Cody Rhodes on WWE RAW: ‘I’m Hunting The Bloodline’

WWE programming was back in the States after Saturday’s Elimination Chamber Premium Live Event in Perth, Australia. Tonight’s RAW was live from SAP Center in San Jose, California, and the fallout from Becky Lynch and Drew McIntyre securing their places at WrestleMania following their wins at EC.

YO ‘MAMI’ JOKES

The first segment of the night initially filled the arena with boos as Dom Mysterio brought out Rhea Ripley—fresh off her successful title defense against Nia Jax in her home country of Australia. During Rhea’s walkout, the commentating team announced to the RAW viewers that the RAW women’s champ has been nominated for ‘South Australian Woman of the Year.’

It was not long before Lynch came out to address the champion for the first time since officially becoming her mandatory challenger. Becky was on point, although it is visually tough to see Becky as a threat to Rhea based on size advantage alone, and she set the bar high before passing the mic off to ‘Mami.’ She would even briefly set her sights on Dom for a moment. “If your Mami won’t put you in your place, ‘The Man’ will,” Becky said to Dom.

Before getting into her promo, she responded to that threat. “Never disrespect my Latino Heat like that ever again,” Rhea warned Becky with a sort of play-off of Dom’s own version of ‘don’t disrespect Mami.’ However, Rhea’s promo was a bit clunky. Her performance was not the problem. It was the unclear nature of her promo.

The best promos contain bits of reality, never breaking the fourth wall but maybe tearing down its wallpaper. You can make a promo sound good with witty lines and clever play-on-words, but you must feel it to project it.

“The man always thinks that they’re the backbone of everything, but the funny thing is that behind every great man is a greater woman,” Rhea rationalized before claiming that she was ‘not behind Becky.’ The two wrapped up their segment, and just as Rhea was walking to the back, Becky was attacked by Nia Jax.

THE GUNTHER SWEEPSTAKES

WWE is starting to lay the foundation for Gunther’s WrestleMania challenger, and things escalated on Monday night.

Gunther made his way out for a promo just before Vincci and Kaiser were scheduled to face New Day in a street fight. He addressed the fans’ fantasy booking over the past month or so and how embarrassing the suggestions have been on social media.

He laughed off names like Chad Gable, The Miz, and R-Truth, but the most interesting name was the first he brought up: Sami Zane. Zane had a minor verbal altercation with Imperium following his win over Nakamura. At the end of that backstage interaction, Zane stared down Gunther, who had the title in hand.

The commentary crew really put Zane’s win over and the idea that his losing ways are behind him, perhaps setting the stage for a huge WrestleMania moment. With all the titles currently occupied by other challengers, the intercontinental title, which has a long and grand history of WrestleMania defenses, is one of the biggest opportunities left at Mania.

The Judgement Day came out, and Damian Priest made it clear to the Imperium leader that his faction was not done collecting titles. With Rhea as the women’s champ and Priest and Finn Balor as undisputed tag team champions, Dom Mysterio was left to step up to Gunther and attempt to dethrone the longest-reigning IC champ in WWE history.

After the segment, The Judgment Day was seen walking in the backstage area, where Rhea confronted Dom in front of ‘the boys’ on his decision to challenge Gunther. (Side Note: An interesting moment happened when Andrade and Dom interacted at the end of that segment. It was difficult to tell if the friendly interaction was much choppier under the surface.)

DREW MCINTYRE LOOKS WEIRD SITTING CROSS-LEG

Drew McIntyre took another shot at CM Punk, this time claiming he was told he was too injured to compete at Mania after surviving the start of the Chamber to go on and win the match. McIntyre responded by claiming he told the doctor, ‘Who do I look like, CM Punk?’ Then, he took a very CM Punk-esc cross-legged seat in the center of the ring, a common reference to CM Punk’s infamous ‘pipe bomb’ promo. He invited Seth Rollins out, and the two engaged in a very well-structured promo.

It started off with Seth playing his usual schtick, where he traipses around spewing dialogue like Mark Hamil playing the Joker. It was the typical silly, whimsical stuff we’ve come to expect from Seth.

McIntyre responded to Seth very seriously to match the content of his words. He accused Seth of fighting the battles of others on SmackDown, and his focus on The Bloodline taking away focus from his Heavyweight Championship reign. He claimed that this continued effort could ‘taint his win.

This was brilliant. McIntyre effectively turned ‘heel’ because he was losing matches from interference, specifically his world title match against Roman Reigns, where The Bloodline interfered to cost Drew the match.

Now, smack dab in the middle of his fantastic heel work, he complains about the interference that helped him get to where he is today. He said RAW needs Seth and his title to build up the match and put over RAW, the perceived #2 show, to SmackDown as number one. Drew is confused as to why Seth is bending over backward to help performers on the blue brand.

“You don’t need this in your life. Take some time off and get to 100%,” Drew pleaded with Seth. “I can’t understand why you’re going to SmackDown to other lands to fight their battles when we need you here on RAW. That’s their business.“When I’m champion, I don’t care if SmackDown is on fire and they’re on their knees begging for help. I want to pee on them to put that fire out. My responsibility will be RAW and that title only.”

