Powell’s WWE Raw Hit List: Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre, Gunther vs. Jey Uso for the Intercontinental Title, Last Chance Battle Royal for a spot in the women’s Elimination Chamber match

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

WWE Raw Hits

Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre: A PLE worthy match capped off by a truly surprising loss for Rhodes. The double interference from Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa was more than enough to protect Cody, who won’t lose any momentum. Even so, it’s a big feather in the cap for the McIntyre character to pin Cody regardless of the interference. I really like the way that Michael Cole called out McIntyre for being a hypocrite because he took advantage of The Bloodline’s interference despite his own negative history with the faction. The creative forces are doing a good job of sprinkling in some surprising match outcomes, which has helped make the show feel less predictable (aside from the highly predictable outcomes of the singles match Chamber qualifiers).

Gunther vs. Jey Uso for the Intercontinental Title: A PLE worthy main event match, albeit with a television finish. It looked like the finish was just a hair off with the referee appearing to stop his count right before Jimmy Uso actually rang the bell when Uso was on the verge of pinning Gunther. Nevertheless, it was big for Jey to come so close to beating the dominant Intercontinental Champion, and Jimmy’s interference and post match attack likely set up a WrestleMania match between the brothers.

Nia Jax attacks the Elimination Chamber entrants: Becky Lynch delivered a quality promo before the interruptions from the other Chamber match entrants started. The parade approach was formula and yet made for a quality showcase. It was encouraging to see Tiffany Stratton fit right in as opposed to standing out for any negative reasons. Jax attacking the Chamber entrants and leaving them all lying was more unexpected fun. While it may seem odd to have all of the Chamber entrants laid out by one person during go-home week, it’s hard to believe that any of them will suffer any lingering damage as a result of the angle. Meanwhile, Jax has been built up as a monster heel heading into her title match with Rhea Ripley. And while I assume Jax will lose on Saturday, the creative forces have done such a good job of building her up for this match that she should maintain that monster status even if Ripley pins her clean.

Last Chance Battle Royal for a spot in the women’s Elimination Chamber match: A pretty basic battle royal, complete with the spot of having a heel hide out at ringside and attempt to eliminate the remaining babyface. It was good to see Raquel Rodriguez return from her medical leave and be showcased with a big win. The only disappointing aspect of the match was Rodriguez winning felt predictable because they didn’t have any entrants who felt like a threat to eliminate her or to be a good fit in the Chamber match.

Damian Priest, Finn Balor, Dominik Mysterio, and JD McDonagh vs. The Miz, R-Truth, Johnny Gargano, and Tommaso Ciampa: A well received eight-man tag team match, thanks in large part to the popularity of R-Truth. I didn’t find much humor in his “Dateline” style interview segment with Jackie Redmond, but the actual match was solid and Priest received good heat for taking out Truth.

Chad Gable vs. Ivar: A good television match with Gable getting a bit of an upset win in his first Raw match since he lost to Ivar nearly a month ago.

WWE Raw Misses

None: The bookend segments were top notch and the creative team did a good job of filling the time in between with some quality matches and/or good storyline build for the Chamber event.