Cody Rhodes Starts the Show, JD McDonagh VS Ricochet
Cody Rhodes kicked off this week’s Raw to talk about Roman Reigns and how whilst he respects The Tribal Chief, he still “hates his guts”! Cody also said that he feels like he has to act like the Champion because the Champion’s never here (remember that one for WrestleMania) before amazingly, The Rock’s music hit in a very surprising moment. Rocky came down to the ring, whispered something in the ears of The American Nightmare, and then just left. I liked this a lot! Cody said some decent things, but The Rock showing up was really cool because WWE doesn’t do too many surprises nowadays. Also, The Rock barely did anything here, and the segment still worked which is a massive sign of the star power involved.
Grade: B+
The Rock told Jackie Redmond to ask Cody Rhodes what he whispered to him before Rhea Ripley and Finn Balor made it clear to JD McDonagh and Dominik Mysterio that they have to start winning. This then led into the first match of the night as JD took on Ricochet. I enjoyed their contest in the Gauntlet Match a few weeks ago, but this one might have been even better. Whilst not as good, this gave me some good reminders of the old Axiom-Nathan Frazer trilogy and I’d be happy to see this match more often. Dominik Mysterio also interfered in this contest in a way that didn’t feel annoying so props to him, and in the end, a superb Shooting Star Press was enough for The One and Only to pin The Irish Ace for the 3 count.
Grade: B
CM Punk Returns, Candice LeRae VS Ivy Nile, DIY VS The New Day
The Chicago crowd then irrupted into cheers as their all-time home favourite CM Punk returned to the All-State Arena. Punk was not hanging around as he fired shots at Roman Reigns, Seth “Freakin” Rollins, Drew McIntyre, and even The Rock before Drew came down to the ring to take the mick out of CM. Both guys fired plenty of shots at one another before Seth Rollins arrived to make it clear that he can’t stand either of them! Rollins then made it clear that CM Punk needs him to have a moment at WrestleMania before Punk left by referencing Seth’s wife Becky Lynch. However, McIntyre wasn’t done yet as he continued to rabbit on before he got met with a Stomp courtesy of the World Heavyweight Champion. This was great, not only did it establish CM Punk as a special guest commentator for Rollins-McIntyre at WrestleMania 40, but it was clear to see that everyone here can’t stand one another which is rare in this era of WWE.
Grade: A-
Shinsuke Nakamura cut a promo about how he’s going to turn Jey Uso’s “dream into a nightmare” before it was time for Candice LeRae to take on Ivy Nile. After Candice punched Maxxine Dupri off the apron, LeRae went down holding her knee and it was clear that she wanted Indi Hartwell to attack Ivy. However, Indi hesitated so The Poison Pixie used some dirty tactics of her own in the form of putting her feet on the ropes to win with the leverage pin. I thought the story that was being told was good, however, I don’t think it was executed very well.
Grade: C
The New Day and DIY were firing some shots at each other backstage before The Awesome Truth walked in to announce they were going to be on commentary for this contest. To be honest, this made The New Day look like idiots, but the more interesting thing to note is in the background, you could see Drew McIntyre having a chat with none other than Paul Heyman! We then went into the match between DIY and The New Day, and I thought it was fine. The moments we saw between the four competitors were good, but it also ended rather abruptly courtesy of an attack from The Judgment Day. However, this was really cool as Damian Priest just wrecked everyone including The Miz before The JD surrounded R-Truth and that ultimately resulted in Senor Money in the Bank sending Truth flying with the Razor’s Edge. I’m always going to be happy when they make Priest look this dominant.
Grade: B-
Andrade VS Giovanni Vinci, Becky Lynch Interrupts Rhea Ripley, Bronson Reed VS Sami Zayn
Cody Rhodes refused to reiterate what The Rock had whispered to him before Gunther made it clear that he knows that Bronson Reed will beat Sami Zayn tonight. Andrade then made his way down to the ring as it was time for Mr. Tranquillo to go one-on-one with Giovanni Vinci. This was fun, but it was odd in the sense that it didn’t go very long. Giovanni Vinci is a really talented wrestler so it’s always good to see him in a singles match, but what I liked here the most was remembering just how fantastic Andrade is. Some of the moves that man hits are just awesome, and in the end, the former Almas hit The Messenger to get the victory. I’ve definitely missed this guy!
Grade: B-
Rhea Ripley was the next person in the ring as the Women’s World Champion had some things to say. Rhea talked about how she’s been super respectful to Becky Lynch before Becky came out to show that she’s not afraid of The Nightmare. This segment then turned into a bit of a feisty one as both women fired shots at each other, none more so than Ripley saying Lynch’s daughter Roux “would start to call me MAMI!” This pissed off The Man who punched Dominik Mysterio right in the face before the two WrestleMania opponents got into a brawl, only to be stopped (at the third time of asking) by referees. This was another good promo segment that actually felt like a big deal, which realistically, it should’ve from the start as Ripley-Lynch is a match between two legitimate megastars.
Grade: B
Chad Gable once again made it clear to Sami Zayn how he feels about him before Sami Zayn had a match with Bronson Reed. This was pretty decent, and I watched it thinking to myself “How and why does Bronson Reed not have a spot on Mania because he’s certainly earned it.” Anyway, the interesting part here came when Gunther arrived on the ramp and this seemed to completely throw off Sami’s game plan. Amazingly, in the end, this resulted in Reed hitting the Tsunami to score a massive victory which could well prove to be very important down the line.
Grade: B-
Jey Uso VS Shinsuke Nakamura
After Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa confronted Jey Uso, Chad Gable told Sami Zayn that he needed a new plan, and Seth “Freakin” Rollins told Jey Uso that he has his back, it was Main Event time as Jey Uso collided with Shinsuke Nakamura. The match here was fine, it could’ve been a lot better, but the focus was more on the stories outside the ring. After Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa jumped over the barricade at ringside, Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins ran down to deal with The Bloodline, only for Drew McIntyre to take out Rollins from behind before he floored the World Heavyweight Champion with a Future Shock DDT. Back in the ring, Jey Uso was able to Spear Nakamura to secure the victory before we cut back to the backstage area to see Cody and Jimmy Uso brawling. Whilst Cody was able to win out, he was blindsided by The Rock who literally destroyed Rhodes in the pouring rain outside before he “wiped Cody Rhodes’ blood over his weight belt”! This was madness, I was surprised The Rock didn’t kill him! To be honest, I’m now even more confused as to who’s going to win at WrestleMania!
The Rock bringing some real old school attitude era type beatdown to Cody, he's awesome!