WWE Raw live results: Cody Rhodes vs. Nakamura bull rope match
Date: February 5, 2024
Location: Enterprise Center in St. Louis, MO
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Show Recap —
(In the poor timing department, the show that aired before Raw on Sportsnet in Canada had Vince McMahon all over it. Mick Foley surprised him in his office in character as Mankind along with Stephanie. They both spoke very highly of Vince throughout.)
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There was a recap of the Cody Rhodes, Rock, and Roman Reigns segment on Smackdown.
Seth Rollins entered to a strong reaction. Michael Cole noted that he was still not medically cleared to compete.
Rollins was in a good mood. He mentioned what happened on Smackdown and the crowd chanted for Cody Rhodes.
Rolins called out Rhodes and Rhodes entered. There were “We Want Cody” signs and Cole mentioned the online reaction since Friday.
Rhodes asked what they wanted to talk about and there was a “Rocky sucks” chant (not overwhelmingly loud). Cole asked if it was 1996 again and Rollins acted surprised by the chant.
Rollins understood what Rhodes was going through but he needed an answer. Rollins called his belt the most prestigious in the industry and that drew some boos. Rollins said he needed the match against Rhodes as much as Rhodes did.
Rollins wanted to know that he was better than he was the last time they wrestled. Rollins wanted to know if he was the best and needed to test himself against the best and that was Rhodes. Rollins asked if he would fight him at WrestleMania. People booed.
Drew McIntyre interrupted. McIntyre wondered how they screwed everything up. He said he and Rollins were supposed to have a segment tonight setting up a title match at WrestleMania. McIntyre sarcastically told Rhodes that he needed to finish his story. McIntyre told Rhodes not to let down his family and fans. McIntyre told him not to let his dad down.
Rollins told McIntyre not to be a prick. Rollins also said there was no reason for McIntyre to think he’d be his challenger if Rhodes didn’t accept because he already beat him. McIntyre reminded Rollins how many times he lost to Rhodes.
McIntyre said nobody wanted to fight Roman Reigns anymore because we already knew the finish — his family would interfere to help him.
McIntyre put over the work Rollins has done as champion but said it was someone to take the title from him. McIntyre headbutted Rollins so Rhodes chucked McIntyre from the ring.
The segment ended without Rhodes giving an answer.
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Fatal four-way tag team match: Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa defeated Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods and The Creed Brothers (17:36)
The match picked up after a break once Woods made a hot tag and ran wild until Gargano cut him off with a slingshot spear. DIY hit dives on the Creed Brothers before Gargano hit Imperium with a suicide dive. Julius Creed wiped out a bunch of guys with a flip dive. As everyone brawled outside the ring, Ciampa gave Woods an insane White Noise off the ropes into everyone. (This led to a second commercial break just nine minutes into the match.)
There was a tower of doom spot where New Day brought down Imperium and Ciampa with powerbombs. Brutus hit Kaiser with a moonsault but the cover was broken up. Everyone traded moves (including Kingston using the fameasser) until Brutus put Vinci in an ankle lock. Julius handed out suplexes to everyone who tried breaking up the hold and did a double Northern Lights. DIY finally did break up the ankle lock.
Brutus wiped out a bunch of guys with a Brutus ball before hitting one on Vinci in the ring. DIY broke up the cover and hit Vinci with Meet in the Middle for the pinfall win. (Gargano initially made the cover but Ciampa quickly shoved him off and made the cover instead because Gargano wasn’t the legal man.)
Gargano and Ciampa will face Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate.
This was a fun match.
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Shayna Baszler said she would tear Becky Lynch apart limb by limb.
Lynch said she would beat Baszler tonight because her future was on the line.
Elimination Chamber qualifier: Becky Lynch defeated Shayna Baszler (12:42)
Baszler stomped Lynch’s hand into the steel steps and they went to break. Lynch fought back after the break (while still selling her hand) but Baszler caught her with a German suplex and sliding knee for two. Lynch responded with a missile dropkick for two.
