This is all Cody Rhodes’ fault

Raw airs tonight (Feb. 12) with a live show from Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. This is the third episode of Raw during the four week build towards Elimination Chamber 2024, which takes place on February 24.

This is all Cody Rhodes’ fault

Cody Rhodes finally made his decision last week at the WrestleMania XL Kickoff press conference, and it resulted in The Rock slapping the taste out of his mouth. As it stands right now, Rhodes will try to finish his story at WrestleMania 40 when he challenges WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns in a rematch from last year’s event. However, The Rock is member of the TKO Board of Directors, and he may attempt to abuse his power to go over Triple H’s head and force a change to the card.

It’s largely Cody’s fault that we are in this chaotic situation, because he created mass confusion when he initially stepped aside for The Rock to seemingly take his place in the WrestleMania main event. At the time, Cody left everyone scratching their heads when he said he wasn’t going to finish his story at WrestleMania. Less than one week later, he changed his mind in Las Vegas and chose Roman Reigns as his WrestleMania opponent. If Cody just made that obvious decision right out of the gate, maybe The Rock never enters the WrestleMania equation to begin with. But Cody hesitated, and so here we are.

Rhodes is scheduled to be on Raw tonight, where he is expected to address everything that went down with The Rock and Reigns in Las Vegas. Will Cody try to make sense of his initial decision to step aside for The Rock? Or will he just focus on what comes next after The Rock slapped him in the face?

Rhodes will likely be interrupted at some point during his promo. Perhaps Drew McIntyre will show up up to mock the American Nightmare and troll CM Punk some more. Maybe it will be Seth Rollins who confronts Cody about a potential alliance on the road to WrestleMania and/or criticize him for making the wrong WrestleMania decision. Before we get to that part, though, it’s important for Cody to nail the solo portion of his promo in order to fully recover from the damage done when he inexplicably stepped aside for The Rock.

The rest of the title scene

World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins will defend the gold at WrestleMania against the winner of the men’s Elimination Chamber match. Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton have already qualified for the chamber match, with two more qualifying bouts set for tonight: Bobby Lashley vs. Bronson Reed, and LA Knight vs. Ivar. Will Karrion Kross or AJ Styles show up on Raw to screw over Bob or LA, respectively?

Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER’s celebration last week was interrupted by Jey Uso, which led to a brawl between Uso & New Day with Imperium. These six men will have an official match tonight when Jey, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods take on GUNTHER, Ludwig Kaiser, and Giovanni Vinci. If Uso pins one of GUNTHER’s underlings, will that be enough to earn an IC title match in Australia at Elimination Chamber?

Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley doesn’t have an answer yet for the irresistable force, Nia Jax. The champ is livid and wants to rip off Nia’s head, but after things got out of hand last week with WWE security unable to control it, Raw GM Adam Pearce may order Ripley and Jax to keep apart until they fight over the gold in Australia.

WWE Tag Team Champions Damian Priest and Finn Balor are scheduled to defend the belts at Elimination Chamber against the hot duo of Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate. Will The Judgment Day tune up for the title match by taking out Raw teams like The Creeds or Alpha Academy on tonight’s show?

WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Asuka and Kairi Sane might be done with Raw for a while after retaining the belts last week agaisnst former champions Katana Chance and Kayden Carter.

Other stuff to keep an eye on

– The women’s Elimination Chamber will determine who challenges for Ripley’s Women’s world championship at WrestleMania. Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair ae qualified for the match already, with Liv Morgan vs. Zoey Stark booked for tonight as the next qualifying bout. This is Morgan’s first singles match since returning from injury, which probably makes her the favorite.

– R-Truth vs. JD McDonagh is happening tonight. Truth received a massive pop when he appeared on SmackDown last week. The rest of The Judgment Day should probably pay attention to Truth’s popularity and kick that loser McDonagh to the curb instead.

– Sami Zayn is struggling to gain momentum on the road to WrestleMania. Which heel will rub that in his face tonight?

– Andrade has yet to make an impact since recently joining the Raw roster. Will a mid-carder like Ricochet be the first one to put him over?

– By the end of tonight, will Bron Breakker or Jade Cargill get any closer to making a decision on which brand they want to sign with?

– What’s next for Shinsuke Nakamura after losing another match to Cody Rhodes?

– Where the f*** is Omos?

What will you be looking for on Raw?