SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Opening Segment – MISS: It felt like this episode of WWE Raw was a constant mix of long video packages followed by short segments of new material. That was the case with this opening segment when we got a long video of the history between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar followed by a short promo from Lesnar. The video packages are always going to be well done by WWE, but it felt like I was waiting around too much for something new to happen. When it finally happened, it was often disappointing. Lesnar was perfectly fine here. I continue to enjoy his happy cowboy character. I was very annoyed by the “What?” chants, as was Lesnar, although he handled it fairly well. The promo was ok, but it didn’t feel like a big enough moment for the Raw go home show before WrestleMania.
Miz vs. Mysterio – MISS: A 6 minute match where more than half the match takes place on a commercial break is almost always going to be a Miss. What was the point? They want us to be more excited to see the Mysterios finally get their hands on Logan Paul, but I don’t really care. Rey got his mask back already. He beat Miz. This didn’t do anything for me.
Rollins and McMahon – MISS: WWE has been telling the story of Seth Rollins trying to earn his way onto WM for several weeks, and they end that story by just having Vince McMahon decide that Rollins should be on? It was very anti-climactic. Yes, there is a hook of a mystery opponent, but they could’ve gotten there in a better way. Having McMahon interacting with Rollins here watered down his recent interaction with Austin Theory. McMahon should have only been involved with that one WM match. Rollins’ suit was on point though.
Omos – Lashley – MISS: The Viking Raiders are a dippy gimmick, but a talented team. I know that WWE is fully committed to making Omos look unstoppable, but having him beat a team like The Viking Raiders in a minute isn’t the way to go. I am happy to see Bobby Lashley back after his recent injury. It is good that he will get a WM pay day after the great work he did over the past year. But a match against Omos doesn’t do much for me. It is a let down, but at least he is on the card. The other issue is that he was a babyface here without an actual babyface turn. There is speculation that MVP will turn on him and join Omos, which has potential.
Reigns’ Promo – HIT: This was definitely better than Lesnar’s show opening promo. Reigns continues to do the best work of his career on the mic. It was fairly simple and straight forward in the way he went back in his long history with Lesnar. It wasn’t anything special, but it was good enough to get a Hit. The “what?” chants were really annoying at this point.
Kevin Owens – HIT: This was one of the best parts of this show. We did have to sit through some long videos before we got to the new content, but at least that content was good in the end. Owens continues to be one of the best talkers in WWE. The focus here was on how Stone Cold is dead, so Steve will be the one who shows up on Saturday. It sets up the idea that Austin will be out to prove that he is still Stone Cold which will be fun to watch at WM. Of course, the “what?” chants were back as Owens was leaning into it. It would have been nice if this was the only segment of the show with them.
Ricochet vs. Theory – MISS: On last week’s Smackdown, the new Intercontinental Champion lost two non-title matches to Angel Garza and Humberto Carillo. That made him look bad. Here, he lost to Austin Theory in about 2 minutes. What a weak champion. They want us to tune into Smackdown to see him defend that IC Title in a triple threat match, but why would I want to when he is such a loser? I just don’t understand how there wasn’t someone else on the roster to job to Theory here.
Belair – Lynch – HIT: This was a good go-home segment for the Raw Women’s Title match at WM. Bianca Belair was good in her promo which started off the segment. The physicality at the end with Becky Lynch attacking her and trying to cut off her braid only to have Belair turn the tables and give Becky a hair cut worked well. Becky was good afterwards in showing anger at what happened to her. This adds fuel to the fire that was already hot between them. The build has been pretty strong, but I do fear that Belair’s hair is going to play too big a role in the match.
McIntyre vs. Moss & Corbin – MISS: This was another short match that didn’t amount to anything. I don’t get what they are doing with Happy Corbin no longer finding Madcap Moss funny. I don’t care about Drew McIntyre’s sword, so Corbin stealing it didn’t do anything for me. This is definitely a match that could be cut to make WM a one night show.
Edge – Styles – HIT: This was what you wanted to hear from both Edge and AJ Styles on the go-home show. We got a cool, moody promo from Edge (I appreciated the Gordon Willis inspired cinematography) followed by an interview with Styles. They both performed well, recapping how we got to this point and building anticipation for their match at WM.
RK-Bro vs. The Usos – MISS: The wrestling action in the main event was perfectly good. Of course it was, it had Randy Orton, Matt Riddle and the Usos. The talent can’t be questioned. It was nice to see a 16 minute match after a show where the matches had lasted an average of about 4 minutes. However, about half of those 16 minutes took place during the two commercial breaks. The bigger issue is that I didn’t enjoy the wrestling action despite the quality as I was just waiting for Boogs & Nakamura to get involved. As it turns out, they didn’t get involved, but the Street Profits did. You knew it wasn’t going to have a real ending, so why get invested in the match? I also am not happy with how they are leaning into this more heelish persona for The Street Profits. This should have been Alpha Academy. The fact that they weren’t on at all suggests something might have been wrong with them. Hopefully it isn’t an injury or situation where they won’t be able to be at WM. In the end, there wasn’t even any heat on them because RK-Bro dominated them afterwards and left them laying. This wasn’t a good ending to what wasn’t a good Raw.
Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw and Smackdown each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.