WWE RAW HITS & MISSES 2/20: Edge and Theory hit in main event, Lashley misses, more

Zayn – Owens – HIT: I assumed WWE would pull the trigger at Elimination Chamber and fully put the heat onto the Usos to make it clear that Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens would team up to face them at WrestleMania. But, they are continuing to tell a longer story which so far has worked well. This is a very long story, so why rush to the end? So, it also makes sense that Owens would jump at the opportunity of working with Zayn to take on the Bloodline. The mic work from both Zayn and Owens was very strong here as is to be expected. I continue to look forward to the rest of this story.

Zayn vs. Corbin – HIT: This is a minor Hit for a pretty good match. At the end of the opening segment, Baron Corbin attacked Zayn to set it up. Corbin has been a joke lately, so seeing him get so much offense in against Zayn doesn’t make a lot of sense at first. But when I thought about how Zayn was already in rough shape after EC, and the pre-match attack, it was fine in this instance. I like building up the Helluva Kick this way where he hit it out of nowhere for the sudden win.

Ripley & Dominik – HIT: I continue to be a much bigger fan of the Rhea Ripley / Dominik Mysterio part of Judgement Day than the Finn Balor vs. Edge part. This was a good sit down interview to build anticipation for Ripley being on Smackdown this Friday to confront Charlotte Flair whom she will face for the Smackdown Women’s Title at WM. The fact that Dominik will be there too is the icing on the cake.

Rhodes – Heyman – MISS: This was the first big Miss with Cody Rhodes since his return. Paul Heyman can be great as Roman Reigns’ mouthpiece on Raw when Reigns isn’t on (but Reigns has to be on some in the next 5 weeks). But, his whole promo about how Rhodes is not ready to be WWE Champion because of the time commitment fell totally flat. So Rhodes can’t beat Reigns, because he is worried that he will have to be away from his family for too long? It was weak. Rhodes had to stand in the ring way too long just listening which made him look bad. Then he didn’t have much to say for himself. At least he got what sounded like a strong babyface reaction throughout. If the Canadian fans didn’t turn on him two days after EC, there is strong hope that he will continue to get the desired reaction all the way to WM.

Asuka vs. Cross – HIT: This was a good match. It is an easy formula. Keep Asuka strong. Keep Bianca Belair strong. Make it seem like neither could possibly lose in the Raw Women’s Title match. It doesn’t have to get more complicated. I was not a big fan of Belair being creeped out by the ooze from Asuka’s mouth after the match.

Omos Challenges Lesnar – MISS: Yawn. You can count me with what appears to be the vast majority of the fans who were very disappointed in the finish to Brock Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley at EC. It was terrible for multiple reasons. The follow up on Raw was bad too. I can’t find any part of me that is interested in seeing Lesnar vs. Omos. It isn’t guaranteed to happen, but the specter of it possibly happening is a Miss.

Miz vs. Rollins – HIT: The Miz vs. Seth Rollins was a good match. Using Miz as a surrogate for Logan Paul made sense given that he was the one who brought Paul into WWE in the first place, even if they had a falling out afterwards. The end of the match was particularly interesting as Rollins refused to pin Miz after the stomp, and did a second, and then a third. It helped to show Rollins’ mindset towards Paul. The referee stoppage worked perfectly well here.

Chelsea Green – HIT: This was just a simple short backstage bit to continue to feature Chelsea Green’s Karen character on a show where she couldn’t be live due to green card issues. It is the type of bit that I would normally ignore, but I got a big kick out of her calling Adam Pearce to complain about being sent to the wrong Ontario and him pretending to lose cell phone signal to hang up on her.

Ding Dong Hello – HIT: This is a minor Hit, for some solid to good performances from Bayley, Becky Lynch and Lita (Kay-En-Sky were just sort of there). With the rumors about Trish Stratus, I’m assuming we will get a six woman tag match at WM. But, they set up the Tag Title match here. What is Dakota Kai’s injury status? They are also building up Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler as potential Tag Team Champion challengers at WM. So what do they do?

Gable vs. Reed – HIT: This is another minor Hit for another strong win for Bronson Reed, this time over Chad Gable. The minor part is for the distraction at ringside from Maxine Dupree continuing to try to sign Ottis to a modeling contract. I’m ok with the story they are telling there in general, but it shouldn’t come across like Reed needed the distraction to beat Gable. I did like the tease of Reed vs. Ottis during this match. That will be fun to see.

Lashley – MISS: As I said above, the follow up to Lesnar vs. Lashley was bad, which included this use of Lashley as he came out to beat up Elias. Elias is presented as a babyface, so this seems to continue to paint Lashley as a heel, but he was playing things more like a face this week. There were rumors that the bad ending to their EC match was due to a sudden change in plan in terms of Bray Wyatt’s involvement with one of them at WM, but Lashley mentioned Wyatt after beating up Elias. That points to them facing at WM which I don’t want to see.

Edge vs. Theory – HIT: This was a good long United States Championship match as the main event for Raw. WWE is planting the seeds for Austin Theory to face John Cena for the US Title at WM. Having him beat another WWE legend here makes sense as it gives him bragging rights going forward. He can talk all about how he’s already defeated a WWE Hall of Famer. The match had good wrestling action, but was a bit too long at nearly 20 minutes. Theory should look stronger. He is a fluke Champion. He only retained the Title at EC because Paul attacked Rollins. He only retained here because Balor attacked Edge to continue their never ending feud. You want him to be stronger against Cena. I didn’t love the ending of this match even if it was a Hit.

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.

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