RAW: Cody Rhodes is a shattered nightmare

Joseph Casciaro

RAW: Cody Rhodes is a shattered nightmare

There is one thing that is guaranteed every single Monday night, and that is The Judgement Day opening Raw. J-Day regained the Undisputed Tag Titles in the main event of last week’s show after defeating Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso.

Finn Bálor and Damian Priest were on top of the world, grinning ear to ear celebrating their championship win. Well, they tried to celebrate, that was until they were interrupted by Cody Rhodes, who said he had some choice words for the leader of J-Day. Then he throws the shot that he didn’t see Rhea Ripley in the ring, saying she is everyone in J-Day’s Mami. He accused Rhea of making deals all across the WWE, even with The Bloodline.

Rhodes now turned his attention to Priest, saying that just because he hit him with a low blow last week it doesn’t mean their war is over. Priest then called Rhodes out about his “story” and that by this point Rhodes’ only story is that he failed. Rhodes was now looking for a fight, but instead, Priest challenged him to a one-on-one match at Crown Jewel.

Cody happily accepted and then called to give the people a preview of that match right now, just like that all four members were now surrounding Cody. Before they could attack, Jey Uso ran out to try and help Cody out, but the numbers game was too much. Even JD McDonagh made his way through the crowd to attack Cody as well.

JD and Priest worked together to try and break the ankle of Cody. They trapped his leg between a chair up against the steel steps and swung for the fences hitting another chair into his ankle. Cody will be heading into Crown Jewel with quite an injury. Funny enough last time WWE went to Saudi Arabia, Cody had to fight in an arm cast, I guess this time he’ll be wrestling in a walking boot.

Alpha Academy vs. The New Day

Chad Gable and Xavier Woods got this match started, but before we knew Woods was working with Kofi Kingston to double-team Gable. Otis would then have to get involved with his power, but it was when he decided to leap from the second rope that things went wrong as Kingston rolled out of the way. Later in the match, Gable hit Woods with a trio of German suplexes and Otis followed that with the Caterpillar to Kingston.

Woods attempted to return the favour to Otis by hitting a reverse Caterpillar, but Gable caught him into an ankle lock. Despite the submission hold, Woods was able to break it and tag Kingston in. Kingston hit Otis with a Trouble in Paradise and Woods followed that with a diving elbow drop to get New Day the win.

Winners: The New Day

Ivar getting some screen time. Credit: WWE

WWE now aired a video package highlighting Ivar, it seems that with Erik out, Ivar will be getting a singles push of his own.

World Heavyweight Champion, Seth Rollins was now walking backstage and he bumped into Rhea Ripley. She said Rollins and J-Day have a history, and Rollins impressed them with how he has been able to hold onto his title. She was then showing her concern for Rollins, as she thinks he won’t be able to handle Drew McIntyre. Ripley wants Rollins to get J-Day’s help because he is now A world champion, but with J-Day’s help, he could be THE world champion.

Rhea is recruiting Seth. Credit: WWE

She then brought up Damian Priest, stating that if Rollins joins J-Day, Priest may cash in his briefcase on another champion and they could have all the gold. Ripley then brought up Roman Reigns saying that with Rollin’s back, he may never be able to be anything like Reigns. Rollins quickly cut her off to say he wants to be nothing like Reigns. Ripley smiled because she said she didn’t hear a no.

NXT Women’s Championship Match — Becky Lynch (c) vs. Indi Hartwell

Hartwell was challenging The Man tonight hoping to regain the Women’s title that she never lost. The beginning of this match was nothing too special, it seemed like both women were a little off their game. Hartwell got herself some momentum when she whipped Lynch face-first into the barricade, later on, she hit Lynch with a diving elbow drop to the spine.

She then attempted to go to the top rope, but Lynch met her up there and hit a superplex. Lynch transitioned from the superplex into an arm bar, but Hartwell broke the hold with a power bomb and she followed that with a spine buster. Despite all this offence from Hartwell, Lynch reversed a big boot into the Dis-Arm-Her and forced a submission.

Still the champ. Credit: WWE

Following the match, Lynch showed her respect to Hartwell.

Winner: Still NXT Women’s Champion, Becky Lynch

Candice LeRae was watching this match from backstage, but she was attacked from behind by Xia Li who said this was a message to Hartwell as well.

Adam Pearce was now in his office when he was approached by Smackdown General Manager, Nick Aldis, who was apologizing for throwing Pearce out of Smackdown on Friday. He said it was water under the bridge, and he invited Aldis to stick around and watch how the flagship operates.

It was now time for the Women’s World Championship fatal-five-way contract signing! At Crown Jewel Rhea Ripley will be defending her title against Raquel Rodriguez, Shayna Baszler, Zoey Stark and Nia Jax. Pearce had every woman sign the contract as they entered the ring, so we could get straight to the mayhem. As soon as all the challengers signed the contract, Ripley made her way out and she had something to get off her chest.

She thinks Pearce made this match to set her up, to try and control her, but she promised to make his life a living hell. She said after Crown Jewel there will be four fewer women in her division because nobody is taking her title and Mami is always on top! Jax then grabbed a microphone to say Ripley was smart, saying all this stuff from outside the ring and that she wanted Jax to squash everyone for her.

While Jax was running her mouth, Rodriguez hit her with a forearm to the jaw and the brawl was now on. All four challengers were mowing through security guards and beating the hell out of each other. While that was going Ripley quietly made her way up the ramp with a smile on her face, watching as her challengers weakened one another.

Johnny Gargano vs. Giovanni Vinci w/Ludwig Kaiser

Last week Gargano was beaten by Kaiser thanks to some help from Vinci, so this week he was looking for some retribution on Vinci. Unfortunately for Gargano, Vinci was manhandling him to start and he was throwing Gargano all over the ring. Gargano got himself back into it with a superkick, so Kaiser then attempted to get involved, but he was pulled off the apron by Tommaso Ciampa!

