Ahhhhhh Milwaukee! It’s that time once again. Today’s Raw review is brought to you by the WrestleMania sign.
Raw starts out with Kurt Angle coming to the ring. He’s heated about what happened to him last week at the hands of Triple H. Instead we get Stephanie who says Kurt needs to calm down and that the COO isn’t even here yet. She condescendingly rips into Kurt for a little while before (smiley) Ronda Rousey comes out. She talks about last week then says she chooses Stephanie as her opponent for Mania. The crowd lose it. Out comes Triple H to put at stop to this nonsense. Kurt, being the all powerful general manager that he is, makes a mixed tag match for WrestleMania. Triple H and Stephanie vs. Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey! I’m actually excited for this one. I’ll be sure to be extra belligerent when I’m at Mania for this match. Triple H tries to sucker punch Kurt and this turns into a brawl. The segment ends with Kurt getting an ankle lock on Triple H and Ronda hitting Stephanie with a nasty looking Samoan Drop sort of thing.
Asuka vs Nia Jax:
This started as the usual match between the two: Nia does strong things, Asuka does fast things. Where it changes is when Asuka gets a spider lock on Nia in the middle of the ring. This leads to, baring a few submission breaks, about 5 minutes of Asuka trying to get Nia to submit with different submissions. She finally got her to tap with an arm bar.
Winner: Asuka
Alexa bliss is shown in the backstage area, looking concerned.
Next was The Revival vs the Bar but this was cut from the replay on Hulu. I watched it last night and honestly it was ridiculous. Revival could get a shot for the titles at Mania if they won, even though they’ve been on a losing streak.The Bar put them away and that’s all she wrote. Not to get on my high horse too much here but that just lazy writing. There are more question marks surrounding the tag division than answers.
Next up is John Cena. He came to Raw to tell everyone about his path to Mania going through Smackdown, then said after he wins the world title for the 17th time, he wants AJ to get his rematch at WrestleMania in a triple threat match with himself and Shinsuke. *boooooooooo*
Enter Goldust….wait what?
Goldust comes out and cuts a promo on Cena and all his opportunities, saying he wants to stop him, then delivers some hands to John in a cheap shot.
John Cena vs Goldust:
Both men hit their usual spots, nothing too special about this match really. It is important to note that Cena points at the WrestleMania sign about 3 times during the night. The sign is not afraid of John Cena.
Winner: John Cena
Kurt and Elias appear backstage. Elias tries to get his match canceled for tonight. Kurt declines and walks off.
Alexa is back stage with Nia Jax. Nia looks extra sad and Alexa tells her everything will be okay, while still taking jabs at her size and how she won’t be on the card at Mania.
Elias vs Braun Strowman:
Elias cuts a short promo on the stage about how talented he is, and how much Milwaukee sucks. He then asks for a proper intro. The lights go out. When they come back on he’s run off to the backstage. Elias runs to a car, starts it up and tries to reverse but it doesn’t move. He looks back and Braun is holding the car up. Actual madness. Elias runs off and Braun gives chase. Back at the stage, Braun has caught up and sends Elias flying towards the ring. He proceeds to deliver those hands. Elias get a small moment of offense, knocking Braun off his feet. Elias clobbers Braun with a guitar. Eventually Braun gets the upper hand back and they end up on the stage, which has a bunch of instruments on it. Braun smashes Elias with another stand up bass, then drops a piano on him in true Looney Tunes style. Braun finally pins him and this match is done.
Winner: Braun Strowman
That slobber knocker of a match is followed by The Miz and friends in the ring for the 3rd annual Mizzies!
It’s the usual Miz bashing Kurt Angle, Seth Rollins, and Finn Balor. Eventually Rollins and Finn Balor make their way out. Miz challenges them to a 3 on 2 match to which they accept.
Miztourage vs Seth Rollins and Finn Balor:
The Miztourage use the numbers game to their advantage and control a good portion of the match. The match wasn’t much to be honest. Some back and forth but Miz eats the pin after taking a knee from Rollins.
Winner: Seth Rollins and Finn Balor
Kurt Angle comes out and makes a triple threat match for the Intercontinental title at WrestleMania. Another match to be excited for.
This leads us to the final segment. Paul Heyman makes his way down to the ring, carrying the Universal Championship. He is apparently Universal Champion now. He cuts a promo about Brock Lesnar ‘s match with Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. The promo itself had me excited for the match. He then says bitch a few times and goes to leave, then all the sudden here is Roman Reigns. He walks down and calls Brock a bitch because he didn’t show up to Raw tonight. He says he better be there next Monday and be ready for a fight. Thus ends the show
Seeing as how I rewatched this show on Tuesday for the review, I’d like to point out some things the replay didn’t have that were on the main show:
- The Raw Tag match I mentioned earlier
- Bayley vs Mandy Rose: Bayley won despite interference from Absolution. Sasha comes for the save but Bayley isn’t about it.
- Bray Wyatt squashes Rhyno, then Matt Hardy challenges him to a match at his house. Think Final Deletion but watered down because we’ve already seen this sort of thing before.
Anyways that’s the end of the Raw Review for today. Be sure to follow me on the Twitter for more great wrestling content @buuurch1, checkout wrestlingwithwrestling.com, and as always, take care!
