Top 10 Moments from WWE’s Raw

Cody Rhodes speaks, Liv Morgan wants a shot at Rhea Ripley, Jimmy Uso issues a challenge to Jey, and Sami Zayn wins intensely competitive gauntlet match for an Intercontinental title shot at WrestleMania

Author:
Noelle Perry
Publish date:
Mar 12, 2024 10:09 AM EDT

Here are the Top 10 moments last night’s Raw:

10.) Feud between Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre’s intensifies

Drew McIntyre opened Raw with a barrage of insults directed towards his WrestleMania opponent, Seth Rollins, dubbing him an attention junkie. He also poked fun at CM Punk, claiming he was the only reason the injured star remained relevant.

Still upset that Rollins inserted himself into Cody Rhodes’ feud with Roman Reigns, McIntyre deemed this act hypocritical. He explained that Rollins touts himself as the workhorse champion and boasts about elevating the world heavyweight championship, yet he has been focusing more on helping Rhodes than his own upcoming title match against McIntyre.

McIntyre also claimed Rollins is self-centered and doing it for the attention, and because of this is unfit for the role of world heavyweight champion, but McIntyre is ready to step into that role. By that point, Rollins had heard enough and interrupted.

Rollins tried to goad McIntyre into kicking him, but McIntyre refused, saying he actually wanted to admit that Rollins was right when he told him to put The Bloodline in his rearview. McIntyre said that after failing to capture the world heavyweight championship, he took Rollins’ advice and put all of his focus into capturing that title at WrestleMania–and pleaded for him to do the same. But, according to McIntyre, Rollins was too self-centered to do so. Rollins responded by comparing McIntyre to their shared adversary, CM Punk, calling them both massive hypocrites.

Rollins called out McIntyre for taking advantage of Bloodline interference to win recent matches against Rhodes and Jey Uso, despite constantly complaining about the group costing him his match at Clash at the Castle back in 2022. McIntyre sensed he was being provoked into taking a shot at Rollins, cheapening his potential victory at WrestleMania, or perhaps injuring him enough that the match could not take place. He refused to take the bait, told Rollins there wasn’t anything he could say that would sway him, and began to walk away. Rollins took this as a challenge, and he explained the reason he had been focusing less on McIntyre than anything else leading up to WrestleMania: Rollins said McIntyre is the smallest threat to his title, and the least of his concerns. This nearly caused McIntyre to change his mind, but he held strong and made his exit.

9.) Becky Lynch and Liv Morgan settle their differences

After interfering in each other’s matches over the past couple of weeks, Becky Lynch and Liv Morgan looked to settle their differences in the ring.

Evenly matched throughout, the finishing sequence came at the 15-and-a-half-minute mark when Lynch hit the Manhandle Slam. Lynch’s celebration was interrupted by her WrestleMania opponent, the women’s world champion Rhea Ripley.

Morgan, who lost nearly a year of her career to an injury caused by Ripley, stopped to remind the champion of their unfinished business on her way up the ramp. Once in the ring, Ripley pointed out that every week, Lynch leaves everything in the ring to prove that she’s still the best. She surmised the reason for this is she knows deep down that that is not true–because Ripley is better than her, and she wants an excuse as to why she will inevitably lose at WrestleMania. Lynch retorted that while she did initially doubt herself, she knows that she is at her best when everyone else doubts her, and that spite will carry her to victory in Philadelphia.

Backstage later on during Raw, Lynch approached Morgan to shake hands as a show of respect. However, the two were mowed down by Nia Jax who slammed Lynch through a table. Lynch then challenged Jax to a last woman standing match on next week’s episode of Raw, adding fuel to the fire of Ripley’s accusations.

8.) Tag team title match announced for WrestleMania

General Managers Nick Aldis and Adam Pearce announced that the tag team titles will be defended by Finn Balor and Damian Priest at WrestleMania 40 in a six-pack ladder match.

Two tag teams from SmackDown and three from Raw will compete in the match, and those teams will be decided in qualifying matches that will take place in the coming weeks.

Balor and Priest were unhappy about having to compete in a ladder match, and demanded to know who made the decision. When Pearce said the idea came about during a conversation with Awesome Truth, Priest demanded a match against them. Unfortunately for Señor Money in the Bank, Pearce informed him that both R-Truth and The Miz were scheduled for media that day and therefore not present at Raw. Unfortunately for R-Truth, he did not realize it was Monday and showed up to the show rather than his scheduled obligations, meaning he was available to face Priest one-on-one. It is still uncertain which day of the week R-Truth believes Monday Night Raw is on.

7.) Candice LeRae reveals her mean streak

Following last week’s heated locker room conversation, Maxxine Dupri and Ivy Nile faced off against Indi Hartwell and Candice LeRae.

Dupri attempted to execute a reverse caterpillar, a fun move inspired by fellow Alpha Academy student Otis, but was halted by LeRae. Nile, who is “The Poison Pixie”, lived up to her moniker by spitting venomous insults at Dupri.

This is when it took an unexpected turn. LeRae, a veteran in the industry, berated the rookie for not taking the match seriously and told her she deserved all of the nasty things that fans and other women on the roster had been saying about her because she didn’t belong here. She even went so far as to mention Dupri’s deceased brother, saying it’s a good thing he’s not around to see her wrestle. This understandably brought Dupri to tears, and as she tried to remove herself from the situation, she was caught by Hartwell’s big boot.

When Hartwell pinned Dupri and the referee raised her hand in the air, she was clearly conflicted and concerned that the match was won due to her partner LaRae’s callous behavior.

