Seth Rollins Offers to Be Cody Rhodes’ ‘Shield’ on WWE RAW

It is finally official, for now [*card subject to change]: Cody Rhodes will be challenging Roman Reigns for ‘THE’ WWE title in the main event at WrestleMania. After a tremendously successful Kickoff press conference for WrestleMania this past Thursday, fans were anticipating Cody’s scheduled RAW appearance.

WE WANT CODY, CODY WANTS ROMAN

After the top of the first hour, Cody Rhodes thanked the crowd for the support. He admitted that he wouldn’t be where he is without the fan’s support over the past week, where #WeWantCody trended #1 for most of that time. The appreciation from Cody Rhodes was genuine because even though his win at the Rumble gave him the kayfabe choice to face the champion of his choice.

Yet, Rhodes was all but out of the match when The Rock entered the equation, and if it weren’t for the fan’s reaction and the heat Rock caught, then Cody-Seth would have certainly happened.

Seth Rollins made his way out to further the teaming angle between him and Cody. Rollins cut an emotionally packed promo on his friendship with Roman and how he’s changed. He said Rhodes needed to ‘finish the story’ against Roman Reigns, which is even more dangerous than the previous year because now the monster is ‘two-headed,’ referencing The Rock as the only person more selfish and entitled than Reigns.

Seth offered to watch Cody’s back, saying he could be his ‘shield,’ the name of the faction that Roman and Seth belonged to upon their main roster debut. Seth left Cody in the ring, telling him to ‘think on it’ off the mic as his music played in the backdrop.

IN-RING ACTION

RAW opened with a match this week, a rarity in this current storytelling climate, in front of the Lexington, Kentucky crowd at Rupp Arena—home of the Wildcats. But when you have a 6-man tag match on the card between The New Day and former Bloodline member Jey Uso teaming up to take on Imperium.

The history between The New Day and The Usos is legendary, and they are two of the truly great tag rivals in the modern era. However, this is supposed to be the year Jey receives his ‘big push,’ and rumors that he’s at the head of the line for Money in the Bank means that every outing for the career tag team artist is important.

It looks like a promo is being set up between “Main Event” Jey Uso and the current and longest-reigning Intercontinental champion, Gunther. The two were limited in their head-to-head exchanges, but the storyline was furthered, regardless. Jey hit the splash off the top turnbuckle for the win, and the in-ring celebration seemed to bother Gunther, who hates being on the losing side of anything. It was later revealed that Jey Uso will receive an Intercontinental title shot against Gunther next week on RAW.

The New Day cut a promo a few weeks ago that suggested a more serious tone was to be expected from the preachers of positivity. Nothing has come from that promo, but keeping The New Day close to the action is a wise investment in the show’s in-ring quality.

• The main event was between Sami Zayne and Nakamura, two of the most talented superstars on the roster, with no clear WrestleMania plans for either. Zayne and McIntyre did come face to face in a backstage spot, but it is difficult to predict who McIntyre will face. Zayne played the ‘come-from-behind’ babyface roll to perfection and had Nakamura in his sights before McIntyre came out for the interference, costing Zayne the match. This gives a bit more clarity to Zayne and McIntyre’s plans for the near future as a beatdown on Zayne after the match continued. This brought out Cody for the save, making good on his promise to have Zayne’s back earlier in the night. Cody and McIntyre will go one-on-one next week on RAW.

• R-Truth furthered his story with Judgement Day, this time in a single’s action against JD McDonagh. Truth performed well, and seeing him hit some of his classic move sets felt nostalgic. McDonagh beat Truth, and then the faction jumped him after the match, who fought back until the numbers became too great. Gargano and Ciampa came out with chairs to make the save.

ELIMINATION CHAMBER QUALIFIER

BIG BRONSON REED vs Bobby Lashley

• It was a battle between two slabs of beef— the only thing missing was Sylvester Stallone pounding away some heavy bag work (RIP Carl Weathers). The match was a real heavyweight affair from the outset, with several expected strength spots. Lashley was able to reverse a suplex attempt from Reed by getting the 330-pounder up for a suplex of his own. Lashley’s experience paid off, as he was a step ahead of Reed the whole match. The closing moments saw Lashley, back on the mat, get up to throw Reed off the top turnbuckle as he was set to deliver the “monsoon.” This allowed Lashley to hit the spear and get the pinfall to become the 3^rd qualifier for the Elimination Chamber.

Ivar vs LA Knight

• While I wouldn’t call Ivar the softest touch of all the qualifiers, his chances to qualify over Knight, one of the hottest acts in WWE for over a year now, seemed like the steepest. Even with some distraction from Ivar’s wife, Knight was never in danger of losing the match, and his name can be added to the list of potential winners of the Chamber match.

Liv Morgan vs Zoey Stark

• Live Morgan defeated Stark by pinfall after hitting her finisher, ‘Oblivion,’ to become the third qualifier for the women’s Elimination Chamber match. Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair qualified on last week’s SmackDown.

OTHER NOTES:

• Andrade received a vignette in the form of a prepackaged video. It was nothing new, although you get the feeling that he will receive a bigger push after returning to the company from AEW. It is hard to separate the difference between Andrade and any other version of his character since 2016, but it plays into the backstage rumors of him being a bit of a diva.
• Becky Lynch, who qualified for Elimination Chamber on Smackdown, delivered an amazing promo. She spoke about how her daughter has had to see her beaten and bloodied, and she will see her mother bashed against steel in the Chamber match. But she also said her daughter would see the violence her mother is capable of, and it hit different when she said it.

• Nia Jax came out to a ton of boos. She interrupted Becky to troll her about Becky being a great mother and wishing she had one like her. She then predicted Becky will win the Chamber match before breaking out in fake tears. Her entire promo served as a reminder that she’s in the mix, but it doesn’t feel like it.
• Rhea Ripley, who received chants before she came out, made a statement on Nia, but she ended up on the mat. Ripley and Jax will face off at Elimination Chamber for Ripley’s RAW world title.

Mario Mungia

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