Raw starts out with Kurt Angle coming to the ring. He’s heated about what happened to him last week at the hands of Triple H. Instead we get Stephanie who says Kurt needs to calm down and that the COO isn’t even here yet. She condescendingly rips into Kurt for a little while before (smiley) Ronda Rousey comes out. She talks about last week then says she chooses Stephanie as her opponent for Mania. The crowd lose it. Out comes Triple H to put at stop to this nonsense. Kurt, being the all powerful general manager that he is, makes a mixed tag match for WrestleMania. Triple H and Stephanie vs. Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey! I’m actually excited for this one. I’ll be sure to be extra belligerent when I’m at Mania for this match. Triple H tries to sucker punch Kurt and this turns into a brawl. The segment ends with Kurt getting an ankle lock on Triple H and Ronda hitting Stephanie with a nasty looking Samoan Drop sort of thing.
Asuka vs Nia Jax:
This started as the usual match between the two: Nia does strong things, Asuka does fast things. Where it changes is when Asuka gets a spider lock on Nia in the middle of the ring. This leads to, baring a few submission breaks, about 5 minutes of Asuka trying to get Nia to submit with different submissions. She finally got her to tap with an arm bar.
Winner: Asuka
Alexa bliss is shown in the backstage area, looking concerned.
Next was The Revival vs the Bar but this was cut from the replay on Hulu. I watched it last night and honestly it was ridiculous. Revival could get a shot for the titles at Mania if they won, even though they’ve been on a losing streak.The Bar put them away and that’s all she wrote. Not to get on my high horse too much here but that just lazy writing. There are more question marks surrounding the tag division than answers.
Next up is John Cena. He came to Raw to tell everyone about his path to Mania going through Smackdown, then said after he wins the world title for the 17th time, he wants AJ to get his rematch at WrestleMania in a triple threat match with himself and Shinsuke. *boooooooooo*
Enter Goldust….wait what?
Goldust comes out and cuts a promo on Cena and all his opportunities, saying he wants to stop him, then delivers some hands to John in a cheap shot.
John Cena vs Goldust:
Both men hit their usual spots, nothing too special about this match really. It is important to note that Cena points at the WrestleMania sign about 3 times during the night. The sign is not afraid of John Cena.
Winner: John Cena
Kurt and Elias appear backstage. Elias tries to get his match canceled for tonight. Kurt declines and walks off.
Alexa is back stage with Nia Jax. Nia looks extra sad and Alexa tells her everything will be okay, while still taking jabs at her size and how she won’t be on the card at Mania.
Elias vs Braun Strowman:
Elias cuts a short promo on the stage about how talented he is, and how much Milwaukee sucks. He then asks for a proper intro. The lights go out. When they come back on he’s run off to the backstage. Elias runs to a car, starts it up and tries to reverse but it doesn’t move. He looks back and Braun is holding the car up. Actual madness. Elias runs off and Braun gives chase. Back at the stage, Braun has caught up and sends Elias flying towards the ring. He proceeds to deliver those hands. Elias get a small moment of offense, knocking Braun off his feet. Elias clobbers Braun with a guitar. Eventually Braun gets the upper hand back and they end up on the stage, which has a bunch of instruments on it. Braun smashes Elias with another stand up bass, then drops a piano on him in true Looney Tunes style. Braun finally pins him and this match is done.
Winner: Braun Strowman
That slobber knocker of a match is followed by The Miz and friends in the ring for the 3rd annual Mizzies!
It’s the usual Miz bashing Kurt Angle, Seth Rollins, and Finn Balor. Eventually Rollins and Finn Balor make their way out. Miz challenges them to a 3 on 2 match to which they accept.
Miztourage vs Seth Rollins and Finn Balor:
The Miztourage use the numbers game to their advantage and control a good portion of the match. The match wasn’t much to be honest. Some back and forth but Miz eats the pin after taking a knee from Rollins.
Winner: Seth Rollins and Finn Balor
Kurt Angle comes out and makes a triple threat match for the Intercontinental title at WrestleMania. Another match to be excited for.
This leads us to the final segment. Paul Heyman makes his way down to the ring, carrying the Universal Championship. He is apparently Universal Champion now. He cuts a promo about Brock Lesnar ‘s match with Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. The promo itself had me excited for the match. He then says bitch a few times and goes to leave, then all the sudden here is Roman Reigns. He walks down and calls Brock a bitch because he didn’t show up to Raw tonight. He says he better be there next Monday and be ready for a fight. Thus ends the show
Seeing as how I rewatched this show on Tuesday for the review, I’d like to point out some things the replay didn’t have that were on the main show:
- The Raw Tag match I mentioned earlier
- Bayley vs Mandy Rose: Bayley won despite interference from Absolution. Sasha comes for the save but Bayley isn’t about it.
- Bray Wyatt squashes Rhyno, then Matt Hardy challenges him to a match at his house. Think Final Deletion but watered down because we’ve already seen this sort of thing before.
Anyways that’s the end of the Raw Review for today. Be sure to follow me on the Twitter for more great wrestling content @buuurch1, checkout wrestlingwithwrestling.com, and as always, take care!