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There’s a big time moment of truth that will lead off tonight’s episode of WWE Raw from New Orleans.
(From the Smoothie King Center, one of our favorite venue names anywhere.)
Seth Rollins is advertised to open the show, which isn’t unusual for Raw. As World Heavyweight Champion, the Visionary is pretty much The Man on this brand.
That would normally suggest he’s in line for a big time match at WrestleMania, perhaps even one that fans have been clamoring for ever since a certain Chicago native made his return to WWE.
But there’s been a complication: Rollins is hurt, and we don’t know at the moment how it might affect his availability over the next few months.
Might another segment on tonight’s show offer a clue? CM Punk and Cody Rhodes are going to be face to face in NOLA, which should be an entertaining exchange. While no one knows exactly what will happen next, the most popular theory is that Punk will win the Royal Rumble (he’s the betting favorite at the moment), positioning him to challenge Rollins, while Rhodes has to jump through one more hoop to try to finish his story against Roman Reigns.
But what if Rollins says he’s too injured and relinquishes his title? That isn’t what we expect to happen, but if it does, that would potentially change everything less than a week out from Royal Rumble.
These are the kind of intriguing nights wrestling fans live for, and we’re anxiously awaiting it as well. Off we go!
WWE Raw results from New Orleans:
(please scroll down for full details on any match or segment in bold)
- CM Punk and Cody Rhodes are shown walking into the arena earlier today, hyping up their “confrontation” later in the show
- Seth Rollins is determined to stay the course for WrestleMania, but Gunther’s sights are set on Seth’s world championship
- The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) vs. Imperium (Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser) goes to a no contest after they end up in a wild brawl that ends up with all four men going through tables together out in the crowd
- A trailer is shown for WWE 2K24, which was officially revealed today
- The Judgment Day has a little tension going on, with Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley especially heated, and Finn Balor says he’ll do Rhea a favor and display his vicious side tonight
- Maxxine Dupri says Ivy Nile is ready for her match tonight … which happens to be next
- Ivy Nile def. Valhalla by pinfall
- Jey Uso daps up The New Day, who tell Jackie Redmond that if people think they can’t stand on business just because they’re entertaining a lot of the time, they’re sadly mistaken; to that end, Kofi Kingston challenges Gunther to a title match next week on Raw
- Nia Jax, Becky Lynch and Bayley all explain why they will win the Royal Rumble
- A Royal Rumble “By the Numbers” package is shown
- Lynch gets briefly taunted by Ripley backstage
🫢🫢🫢@BeckyLynchWWE 👀 @RheaRipley_WWE#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/abf6ImjDUD
— WWE (@WWE) January 23, 2024
- Dominik Mysterio def. The Miz by pinfall; not only does Balor assist in the victory, he attacks Miz after the bell, but #DIY comes to the rescue
- Priest is about to talk about his match with Drew McIntyre when he has to stop and tell R-Truth that this isn’t the right time; Priest then turns back to McIntyre and says he will receive his punishment tonight
- Bronson Reed warns Jey Uso that their paths are eventually going to cross, so they might as well get it out of the way, and he challenges Jey to a match next week
- Ivar def. Chad Gable by pinfall, thanks in part to some assistance from Valhalla
- Cody Rhodes and CM Punk discuss the past … and the uncertain future that starts this Saturday
- A video package features Hulk Hogan talking about the birth of Hulkamania and how he sees some of it in current stars, and he also discusses the Royal Rumble matches and his favorites in each one
- Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark def. Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell by pinfall; after the bell, the Kabuki Warriors attack tag team champs Katana Chance and Kayden Carter, who were watching from ringside
- Drew McIntyre has nothing to say about the Rhodes-Punk confrontation, but he does have some tough talk for Priest, who he says isn’t ready to be world champion
- Damage CTRL is feeling good, but Adam Pearce stops by and has to intervene when Natalya and Tegan Nox take exception to them, and Dakota Kai says if he has a problem with them, Pearce needs to take it up with Nick Aldis; Pearce turns and sees Indus Sher behind him, and he agrees to have a chat with Jinder Mahal
- A second Royal Rumble By the Numbers package is shown with more fun tidbits and stats
- Drew McIntyre def. Damian Priest by pinfall, aided largely by some very unfortunate timing on the part of R-Truth
Seth Rollins isn’t missing WrestleMania, but that might mean dealing with Gunther
The World Heavyweight Champion is serenaded by fans as usual as he heads to the ring, though there’s something unmistakably different about him: the brace on his left knee. It’s over his dress pants, though, which seems like a bit of a show, and the fans deliver a loud “thank you Seth” chant.
Rollins shows his appreciation for the love he’s receiving before going into an explanation of when he hurt himself a week ago facing Jinder Mahal. Seth says while doing a moonsault, he felt his knee “go in” in a way it’s not supposed to, but it took until he got to the back to sink in that he might be seriously hurt.
The champ goes on to say that it made him feel like a bit of a liar that he says he is always better and stronger, and he also says it crossed his mind that it was a real possibility that he might miss WrestleMania. Rollins says his MRI results were not great: grade 2 MCL tear and partially torn meniscus. It will mean four months off if he gets surgery, so he’s taking it day by day for now.
While that’s sinking in, Gunther’s music hits and Imperium makes its way to the ring, with the Ring General joining Rollins. Seth says he doesn’t have time for this and Imperium should just get an attack out of the way if that’s the plan.
