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Gunther – HIT: The build towards Gunther vs. Jey Uso for the World Championship at WrestleMania peaked last week, but it was good to see Gunther get a chance to reply to the strong promo from Uso last week. His performance was good. I loved how he ultimately kicked Michael Cole out of the ring, to turn the segment from an interview into a promo. He was angry at what Uso said last week. He showed it well. He got the heat back after looking a little shaken last week. Jey would later claim that Gunther is now scared of him, but I didn’t read it that way.
Bel Air Video – HIT: This was the first of three pre-taped vignettes of the women in the triple threat Women’s Title match at WM. It was good. Bianca Bel Air came across better here than she has in the last several weeks. She was able to position herself more as a babyface without the heel tendencies which she has shown lately. That might be a sign that WWE realized that she was looking too much like a heel and they wanted to correct course, either because they want her to continue to be a babyface, or because they don’t want the heel turn to be so obvious. Either way, it was a good video.
Morgan vs. Bayley – HIT: This was a good match between Liv Morgan and Bayley to continue to give Bayley & Lyra Valkyria momentum going into their Tag Team Title shot at WM. WWE’s usual booking would suggest that they will lose at WM since Bayley won here, but I would have predicted that anyway. In addition to good work from Bayley and Morgan, the story with Raquel Rodriguez and Valkyria getting involved worked well too.
Rhea Ripley Video – MISS: I didn’t like this vignette from Rhea Ripley as much as the Bianca Bel Air one. She continued to look like a whinny child which isn’t good. If WWE realized some of their issues with Bel Air’s presentation and corrected course in her video, they unfortunately did not do the same with Ripley.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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Mysterio vs. Reed – HIT: This was a good match between Rey Mysterio and Julius Creed to continue the build towards Mysterio’s match against El Grande Americano at WM. I still strongly believe that the Creeds have been wasted on the main roster. They are a great tag team, but Julius Creed has the opportunity to break out as a singles star in a big way. His talents were on full display here. The story worked well to get the rest of American Made and the LWO ejected from ringside early on to allow Americano to get involved later. Mysterio still got the win, but Americano got to stand tall in the end after using his loaded mask as a weapon.
Paul – Styles – HIT: AJ Styles vs. Karrion Kross was a solid match. It was the first time we’ve seen Kross in the ring in a long time. His ultimate end game remains a mystery. He likes to stir up crap in the back and manipulate people, but why? To what end? If we’re supposed to take those mind games seriously, he shouldn’t lose the only time he actually wrestles. So, his role in this whole thing is murky. But, I enjoyed the encounter between Logan Paul and AJ Styles after the match. Paul knows how to get under the skin of the live fans. The physicality worked to continue putting over his new finisher even without wrestling. It should be a good match.
Jey Uso – MISS: Like I said above, Uso peaked last week and nothing he was going to do was going to come close to what he achieved last week. So I knew he wasn’t going to do anything like that, but I was still disappointed in what he did. He mostly just led the crowd in yeeting for several minutes, and then said a few things about how Gunther is now afraid of him which rang a little hollow to me, and then he led the crowd in more yeeting. Michael Cole’s yeeting was particularly annoying as always. This wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but I continue to feel that the extra length between the Royal Rumble and WM has led to problems with stretching out the stories and the build too long leaving moments like this.
Penta vs. Balor – HIT: This match had a Miss finish, but I enjoyed the action between Penta and Finn Balor enough before that DQ finish to give it a marginal Hit. The interference from the rest of Judgment Day was predictable, as was the save from Bron Breakker, who wasn’t really there to save Penta. I like how he wanted to get revenge on Judgment Day for their attack earlier in the show, but still wanted to get the better of Penta as well. But, Penta was able to stand tall this time. I think I’m one of just about every fan who predict that Dominik Mysterio will win the Intercontinental Title match by pinning Balor. I don’t see another possible outcome.
Sky Video – HIT: Iyo Sky continues to look the best of these three women and she came across well here in her vignette. I like when WWE lets their foreign wrestlers speak their native language with subtitles. It just works so much better. Sky is coming across like a confidence champion who is tired of being overlooked by her challengers. Overall, these videos were a smart way to do a final hype for the Women’s Triple Threat Championship match.
Closing Segment – MISS: I liked the performances in this show-closing segment, but the story leaves something to be desired. Too much of it revolves around Paul Heyman’s potential role. I don’t buy the stakes here from Seth Rollins that the future of WWE is on the line because the winner of this match will lead the company into the future or whatever he was saying. There really aren’t stakes. They could have built an interesting story with Reigns vs. Rollins based on their past including their interaction at last year’s Mania, or Reigns vs. Punk around Heyman (who makes sense in that singles feud) or even Rollins vs. Punk given their feud (they could have drawn out the story to that steel cage match). The triple threat doesn’t work well. They’ve done some good work here and there with the story, but ultimately it is disappointing direction leading to what will be a good, but rather meaningless main event for night 1 of WM.
(Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Raw Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com. Follow him on BlueSky @jonmezzera.bsky.social.)
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