The Rock Pops Up On Raw & Leaves Cody Rhodes Bloody

This week’s episode of RAW was promoted with the promise of a CM Punk appearance in his hometown of Chicago. With RAW scheduled at the Allstate Arena, WWE did the smart thing of promoting Punk weeks out from their Allstate Arena booking, but they delivered with a surprise cameo from The Rock in the opening segment.

Cody Rhodes came out to spit more fire – besides Drew McIntyre, Cody has been the most consistent on the mic since the Road to WrestleMania began—and, once again, push the PG envelope. He referenced the fact that they were in the very same building where he and The Elite held “All In,” the event that basically ushered in AEW. After a couple of digs at Roman Reigns and The Rock, Cody asked the fans to point at the WrestleMania sign with him, and then the music hit.

The Rock came out to a ruckus ovation, and it seemed like the live crowd was confused on how to feel about him and ate up the scenery with a gradual walk to the ring. The Rock whispered into Cody’s ear, leaving him with a blank stare, and then ‘The People’s Champ’ just walked out of the ring and back to the locker room.

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Coming out of Gorilla on his way back from the ring, we were able to at least get public commentary from The Rock. When asked about what he said, The Rock’s response was simply, “Go ask Cody Rhodes.” Cody was cryptic when asked about what was whispered to him, only saying that it was a ‘promise’ the “Final Boss” would not keep.

It was a big swing—bringing out The Rock only for him to not speak to the crowd—but it showed the seriousness of this feud. So many words have been spoken during this feud, but The Rock is done with words, and there are no more songs to sing. The Rock has been criticized for some of the content, both online and in his in-ring promos, so the heel responds by not responding. If you have a problem with The Rock’s words, then deal with him not saying anything, or that is the perception, at least.

At the end of RAW, and after Jey Uso won in the main event, we cut to the back where Cody was going at it with The Bloodline, and as he’s delivering a beating to Solo, The Rock comes out of nowhere and began beating Cody to a pulp. The Rock delivered a violent, profanity-filled beatdown on Cody Rhodes. It was physical and real. This felt like a go-home episode. The Rock then addressed the entire crowd, finally, after Cody sat bleeding against his very own bus. Then, he debuted his new “Mama Rhodes” weight belt, the one he promised to deliver to Mama Rhodes, whom he was addressing personally.

Every year, WWE claims this year’s Mania will be ‘the biggest,’ but they may deliver on that promise this year.

CM Punk Feuds Continue Through Injury

Punk showed up as promoted, and there were social media posts from WWE showing the Chicago native as he arrived at the arena, cast on his arm.

We didn’t get much from Punk before Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins came out to confront him. Rollins and McIntyre were the only ones who got physical, but Punk kept himself in the feud by claiming he’d be on commentary during their WrestleMania Night 2 match.

Punk claimed that he’d make their match “interesting,” although the match has been received well by fans.

Just Call Her ‘Mami’

Rhea Ripley and Becky Lynch upped the ante on their match after a couple of fiery promos. Rhea said that Becky’s daughter would call her “Mami” at Mania, but Becky didn’t retaliate with bar for bar. Instead, she got emotional, and it felt like the perfect call. She put her heart into the match, which was sorely missing. Becky eventually took a shot at Dom, and the brawl ensued.

In-Ring Action

• Ricochet made it three weeks in a row of beating a member of the Judgement Day, and he did it with a picture-perfect shooting star press to get the pinfall victory over JD McDonagh.
• Bronson Reed got the win over Sami Zayne via pinfall. The match, which Gunther watched at the entrance, played into the narrative that Gunther was already in Sami’s head.
• Sami would receive a stern pep talk from Chad Gable after the match, but it feels like Gable’s presence in the angle is beyond suspicious.
• Candice LeRae wins via pinfall over Ivy Nile. LeRae used all kinds of heel tactics, including using the ropes to create leverage in her pinfall win. This new attitude works well for LeRae, and this new shift could lead her to a title shot once the deck is reshuffled following WrestleMania.

Mario Mungia

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