The Go Home show before a PLE carries weight. One before WrestleMania carries enough tonnage to outweigh an elephant. With that in mind, consider it elementary that Raw kicked off with The Rock addressing Brooklyn and the world.
That set in motion the rest of the night, which felt like the perfect final show from start to finish.
There’s a weird energy when Rock enters an arena because he’s The Rock. Like I said a few weeks back, fans want to cheer this cat. How can you not? And he played into that during his opening promo a bit too much for me, but I get why in this instance. Rocky showed videos featuring kids reacting to the Cody Rhodes beatdown and I thought for a moment he might bathe in their innocent tears. But he declared himself a proud father who knows how it feels to watch children cry. “Uncle Rock” then spit some simple advice:
A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.
While I wanted him to go full heel and do his verse of “f those kids” I remembered this guy is still a part of the Disney empire. When the next Moana drops, he’s gotta sell tickets. On the other hand, the tweener behavior showcased one of Rock’s talents that quite possibly make him the best to ever do it on that microphone: His ability to flip a crowd response on a dime. The minute Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman, and the rest of the Bloodline hit the ring, he went full heel. He read the crowd and reacted accordingly. That only intensified once Seth showed up with tough talk and a challenge on his mind.
I loved the little touch of Seth appearing in the crowd as a shoutout to The Shield days of yore (yup, I said yore). Besides looking cool, it served as a reminder that Seth taught Roman everything he knows. The Bloodline have strength in numbers, which was The Shield’s whole steez. And that idea that Seth was one step ahead of his old partner carried throughout the rest of the night until the main event where Seth faced Solo Sikoa in a Bloodline Rules match.
WWE kept it simple when explaining why Seth challenged Roman, Rock, or anyone in the Bloodline to a match only a few days before he works double duty at WrestleMania. One, as Seth said, he only knows one speed. Two, he always has a backup plan. They showed him devising a strategy with Jey Uso but in secret.
That clearly meant Seth had something else up his sleeve because Jey’s support is neither a surprise or a true equalizer.
At the same time, Roman and Heyman left the building. Roman left Rock in charge and went home to work on his induction speech.
So for those playing at home, that’s Seth & Jey vs. Solo & Jimmy Uso if it gets that far.
But during the main event is when the twists happened. And yes, that’s plural. Like I said, this was all about Seth proving he’s still the “architect;” still the smartest man in the room and much more intelligent than his former partner-in-crime.
Well, it turns out, it’s still not Seth’s story.
Seth put the finishing touches on Solo but before he even went for the pin, Jimmy showed up. Jey followed and those two did their thing into the backstage area. During a beautiful transition, it went from Jey giving Jimmy that work behind the curtain, to Jey getting launched back into the arena. The Rock emerged from the shadows and the Brooklyn booed him like he was Suge Knight at the 1995 Source Awards.
For a brief moment, it looked like Rock had Seth in the same spot as Cody. But Seth sprung his trap and Cody, not medically cleared mind you, ran to the ring and put the odds in his favor for once. They whooped the Rock like he stole their lunch money. Looking for that whole insult to injury thing, Cody positioned Rock for a Rock Bottom on the commentary desk. That went away because The Bloodline sprung their trap: Roman never left!
The show ended with Rock & Roman whipping their WrestleMania opponents with yet another weight belt from Rock’s seemingly endless collection. It illustrated one very important point: Seth & Cody can’t count on outsmarting these two.
Seth’s whole thing is that he strategizes better than anyone. What happens when he loses that advantage? WWE, once again, smartly played against expectations with Roman and made this surprise attack truly feel like one. It raised the stakes for the match while delivering a great image of the heels large and in charge.
Big shows come with big expectations. This one delivered on those while making the threat to the heroes even greater than it was before the show started.
*As an aside, I’m not a fan of the song I chose for this section. I picked it because of the title, JAY-Z, and it features Lil’ Wayne. Read on for why that’s important.
B-Sides
Eye of the Tiger
Thank God. They finally leaned completely into the Rocky III allusion with Chad Gable and Sami Zayn. During their grueling training segment, we got the moment where Sami, like Rocky in that film, admitted he’s afraid. “Is that what you want to hear?!” It felt a bit more earnest here than how Sylvester Stallone played it, but it worked beautifully. Sami came to Chad with hopes of changing his style and approach. And in another Rocky III shoutout, Chad noted that Sami rocked last year’s WrestleMania event when he had that hunger. Chad didn’t see that eye of the tiger anymore, so yeah, we got a training montage! Rather than waiting till WrestleMania, Sami came out this week for a match against Bronson Reed.
The match was all a smoke screen. During the third act when Sami found some momentum and almost put Bronson away, something he didn’t do the last time they fought, GUNTHER lunged Chad onto the entrance ramp to play the sacrificial lamb role. In typical Rocky fashion, Sami helped his friend rather than focus on the match.
I loved this whole thing. GUNTHER showed up at the moment Sami got confident in the ring, then did all he could to eradicate said confidence. Sami lying on his back after the GUNTHER beatdown while stomping his feet signaling his heart was a good moment. This whole thing started with Sami rediscovering his mojo and it looks like he did just that. Yes, GUNTHER laid him out again, but it was with a championship belt. That he didn’t stay down is a big deal for the story and a preview for hopefully a great conclusion at Mania.
Singles
A very story oriented Raw so lots of notes in the singles section.
- Lil’ Wayne just lurking backstage waiting for someone to notice him I guess. Jey walked into Weezy, who announced that he’s showing up at Mania with his new single. Wayne’s been on a tear the past few years so I’m really curious what this sounds like.
- Maxxine Drupe pinned Indi Hartwell during a tag match. Candice LeRae didn’t like that one bit and basically told her best friend to kill herself. Looking forward to this blow up because I imagine Indi has a lot of conflicted emotions towards Candice.
- Judgment Day asserted their dominance in an eight-man tag against New Day & DIY. But they also showed their lack of patience with Dom. The Dirty one invited the LWO into their clubhouse and that went over like a brick. But Dom did something good: If Andrade handles Ricochet, then he gets into the cool kids club. Is that what Andrade wants though? We shall see.
- Speaking of Ricochet….just watch his match with Ivar. Both men came to play but they’re clearly planning something for Mr. O’Shea. At least I hope. The man performs like that on a routine basis and needs something for his troubles.
- Damage CTRL got the job done with a warmup before their six-woman tag at Mania. I love Dakota’s energy as leader.
- Rhea Ripley & Becky Lynch got the customary pull-apart brawl, which is fitting. As Becky said, they’ve talked enough at this point.
That’s all she wrote, dudes and dudettes. I loved this episode and I’m excited for Mania. What more is there to say?
Carol Dennis is an entertainment aficionado with an eye for all things pop culture. She dives into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry, from movie premieres to music festivals. Carol’s passion for storytelling extends beyond her reporting, as she’s an aspiring screenwriter in her free time.