6.) Cody Rhodes answers some burning questions

Cody Rhodes sat down with Michael Cole to discuss the events of last week’s SmackDown.

On Friday, Rhodes and Rollins appeared on SmackDown to officially answer the challenge issued by The Rock and Roman Reigns for a tag team match on Night One of WrestleMania. The stakes for this match are high: if Rhodes and Rollins win, The Bloodline will stay away from their matches on Night Two. But if The Bloodline win, Rhodes’ match against Reigns will be fought under Bloodline Rules, meaning that anything goes. Additionally, if Rhodes loses his title match, he will never be able to challenge Reigns again, meaning he will never be able to finish his story. Rollins accepted the challenge, and SmackDown closed with Rhodes slapping The Rock across the face, exactly as The Rock had done to him last month.

On Raw, Cole asked Rhodes a question that had been on the minds of many fans, how he can trust Rollins? The two have had major differences in the past, and Rollins’ own history with Reigns gives him potential motive to take Rhodes’ story out from under him. Rhodes’ path to finishing his story is treacherous enough without the possibility of a partner’s betrayal, Cole noted, so why would he put so much faith in a former foe? Rhodes answered by pointing out that people change. He has worked closely with and trusted both Triple H and Jey Uso despite their tumultuous relationships, and the key is that while he has not always liked Rollins, he has always respected him.

Rhodes concluded by saying that while he is scared and nervous for the match, the story is bigger than himself, and he will finish it for his fans, his family, and everyone who believed in him–and he will be the first person in the Rhodes family to hold the WWE championship.

5.) Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark challenge the Kabuki Warriors

After impressing Damage CTRL in their tag match last week, Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark were granted a shot at the women’s tag titles.

Baszler and Stark have become Asuka and Kairi Sane’s most formidable opponents since they won the titles in January–and they may have even dethroned the champs if not for interference from Dakota Kai.

With Kai’s help, The Kabuki Warriors turned the match around and picked up the win. Despite losing, the match benefited the challengers. Baszler and Stark were able to showcase their abilities, highlighted by their juxtaposition to the similarly hard-hitting style of their opponents, and forced the champs to resort to underhanded tactics to retain their titles.

4.) Damian Priest takes out his frustration on R-Truth

R-Truth delighted the crowd by rapping during his entrance, but Damian Priest spoiled the fun by dominating Truth right out of the gate in their match.

While The Miz was not there for R-Truth, Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa came out and cheered him on from ringside. They provided some desperately needed motivation for Truth, and he gained the upper hand. JD McDonagh and Finn Balor attacked Ciampa and Gargano, but they were taken out by R-Truth flying from the top rope.

The distraction allowed Priest to regain composure and quickly pick up the win. Judgment Day celebrated the win by beating down R-Truth, Ciampa, and Gargano, who will all likely be part of the tag title match at WrestleMania.

3.) Jey Uso issues a WrestleMania challenge

After Jimmy Uso cost Jey Uso multiple important matches, a frustrated Jey spoke up.

Jey explained he moved to Raw to escape his family, he explained, yet Jimmy followed him to continue interfering. To settle this once and for all, Jey issued a challenge to his twin: a match, brother versus brother, at WrestleMania.

In less than a year, the Usos went from making history as a team in the main event of WrestleMania 39 to fighting each other. Jey has the fans on his side, but Jimmy has The Bloodline on his. At WrestleMania, should Jimmy accept the challenge, we will see which of those holds more weight.

2.) Competitors run the gauntlet for Intercontinental title match at WrestleMania

Raw was headlined by a gauntlet match to determine Gunther’s opponent at WrestleMania 40 for the Intercontinental title.

The 41-minute match was superb. Ricochet and JD McDonagh kicked it off, and they were the most evenly matched of the night, playing off each other’s high-flying abilities to take each other to the limit. Ricochet pinned McDonagh to move on to the next round, but “Big” Bronson Reed was next. Reed took down an exhausted Ricochet with his signature tsunami.

Sami Zayn entered next, and the crowd erupted. The odds were against Zayn, as Monday was the first day of Ramadan and he had observed it by fasting all day. Nevertheless, the determined underdog managed to take down Reed with a sunset powerbomb and pin the big man. As Shinsuke Nakamura, the next competitor, started down the ramp, Reed attacked Zayn from behind. Clearly unhappy about blowing his shot at a WrestleMania match, Reed climbed to the top rope and nailed Zayn with an emphatic tsunami. Nakamura looked to take advantage of a down-and-out Zayn, but Zayn was not done yet–and he found a way to pin Nakamura and advanced to the finals against Chad Gable.

1.) Sami Zayn and Chad Gable deliver a nail-biting performance

The gauntlet match came down to Zayn and Gable, and both were wrestling with a compelling backstory.

Zayn has been fighting relentlessly for a WrestleMania spot, while Gable entered determined to make Gunther pay for making his daughter cry. While Zayn was in a bad way after battling past Nakamura, Gable refused to take advantage of his sorry state. He graciously helped Zayn to his feet and allowed him some respite before starting the match. Knowing how important the moment was, Gable wanted to do it the right way.

With two incredibly sympathetic underdogs, both of whom have put on excellent matches against Gunther in the past, this was an incredible match. Gable and Zayn had the audience on the edge of their seats with back-and-forth action and a series of close falls.

After Gable applied an ankle lock that appeared to have the match won, Zayn fulfilled his role as the underdog and emerged victorious. While devastated by his loss, Gable once again helped Zayn to his feet. In return, Zayn offered Gable a handshake as a show of respect, then pulled him in close for a hug in a touching display of sportsmanship.