Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: Raw, recaps, wrestling, wwe

Cody Come Back! Takeaways from This Week's WWE Raw

Cody giveth, and Cody taketh away. For the first episode of WWE Raw without Cody Rhodes since his return to the company at WrestleMania, a noticeable drop in quality showed that WWE didn't really have a backup plan for the big Cody Rhodes push that is now on hold until the Royal Rumble. Promotional material leading up to the upcoming Money in the Bank PLE teased a Cody Victory that could lead to a title match with Roman Reigns, but with Cody out, WWE must now adjust, and let's be honest, that really isn't their strong suit. As a result, this week's episode of Raw featured either rehashes of stories and matches we've already seen, or tired attempts to set up Money in the Bank matches that probably won't really matter in the long run.

To that end, Paul Heyman appeared as a guest on Miz TV to promote the upcoming match between Riddle and Roman Reigns that we all know there is no way in hell Riddle wins. That was followed by Jimmy Uso beating Montez Ford in a singles match that's just there to kill time until the Street Profits can lose a tag title match at the PPV.

AJStyles picked a fight with Seth Rollins, who is now carrying around the sledgehammer he used to take Cody Rhodes out of action last week as part of his gimmick. This led to a Money in the Bank qualifying match later in the night, which Rollins won. What do you do with a Money in the Bank winner this year when we all know that Cody is slated to be the next champ?

Becky Lynch has her eyes set on the Money in the Bank contract, and she'll face Asuka next week. This week, Asuka interfered in some drama between Lynch and Dana Brooke to set up that match. I don't see either woman winning the contract, but I do see them feuding with each other afterward because what else does either one of them have to do? In a tag team match, Alexa Bliss and Liv Morgan beat Nikki Ash and Doudrop to earn their own spots in the Money in the Bank match. I could see either of them winning the contract.

The Ezekiel/Kevin Owens feud continues, one of the few entertaining things WWE Raw has left going for it, though it's wearing a bit thin. Ezekiel beat Owens by count out this week, and that set up a big return for next week: Elias will be on Raw for a concert. Well, at least it will be something different. Ezekiel is also going for that Money in the Bank contract.

With some help from Omos, MVP squashed Cedric Alexander. It's good to see rising star MVP getting such a big push. As mentioned previously, we all know Riddle is losing to Reigns at Money in the Bank, but that didn't stop WWE feeding Ciampa to him this week to build him up for that loss.

After last week's huge development with the Judgment Day stable… they were just kind of there for a brief promo this week, building up Rhea Ripley's title shot against Bianca Belair at Money in the Bank. Maybe they'll start their new direction next week.

Mustafa Ali continues to be punished for that time he asked for his release, getting beat by Shorty G in a match on WWE Raw this week. In other pointless in-ring action, Veer Mahaan defeated Rey Mysterio by submission. Is he over yet? No? Well, maybe another dozen matches with the Mysterios will fix it.

The main event of Raw — and I'm not making this up — was a posing contest between Bobby Lashley and Theory. Lashley, who has the body of a human ninja turtle, obviously won, but Theory got revenge by spraying baby oil in his eyes.

Okay. So after a streak of less bad shows, we can give WWE Raw an off week when their entire major direction had to be scrapped thanks to Cody's injury. One would hope they would try to get things back on track as soon as possible, but it's WWE, so more likely they will just kill time until after Money in the Bank and then, maybe, if they feel like it, put some effort into building a few decent storylines for SummerSlam.

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