I know we’re supposed to wait until Friday to hear the actual answer, but both Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins are scheduled to be on RAW tonight, so they’re obviously going to talk about what The Rock and Roman Reigns proposed. That was such a fire segment on SmackDown. I’m very excited. Also, we might find out who Gunther’s going to face at WrestleMania.

On the road to WrestleMania, WWE RAW stops at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas on March 4th, 2024. These are my thoughts:

• We start off with the usual earlier in the day arrivals. Jey Uso’s here. Oh, yeah, he’s fighting Drew McIntyre. That should be interesting. He gets a huge pop from the crowd. Nia Jax arrived to, let’s say, the reverse of that. Chorus of boos. She’s going to be fighting Becky Lynch, so I’m wondering if Liv Morgan’s going to get involved. Pretty sure she is. Let’s see.
• We get a recap package of Elimination Chamber culminating with what Rock offered Cody and Seth on SmackDown. Then in the arena, we’re starting off with Cody Rhodes. This is a sell-out, close to 15,000-strong, I believe, and they are hot. They are excited. Cody enters wearing a suit as he does when he’s going to talk business.

• The Rock already said as much, and we were all sure of it regardless, but we do get the official confirmation here that Cody’s match with Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship will, in fact, be the Main Event of Night Two of WrestleMania.
• I love how Cody referenced The Rock’s Instagram and X video, something The Rock had left out of his also lengthy Smackdown promo. Cody not only referenced the video itself, but referenced the sequence of events where The Rock put out a 17-minute version, took it down, then put out a 21-minute version, which he called Cody called the Director’s Cut. It’s great when my reality finds its way into the show. I remember the experience, too: “Wait, dit The Rock take down his video? Yes, he did. He put out a different version.”
• Cody called The Rock out for insulting his dog Pharaoh, and told his side of the story behind his original decision and change of mind. The Rock was “pouring honey” in his ear. And then he realized it was all BS. And that’s why he decided to take back his WrestleMania Main Event.
• Cody, of course, invites World Heavyweight Champion Seth “Freakin” Rollins to the ring, who comes out to a huge crowd pop as well. And we get the confirmation that the World Heavyweight Championship match between Rollins and Drew McIntyre is going to be on Night Two as well, as the “Co-Main Event”. I don’t know if that means it’s going to open the show on night two, or going on second to last. I don’t normally talk about outfits, even Seth’s, but, as Pat McAfee said, he was so bright, he looked like a highlighter tonight. Cool.

• There’s a bit in Seth’s promo that some people might have missed, but Seth did slightly draw attention to it. When he was talking about The Rock and WrestleMania, he gave that thumbs out finger gesture, though not to the sky. The same gesture The Rock gave twice on Smackdown instead of putting up the ones, like the rest of The Bloodline. There’s so much subtext to these promo segments, both from The Bloodline and about The Bloodline. It’s great.
• While I like how Seth brought up once again his history with Roman Reigns in The Shield as justification for what he’s doing, but I’m not so sure about his Diarrhea Dwayne nickname for The Rock. I don’t think that it’s going to stick. It won’t trend, but if it does, it will be for all the wrong reasons. Still, it was fun to hear over 10,000 people chanting “diarrhea”. You can’t really chant “Diarrhea Dwayne”, too many syllables. Imagine looking back on this without knowing the context 10 years from now and you’ll hear a bunch of people in an arena chanting diarrhea. That’s the bizarre beauty of pro wrestling, especially when it’s hot, as The Rock had said on Friday.
• What kind of got lost in the shuffle is the fact that Seth didn’t directly answer Cody’s question as to whether or not he’d have his back. Maybe it’s nothing. Seth did passionately say he would go to Smackdown. But if they are planning on Seth to turn on Cody, planting these seeds is the way to do it. Still, I really hope not.
• Gunther comes to the ring all smiles because I guess he knows he’s going to win. Gunther’s smiling is really funny, as it lets you know that deep down he really is a fun guy. Although they’re playing off his smile as a smirk, which in this case it is. Pat McAfee tried to suck up to Gunther yet again, to make amends for doing Jey Uso’s move with the crowd a few weeks ago. Michael Cole called him out for it. A really nice touch.
• This is also where Cole referenced the fact that Sting had his retirement match the previous night, and Pat McAfee put over the match itself. Given that this happened in AEW, mentioning it underscores a refreshing new direction for WWE, and it’s nice to see. Thank You Sting.
• Gunther’s WWE 2K24 score is 90, and Dom’s is 83. Now, Gunther’s score makes sense, but Dom at 83? Wow. That’s a little high, I think. He was NXT North American Champion for a while, so maybe that factors into it.
• The match starts with Gunther hanging Dirty Dom upside down, but then Dom actually gets a few chops in on The Ring General. The announcers are almost laughing at this point, wondering why anyone would willingly get into a chop contest with Gunther. But the strategy does make sense, because outside of the ring, Dom and JD McDonough, who’s there in his corner, end up tricking Gunther into chopping his own hand into the post. This is the only way a guy like Dom could possibly beat Gunther, by getting Gunther to beat himself.