Ciampa sent Kaiser packing and Gargano hit the One Final Beat DDT to get the victory. #DIY is standing tall!

Winner: Johnny Gargano

Nakamura wants new competition. Credit: WWE

Shinsuke Nakamura delivered another amazing vignette, and he is looking for his next challenger, someone who can set him free.

Logan Paul is now back on Raw, he returned to WWE this past Friday on Smackdown and he is set to challenge Rey Mysterio for the United States Championship at Crown Jewel. He started by bashing Dillion Danis for getting dropped by his fight league, calling him unemployed and unhappy. Paul proceeded to say that once he wins the US title he’s going to give all his haters something to talk about, he was then interrupted by Dominik Mysterio.

You’d think Mysterio was there to defend his father’s honour, but of course not, he was there to say he can’t wait for Logan to beat up his deadbeat dad. Paul returned the favour applauding Dirty Dom for overcoming having a terrible dad to become a champion. Dom said after Crown Jewel, Paul will be a champion and he will be the only Mysterio with a title.

Paul said he can’t wait to hear the ring announcer say he is the champion, he then turned his attention to Raw ring announcer, Samantha Irvin. At SummerSlam, Paul defeated Irvin’s fianceé Ricochet and tonight he invited her into the ring. Paul was applauding her for her professionalism at SummerSlam, he then asked if she could announce him as the new champion. Ricochet then charged the ring to attack Paul and Dirty Dom, he beat down both of them and they retreated to the back like two cowards.

Piper Niven & Chelsea Green vs. Natalya & Nikki Cross

Natalya was originally meant to team with Tegan Nox tonight, but due to injury, Natalya recruited Cross to step in. Despite Cross being a part of this match she looked completely disengaged and left the ring in the middle of the match, leaving Natalya on her own. It was not long before Niven hit Natalya with the crossbody and got the victory.

Winners: Piper Niven & Chelsea Green

Drew McIntyre approached Jey Uso backstage to give him the same advice he’s been getting, let The Bloodline stuff go! He followed that by saying his match against Sami Zayn tonight doesn’t happen if Jey doesn’t come to Raw, so whatever happens, is on him.

Sami Zayn vs. Drew McIntyre

McIntyre has been questioning the level of competitor Zayn really is recently and Zayn wants to prove himself as a main event player. Zayn was outsmarting McIntyre early on, he hit some chops and caught McIntyre with a moonsault off the barricade. He even attempted a springboard to the outside, but McIntyre caught him in mid-air and threw him over the announce table.

McIntyre continued to overpower Zayn, but Zayn used his quickness to battle back and he hit McIntyre with a perfect tope to the outside. He then attempted to go to the top rope, but McIntyre met him up there and went for an avalanche White Noise. However, Zayn slipped through and hit a sunset flip from the top rope. McIntyre then reversed a Blue Thunder Bomb into a Glasgow Kiss, but Zayn came right back with a big boot and hit a Blue Thunder Bomb.

Despite Zayn’s attempts at offence, McIntyre continued to come back, he hit two belly-to-belly suplexes. He was then calling for a Claymore, but the music of Rhea Ripley hit and she made her way out to ringside. The distraction allowed Zayn to recover and hit an exploder, now Zayn was calling for a Helluva Kick. However, Ripley now got up on the apron to distract Zayn and he turned around into a Claymore from McIntyre. With the help 0f Ripley, McIntyre was able to get the victory.

Is McIntyre really going to join The Judgement Day?

Winner: Drew McIntyre

Bronson Reed vs. Akira Tozawa

The newest member of The Alpha Academy, Akira Tozawa, was looking to showcase what he’s learned training under Chad Gable tonight. Unfortunately for him, challenging Reed was not a good choice. This did not last long, Reed won with the Tsunami.

Winner: Bronson Reed

Seth Rollins caught up with McIntyre backstage, calling him the newest member of The Judgement Day. McIntyre quickly turned the finger to Rollins, saying he was talking to Rhea earlier not him. Rollins said he doesn’t need J-Day, not now and not ever. McIntyre said neither does he, and they both agreed at Crown Jewel no J-Day.

Jey Uso vs. Damian Priest

Priest steals a victory. Credit: WWE

The main event was off to a bad start for “Main Event” Jey Uso, Priest was all over him with strikes and a back elbow. Jey got himself back into it after dodging a splash and hitting a suicide dive. However, Jey could not stay in the driver’s seat and Priest hit Jey with a broken arrow. Both men were now trading strikes and it was Jey’s right hand being the most effective. With Priest reeling he hit a diving crossbody from the top rope, but Priest fought back with a discus forearm and discus clothesline.

Priest now attempted the South of Heaven chokeslam, but Jey blocked and hit a Samoan drop. Jey now went for another suicide dive, however, Priest caught him in mid-air and dropped him with a flat liner over the announce table. He then brought Jey back in the ring to hit a second flat-liner and went for a Razor’s Edge, but Jey instead hit him with a spear. Jey followed the spear with a Uso Splash, but the referee couldn’t make the count because out from the back came Finn Bálor. With the distraction and interference from Bálor, Priest hit a South of Heaven Chokeslam and stole a victory.

Winner: Damian Priest

Following the match, Bálor continued the attack hitting Jey with a Coup de Grace and then bringing steel chairs into the ring. They were hoping to injure Jey’s ankle just like Cody Rhodes, but limping out from the back came Cody Rhodes! On one leg, Cody was able to take out both Bálor and Priest, he then went to take a steel chair to Priest’s ankle, but Bálor pulled him out of the ring just in time.

Cody and Priest are on a collision course for Crown Jewel!

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