WWE RAW Thoughts (4.8.24) 

 

April 8, 2024 

 

WRESTLEMANIA WEEK REVIEW #23 

 

Source: YouTube  

 

Hi, you may have noticed me threaten to tap out on Wrestlemania week after an exhausting couple of days. I had a nice evening sat on the sofa with my wife, who said it felt like she hadn’t seen me in a week. So, I’m going to pick at what’s left without going into the kind of depth I’ve done with everything else.  

 

Cody Rhodes 

Cody winning the main event at Wrestlemania made me think about when the last time was that WWE landed the big ‘happy ending’ and crowned a new top guy. It certainly wasn’t last year (Roman wins, LOL). At WM38 they did Roman vs. Brock (again) so it wasn’t then. WM37 was another Roman defence. WM36 was Drew McIntyre winning the belt. That was COVID-Mania, and didn’t connect with most people. WM35 was Becky Lynch’s big win, so you could argue for that one.  

 

Although the crowd in the building popped harder for Kofi Kingston over Daniel Bryan. Was it a star making show though? Back at WM34, Brock beat Roman. At WM33 Roman beat the Undertaker in a terrible match. At WM32, Roman beat Triple H. You could argue that’s the last time they tried to crown a new ace, but everyone hated Roman as a babyface. So, the last time I think they dropped a top finish to their show and properly crowned a new star was when Seth Rollins cashed in on the Roman-Brock main event at WM31.  

There’s no doubting they created a new top guy this year. This feels like a big deal and the right decision. They spent so long trying to get Roman Reigns to stick as ‘the guy’ they never stopped to think if it was the right thing to do. That’s Vince McMahon booking. He picks one guy and that’s The Guy. It was inflexible and ultimately, bad for business and bad for storytelling. With Triple H, he seems more open to listening to the reactions and gauging whether they’re going in the right direction.  

 

The great thing about Cody is he talks from his heart, and he feels like a real person, not a character. Whereas the Tribal Chief, feels like a character. Cody’s ‘character’ is just an extension of himself. All the best stars are just guys with the volume turned up.  

 

The Rock  

The one remaining thing for Cody to do is beat the Rock, who pinned him clean on Saturday. You’d expect them to drag that out for a long, long time. Rock is off to make movies again, so Wrestlemania 41? The worst part of the whole interaction is the crowd doing the “what” thing. I would love to go back in time and stop Steve Austin from doing that whole thing. Ruined promos forever.  

Rock does a fine job of talking about Dusty Rhodes and him being proud of Cody. “I’m not sure if my daddy was proud of me for all the bad things I did to you, but I don’t really care”. Rock ended up delivering one of his better promos here because it was honest, from the heart and he didn’t just spew a load of catchphrases. “Our story has just begun”. Plus, there’s the mystery of whatever he handed Cody that “broke my heart”.  

 

Ilja Dragunov vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 

Dragunov is an incredible talent, capable of going with most of WWE’s top guys. He’s a fresh match up. He still has some dodgy ideas, selling and whatnot. He’s far from perfect. However, he’s unique and has an intensity that can’t be taught. Shinsuke Nakamura is probably a walking personification of how a WWE push can go tits up. I think Dragunov is going to have a great run in this company, regardless. Nakamura is probably happy if he can go surfing.  

 

Judgement Day vs. Awesome Truth 

This feels like a weird way for Damien Priest to be crowned as a champion. A goofy tag match with R-Truth. Luckily, I don’t care about Damien Priest, and I think Truth is getting the best mileage out of Judgement Day. Truth did a great job of pretending Little Jimmy was his tag team partner as he’s the “guy you can’t see” and out comes John Cena for the hot tag. The crowd understood it but it was subtle enough that I didn’t feel bludgeoned over the head with it. Treating the crowd like they’re not complete idiots? Yay! Bringing Cena out to make Truth smile and hit two spots is totally worth it.  

John making sure his bald spot doesn’t show on TV.

 

Roxanne Perez vs. Indi Hartwell 

Perez is a decent little worker but she’s not a heel. They’re sending Natalya to give her a few lessons, which seems to be their standard fix for any upcoming women’s wrestler. It does frequently work though, and that should be Natalya’s role. Especially as NXT has no women’s coaches. They need someone to work with. 

 

Sami Zayn & Chad Gable vs. Imperium 

How long before Gable turns on Sami? The good news is that I want to see it because a) it makes sense and b) it’ll be good. Gable is a very talented guy. He asked Sami for a favour in exchange for preparing him for Gunther and that was a title shot.  

This was a nice way of Sami putting Imperium in his rear-view mirror. Gunther doesn’t even care. Just sent his boys out to do the J-O-B.  

 

Jade Cargill vs. Chelsea Green 

Jade squashing people is exactly how it should be. The trouble with Jade is that while she has enormous star power, she’s not great in the ring. Does that matter in WWE? At some point it does but look at how many of their chosen ones weren’t that good when they started out.  

Hell, John Cena and the Rock weren’t good in the ring when they started but they had that X factor. You get over and they plan out matches for you that don’t suck and eventually you just get good at it. She’s a better fit here than in AEW, where in-ring has a higher value. I don’t think Tony Khan fumbled her. 

 

Drew McIntyre 

Drew as the bitter, angry, permanently online asshole rules. Him calling Priest “bondage Undertaker” is classic. I like that he slags off Money in the Bank because it is a stupid idea, and its time is passed.  

 

Number One Contender’s Match 

Oh yes, Bronson Reed, that obvious contender for the WWE title. I get Ricochet, to an extent, as they are trying to rehab us into believing he’s not the guy they’ve misued for the past SEVEN years. They even protect him here by having him put Reed through the announce table, so he’s not taking the job. What we have here is Drew vs. “Main Event” Jey Uso. The trouble with that is I don’t even buy Jey as a main event. Especially not after he shit the bed the two times he’s been put in that spot. He looks awful in going over and one of the few bad ideas WWE have going now. Having CM Punk cost Drew the match is better.  

 

The 411: 

While this lacked surprises it starts the gears in motion for the future and didn’t feel like a complete waste of time. Cody-Rock is clearly a long-term plan. It feels better than it has in a long time. Optimism coming out of Wrestlemania weekend? That’s new.  

 

The worrying part, for me, is this little voice in my head saying “oh no, are you enjoying this? Are we back?” It’s the hope that kills you.