• But, of course, Gunther gets a sleeper hold on Dom, who escapes and slaps him. But the Intercontinental Champion stops all this, and levels Mysterio with one arm. Dom takes a great bump, almost flips, as we go to commercial. We come back with a really fun sequence. The roving camera approaches the ring, Gunther’s leveling Dominik with multiple chops, and Dom keeps getting back up. Somehow Dom manages to get Gunther into the position for the 619, but Gunther gets out of it, levels Dom and goes for the pin. 1-2…Gunther lifts his opponent’s shoulder up. That’s usually a move indicating that the overconfident heel might actually lose. But, of course, it’s Dominic Mysterio. It’s Gunther. I don’t think Dom’s going to become the number one contender for the Intercontinental title. Do you?
• Dom reverses a sunset flip and gets a two count. I’m starting to be a bit surprised, but I know what’s going to happen. Dom somehow gets Gunther set up for the 619. This time he connects, but he misses the Frog Splash, Gunther connects with the Powerbomb, locks in the Boston Crab, and Dom taps out.
• This match was fun to watch, but I’m not sure what its purpose was, other than to maybe get Gunther some cheers. Last time I remember the crowd cheering Gunther was in Montreal when he was fighting Madcap Moss, and we just knew Gunther was going to win and we were waiting for Sami Zayn to come out so we chanted “Let’s go Gunther!” to make that happen quicker.
• We get Damage CTRL showing up backstage. Not just The Kabuki Warriors, who can be on both brands due to their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships, but Dakota Kai and WWE Women’s Champion Iyo Sky as well. They’re confronted by Adam Pearce, who asks what they think they’re doing, and wants some assurances that they’re not going to cause trouble, which Kai gives them. And they don’t end up causing trouble. Sort of. While what happened to Bayley is sad, but expected, I do like how Kai seems to have easily slipped into the role of spokeswoman for the group. Or at least the English spokeswoman.
• The match they were scouting was Caden Carter and Katana Chance versus Zoe Stark and Shayna Baszler. And they got all their entrances during commercial break. That doesn’t bode well, but then again, Damage CTRL were at ringside to observe and they got their entrances during the commercial break as well, despite being huge stars. So maybe this was simply cut for time in a three hour show.
• Carter and Chance looked good with some aerial stuff, including a nice Double Spanish Fly on Zoey Stark. Zoe did kick out. They hit the After Party on Baszler who rolls Chance out of the ring, then feeds her back in to Stark who wins with a surprise rollup.

• One of the funniest things I observed is that Michael Cole and Pat McAfee were literally talking behind Dakota Kai and Damage CTRL’s backs. I mean the four-woman faction were sitting on the announce desk and Cole and McAfee were sitting right behind and talking trash about them. After the match, they went into the ring, and Kai did some nice heel crowd work by saying Houston was the superior Texas city while offering Baszler and Stark a shot at Asuka and Kairi Sane’s belts there next week. And Baszler gave a really smart response by simply saying “it’s about time” and leaving. When mic skills aren’t your forte, you don’t go toe to toe with someone like Dakota Kai.

• I know it’s not about wrestling, but we come back from commercial break with a shot of the Riverwalk in San Antonio, and that looks like a really fun place to sit. I know we have the Old Port and the Lachine Canal here in Montreal, but this seems like it’s a river in the middle of the city with tables right next to it.
• Judgment Day is backstage and they’re trying to get a match between JD McDonough and Gunther set. Like they didn’t learn their lesson with Dom. Also Damian Priest and Finn Bálor are going off to face the other two Imperium members Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser soon, and it looks like Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley isn’t too happy with how Priest is running things, or moreover that her little Dom Dom is hurt. But then Andrade walks by, and Dom lets Judgment Day know they should be interested in him, and I’m interested in that, at least more than any tension in the group, because I think that will only come to the forefront again after WrestleMania.
• There’s, of course, a huge crowd pop from this really hot crowd for Becky Lynch as she heads out to the ring to fight Nia Jax. And I find it really interesting that she stopped and the camera focused on a Big Time Becks sign in the crowd. Maybe a hint that she may be reverting back to her old gimmick in the near future?
• Nia has a real strong start to the match. She gets Becky down with an elbow, but Becky comes back with some punches. Nia tries to lift her, but Becky gets out. Jax actually does the stink face in tribute to Rikishi and Becky really sells that one, like she’s almost vomiting. It looks like Lynch didn’t really connect with that missile drop kick, which is rare for her, but Jax sold it anyways, sort of. Jax hit Becky with a Samoan Drop outside of the ring, and that looked rough.

