SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Opening Segment – MISS: I don’t know how I would have felt about this segment without the reference to Vince McMahon. But, that reference alone puts this segment involving Cody Rhodes and Stephanie McMahon in the Miss column. The rest of the segment felt too random. Why was Cody on Raw? I don’t understand what Stephanie was trying to accomplish. I am very worried that Vince is the one on the phone with Randy Orton. The performances were fine, but that doesn’t really matter given the concern over where this is now going.
Usos vs. The Vision – MISS: I appreciate that the Usos have new music together instead of just coming out to Jey’s music like they have been. I did get a kick out of the predicament that IShowSpeed found himself in after the match. The problem is that a WWE Tag Team Championship match only going 9 minutes (with a commercial interruption) and ending in such an anticlimactic way was disappointing. I am amused by Logan Paul getting brass knuckles from his mom sitting in the crowd, but that bit didn’t work in a street fight. There are no disqualifications. They were using weapons the entire match. So he should have just used the brass knuckles to begin with. Save that bit with his mom for a different match. And Logan wasn’t cheating, so L.A. Knight getting involved didn’t make any sense. He was okay with The Vision using chairs, or kendo sticks, or trash cans, but not brass knuckles? This didn’t work well.
Jax & Legend vs. Bayley & Valkyria – MISS: I was just waiting for Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, and The Bellas to get involved to cause a no-contest, or double DQ, or countout, or whatever cheap finish was coming. I couldn’t care about the match because of that predictable outcome. I like the focus that the Women’s Tag Team Championship has gotten this year. I’m fine with a Fatal Four-way at WrestleMania (but please make it elimination-style!). But, the way they are getting there hasn’t been great with a bunch of these non-finishes in title matches which make the babyface teams seem childish and annoying. The match can certainly be good in the end. There are some very talented women in the match, plus the Bellas. But, I’m not sure I have a rooting interest in the match.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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Lesnar – Femi – HIT: I continue to enjoy the build towards Brock Lesnar vs. Oba Femi at WrestleMania. Paul Heyman continues to play his role making excuses perfectly. Lesnar was great in showing anger and impatience where he actually talked briefly on the mic to get Femi out to the ring. It made perfect sense why G.M. Adam Pearce would try to stop the fight from happening. Lesnar and Femi were awesome in throwing the fool security officers around. The Triple H appearance made sense. It is a case where less is more. I like Pearce, but he is on the show too much. Triple H trying to stop the fight after Pearce had been knocked down at ringside made for a good moment since he’s rarely on. The anticipation for this match is very high right now.
Penta vs. Kingston – HIT: This was a good Intercontinental Championship match with Penta successfully defending the Title against Kofi Kingston. Greyson Waller’s presence at ringside added to the match, and didn’t take away like it so easily could have. His interaction with Kofi worked to further their storyline. It was nice to see a clean victory in a match for a change. I shouldn’t have to write that. The wrestling action was good. Penta is finding his voice as well. He is over with the crowd. He is making a good IC Champ. I like the idea of a multi-man ladder match for the IC Title (although I had hoped to have that for the Women’s Tag Titles as that would have been more novel). But, the way they got there apparently with qualifying matches on Main Event (that’s still a thing?) didn’t work very well. It felt random. Why haven’t we known about these matches? I’m sure it will be fun to watch in the end.
Heyman / Pearce / Rollins / Gunther – MISS: The bit about Pearce trying to get Heyman to check his email got tiresome. We’ve seen Seth Rollins physically attacking Heyman in a more intense way than this, so this didn’t feel special in any way. Gunther felt too random. WWE is in a tough situation with the injuries to Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, and Rey Mysterio. It seemed hopeful that Breakker would get cleared to face Rollins at WM, but I guess not. Gunther vs. Rollins should be great. But, even in the tough situation, they could have gotten to the match in a better way. I thought Heyman was going to acknowledge that he had seen the email, so he knew Rollins was cleared, and he hired Gunther to set a trap. We might get that revelation next week. Normally, I wouldn’t mind a slow build like that, but they are under the gun with WM coming up soon. I would have done the explanation this week to make the angle make sense in the moment.
Sky vs. Rodriguez – HIT: There are 12 matches so far for WM. Last year, there were 14. Assuming they do the same number and two more matches get added, clearly Iyo Sky vs. Asuka (with Kairi Sane playing a part – in the match, special referee, perhaps a Kairi Sane on a Pole match?) will be one of those additions. As an aside, what will the other match be, if there are 14 total? Some type of Vision/Usos/L.A. Knight/IShowSpeed match? Jelly Roll & Danhausen vs. Miz & Kit Wilson? Will Giulia be left off? I thought she’d face Tiffany Stratton, but they did that on Smackdown last week? Getting back to this match, it was a good match with Sky ultimately losing to Raquel Rodriguez. Sky lost because she showed compassion for Sane who was trying to interfere following orders from Asuka. The match was good, and played into this story well.
Reigns – Punk – HIT: I appreciate that WWE changed up its formula for Raw slightly, in that the opening segment didn’t involve Paul Heyman like it had the previous four weeks. But, they kept their streak alive of ending the show with Roman Reigns and C.M. Punk. WWE has done damage to both of these guys. The peak segment was their first encounter when Reigns picked Punk to face at WM after winning the Royal Rumble. There have been good moments between them since then, but there have been bad ones too. It is getting a little stale. So, seeing them just fight this week instead of having another long talking segment worked very well.
(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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