Gunther says no, and that he’s really just out there to tell Rollins what he thinks of the world champ. As Gunther puts it, Seth has been in a tough position right from the start, expected to be a workhorse and living up to the ideal of a champion everyone can be proud of — just like Gunther.
It kind of pulls on Gunther’s heart strings seeing Rollins like this, he claims, and even saddens him to think Seth might not make it to WrestleMania. Rollins says Imperium should have let him finish, as he insists he will take the title to Mania and do everything in his power to leave that way too.
Gunther says he admires that, saying that as one great champion to another, he plans to win the Royal Rumble and choose Seth as his WrestleMania opponent. After he does that, the Ring General will target Seth’s knee and his back on his way to becoming World Heavyweight Champion.
Rollins replies that he appreciates the honesty, and both men say they better remember who is coming for them. Also Gunther said the Rumble is Sunday, so a graphic and Michael Cole quickly remind us it’s really Saturday.
Nia Jax, Becky Lynch, Bayley make their Royal Rumble cases
Jax asks for a mic so she can point out that the first time she went one on one with Rhea Ripley and Becky Lynch, she squashed both of them. Nia says she understands why the two of them want to fight at WrestleMania since neither of them can beat Jax.
So this Saturday, Nia plans on killing both of their dreams. That boast brings out Lynch, who tells Jax to shut up. Becky says she knows she has a target on her back in the Royal Rumble match … but not as big as the target on Nia. After all, the locker room never agrees on anything, but they do agree that no one likes Jax.
Lynch says she’s not sure what she will enjoy more, winning the Rumble match again or watching Jax lose. That brings out Bayley, who says “both of you idiots are going to lose.” The Role Model was looking for Ripley but says this is almost better.
Bayley wants to make it clear: She’s winning the Rumble and will be the one to point at the WrestleMania sign. Both Lynch and Jax start beating on her, then throwing hands with each other. Lynch hits a Manhandle Slam on Bayley but gets thrown out by Jax, who drops a leg on Bayley.
Will Cody Rhodes and CM Punk still be friends after the Royal Rumble … or even after tonight?
Punk suggests they take a second to enjoy the moment, as even though they’ve taken very different paths to get here, they’ve done it. He hopes they will still be friends come Sunday morning.
Rhodes asks both the crowd and Punk what they want to talk about, and the latter says he wants to talk about Cody’s dad. He says this is a story he’s never told, one about Dusty asking Punk to keep an eye on his son. Punk says he didn’t know Cody or think he needed a guardian angel, but when the American Dream asks for a favor, you say yes.
The job was easy, as Cody didn’t fall into any vices or get into much trouble, and Punk says he was proud of Cody. Alas, that means Saturday he’s going to feel like he’s breaking a promise, as in the Royal Rumble he’ll be looking for Cody and do whatever he needs to do to win.
Cody responds that Punk is hardly alone among people who are talking to him but thinking of Dusty. It’s a very large shadow, but Cody says he’s done everything in his power to be the light in that shadow and subvert expectations. He remembers his OVW days and appreciates Punk treating him like a peer, and later a friend.
That makes it bittersweet that in the Rumble, there are no friends. What about Sunday morning, Punk asks, wondering if Cody can separate business from personal. And he goes a step further suggesting that with his electrician dad, he’s more of the American dream than Punk.
Cody responds by bringing up the famous Pipe Bomb interview, saying that when Punk left after that, he picked up the ball and lived what CM talked … so he’s more CM Punk than the man himself.
Punk hints at a much bigger superstar coming to take Cody’s story away, but sadly he means himself and not The Rock. The American Nightmare says the only way he can go from here is forward, meaning through Punk. When Cody goes to leave, CM grabs him and spins him around, and the two men are literally nose to nose for a few tense moments.
Fans chant loudly for both men until they finally separate, with Cody leaving the ring and Punk on the other side of it.
Damian Priest gets some Truth at the wrong time against Drew McIntyre
Considering they are snarling at each other before the bell even rings, it’s no surprise that it doesn’t take long for them to lock up. An evenly fought opening few minutes finally leads them to battle on the floor, where Priest is able to run McIntyre into the post. A Broken Arrow onto the announce table is next, leaving the Judgment Day stalwart in good shape going into a commercial break.
Priest is still knocking McIntyre around after the break, scoring a near fall after a running lariat. A chinlock keeps the Scottish Warrior grounded for just a sec, but simultaneous big boots leave both men on the canvas.
McIntyre kips up and hears some cheers as he looks for a Claymore, but Priest sidesteps it only to be caught by a spinebuster for a two count. Priest responds with a flatliner of sorts that gets him two right back.
A series of kicks from Priest is answered by a Glasgow Kiss. McIntyre heads up top but gets caught by a kick to the back of the head, and Priest turns some counters into a Broken Arrow and another near fall.
Priest hits his feet on the top rope but still pulls off a somersault plancha, but R-Truth shows up and distracts him at a critical moment. That allows McIntyre to hit the Future Shock, and he lines up again for a Claymore attempt.
Truth is on the apron now, and takes a right hand from McIntyre. Priest hits the South of Heaven, but the ref is occupied with Truth and the money scattered all over the ring.
You know what’s coming next: a Claymore from McIntyre, giving Scottish Warrior the win.