It was a weird show.
I can honestly say that I liked half of what I saw and not half of what I saw. WWE 50/50-ed the whole show for me.
Many of the comedies were a hit with me, aside from the dumb song of Shane McMahon and Elias. But there were some strange decisions that did not excite me. WrestleMania for Raw.
At the moment it’s McIntyre / Lashley, Fiend / Orton, Bad Bunny / Miz, Asuka / Ripley, and AJ and Omos / New Day. How much of this excites you?
Some of it I like, but the most important things are not a hit with me. We have two more weeks to go. Turn it around for me, WWE.
Let’s look at the main hits and misses of this series. For a complete overview of Raw, check out the live blog of Rev. Claire Elizabeth!
Well … more fire
Randy Orton still does not get that you can not fight fire with … literal fire when it comes to The Fiend.
Before Orton came out, Alexa Bliss said he had to be careful what he wanted. The idea was that Orton would summon the Enemy and put an end to it once and for all.
Orton walked out with a bag and said it was time to officially end The Fiend and Alexa Bliss.
Simple Randy.
Bliss came out and the … Bliss in the Box? The Fiend lighting returned, as well as the screaming sound I did not miss.
What was in Orton’s pocket then?
… Petrol.
Fiend is not scared when Orton throws it at him, and then Fiend accuses him and Orton hits the RKO. Bliss came into the ring and Orton was distracted by her. He got the Mandible Claw for it. Then a sister Abigail.
And then Bliss points to the plate and it is engulfed in flames. So, so we got The Fiend against Randy Orton WrestleMania.
Huh?
Come on, man. What do we do? The presentation of the return of the crunchy Fiend was good Fast track, and then they destroyed it here. And no firefly fun house contest? This is the wrong call.
I am very disappointed about this. I do not know how to save it. Help me, Cagesiders.
Several stories
Most of this game was at rest and just proved that WWE does not know what they are doing Raw. They rely on the commentary team that sold Sheamus’ game last night, when he wrestled this game as if he had not wrestled an explosive ThunderDome Death Match at Fast track.
They did this game last week. Lashley already won. It is not necessary that he ‘make an example’ of Sheamus as one of the commentators said. He done already.
When Lashley had him pulled out, Alexander and Benjamin pulled him out of the ring and attacked him. Who but Drew McIntyre made the save for his biggest rival, not Bobby Lashley. He then goes into the ring and tries to get Lashley to fight him, but MVP calms Lashley and gets him out of the ring.
It was really an unfortunate way to start the program. Sheamus has lost so many games since turning on Drew and he does not deserve it. Three games in a week! Two of the three unnecessary, and both the Lashley games.
The only thing this match did was sell dissent with Cedric and Shelton and Lashley and MVP. Sheamus had to continue to be sacrificed for it. MVP said they had embarrassed the Almighty by both being out there and the Raw mark spa titles. To make matters worse, they went to Adam Pearce to get a duel against McIntyre, which McIntyre accepted under one condition. If he wins, Cedric and Shelton will be banned WrestleMania.
McIntyre dominated both men the first few minutes and opted for the Claymore Kick, but Alexander pulled Benjamin out of the ring. Alexander tuned in and almost adjusted his knee on the outside. The Hurt Business then dominated the second half and worked well to bring McIntyre off the hook.
But we knew what was going to happen. After a hell of a Claymore for Alexander, McIntyre scored the victory. Ced and Ben just have to run away and not even go near MVP and Lashley. Of course, they did not, and MVP chastised them. Then, in an interesting twist, Lashley went to a bunch of dudes in the locker room and gave Drew an abundance.
Ricochet was one of those men, and it MUST be him. Please let it be him. I need Ricochet in the Hurt Business.
As for the rest of it all, I’m sad about presenting The Hurt Business after Lashley’s WWE title. They immediately lost the tag titles, and now it’s implode. Surely give me Ricochet in the Hurt Business, but did they have to do it all?
Drew is not Drew. I didn’t really think about it, but he was pretty one-dimensional for a while. But I also do not know how to change him a little to make him fresh. This is strange.