[SECOND HOUR]
Baszler blocked a Disarmer and hit a knee strike for two. Baszler blocked a Man-handle Slam and applied an ankle lock. Lynch got out of it but Baszler went back after the arm. Lynch fought back and hit a superplex. Lynch tried transitioning into an armbar but Baszler blocked it and hit a gutwrench slam for two.
They slapped each other back and forth until Baszler tried the Kirifuda Clutch. They traded counters until Lynch hit the Man-handle Slam for the pinfall win. (The crowd liked Lynch but was relatively quiet for the match.)
Cole said Lynch would be in the Elimination Chamber for the first time.
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Cathy Kelley interviewed Liv Morgan. Morgan said she had almost a year taken away from her and that was a very long time. Morgan said next week would be about her revenge on Rhea Ripley.
They showed the clip of Shinsuke Nakamura spraying (spitting) mist in Rhodes’ face at a house show over the weekend.
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Backstage, Adam Pearce admonished McIntyre for attacking CM Punk (last week) and Rollins who were both already injured. Pearce fined him.
It seemed like Pearce had more to say but Rhea Ripley’s music hit and she entered the ring. McIntyre called her a real leader and told Pearce he should probably go do his job.
Rhea Ripley segment
Ripley was pissed and didn’t care about Elimination Chamber because she wanted Nia Jax right now so she could rip her bloody head off. Pearce marched out and said this was not the time. Pearce booked her in a title match against Jax at Elimination Chamber. The crowd booed but Ripley was happy.
Pearce asked her to leave but Jax marched out. Jax shoved Pearce out of the way and brawled with Ripley until security ran out to separate them. As they held back Ripley, Jax knocked her down and tossed aside security. Jax hit Ripley with the Annihilator.
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They showed some media reactions to the Rock’s Smackdown segment.
Mixed tag match: Ivar & Valhalla defeated Akira Tozawa & Maxxine Dupri (2:03)
Tozawa tried a sunset flip powerbomb but Ivar blocked it. Ivar hoisted him up easily with one hand and hit the World’s Strongest Slam from the middle rope for the pinfall win.
It’s not her fault of course but they gave Dupri too much to do and she couldn’t pull it off. The crowd used to pop when she said “Thank you” but she did it here after botching a move and they were silent.
(Dupri and Tozawa spent more time standing in the ring before the match than they did wrestling.)
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Finn Bálor and Damain Priest agreed that it didn’t matter who they were facing next for the tag titles. Priest told JD McDonagh that he should handle Miz tonight.
Truth showed up and acted friendly as if nothing happened last week. He figured the beatdown was just an initiation (again). McDonagh said Truth was lucky he had a match right now. McDonagh left with Dominik. Bálor was frustrated so he left too. Priest shrugged it off and told Truth to make himself at home. The crowd cheered for that.
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The Miz defeated JD McDonagh (w/Dominik Mysterio) (9:47)
McDonagh took control with help from Dom ahead of a break. Truth entered after the break to wake up the crowd. He tossed Judgment Day t-shirts into the crowd which distracted McDonagh. The fans were all watching Truth as Miz made his comeback in the ring.
As Dom leaned against the barricade, Truth popped up behind him and put a shirt over him. Dom couldn’t move his arms in the shirt so Miz booted him.
Truth handed McDonagh a wad of cash and McDonagh gladly accepted. Miz used the distraction to hit Skull Crushing Finale (and the cash went flying) for the pinfall win. (Miz made sure to turn McDonagh to face the hard cam as he did his finisher but, funny enough, they weren’t even using that camera angle. )
Truth collected as much of the money as he could and posed with Miz on the stage.
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Vinci and Kaiser (now wearing suits) pestered Pearce because they wanted Gunther’s celebration to be perfect. He assured him that it would be.
Bron Breakker appeared and the crowd popped. Imperium left. Pearce explained his contract offer to Bron as they went to break.
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There was video of Punk following his surgery. He said his comeback would be the greatest of all time.
[THIRD HOUR]
Gunther’s Intercontinental Championship Celebration
Kaiser introduced Gunther. The ring was dressed in a black carpet with four pillars. All three men wore all-black suits.
Gunther appreciated the celebration but he didn’t want celebrations anymore. It was a given that he would get to 700 and 800 and 900 days and he would go down as the greatest IC champion ever. Gunther said there was no more competition.
