WWE Raw results, recap, grades: Cody Rhodes tells Paul Heyman he's hunting The Bloodline

Heyman failed to get his message across to Rhodes 40 days out from WrestleMania

Since this year's Royal Rumble, the dominant story in wrestling -- aside from the Vince McMahon scandal -- has been Cody Rhodes' continuing attempt to take down Roman Reigns, The Rock and The Bloodline. That story continued in the final minutes of Monday's episode of Raw, with Rhodes delivering a strong message to Bloodline advisor Paul Heyman.

Heyman appeared after Rhodes won the night's main event against Grayson Waller, telling Rhodes he needed to rescind his challenge to face The Rock any time, anywhere. Rhodes had no interest in Heyman's sly threats, making it clear once more that he is the hunter in the situation, not Rock and Reigns.

CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Sap Center in San Jose, California.

Cody Rhodes says he is hunting The Bloodline

Cody Rhodes def. Grayson Waller via pinfall with a Cross Rhodes. There wasn't too much drama to the match, but Heyman, who was seen in the background during a Waller and Austin Theory backstage interview earlier in the show, made his way out from the back after the match. Rhodes cut off Heyman, saying if it was another Bloodline ambush then they better come and get him.

Heyman assured Rhodes that he was the only member of The Bloodline in the arena. Heyman was flanked by three men who Heyman claimed were "off-duty officers" who were suspended by the NYPD. Heyman told Rhodes to "take The Rock's name out your friggin' mouth" because a match with The Rock doesn't happen at anyone's whim. The Rock, Heyman said, would not forgive Rhodes as Heyman would. Heyman then asked Rhodes to withdraw the challenge to The Rock "or else." Heyman's henchmen entered the ring and Rhodes said if one more person took a step toward him, he would take out everyone. Heyman said that didn't apply to him and tried to step in the ring, Rhodes told Heyman he was wrong and took out the "suspended NYPD officers" before telling Heyman to call The Rock and Roman Reigns because The Bloodline is not hunting him, he is hunting The Bloodline. He then nailed Heyman's henchmen with a few more chair shots before the show went off the air.

There is obvious momentum -- however strange the journey may have been -- to the second WrestleMania match between Rhodes and Reigns. Of course, Rhodes' challenge to The Rock has nearly as much attention. There is never any question what is going to happen when someone brings "security" to the ring because they're going to be used as cannon fodder. Still, there's nothing better in wrestling than sending the fans home happy and this Raw ending did exactly that. The match with Waller wasn't much of anything, but Waller has not proven that he can be someone who can deliver anything more than being "the other guy" in a bigger story. Grade: B+

What else happened on WWE Raw?

• Nia Jax attacked Becky Lynch at the top of the show. Lynch was in the ring to confront Rhea Ripley after Lynch punched her ticket to face Ripley for the women's world championship back at Elimination Chamber. Jax, who lost to Ripley at the same event, entered the ring at the end of the segment, attacking Lynch and hitting her two two leg drops before officials intervened.
• Sami Zayn def. Shinsuke Nakamura via pinfall with a Helluva Kick. Later in the show, Zayn said that the win continued to build momentum before Gunther walked by, looked at Zayn and laughed.
• Imperium def. New Day via pinfall in a street fight. The wild match concluded when Ludwig Kaiser rolled up Xavier Woods after ramming Woods into a chair suspended between the top and middle turnbuckle. Before the match, Gunther discussed his record-breaking run as intercontinental chamnpion when The Judgment Day entered the ring. Damian Priest squared up to Gunther, who said he knew the Money in the Bank briefcase holder was not going to cash in on him and wanted to know who from the group was willing to step up. Dominik Mysterio said when the group says they'll do something, they do it before Gunther shoved him. Ripley was upset with Mysterio stepping up to Gunther but Mysterio said he has everything under control.
• Chad Gable talked to Adam Pearce, suggesting he needed another shot at Gunther after Gunther brought his daughter to tears in their previous intercontinental championship match.
• Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins came face-to-face. McIntyre came to the ring to celebrate his win at Elimination Chamber, taking a few shots at CM Punk along the way. Rollins eventually came to the ring and made it clear that, while defending his world heavyweight championship against McIntyre at WrestleMania was a priority, both men -- along with everyone else in the locker room -- had a chance to end The Bloodline's constant quest for power.
• Nia Jax def. Liv Morgan via disqualification after Becky Lynch ran in to attack Jax. After the match, Morgan confronted Lynch saying, "not everything is about you."
• Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark def. Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell via submission when Baszler locked Hartwell in the Kirifuda Clutch.