• Somehow during the commercial break, Lynch came back and they’re standing on the ropes. Becky tries to suplex Nia from the top rope, but Nia just throws her down, does a leg drop, and Lynch kicks out at 2. Lynch recovers, locks in the Disarm Her, but they both roll outside of the ring. And then, as expected, or as I expected, Liv Morgan comes in, attacks Nia and gets Becky Lynch disqualified.
• And then Becky Lynch and Liv Morgan start arguing and shoving each other in the ring. It looks like they’re going to come to blows. I’m interested to see where this is going, but of course it doesn’t go very far today. Nia Jax takes them both out and starts to leave, takes a man’s hat off his head, throws it out to the crowd, and exits. And then backstage, we find out that next week, Becky Lynch and Liv Morgan are going to have a match. I’m really interested to see if one of them turns heel. In fact, I think I might do a video on this subject.

• Speaking of videos, I made one last week about the Intercontinental Championship picture and exactly who I thought Gunther was going to, and who he should face at WrestleMania. You should check that out if you have the time. Part of it is now a moot point, as I was hoping there was going to be either a ladder match or a gauntlet match or some sort of multi-man match on Night One of WrestleMania, getting all top stars into the show of shows. And then the winner of that match would face Gunther on night two for the IC Title. Well, we are getting a gauntlet match, but it’s going to be next week. The competitors are Sami Zayn, my number one pick, Chad Gable, my number two choice, Big Bronson Reed, who was also in my video, Shinsuke Nakamura, forgot about him, Ricochet, I sort of mentioned him in passing, and JD McDonough, because Judgment Day know how to politic. I think that match comes down to Sami and Gable.
• We get Andrade’s in-ring RAW debut. He’s facing Apollo Crews. And as expected, it wasn’t that long a match. Both did put on a good show. There were some superplexes at the start. Andrade almost got pinned, but he turned it into a Three Amigos. He eventually ends up shoving Cruz to the canvas and getting the one, two, three with Judgment Day watching backstage. Decent re-introduction, not sure if he’s all that over with the crowd. His potential involvement with Judgement Day could fix that.

• Then we get Sami Zayn backstage giving a now happy but still passionate interview. He’s found his road to WrestleMania. It’s either the gauntlet match or nothing. And then who should come in but Valhalla and Ivar. Seems like they’re jealous that Sami’s in the match and Ivar isn’t. Sami challenges Ivar to a match this week, and I really hoped that this wasn’t going to take my fellow Montrealer out of the gauntlet.
• We get a nice memorial graphic for Paul Butcher Vachon, a Quebec wrestling legend who had just passed away.
• I’m not sure what the purpose of the Indi Hartwell, Candice LeRae, Tegan Nox, Natalya, Maxxine Dupri and Ivy Nile segment was backstage, other than to get them on the show. But after seeing the video of Maxxine getting booed, and told to “go away” at a house show, it’s good to see that she’s still on TV.
• Bálor and Priest versus Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci of Imperium was an interesting match, mainly because I didn’t know who to cheer for, and neither did the crowd. It wasn’t the reverse of the Gunther versus Dominic Mysterio match, as both teams looked really good, and evenly matched. It was more than solid. I’d say a bit of a barn burn. A barn igniter, if you would.
• We get some double teams by Imperium before the break, then after it, Kaiser gets what would be considered a hot tag if he was a babyface, which he clearly isn’t, even situationally. Bálor misses his tag, stays in the ring, and eventually hits a nice Pele Kick, and goes to tag Priest again. At this point, the crowd decide to cheer for Judgment Day. You get the nice camera angle behind the turnbuckle (I love these new production techniques), and Finn’s tag becomes a hot one as the crowd really pops.
• Priest comes in, dumps both Kaiser and Vinci on their heads in sequence, executes a really nice broken arrow on Ludwig, but he doesn’t get the pin. He tries for the Razor’s Edge, but misses, but then succeeds in making a blind tag to Bálor. Kaiser doesn’t realize it, tries to pin Priest, but Bálor just rolls him up for a two count. This is getting exciting. There’s more double teaming and a Coup de Grace from Bálor that ends in a two count. Eventually Priest gets a South of Heaven Chokeslam on Vinci and wins the match to a huge crowd pop.

