HERSHEY, Pa. — As a fan in Section D of the Giant Center said in realization at the end of WWE Raw on Monday night, “We never got to do the whoa.”
He was talking about a certain part of Cody Rhodes‘ entrance theme, “Kingdom,” and if you’ve been watching WWE programming any time over the past year, you know the cue. It comes right after the line “Out the curtain, lights go up I’m home.”
The fans in attendance did get to see Rhodes, who was shown on screen to both open and close the show. He also made it to the ring once in-between, but his music didn’t play because WWE was trying to make it look like he shouldn’t have been out there.
That’s what happens when you get jumped by Brock Lesnar while entering the arena, which is exactly what happened Monday night. Lesnar gave Rhodes a hellacious backstage beating, concentrating on Cody’s left arm and mocking him for wanting to fight at Night of Champions.
Lesnar came to the ring about halfway through Raw, claiming that Rhodes wouldn’t be able to make this weekend’s premium live event and laying out an open challenge to anyone who would step up. Instead, Rhodes came out, arm in a sling, and attempted to thrown down with Lesnar right there.
Let’s call that a tactical error for the American Nightmare, who ended up taking even more damage to his left arm after being locked in a kimura by Lesnar. The idea was that Rhodes’ arm was broken.
But that wasn’t the last word, because the night’s main event, which saw Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Matt Riddle defeat Imperium, ended about four minutes prior to 11 p.m. ET. It felt like something would happen, and that something was Triple H visiting Rhodes in the locker room and trying to convince him that Night of Champions was out.
Rhodes refused and said he’d fight Lesnar anyway. So there’s a built-in excuse for WWE to have Cody lose and continue the feud (to SummerSlam, perhaps). It was an unconventional but not illogical way to end the final live show before a premium live event, but we’ll have to wait until Saturday to see if it all plays out in satisfactory fashion.
Read on for a rundown of everything that happened Monday night.
WWE Raw results from Hershey:
- As noted above, Lesnar attacked Rhodes in the back, smashing his left arm between a beer keg and a metal rolldown door
- Paul Heyman took to the microphone to claim no responsibility for what just happened but suggested that was just a taste of what would happen to Rhodes at Night of Champions
- Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn said they were feeling pretty good about their upcoming title defense at Night of Champions, but there was also business to attend to tonight … and that business found them, with Imperium surrounding the ring, but Matt Riddle arrived to help run them off and become their partner for the main event
- Adam Pearce refused to confirm or deny to Byron Saxton that Rhodes suffered a broken arm
- Bronson Reed def. Ricochet by pinfall
- Apollo Crews got his interview crashed by Dominik Mysterio, who ended up talking his way into a match, and Rhea Ripley, who warned Natalya she would end her career at Night of Champions
- Part 3 of Corey Graves’ interview with Seth Rollins aired, including Rollins saying he loves Roman Reigns but doesn’t like Roman Reigns
- Finn Balor had some fighting words for his opponent tonight, Shinsuke Nakamura
- Zoey Stark def. Candice LeRae by pinfall, despite some ringside encouragement from Nikki Cross
- Mustafa Ali was more serious than he has been recently, discussing the opportunity he has coming up this weekend … until Lesnar walked by him on his way to the ring, telling Ali to get a life as he passed
- Barging by Adam Pearce and other officials, Rhodes made his ill-advised attempt to confront Lesnar in the ring, which ended with him in even more pain
- A promo vignette was aired to promote Indus Sher
- Alpha Academy def. Viking Raiders by pinfall
- Finn Balor def. Shinsuke Nakamura by pinfall thanks to some assistance from Damian Priest
- Raquel Rodriguez def. Sonya Deville by pinfall, then got saved from a two-on-one post-match beating by Shotzi
- Trish Stratus proposed a “no touch policy” for her contract signing with Becky Lynch, but Pearce declined …
- … but Stratus and Lynch mostly just trade insults during their contract signing anyway
- Pearce gives someone a phone call to update them on the Rhodes situation
- Rodriguez offers Shotzi a chance to be her tag team partner to try back the women’s tag team titles
- Dominik Mysterio def. Apollo Crews by pinfall, with the usual assist from Rhea Ripley
- The final segment of the Graves-Rollins interview aired, focused largely on Seth discussing why he wants to win the World Heavyweight Championship so badly
- Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Matt Riddle def. Imperium by pinfall
- Triple H tried to talk Rhodes out of competing at Night of Champions, but to no avail
After the show went off the air, Imperium attempted to come back for some revenge on Owens, Zayn and Riddle, but that backfired as Ludwig Kaiser ended up going through a table.