Jey Uso entered to a big reaction. Gunther mocked the fans doing his pose and called it a simple gesture for a simple audience. Gunther said he eliminated Jey from the Royal Rumble match and was sensing some disrespect from him now.
Jey meant no disrespect. Jey put over Gunther as the crowd yelled “Yeet.” Gunther appreciated the kind words and put over Jey as one of the greatest tag team wrestlers ever. The Usos were the longest-reigning tag champions ever and Jey only had to put in 50% of the work for it. Gunther achieved his accomplishment on his own.
Jey said Gunther was about to get 100% of this work. Jey said he would win singles gold in 2024 and told the crowd to say “Yeet” if they wanted him to be the next IC champion. They said Yeet.
Gunther said it only took Jey 15 years to develop the guts to step up on his own. Jey wasn’t the first to try to ride his coattails. Gunther would beat him worse than his family ever could and Jey would go back to the days of people not being able to tell him and his brother apart.
Gunther shoved Jey so Jey tackled Gunther. Kaiser and VInci swarmed Jey so New Day ran out to make the save.
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There was a Shinsuke Nakamura video promo. He said he would beat Rhodes in the match his family made famous.
(It was hard to take this seriously after he’s already lost repeatedly to Rhodes.)
There was a WrestleMania commercial. The video ended with a clip of Rhodes pointing at the sign followed by the face-off with Rock and Reigns.
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Asuka & Kairi Sane defeated Kayden Carter & Katana Chance to retain the Women’s Tag Team Championships (9:50)
Chance wiped out the champs with a dive before a break but Cole let us know that Asuka and Sane dominated through the break. Sane went for some sort of splash off the top but Carter was never in position and Sane completely missed. Chance tagged in and hit a double foot stomp for two.
Carter and Chance hit Asuka with After Party but Sane (barely) broke up the cover. They set up for Keg Stand but Sane tripped Carter and shoved her into the steps. Asuka kicked Chance in the head and Sane hit the Insane Elbow for the pinfall.
(This wasn’t much of a match and the crowd was dead silent for it.)
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Redmond sat down with Sami Zayn for an interview before the show. Zayn spoke about coming up short against Roman Reigns in Montreal. Triple H pulled him aside and told him he had nothing to be ashamed of. Triple H compared him to Rocky and Zayn said he would give it everything in the ring. He wasn’t an underdog anymore, he was a contender and a contender who would be champion.
Zayn did still have something to prove but he wanted to prove it to the fans. He wanted to prove them right.
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Next week on Raw:
- Gunther, Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci vs. Jey Uso, Kofi Kingsotn & Xavier Woods
- R-Truth vs. JD McDonagh
- Liv Morgan vs. Zoey Stark (Elimination Chamber qualifier)
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(They repeatedly plugged the WrestleMania press conference on Thursday and Pat McAfee teased there would be big news.)
Bull Rope Match: Cody Rhodes defeated Shinsuke Nakamura (16:50)
They went to break 50 seconds into the match. Rhodes used the rope to yank Nakamura repeatedly into the ring post. Rhodes went for a springboard move but Nakamura yanked him down with the rope. Nakamura was in control until Rhodes kicked his leg out of his leg and applied a figure four but Nakamura hit him with the rope’s cowbell to break it up.
After another break (nine minutes into the match), Rhodes hit a powerslam and Disaster kick for two. Nakamura hit a sliding German suplex but Rhodes came back with a Cody Cutter. Rhodes hit jabs and a bionic elbow but Nakamura hit a spinning kick and inverted exploder. Rhodes responded with a Pedigree for two.
Rhodes went to hit Nakamura with the cowbell but Nakamura misted him. Rhodes fought him off anyway and hit a Cross Rhodes but Nakamura kicked out.
Nakamura used the cowbell as a weapon but Rhodes blocked a Kinshasa and used the rope to low blow Nakamura. Rhodes emphatically hit another Cross Rhodes for the pinfall win. The last few moments were good.
— McIntyre attacked Rhodes from behind and laid him out with a Claymore Kick.