Cody Rhodes completed his story and defeated Roman Reigns at WWE WrestleMania 40.
Credit: WWE.com
Following WrestleMania 40, WWE Raw aired a celebratory commercial for Cody Rhodes after finishing his story in the greatest WrestleMania main event of all time.
Raw also advertised a Fatal 4-Way Elimination match between Ricochet, Bronson Reed, Jey Uso and Drew McIntyre. The winner will become the number 1 contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Last week’s broadcast of WWE Raw received 1.784 million viewers.
WWE Raw results on April 8, 2024
- Ilja Dragunov def. shinsuke nakamura
- The Awesome Truth and John Cena def. judgment day
- Roxanne Perez def. indie hartwell
- Sami Zayn and Chad Gable def. imperialism
- Z Kargil def. chelsea green
- Jey Uso def. Ricochet, Drew McIntyre & Bronson Reed | Number 1 contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
wwe raw ratings
- April 1, 2024 | 1.784 million
- 25 March 2024 | 1.729 million
- 18 March 2024 | 1.790 million
- March 11, 2024 | 1.751 million
- 4 March 2024 | 1.649 million
wwe raw ticket sales
- WWE Raw Venue: Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia, Penn.)
- WWE Raw Tickets Distributed: 20,248
- WWE Raw Tickets Available: 0
CM Punk Vs. Jack Perry and AEW | pwb
wwe raw winners and grades
Triple H and Cody Rhodes debut on WWE Raw
Michael Cole announced that WWE’s televised sellout streak (now standing at 17 years) would continue with an announced attendance of 20,248 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Penn.
The stage was very narrow, unlike the giant screens usually seen on WWE Raw. The building was expected to hold more people than it had since WrestleMania 40.
The fans cheered, chanting “Triple H” and “Thank you Hunter” before Triple H could say a word.
Triple H thanked the crowd and acknowledged that last night was the biggest WrestleMania ever and the biggest WrestleMania ever.
Cody received an overwhelming response, with inevitable chants of “you deserve it”. Hunter confirmed that WWE did not have its usual stage because it wanted to include more people in the building. They then aired a beautiful video package dedicated to Rhodes’ story, created by “Rise Up” by Andra Day. Rhodes immediately became emotional.
Rhodes addressed Samantha Irwin, who tearfully announced Cody’s big win at ringside last night. The fans chanted “Samantha” as they again announced Rhodes as the new undisputed WWE Champion.
A reference to Roman Reigns led to chants of “Thanks Roman”.
“Dad, finish the story,” Rhodes said, showing a clip of his daughter Liberty.
The Rock stops Cody Rhodes
The unwanted, undisputed and undisputed Cody Rhodes was interrupted by The Rock, whose music now includes the roar of a Brahma bull.
Fans in Philly chanted “Rocky sucks!” This enraged The Rock with chants of. “Undertaker” and “Shut the f—-k up!”
Pat McAfee played the role of heel commentator as he supported The Rock over the Philadelphia fans.
The Rock responded to the negative chants by recalling the line he used when he first became a heel: “The Rock is a lot of things, but Useless is not one of them.,
The Rock continued to fight the crowd, even to the point where Dwayne had to censor some of his insults.
The Rock congratulated Cody, insisting that his People’s Championship is real and affectionately asked Cody if The Rock could hold the belt. After all, Rocky never held the undisputed WWE Championship.
Cody was forced to oblige as The Rock retained the WWE Championship while Cody retained the People’s Championship. Fans chanted “This is weird.”
Rock said he had to leave for a while, and chanted “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye”. The Rock finished by saying that when he comes back he is coming for Rhodes. Rhodes said he is looking forward to it.
Rock places something in Cody’s hand and tells Cody to never break his heart again. The plot thickens and the story continues. This segment lasted for about an hour.
Initial Section Grade: A
Ilja Dragunov def. shinsuke nakamura
Ilja Dragunov was the first surprise debut of the night. Fans went crazy about it. After a few years of disappointing Raw After Mania shows, this show took on a vintage Raw After Mania feel.
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XT
Champion Dragunov dominated early before Shinsuke came back, but Ilja fired back and eliminated Nakamura with an H Bomb and Torpedo Moscow (Flying Headbutt).