Seth dropped his schtick entirely and went into serious Seth mode, only to completely agree with Drew about the odds being against him if he continues to go after Roman and company. But he admitted to being selfish in his life and career before the birth of his daughter.

“Not everything is about me,” Seth admitted. “There are some things in this life that are bigger than all of us. The world championship is bigger than us. Taking down The Bloodline is bigger than us.” Seth then questioned Drew on what happens if they don’t stop The Bloodline before WrestleMania, forecasting that it would only be a matter of time before they come for the RAW title, regardless of who holds it. Drew did not seem convinced, but the storytelling is rising to another level, and Seth and Drew are currently righting the ship that The Bloodline compromised.

Seth finished his promo by telling Drew, ‘Some things are worth fighting for’ because the way Seth sees it, The Bloodline represents everything wrong with WWE and the old guard. Predicting who will be the champ after the two-day WrestleMania 40 is difficult, but this is the people’s storyline now.

IN-RING ACTION

Main Event: Cody Rhodes vs. Grayson Waller

Waller received an opportunity to show that he ‘belongs with the big boys’ by facing off with Cody Rhodes in the main event of RAW. The commentary said Waller wanted a match with Cody after feeling like Cody made a mockery of his show—The Grayson Waller Effect—in front of his home country crowd of Australia this past Saturday. It was a subtle piece of motivation, but Waller needed to deliver.

The match was smooth initially, but just before the ad break, Michael Cole announced that The Bloodline’s Paul Heyman was backstage at RAW. Upon returning from the ad break, Waller showed off his athleticism by rolling into the ring from the outside and delivering a sideliner. It was not long before Cody got the momentum back and hit the ‘Cody cutter’ before delivering the ‘Cross-Rhodes’ for the win.

Not long after his hand was raised, Paul Heyman could be heard over the arena speakers saying, “Ladies and Gentlemen,” his classic line at the start of his promos. Cody Rhodes immediately grabbed a chair and a mic and screamed, “I don’t give a damn what your name is. If it’s a Bloodline setup, come and get me!”

Heyman assured Cody and the crowd that he was the only member of The Bloodline in attendance. Then, he demanded Cody take The Rock’s name out of his mouth. Cody Rhodes called for a match with The Rock on Waller’s in-ring segment at Elimination Chamber. After explaining that he would be forgiven, he pleaded with Cody to withdraw his challenge of The Rock “or else.”

That is when Cody started his impassioned promo, admitting to once being a fan of The Rock and having an admiration for him that only comes from being in a family where ticket sales determined the ‘meals on the table.’ This was an amazing line.

Cody’s babyface demeanor went violent, and he refused to allow Heyman to enter the ring. That is when Cody Rhodes went wild with the chair, using it on Heyman’s suspended NYPD security detail. That is when the camera locked on Heyman with two phones in hand and caught him saying, “Call Roman Reigns” on one phone and “Call The Rock” on the other. This nicely furthered the storyline, something that RAW TV has been missing.

The New Day vs. Imperium

The New Day took on Imperium in a street fight. This was a fun match that was booked terrifically. Booking matches can depend on style, and this was the case for this match. With all of their tactical wrestling ability, Imperium refused to use tables, upsetting the fans chanting for them, and worked heel in the match very well as Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods donned San Jose Sharks hockey jerseys.

A double-team kick to a chair resting on Kofi’s head was devastating, and it was clear that Imperium was trying to utilize a tactical advantage even in a non-wrestling match. At the same time, New Day appeared to be fighting off pure emotion and anger. Kingston, who set up a table on the outside, was shoved by Vinci off the top rope and through the waiting table. With Kingston out, Kaiser threw Woods into a chair before getting the rollup victory.

Sami Zane vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Sami Zane got back to his winning ways after beating Shinsuke Nakamura—a rematch of their RAW main event from a couple of weeks ago that Zane lost after interference from McIntyre. Zane received a massive ovation from the San Jose crowd, and after he was teased as a potential opponent for Gunther, it seemed like Zane’s Mania plans were starting to shape out.

Liv Morgan vs. Nia Jax

Liv Morgan and Nia Jax had a match that existed only to further the Lynch storyline with Jax. Jax attacked Lynch earlier in the night, and Becky returned the favor. WWE could ruin the RAW women’s title match at Mania if they insert Jax into the mix. After returning from the break, Becky demanded a match with Nia, which Pierce made official for next week. What was interesting was Liv Morgan storming into the frame and yelling at Becky for her interference.

Raquel Rodriguez vs. Chelsea Green

Raquel Rodriguez squashed Chelsea Green in an excellent showcase match for the recently returned from injury superstar.

Mario Mungia

Mario Mungia Jr. has a decade worth of experience as a combat sports journalist and correspondent which began with ThaBoxingVoice (TBV) as a podcast co-host, writer and editor-in-chief. Aside from his online resume, Mario spent a fair portion of his early career working for Spanish/English magazine Premier Round and the Mexican website Izquierdo. Mario has also contributed to NYFights while simultaneously working for MIC Sports Network as part of the broadcast crew covering local high school sports. Since then, he has launched his own podcast/live stream (Infighting/Work In Progress) and is covering pro wrestling for FightsATW.

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