• We get a bit of the Patstrator after. I’m not sure if I’m buying that the chokeslam was 13 feet, but it looks so on the graphic. I’m also used to the Metric system.
• Cole gives a nice, personal tribute to Paul Heyman, announcing (or rather re-announcing) that The Wiseman will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, Class of 2024 at WrestleMania in Philadelphia, no less. Well deserved.
• The backstage staredown between Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky was nice to see. Rhea tells Iyo to stay off her turf and Sky just humphs and walks away. I don’t think we’re going to have a program between those two anytime soon, but who knows? Maybe in the future. That could be interesting.
• We get Sami versus Ivar next, but my, and everyone’s, attention quickly shifted to Valhalla wearing the antlers, and, in particular Michael Cole’s excitement over them. Valhalla rewards Cole by putting the antlers on his head to a huge crowd pop. I was really trying to focus on the match at this point, because it’s my fellow Montrealer Sami Zayn, in there, but I couldn’t get over Cole wearing the antlers and announcing at the same time. Hilarious.
• Sami gets Ivar over the top rope, but Valhalla’s there and pushes him back into the ring. Ivar blocks a tornado DDT and throws Sami outside of the ring. And Valhalla starts yelling at Sami. Sami reverses an attempted slam off the second rope, but then Ivar just slams him normally and gets a two count, but Sami survives. Sami hits a really nice Sunset Flip Powerbomb off the top rope, but Ivar kicks out at two. The crowd’s really behind Zayn and chanting, “Sami! Sami!”, and he did hit Ivar with an Exploder Suplex and almost got the Helluva Kick on the second attempt, but Ivar blocked with an exploder of his own and goes up to the top rope. The Viking misses the Moonsault and Sami finally lands a Helluva Kick for the 1-2-3.

• Sami’s momentum continues. He’s in the Gauntlet Match next week, I’m relieved. But wait, here’s Big Bronson Reed attacking him and hitting the Tsunami. Now I don’t think that’s going to take Sami out of the match. It also makes total sense considering Reed does want to weaken one of his opponents. It just builds further excitement for the match next week.
• There’s a fun backstage promo with Jey Uso, and I love how the crowd chants “Yeet!” during pauses, even when he’s not in the ring. Plus the Yeet sunglasses are a nice touch.
• There’s a fun bit promoting the 2K24 video game and also setting up Regeneration X, I think that’s what they called it, involving R-Truth, DIY, The Miz and Xavier Woods, for some reason. I really liked how R-Truth suggested feeding Judgement Day bread, because maybe they have gluten allergies. Irreverant R-Truth is a treasure, and I’m not the only one who says it.
• Then we have our main event, Jey Uso versus Drew McIntyre. Jey has a WWE 2K24 score of 90 and Drew’s is 89. Considering how Drew’s been on the winning streak, maybe that lower 2K24 score is adding to his jealousy.
• There’s a real intense start to the match. Jey slams Drew on the announce table, and then Drew throws Jey clearly over the same table and says “Yeet” into the camera, but then just as the feed is fading to commercial break, we hear Pat McAfee saying “No Yeet”, which is a nice touch.

• McIntyre tries to hit the White Noise, lifting Jey over his shoulders on the second rope, but Uso breaks free and slams Drew down. Drew gets a spine buster, followed by a Jackknife Powerbomb, covers Jey, but Jey kicks out at two. Jey, at one point, briefly lifts Drew onto his shoulders and slams him down for a two count. I noticed Michael Cole putting some equipment down on the announce table, probably expecting someone to go through it, but no one does. Instead, McIntyre drives Jey into the barricade a few times. Drew rolls up Jay and puts him back in the ring. That’s what I call the end of the regular match, because of what’s to come.
• We get this amazingly chaotic ending sequence. Jey is going for the Uso Splash, but Solo Sokoa comes in from the crowd and causes a distraction. So Drew hits a Future Shock DDT, but Jey kicks out. And then Cody Rhodes’ music hits. Cody comes in, takes out Solo Sokoa. Jey gets back in control of the match, he’s going for the Uso Splash again, but then his brother Jimmy Uso shows up through the crowd. Jimmy really doesn’t do anything at this point, just distracts Jey. Drew hits him with a Claymore for the one, two, three. Drew’s music plays, Drew leaves or is leaving, and Jimmy comes into the ring as if to attack his brother even more. But then Seth Rollins’ music plays. Rollins comes in, runs right past Drew McIntyre, underscoring where his priorities lie. He takes out Jimmy, but then he turns around, Drew’s back in the ring, hits him with the Claymore, and starts chastising him. And the crowd, for some reason, starts chanting “CM Punk!”. And Drew turns to the camera and says this is about the world title, it’s bigger than CM Punk, as Raw goes off the air.

The start of the show was fire, so was the end, and there were some fun segments, a great match, and some solid matches in the middle. It got me excited for the next SmackDown and the next RAW, and, of course, really excited for WrestleMania, which is exactly what it was supposed to do.