Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre’s Promo Carried Monday Night Raw

With the Royal Rumble taking place a week from Saturday at Tropicana Field and signifying the first major stop on the “Road to WrestleMania,” this week’s edition of RAW focused on solidifying storylines, both on the men’s and women’s side of the 30-(wo)man over the top rope elimination match. Even with a rare heavyweight title fight slotted for the main event of RAW, it was still somehow the CM Punk show with the best segment furthering his storyline heading into Royal Rumble and how it clashes with others.

Cody Rhodes opened the telecast for the live audience in Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas, and it was this segment that we’d get the biggest “shot” of the night. Rhodes reignited the same central plot of his storyline heading into last year’s Rumble. However, the twist of real life has made this run feel just as fresh and just as intriguing.

Rhodes reminded the crowd that his reason for returning to the WWE after helping launch rival company AEW was to hold the title his father, the late Dusty Rhodes, never held—the WWE World Title. The main one that says, “You’re our guy, more than anyone in that locker room.” Though “The American Nightmare” won the Royal Rumble in front of 51,000 fans in attendance at the Alamodome and would go on to main event WrestleMania, he would not “finish his story” and would instead be defeated by Roman Reigns—a result that angered many fans.

As Rhodes recapped, it sparked the interest of Drew McIntyre, who came out, and though his words seemed friendly, his tone was gruff. McIntyre reminisced on his history with Rhodes and their tag team title run in 2010. They were known as “The Dashing Ones” – a play on Rhodes’ “Dashing” moniker and McIntyre’s “The Chosen One.” He also recalled the fact that he faced Cody in his final indie match before returning to WWE, and it was then that he revealed Cody’s words of encouragement at that time and the acknowledgment that Drew would one day be WWE Champion.

However, it was Cody’s response, where he invoked the names CM Punk and Jey Uso, that seemed to irk McIntyre the most.

McIntyre lashed out at Rhodes for his politicking nature and “good guy” persona.

“So, this is the real Cody, huh? Or are you a wolf in politician’s clothing,” McIntyre said to Cody before challenging him on his decision to “bring Jey Uso to RAW” and his opinion that he would be nothing but trouble.

Then, Drew, who was in full-shoot mode by this point, questioned Cody’s motives in even “endorsing CM Punk.”

“You were there back in the day, you know what he’s like,” McIntrye exclaimed. “You were there with [CM Punk] recently, you know exactly what he’s like.”

McIntrye was clearly referencing CM Punk and his tumultuous run with AEW and the reports of the toxic effect he had on the locker room, specifically the two backstage altercations he had with The Elite and Jungle Boy Jack Perry, the latter leading to his dismissal from the company.

Though Rhodes and Punk crossed paths in WWE years prior, they never did share the ring in AEW because they were barely under that banner together. Cody was out the door just as CM Punk had walked through it.

There have been many reports of McIntyre’s frustrations with CM Punk’s return, and he was visually upset at Punk’s Survivor Series return debut. Punk confronted McIntyre last week and his future in the company. This direction was taken amidst reports that McIntyre has not re-signed with the company, with his contract expiring later this year, blurring the lines between storyline and real life.

With all three men declared for this year’s Royal Rumble, it serves to achieve the best kind of storyline you can tell leading into a Rumble, and that is one that has many parallel storylines leading to a variety of outcomes or winners. There is nothing worse than a Rumble when we know it can only be won by 1-3 guys, maybe.

It was promoted later in the telecast that next week’s RAW would feature a face-to-face between CM Punk and Cody Rhodes.

Seth Rollins successfully defends against Jinder Mahal

In the evening’s main event, we saw Seth Rollins defend his Heavyweight title against Jinder Mahal. The program only started very recently, but we are already seeing a title shot for Jinder in a bit of a rush job. It’s hard to complain about free heavyweight title matches.

Mahal attempted to use his sheer power to get the edge early, but Seth’s ring IQ and counter ability made it his fight to lose. Mahal was accompanied by Indus Sher, and Seth’s odds took a hit when Damien Priest came out and made his presence felt. McIntyre would also come out.

The distractions led to some very entertaining near-falls. Seth managed to survive and land the “Stomp” with the pinfall victory in retention of his WWE Heavyweight title, and his vow to go into WrestleMania with the title remains intact, for now.

Mario Mungia

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