WWE RAW 2/5/2024: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show that gives us absolutely no insight into the potential WrestleMania 40 card and frankly we were silly for thinking it would! We have some thoughts about all things Mania this week, so get ready for that, but we'll cover some other things from the show, as well. That said, "Raw" is still three hours long, so the only place you're going to find a truly comprehensive breakdown of the show is on our live coverage/results page. We don't have enough feelings for all that.

And only the strongest of feelings, either positive or negative, can earn you a spot in this column. These are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 2/5/24 episode of "WWE Raw."

So often in WWE, segments are overproduced, elaborate, involve many people, and/or take up more time than they need to. If we're being honest, the same can probably be said for the wrestling business as a whole. However, this segment between Rhea Ripley and Nia Jax shows what can happen when you keep things simple and straight to the point.

For one, Ripley wasted no time calling Jax out to the ring, and Adam Pearce wasted no time making his way out to try and keep any physical altercation from taking place. Usually, Ripley would spend at least a couple minutes talking about herself or the Elimination Chamber, but it was refreshing to not have her do so. Despite Pearce's presence, Jax still appeared and pushed past Pearce. She didn't even have to say anything because her actions did the talking for her, and it saved WWE from having yet another verbal exchange between the two for the millionth week in a row.

I'd love to see more segments of this nature in the future, and see this change of pace more on the weekly shows to break up the pattern that many promos seem to share.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

Heading into Monday's "Raw," all I really wanted was a little bit of clarity. Just where in the hell are we going for WrestleMania following the events from Friday on "SmackDown" anyway? While we didn't get that, exactly, maybe the door is being opened ever-so-slightly for something other than Rock/Roman and Cody/Seth on consecutive nights. But that's not what I'm here for today. I'm here to hate on the clarity I DID get tonight but I NEEDED last week.

The promo showdown between Cody Rhodes and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth "Freakin'" Rollins last week started this whole mess when Rollins effectively begged Rhodes to challenge for his title and not the one belonging to his old pal Roman Reigns. I've probably railed on this before — and many of you have told or will tell me in turn, "It's because he wants to be 'the workhorse' champion, blah, blah, blah." — but I just have never understood the whole, "No, don't fight that guy. Fight me instead!" thing. If I'm in this mix, and you want to fight the other guy, have at it. I'll be over here eating popcorn. Go get 'em, Tiger! All Seth needed to say last week to get my buy-in, and presumably that of the hoards of fellow geniuses who surely agree, was that he wasn't sure if he can beat Cody and he simply needed to know.

Since Rhodes' return at WrestleMania 38, he has recorded not just the one, not two, but three wins over Rollins, all in upper echelon-profile matches. Rollins simply has to want to exorcize that demon. And if that's the "Why?" we have no further questions, your honor — as in an "honorable" man such as Cody, who could then acquiesce to such a challenge, put Reigns and "the story" on the back burner, let WWE do whatever they want with Reigns/Rock/Rick/Jack/Jock/whomever and pull the trigger on Cody as "the guy" whenever else. And since Rollins did mention that desire to beat Rhodes as a motivating factor, like it or not (I happen to not, but whatever), Seth and Cody one more time isn't a total loss (though I no longer think that'll be the end result).

No matter how you look at it, it shouldn't have taken a full week for one simple line from a character is surely thinking it deep down, and has been all this time. Swing and a miss.

Written by Jon Jordan

Long gone are the days of Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa running "NXT." from their run as tag team champions to the bitter rivalry that saw some of the greatest "NXT" TakeOver matches. DIY has been chasing that magic on the main roster, but haven't really been able to find it. That's partially because it took far too long for them to reunite.

Monday night, they faced a mix of veterans and up-and-comers in a fourway against New Day, Imperium, and the Creed Brothers. Gargano and Ciampa showed why they were long considered one of the best tag teams in wrestling. They have incredible chemistry and work seamlessly together. It was enough to pick up the win, and it was a big win for them to hopefully shift their momentum. It was also a win for fans of the "Black and Gold" era of NXT who have been waiting for DIY to regain their former glory.

They'll be heading to "SmackDown" this Friday night to face another excellent tag team, Tyler Bate and Peter Dunne, which should be a banger. Hopefully, this win will put DIY back on track and they'll start making a difference in the tag team division.

