WWE Raw preview (June 26, 2023): Cody Rhodes can’t handle all this heat

Raw airs tonight (June 26) with a live show from EnMarket Arena in Savannah, Georgia. This is the final episode of Raw during the five week build towards Money in the Bank, which takes place this Saturday (July 1) in London, England.

Cody Rhodes can’t handle all this heat

Part-timer Brock Lesnar isn’t around this month, so Cody Rhodes is filling the time by wrestling against that little shithead Dominik Mysterio at Money in the Bank.

Rhodes might not really understand what he’s walking into here, because he was rather dismissive of Dominik last week while putting over the rest of the Judgment Day on the mic. And while it’s true that Dom is the least experienced and accomplished member of the group, that doesn’t change the fact the Mysterio is a nuclear heat magnet right now.

Cody needs to start taking Dom more seriously, especially with Rhea Ripley in Dom’s corner for their match. There’s also the lingering concern of Brock Lesnar’s eventual return. The Beast could potentially come back at any point, and that includes screwing over Rhodes in a match against Dom.

Ripley says her Latino Heat is going to beat Cody Rhodes at Money in the Bank, and there’s definitely a path for that to happen. With that in mind, WWE is advertising a Dom promo tonight ahead of the PPV match. What does he want to talk about? Will he even be able to get a word out over the non-stop booing?

The rest of the title scene

World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins was brutally attacked by Finn Balor last week, but he was still able to defend the gold against Bron Breakker the following night on NXT. Seth will update us on his condition tonight, at least if the crowd can stop singing long enough for us to hear what he has to say. Will Balor try to ambush him one more time before their title match at Money in the Bank?

Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley destroyed Natalya again last week, although this time she didn’t bother waiting for a bell for the match to officially begin. Raquel Rodriguez looked ready to step up to the champ last week, but now that Liv Morgan is back to join Raquel in challenging WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler at Money in the Bank, Rhea once again finds herself with no competition.

Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER can’t stand Matt Riddle. After the Original Bro beat Ludwig Kaiser last week, GUNTHER showed up to deliver a post-match beating that sent Riddle hobbling back to the trainers room. Is Riddle in any kind of shape to challenge for GUNTHER’s belt now, or does he need more time to recover?

WWE Tag Team Champions Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens put the belts on the line later this week on SmackDown against Pretty Deadly. Even so, WWE typically finds something for KO and Sami to do on Monday nights. They got caught up in the Judgment Day’s business last week, for example. Which heels will pick a fight with Owens and Zayn tonight?

Other stuff to keep an eye on

- There is a women’s Money in the Bank summit tonight. All six women who have qualified for the ladder match (Becky Lynch, IYO SKY, Zoey Stark, Zelina Vega, Trish Stratus, Bayley) will be in the ring, perhaps with each woman perched atop ladders of varying heights. Becky did herself no favors last week by causing a disqualification that allowed Stratus to join the MITB field. Lynch now has four clear enemies in the match, and we could get a preview of what that looks like if they all decide to target her tonight.

- Ricochet and Shinsuke Nakamura are in the men’s Money in the Bank ladder match, but they’ve had their hands full with Bronson Reed in recent weeks. Will they find a way to get this guy off their backs before this weekend’s ladder match?

- Damian Priest is also in the men’s ladder match, but he’s been doing a lot of jobs lately. That could be another sign that he’s turning babyface soon.

- Alpha Academy and the Viking Raiders have recently traded wins, while Maxxine Dupri is sitting under Master Gable’s learning tree so that she can develop the tools needed to take out Valhalla. This is not at all how I would have predicted this story going several months ago when Dupri was first trying to recruit Otis to Maximum Male Models.

- Tommaso Ciampa is back and has quickly established that he’s no longer a sidekick for The Miz. Ciampa’s return should mean more TV time for Johnny Gargano and his family.

- Is Drew McIntyre returning to WWE for their UK shows later this week? If so, will there be a teaser indicating as much tonight, or will it instead be a total surprise?

- Everything I wrote about in this preview is subject to change because Vince McMahon can’t help himself.

What will you be looking for on Raw?