Seth “Freakin” Rollins Calls Out Cody Rhodes, DIY VS Imperium VS The Creed Brothers VS The New Day: Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships Fatal 4-Way Qualifying Match
Seth “Freakin” Rollins kicked off this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw as The Visionary took a shot at Roman Reigns before he asked Cody Rhodes to answer some of his questions. Cody arrived to a big cheer as the crowd chanted “We Want Cody” before Seth told Rhodes that he needs to face him in order to know that he’s gotten better since they last fought two years ago. Before Cody could then answer Rollins’ WrestleMania challenge, Drew McIntyre arrived to praise, and more importantly, take shots at his rivals before he revealed his new “CM Punk Gravestone” t-shirt. Drew then said that he’s going to be the one to Main Event WrestleMania before he delivered a Glasgow Kiss to the World Heavyweight Champion before Rhodes chucked McIntyre out of the ring to close the segment. I thought this was quite effective, Seth Rollins looked really good, Cody Rhodes looked like a super Babyface whilst Drew McIntyre is brilliant right now. Also, it’s worth mentioning that the crowd kept chanting “Rocky sucks”.
Grade: B-
It was then time for a Fatal 4-Way Tag Team Match as DIY, Imperium, The Creed Brothers, and The New Day fought for the opportunity to face Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate on Friday Night SmackDown in what will be a Number 1 Contender’s bout for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships. I thought this was better than the match on Friday Night simply because Julius and Brutus creed are/looked awesome. Some of the moves The Creeds hit are just amazing, but it also helps to have two incredibly talented teams plus one of the greatest Tag Teams of all time facing off against you. Towards the end, everybody was hitting dives before BC delivered the Brutus Ball to Giovanni Vinci, only for DIY to take The Creeds out as they were the legal competitors. Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa then nailed Vinci with Meet in the Middle to get the win which means it’s going to be DIY VS British Strong Style (Dunne and Bate) on Friday!
Grade: B-
Becky Lynch VS Shayna Baszler: Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match, Rhea Ripley Calls Out Nia Jax, Alpha Academy VS The Viking Raiders: Mixed Tag Team Match
After Becky Lynch and Shayna Baszler both cut promos, it was time to see who would be the first woman to qualify for this year’s Elimination Chamber Match. I thought the action was decent enough, both guys know what they’re doing, but the result was so obvious that it was very hard to buy into any of the near-falls (which is a shame). In the end, a Manhandle Slam was enough for Becky Lynch to get the victory.
Grade: C+
Adam Pearce told Drew McIntyre that he’d be fined over attacking already injured superstars. Rhea Ripley then entered the arena to the surprise of Pearce as McIntyre took the mick out of him. Rhea was clearly angry as the Women’s World Champion called out Nia Jax, only to be interrupted by the current Raw General Manager. However, Mr. Pearce proved to be pretty useless as Jax arrived and ultimately flattened Ripley again with the ANIAlater. My only thought on this is when we get this match at Elimination Chamber, the crowd is going to go mental for their home hero!
Grade: C+
It was then time for a Mixed Tag Team Match as Alpha Academy’s Akira Tozawa and Maxxine Dupri took on The Viking Raiders’ Ivar and Valhalla. Genuinely, this match only went about two minutes. Maxxine Dupri was able to help Tozawa take down Ivar with a dive, but that’s about all she did before Ivar delivered a World Strongest Slam to Akira from the middle turnbuckle to get the victory. I really don’t get what the point of this was.
Grade: C
JD McDonagh VS The Miz, Gunther’s 600-Day Celebration, The Kabuki Warriors VS Katana Chance and Kayden Carter: WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships
The Judgment Day were hanging out in their Clubhouse before R-Truth showed up because he somehow believes he’s still a member of the group (he was never in it in the first place)! This drove JD McDonagh and Finn Balor mad before Damian Priest just told Truth to make himself at home because I think he’s given up trying! The Miz then cut a promo about all of the R-Truth-Judgment Day situation before it was time for The Miz to go one-on-one with JD McDonagh. With a little bit of help from Dominik Mysterio, McDonagh dominated The Miz in the early goings, but that changed when R-Truth’s music hit as Truth decided to go around handing out free Judgment Day t-shirts. Truth then decided to put one on Mysterio which ultimately left Dom vulnerable to a Miz dropkick before The A-Lister dropped JD with the Skull Crushing Finale (after more Truth shenanigans) to get the win. In my opinion, Rhea Ripley needs to end R-Truth!
Grade: C+
Imperium were chatting with Adam Pearce backstage before Pearce introduced them to none other than Bron Breakker. A tease for what’s to come perhaps? Anyway, we got a video showing CM Punk getting prepared to have surgery before it was time for Gunther’s 600-Day Celebration as the Intercontinental Champion. Gunther thanked Ludwig Kaiser for setting this up before he made it clear that he doesn’t want this ever again as it’s already guaranteed that he’s going to hold his Championship forever. This brought out Jey Uso who showed respect to The Ring General so Gunther was happy to reciprocate. However, after Jey said he was going to take Gunther’s IC Title, The Ring General fired back and even said “When I’m done with you, you’re going to wish we were in the era where nobody could tell the difference between you and your twin!” Imperium then attacked Jey before The New Day ran down to make the save.
Grade: B-
Shinsuke Nakamura said “I Want Cody” in a cool line before it was time for The Kabuki Warriors to put their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships on the line against the former Champions, Katana Chance and Kayden Carter. Unfortunately, this match wasn’t anywhere near as good as their match from a couple of weeks ago. It wasn’t necessarily bad, but it wasn’t exactly good either. In the end, Kairi delivered the assisted InSane Elbow to score the predictable victory.
Grade: C
Cody Rhodes VS Shinsuke Nakamura: Bull Rope Match
After Sami Zayn talked brilliantly in an interview with Jackie Redmond about being a contender, it was Main Event time as Cody Rhodes and Shinsuke Nakamura faced off in a Bull Rope Match. The idea of this match happening again made little sense, but I thought they did a decent job with what they had. The point of this was to showcase Cody Rhodes as a super, never giving up Babyface which it did, especially when Rhodes managed to carry on fighting despite the fact that Shinsuke had spat red mist into his eyes. In the end, Rhodes was able to get the victory with a second Cross Rhodes, and whilst it once again made Shinsuke Nakamura look a bit weak, it certainly made The American Nightmare look strong! However, Cody wasn’t the man standing tall at the end of the show as he was dropped by a Drew McIntyre Claymore!
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