On the plus side, Sheamus is officially done with this and follows Riddle!
Hey Hey Hop Hop
You may think you know what my reaction was to this, but trust me … you do not know.
Miz asked who Bad Bunny thinks he is? How dare he make the only doubles champion ridiculous. Miz throws it to the throne where a WrestleMania poster showing Bad Bunny and Damian Priest, but no Miz and Morrison.
They then played their new single Hey Hey, Hop Hop a diss track for Bad Bunny and it is … very well produced. He challenged Bunny to a match and said his upcoming match with Jeff Hardy would be proof of what was to come.
It was hilarious. Stupid, but hilarious. I laughed a lot about this. Yes … me too! I who usually hate the Miz and Morrison things. THE BUNNY PACKAGES! HAHAHAHA! It felt like a better produced video and song, almost as if the big Bad Bunny himself was involved in it.
Hardy asked Miz to get Morrison off the ring because we all know what’s going on. Miz surprisingly agreed. If you thought Morrison would come back and interfere anyway, we were in the same boat. I was very surprised.
While Miz’s hand was raised, he was bad with a guitar! From now on we have a singles match with Miz and Bunny to WrestleMania. I bet Morrison and Priest will be added, but maybe not? Depends on whether Bad Bunny trained really hard for a singles match. If he has, I’m a game.
Bad Bunny gets it. He’s the best celebrity they’ve had in the show, involved in storylines.
AJ Rocks! AJ Rocks!
Styles has Omos’ debut on WrestleMania and said he would work with the best wrestler in WWE history. He went through New Day’s honors, saying they could not lose with Styles ‘wrestling ability and Omos’ size.
Kingston interrupts and says they are not a real team. Then Woods told Omos that Styles would drop him because he is a great man with great abilities. They then asked how many Styles Omos know. They asked what Omos’ favorite color, ice cream and WWE wrestler were, and Styles failed all three of the questions.
Embarrassed, Styles challenged Kingston to a match.
They swapped and dropped choke holders, and Styles kicked out an attempt to pin one. Styles dives over the top rope and Kingston dives it down and picks up Styles. Really clever take down in a pin by Kingston using his legs.
Kingston was looking for a problem in paradise, but Styles kicked him right in the back of his head, and it looked nasty. He sold it so well that I thought he got a concussion out of it. He broke the calf breaker, and Styles was looking for the phenomenal forearm, but Woods played the trumpet and distracted him.
Omos went to fetch Woods and Kingston used to pin Styles. It was a fun match and I liked the suspense of Omos and AJ. AJ is also very good with comedy and has provided me with a laughable segment again.
The rest
Asuka defeat Peyton Royce / Rhea Ripley debut
Asuka provided an early Asuka Lock, but Royce went over for her own submission. She sends Asuka’s face first in a turn and gives her suplex. Asuka went for the hip attack, but Royce dodged it and sent Asuka to the floor. Asuka did a German suplex and a knee to Peyton’s face for an almost fall. Royce sold Asuka’s face shoulder well for another fall. Royce went up the double rope with a double step and almost won. She falls on the Asuka Lock. Peyton is very well discussed here.
AND WHEN RHEA RIPLEY COMES OUT! She calls Asuka one of the greats. She mentions Charlotte and that she is recovering from COVID-19. Since she is not here, she shows up for Asuka for the title WrestleMania, and accept Asuka! Hell yes! She was not presented as a heel as rumors did, and I prefer it this way. I’m excited for this one.
CHOO CHOO!
HAHAHAHAHA THEY PLAY THE TRAIN CORNER AND CAR WORKING LIKE BROWN AROUND THE RING! Shane doing dumb shit was dumb and yes, of course he falsified his injury so he didn’t have to wrestle. So dumb but the sounds were hilarious.
The Reginald Tag Team Champions Defeat Mandy and Dana
Yes, that was just for the continuation of Reginald as the focal point of the women’s division. Dude can only get in and out of the ring and not disqualify or throw out the team. Cool, cool, cool, cool.
Grade: C
What were your thoughts, Cageisders?