WWE Raw results, highlights (Sept. 22): Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins revive rivalry for Crown Jewel

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WWE carried the Wrestlepalooza fallout to "Raw" in Evansville, Indiana, and quickly shifted focus to the upcoming Crown Jewel PLE in Perth. The event will be all about champions facing champions, which includes the world titleholders, who opened the show.

A forced revisit for the sake of promotion

Let's just call the upcoming Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins champion vs. champion clash at Crown Jewel what it is.

Listen, the longstanding friendly rivalry between the two has been incredible, and some of the best work in WWE since Rhodes returned at WrestleMania 38 — against Rollins. That was mentioned in the duo's tandem show opener segment, as Rhodes stated how Rollins changed his life not only with that moment, but their epic Hell In a Cell match before WrestleMania 40 and Rhodes' first coronation. Thanks to Rollins' development into The Vision's leader since then, Rhodes called their relationship "complicated."

Is it really complicated, though? They're literally the top two champions in the company, and each wants to prove they're the best. That was the crux of this whole promo battle. We also got a bit of a silly utilization of Rollins' reference to a watch that Rhodes gifted him, along with explaining the concept of The Vision.

Everything between these two has historically been money, and will undoubtedly continue to be. The timing is just random and purely for the sake of PLE promotion, as Rollins still has business to resolve with CM Punk — after losing to him again at Wrestlepalooza.

Rhodes calling out whether or not their next clash will be like the previous — one-on-one — was a good callout of The Vision always interfering in each other's matches. It was stamped with a reminder that Rollins hasn't beaten Rhodes. That should certainly change at Crown Jewel, to prolong and preserve this feud.

Also, Rhodes has to retire the "What do you want to talk about?" catchphrase to open promos. It's now lame and devalues the fun of its first uses.

???? Attempted Murder of the Night

It's been a while since we handed out this award, hasn't it? Yes, it technically was given out by the literal attempts of Darby Allin burning Jon Moxley alive at AEW All Out this past Saturday. But in The New Day vs. War Raiders and Penta no DQ match, Penta pinned Grayson Waller with an avalanche Mexican Destroyer.

It. Was. Brutal.

Talk about an insane spot to agree to. Hopefully, Waller didn't break his neck. He sold the absolute hell out of that. Overall, the match was good for what it was, despite the cameraman brutally botching Kofi Kingston's top-rope boom drop to Penta through a table on the outside.

???? Wholesome Moment of the Night

The "Raw" women's title scene has been weird since Naomi announced her pregnancy and relinquished the title. But not in a bad way; it's just been the standard WWE booking methodology.

New Women's World Champion Stephanie Vaquer came out to the ring and cut a promo simply to be celebrated as the new titleholder. That was it. No interference. No specific direction given. No beatdown on her father, who has been suspiciously featured as much as he has lately. (I expect he'll be used as a story point eventually.) It was pure wholesomeness, and teased Vaquer's impending match against the Women's WWE Champion at Crown Jewel.

Regardless, the seeds were planted immediately after between Vaquer, Rhea Ripley and Asuka. Give me that triple threat yesterday, WWE.

???? Gimmick Infringement of the Night

Bayley is a modern-day Festus. Real ones know.

OK, OK, not the exact same gimmick, but once Bayley snapped into her angry heel personality, she instantly won her match against Roxanne Perez. So she's weak when she's nice, and "the hugger," but borderline unbeatable when angry.

The match was harmless and served as a stepping stone for the story progression between Lyra Valkyria and Bayley. And honestly, this has made Valkyria look like the idiot Bayley proclaimed her as. She should just watch the show, and she wouldn't be confused about what's going on with Bayley.

????️ Interference of the Night

Sick. Sick. Sick. LA Knight has been officially cooked. No one should expect him to ever win again with how much he's lost and been downgraded lately.

Jey Uso beat him in their match after a distraction from The Vision. Why the ever-loving (expletive) would those dudes interfere when they won against The Usos at Wrestlepalooza with Knight as the referee? The match was fine, but ultimately, it was relegated to complete trash status, thanks to the finish. The trash label also goes to Uso's kick out of a freaking Burning Hammer. Something needs to change, man.

???? Uncrowned Gem of the Night ????

I would say Rusev vs. JD McDonagh didn't have any business to be as good as it was, but who am I kidding? These guys have been brilliant on their own lately, so it was only natural that a pairing would deliver.

Ideally, Rusev should have just walked through McDonagh. The match was too good, though. McDonagh, as one-half of the World Tag Team champions with Finn Balor, played his role as the brilliant, typically smaller high-flyer. His springboard moonsault is seriously perfect.

What made it even more perfect was the setup to all of this, which was The Judgment Day's continued dissension, as evidenced by Dominick Mysterio being bullied by Rusev backstage to start the night. From there, the Intercontinental Champion requested his faction's aid. Both Balor and McDonagh hilariously claimed to be busy. With what? Who knows. They didn't have matches — until Mysterio paired McDonagh with Rusev to solve his impending problem. Once the Accolade was locked in on McDonagh, Mysterio refrained from interfering out of fear. You love to see it.

⭐ Match of the Night

Ripley has been out of the spotlight and ring for what feels like longer than it really was, so she made sure to deliver a banger tonight. She and Asuka brought the house down in the main event slot, effectively uniting "Rhiyo."

These two are master in-ring saleswomen (I'm sticking with this term) and every move landed with high amplitude. It felt like a big deal, with the closing position it occupied, and ended with a conflicted Kairi Sane playing her role perfectly. She went to help Asuka with an interfering blow on Ripley, but her partner knocked her off the apron, and she was small packaged for the Ripley win.

The storyline broke down in the aftermath, when Asuka green misted Ripley, who was completely covered. That prompted the Iyo Sky save and the Kabuki Warriors' attack on her.

I'm glad WWE is still going in the direction of pitting these two sides against each other. Obviously, we'll get to Ripley and Vaquer eventually, but for now, she and Sky need to get through this feud with a banger match and pursue tag team gold. It's all been great so far.

???? For the most part, this "Raw" was very good, but the bad bits were heavy. I give this show a Crown score of: 7.5/10. ????