WWE Raw results, recap, grades: Cody Rhodes fires back at The Rock, agrees to meet Roman Reigns one-on-one

Rhodes made an uneasy agreement with The Bloodline while Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre continued their mental chess game

As WrestleMania draws ever nearer, Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, The Rock, Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre are all involved in a complex dance. Every move each man makes has ripple effects on the others and the overall world championship scene in WWE.

That dance continued on Monday night, without a single punch being thrown. Instead, Cody Rhodes was offered a potentially dangerous deal by Reigns' "wise man," Paul Heyman, while Rollins and McIntyre came face-to-face and continued to attempt to bait one another with verbal barbs.

With just weeks to go before WrestleMania 40 goes down in Philadelphia, the tension is building for what could prove to be one of the most memorable nights in WWE history.

CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the Raw action from PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina.

WrestleMania main eventers continue the build to their championship matches

Cody Rhodes cut a promo in the middle of the show, addressing his ongoing issues with Roman Reigns and The Rock ahead of WrestleMania 40. During the promo, Rhodes questioned whether The Rock would actually be able to bring "The Great One" out, or if he'll be unable to perform after so many years out of action. He also dug into Johnson's insecurities and how the company's recent success and the "#WeWantCody" movement proved the WWE was doing just fine without him. Paul Heyman eventually arrived to cut Rhodes off, offering Rhodes the opportunity to confront Reigns at SmackDown on Friday, with Reigns' guarantee that there will be no other members of The Bloodline present other than Heyman. After Rhodes accepted, Heyman made it clear the deal was contingent on Rhodes also guaranteeing he would show up alone. Rhodes again accepted the terms before shaking Heyman's hand.

Later in the show, the competitors in WrestleMania's other men's world title match shared the ring when Seth Rollins interrupted Drew McIntyre as McIntyre was making his entrance. McIntyre again vowed to win the world heavyweight championship, saying that, no matter what happens to Rollins when he teams with Rhodes against Rock and Reigns on Night 1 of WrestleMania, he will get his shot at the title even if he has to drag Rollins' body to the ring to make it happen. Rollins ultimately told McIntyre that he would retain his championship because McIntyre can't handle the brightest lights, having only won the title at WrestleMania in 2020 in an empty warehouse and fading away when the crowds and bright lights returned.

If there is one time of year fans can expect WWE to hit the right notes in their stories, it's WrestleMania season. WWE is certainly doing that this year, putting Rhodes and Rollins in a massive match on Night 1, knowing that what happens there has a profound impact on their title matches on Night 2. For Rhodes, that means knowing he could be facing a massive disadvantage if his match with Reigns is held under "Bloodline Rules," while Rollins is already dealing with a plethora of injuries and could be even more compromised as he faces a dangerous challenger in McIntyre. Monday was about continuing to add meat to those story beats and it delivered. Grade: B+

What else happened on WWE Raw?

• Jey and Jimmy Uso came face-to-face to open the show. Eventually, they came to blows, with Solo Sikoa turning the odds in Jimmy's favor until Cody Rhodes ran in to make the save and help send Jimmy and Sikoa packing.
• WrestleMania Tag Team Title Qualifying match: #DIY def. The Creed Brothers via pinfall after a series of roll-ups.
• The Judgment Day continued to attempt to recruit Andrade while also paying attention to the tag team title qualifiers that were happening throughout the show. Also, Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley ran down JD McDonagh's failure to win the gauntlet match the previous Monday.
• Indi Hartwell & Candice LeRae def. Kayden Carter & Katana Chance via submission when LeRae gleefully locked in a half-crab on an injured Chance to Hartwell's dismay.
• Ricochet def. Dominik Mysterio via pinfall despite repeated outside interference from JD McDonagh. The match was set up when Judgment Day wanted Mysterio to finish the job McDonagh didn't against Ricochet in the previous week's gauntlet match.
• Gunther and Sami Zayn signed their WrestleMania contract. Before the segment, Zayn ran into Chad Gable backstage. Gable, still upset over losing to Zayn in the finals of the gauntlet match, told Zayn that Zayn won't be able to beat Gunther. Gunther echoed those statements during the contract signing, saying that Zayn didn't truly believe he can win at WrestleMania. Zayn closed things out by telling Gunther to look inro his eyes and realize he will be the man to end the record-breaking intercontinental championship reign. Gable approached Zayn again later in the show, saying if Zayn doesn't change his mentality, he won't be able to beat Gunther.
• WrestleMania Tag Team Title Qualifying match: Awesome Truth def. Indus Sher via pinfall when R-Truth was elbowed and fell backward into scoring the winning pinfall.
• WrestleMania Tag Team Title Qualifying match: The New Day def. Alpha Academy via pinfall when Xavier Woods hit the top rope walking elbow drop on Akira Tozawa to secure the final Raw spot in the six-pack ladder match.
• Becky Lynch def. Nia Jax in a Last Woman Standing Match. After several big moves from both women, Lynch was finally able to get the win after first a Manhandle Slam from the ring apron through a table outside the ring and then a leg drop from the top of a ladder onto Jax as Jax leaned on the commentary desk. After the match, Rhea Ripley came to the ring to end the show with a staredown with her WrestleMania opponent.