Written by Samantha Schipman

Hello, Wrestling Inc.'s resident Sami Zayn Fan here, writing in once again to complain that Sami wasn't on the show as much as he should have been this week. I know, shocking. And the funny thing is, I actually really liked his interview segment in the stands. It was nice to see Zayn look back on his career highlights from early 2023 and remind both himself and us that he's a main eventer and world title contender, all while continuing his feud with Drew McIntyre. It was really good stuff. I just thought it should have been reinforced in the show proper.

For example, while it's all well and good to have Sami talk about being a contender, he's not actually a contender if he's not in the ring mixing it up with the champion and the other people vying for a WrestleMania world title match. If he's in the World Heavyweight Championship picture and he's feuding with Drew McIntyre, why wasn't he out there for the segment involving the World Heavyweight Champion and Drew McIntyre? Why wasn't he involved at the end of the show, when McIntyre attacked Cody Rhodes? The interview segment appeared to be in the same building prior to the event; you're trying to tell me Sami Zayn, of all people, would just let his current rival go out there and beat up a guy who's been established as his friend? (To be fair, he actually did go out there and make the save, it just happened after the show went off the air).

I swear, this isn't my personal fandom talking, or at least not just that. There was every narrative reason in the world to have Sami out there for either the show-opening or show-closing angle, and no clear reason for his absence, unless they just ran out of time. WWE has been struggling with narrative cohesion lately, and I really hope they start getting their s*** together by the time Mania rolls around.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

It's fair to assume that nearly all of us, no matter your allegiances or favorites, could appreciate what Drew McIntyre did for WWE as champion during the pandemic and even empathize every time he expressed (and oh wow was it time and time again) sadness or a lack of fulfillment from never getting his run as a champion in front of fans. But 6'5" 260+ Drew McIntyre is not to be whining for long. It was time to move on from that and move on he did, not by completely abandoning that narrative, but by kicking it right in the stones and channeling the anger toward what's become an outstanding heel turn.

Heel Drew is unrelenting. His recent penchant for attacking those "not medically cleared to compete," namely CM Punk and Seth Rollins, in consecutive weeks, drawing the ire of "Raw" GM Adam Pearce, sure, but keeping himself at the forefront of key storylines in doing so.

Heel Drew is vicious. "The Scottish Psychopath" nickname works wonderfully with this twist on his persona, and both the Future Shock DDT and the Claymore are impactful enough as finishing maneuvers to put guys on the shelf, in real life and/or in storyline.

Heel Drew is believable. Of course this guy has an axe to grind! He's long since paid his dues, well-chronicled as leaving WWE, returning, conquering NXT, then doing the same back on the main roster and yet still doesn't get his flowers as deserved, and has been screwed out of regaining a title on multiple occasions to boot.

Heel Drew is hilarious! The shirt "he commissioned," now available at wweshop.com (no, for real), mocking Punk's WrestleMania dreams being buried at his hands via the injury he sustained at the Royal Rumble, is just the perfect level of petty. And intimating to Rollins that he did so "for us" is an added bonus.

Heel Drew is simply the best Drew, far and away. Here's hoping he sticks around for a long time to come.

Written by Jon Jordan

Ever since Cody Rhodes stepped aside to allow The Rock to seemingly face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40, fans and media have weighed in. Fans had #WeWantCody trending all weekend. Some "fans" have taken it too far by sending death threats to The Rock's daughter, "NXT" General Manager, Ava. There have been rumors that WWE wants to turn the fans' outrage into the new "Yes!" movement. The problem with that is that the "Yes!" movement was organic.

During tonight's opening segment, Seth Rollins nudged the crowd by mentioning what went down on "SmackDown", to which they responded with "We Want Cody" chants. Some fans held up "We Want Cody" signs that looked the same and appeared to be coordinated. There have been discrepancies online about whether fans passed out those signs or if it was from within WWE. Regardless, it felt forced.

Throughout the evening, commentary kept emphasizing that The Rock vs. Roman Reigns has yet to be made official. Between that and the opening segment of "Raw," it feels like WWE has no clue what they're doing. They're also hinting at Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre now — is this match going to be at Mania or Elimination Chamber? Do they even know?

It's hard to "let it play out" when it feels like WWE is playing it by ear. They seemed to realize that fans want Rhodes vs. Reigns at WrestleMania and Rock vs. Reigns anywhere else. Will they try to course correct and have a triple threat match at Mania to give Rhodes his main event match? Is McIntyre vs. Rhodes a back up plan in case Rollins isn't cleared to wrestle at "The Show of Shows"? They better figure it out soon, or this is going to get even messier.

Written by Samantha Schipman