Powell’s WWE Raw Hit List: John Cena and Cody Rhodes, Bron Breakker vs. Finn Balor for the Intercontinental Title, Iyo Sky and Bianca Belair contract signing, Penta vs. Ludwig Kaiser in a No Holds Barred match

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

WWE Raw Hits

John Cena and Cody Rhodes: Cena’s first promo since his heel turn at Elimination Chamber was worth the wait. Newly turned heels blaming the fans has been done ad nauseam, but it was the right move for Cena given his long babyface run and the 50/50 dynamic that it often played to. Cena hit hard and avoided including any wink to the audience to signify that he’s really a swell guy who is just playing a villain. He did a great job of going at the fans who typically boo him and then verbally attacking the fans who have supported him. The Rock’s name was not mentioned, nor should it have been. This was Cena’s heel turn promo and it needed to be all about him. There’s still plenty of time to get to the dynamic between Cena and The Final Boss character. It was a little odd that Cody never tried to get physical with Cena after the beatdown that he took at WrestleMania. Nevertheless, Cody showed great fire during his promo. I like that Cody went on the offensive as opposed to doing a mopey “Why, John, why?” promo. The initial promo exchange was terrific and left me excited to see more.

Bron Breakker vs. Finn Balor for the Intercontinental Title: A decent television main event. A clean finish would have been nice, but it came off like the goal was to add friction between Balor and Dominik Mysterio rather than this being a case of going with a lazy cheap finish.

Penta vs. Ludwig Kaiser in a No Holds Barred match: A soft Hit for a solid opening match that kept the hot crowd fired up. The match also had arguably the strangest moment of the night when Kaiser yelled, “I give up, you win.” Kaiser verbally submitted right in front of the referee, who never acknowledged it and simply let the match continue. The post match interview with Penta expressing his interest in the Intercontinental Championship was a fun, unexpected development.

Jey Uso vs. Austin Theory: A soft Hit. The goal of the match seemed to be to give Jey a quick and decisive win to make him look strong coming out of some of those momentum stalling attacks from Gunther. Unfortunately, the crossbody block pin created more of an “Oh, that was it?” feel rather than it coming off like a hot finish that sent the message that Jey is firing on all cylinders. On the bright side, it was wild to watch the Brussels crowd sing along with Jey’s entrance theme. It was also good to see Jey fight off Gunther’s latest post match attack.

WWE Raw Misses

Iyo Sky and Bianca Belair contract signing with Rhea Ripley: I’m sure the expected Triple Threat match at WrestleMania will be fun once the bell rings, but the build is making Ripley look bad. It’s bad enough that she lost her title because she was distracted by Belair cheering for Sky at ringside, but Ripley is doubling down on this nonsense by continuing to complain about Belair being at ringside in the first place. The new bit that saw Ripley steal the contract and sign her name to it was a groaner, but at least they aren’t trying to claim that it somehow adds her to the match.

Rey Mysterio and Dragon Lee vs. Julius Creed and Brutus Creed: A repetitive match that felt like its primary purpose was filling time. Rey and Lee surprisingly haven’t shown much chemistry as a team, and there’s just nothing distinct about Lee’s generic babyface persona.

Dakota Kai vs. Ivy Nile: WWE held this same match last month as a No. 1 contenders match for a shot at the Women’s Intercontinental Title. Kai won that match and got her title shot the next week. Nile had to wait a whopping one week longer to get her shot at the title and both women came up short. So this meeting between Kai and Nile felt like a consolation match with nothing at stake. And it’s hard to label this a feud when Kai beats Nile every time they meet.