Ilja Dragunov vs. Shinsuke Nakamura Grade: B
The Awesome Truth and John Cena def. judgment day
Damian Priest (“You deserve it!”) already has new theme music. Judgment Day brought out Ripley and Priest in person for the celebration. As they extended their title reign, R-Truth appeared from nowhere and joined them, extending their WWE Raw Tag Team Championship.
Finn Balor challenged R-Truth to a tag team title match. Truth responded by challenging them to a six-man tag match at Judgment Day between Miz, Truth and “The Guy You Can’t See”. Miz assumed it was Lil Jimmy. The crowd assumed it was John Cena.
When WWE Raw returned from the break, the match was a two-on-three handicap match (for now).
Pat McAfee called Dominic a dude wipe after you wiped him.
At the end of the match, John Cena hit a loud pop in the ring and the three-man team at Judgment Day hit the triple “You Can’t See Me” (15 Knuckle Shuffle). This is already the best Raw After Mania in years.
Awesome Truth and Cena vs. Judgment Day Grade: A
Roxanne Perez def. indie hartwell
Liv Morgan attacked Rhea Ripley backstage, and Morgan’s revenge tour could legitimately end with Morgan beating up Ripley. For what it’s worth, Morgan is the last person to pin Rhea.
Roxanne Perez was the second NXT Superstar to appear on the main roster. Michael Cole really forgot about his new heel turn, his current NXT storyline, and the fact that he was trained by Booker T.
Indi Hartwell argued with Candice LeRae after Candice forced Hartwell to cheat. This led to Roxy hitting Pop Rocks for the win.
Backstage, Perez and Natalie had a segment to promote tomorrow’s WWE NXT.
Roxanne Perez vs. Indi Hartwell Grade: B-
Sami Zayn and Chad Gable def. imperialism
Sami Zayn cut a great heartfelt promo thanking his fans, friends and family for supporting him during his historic defeat to Gunter.
Imperium (Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci) stopped Sami, but Gable came to Sami’s aid, setting up a tag team match.
It’s funny that Gable is considered Zayn’s mentor, even though Zayn is a year older than him.
It continued to feel like an old Raw After Mania as fans were yelling “We want the beach ball.”
The babyface comeback was an amazing battle between two of the best babyfaces in WWE, ending with Gable winning the match with Chaos Theory. Sadly, I feel like it’s only a matter of time before Gable turns on Zayn. This could happen as early as next week in Montreal – when the two will face off in an IC Title match.
Sheamus is set to return to WWE, which is great news for WWE and Pat McAfee.
Sami Zayn & Chad Gable vs. Imperium Grade: B
Z Kargil def. chelsea green
After not getting a WrestleMania moment, Chelsea Green wanted her own moment. Raw and SmackDown GM’s Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis sent him to the ring to face a surprise opponent, which was Jade Cargill.
Jade Cargill won this squash match with a pump kick and was greeted by fans chanting “You f–ked up!” Jade won after chanting.
Jade Cargill vs Chelsea Green Grade: B
Jey Uso def. Drew McIntyre, Bronson Reed and Ricochet
Drew McIntyre called Damian Priest the “Bondage Undertaker” in contrast to the nickname “Bisexual Undertaker” used by Twitter. McIntyre then said that he wanted Priest’s ass “but he’d probably like it.”
A hot McIntyre, showing colors Bret Hart’s heel turn Inside the Blue Cage in 1997, CM Punk was called a prick.
Pat McAfee stood on the table and danced to Jey’s entrance, but McIntyre angrily chased him out of the ring for leaving the ring. Michael Cole, who tried to ask McAfee to sit down, confirmed that McAfee ran backwards out of fear of McIntyre during the commercial break.
Michael Cole announced it as an Elimination Fatal 4-Way match, but it proved to be a letdown in the end.
Maidana attacked McIntyre with a series of superkicks, including a triple superkick.
The last minutes of this match were like an AEW match, in which spots were seen one after the other in short overs. And it’s really over.
Ricochet achieved a spectacular feat when he hit a Springboard 450 Splash on Bronson Reed through an announce table. Of course, he apologized to his fiancée Samantha Irwin before doing so.
Jey Uso and McIntyre were the last two fighters left in the match. CM Punk made a surprise appearance and grabbed McIntyre’s leg, opening the door for Jey Uso’s victory.
