Raw kicked off with Cody Rhodes asking San Antonio what they want to talk about. WE all knew the obvious answer. He invited Seth Rollins to the ring and the two accepted The Rock & Roman Reigns’ invitation to come to SmackDown this week. Cool, cool. That’s not really what I want to talk about here. The thing that struck me was Seth.
Cody gave him a logical out if Seth decided against accepting teaming with him against Rocky & Roman at Mania. The man has a match with Drew McIntyre, who deserves all of his attention. Ironically, that’s the same thing Drew said last week when he advised Seth against worrying about what happens on Friday nights. Seth told Cody the same thing he said to Drew: Defeating the Bloodline at this juncture is bigger than anything else. If he were Captain Jean Luc Picard, he would’ve said the line must be drawn here!
The way Seth dismissed Drew as someone he’ll easily handle speaks volumes. Seth clearly isn’t focused on the big man and I understand why. Roman is more than personal with him; he feels responsible for the last few years and wants to end it. The way Seth sees it, he brought Roman into this world, and he can take him out. He believes that with Rock’s position in the company, if they don’t stop Roman now, then his former SHIELD partner will obtain the absolute power he always craved. Yeah, that’s enough to make me or possibly anyone else forget about Drew.
It’s a character-driven story that opens up a lane where Seth loses his title because he truly is focused on the bigger picture. The only reason the championship around Seth’s waist exists is because of Roman; Seth’s mission statement is a reign that looks nothing like his counterpart does on Friday nights. Raw illustrated how that will possibly to Seth’s undoing in a simple but effective way during the main event.
Jey Uso vs. Drew. Drew wants the apology he never got while Jey thinks Drew is a whining, disrespectful baby. There’s enough history between these two where the match doesn’t need much set up. The only question was when would the Bloodline show up and how would they screw Jey.
They ran a little misdirection with Solo showing up first and Cody making the save. But then Jimmy popped up out of nowhere and threw Jey off his game. Drew, once again, capitalized off the Bloodline shenanigans he swears he detests, and got a W. Foreshadowing and hammering his hypocrisy home.
But then Seth hit the ring to fend off Jimmy and protect Jey. He did this with Drew still in the ring and lurking behind him the whole time. Then this happened:
This is exactly what Drew warned Seth about. As Drew said earlier in the show, Seth doesn’t listen and he’s a junkie for the spotlight. He cares so much about destroying Roman and co. that he’s neglecting a very dangerous opponent.
That’s all very solid stuff that converges all these stories together in one circular fashion. I genuinely love this type of storytelling and it’s something WWE does very well when they commit to it. Seth’s in trouble and rather than just saying it, they’re telling us repeatedly.
B-Sides
Lucky Star
If I’m the Kabuki Warriors, I’m not impressed with Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark’s victory over Katana Chance & Kayden Carter. While I didn’t expect them to dominate the former tag team champs, I wanted a more decisive victory. Katana & Kayden had their opponents beaten with the Afterparty. And if not for Shayna making the save at the very last second, they lose the match. Actually, if not for a Zoey catching Katana off guard with a quick roll up, they don’t win.
It’s the equivalent of a comeback victory, which normally isn’t a bad thing. But with Damage CTRL scouting and then granting Zoey & Shayna the championship match they desire, I wanted a bigger W from the future challengers. They eeked out the victory in a match that seemingly made the champs think they’re worthy of a title shot.
Meh.
No Tears
On the flip side, there’s Nia Jax vs. Becky Lynch. Liv Morgan’s shadow loomed over this match based on Becky interfering in Liv’s