER will clearly be fun, as they later announced their title fight will be reduced next week.
- Andrade told us through a preview recording that he left years ago to find who he is again and now that he has, he’s back and his “direction is clear.” It was a short video but it looked and sounded great!
- Sami Zayn had a follow-up interview in the empty stands with Jackie Redmond and vowed to once again become WWE Champion, no matter how long it takes to get there. Shinsuke Nakamura interrupted said interview to do what he does and claim to bring out the real man beneath the empty words. While preparing for the match, Rhodes approached Zayn and offered him some words of encouragement. Everyone still believes in Sami. Zayn vs. Nakamura was given the main event spot, and a distraction from Drew McIntyre helped Nakamura score the victory. Rhodes, of course, showed up to help Zayn defend himself from a post-match beatdown. He is another ally for Cody, and helps set up Cody vs. Drew for next week. A solid business.
- The Judgment Day once again attempted to remove R-Truth from their fold, with Damian Priest even calling his match against JD McDonagh an “execution.” Sure enough, McDonagh won the match relatively easily and Truth attempted to fight them afterwards, but was no match for his numbers. DIY ran in to save and get the group out. I’m certainly not saying JD is down, but it feels like they were involved in all the hottest storylines and running Raw for a while and now they’re middle players in a comedy angle with Truth. I’m not even sure what happened either.
This was a solid show, but the Rhodes/Rollins segment was absolute money, enough to carry this rating.
Grade A-
Your turn.