Kevin Owens VS Solo Sikoa, Bianca Belair VS Carmella
Monday Night Raw started with the Bloodline pulling into the arena. Paul Heyman made it clear to both Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa that they need to put an end to both Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn tonight. Kevin Owens then made his way down to the ring as his match with Solo Sikoa was up first. This was, as expected, a hard-hitting affair between two men operating on a very high level right now. Solo was in control for the most part, but Kevin Owens kept rallying back into the match. After KO hit a senton bomb onto Sikoa, Jimmy Uso broke the pin-up, forcing a disqualification. After the match, Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa beat down Owens before Sami Zayn ran down to make the save. He offered his hand to Kevin Owens, but the Prizefighter rolled out of the ring. A solid start to the show.
Grade: B-
Bobby Lashley made it clear that he wanted Bray Wyatt to stop playing “kid games” and come meet him face-to-face before Byron Saxton attempted to interview Carmella, but she was way more interested in talking to Chelsea Green. The best part about all of this was they were dissing Adam Pearce whilst he was clearly in the background. Carmella asked Chelsea Green to accompany her to the ring and that’s exactly what happened as Mella took on the Raw Women’s Champion, Bianca Belair. I thought this match was pretty decent and for the second week in a row, I was impressed by Carmella. She’s clearly improved her game since her return and she didn’t look out of place fighting the EST. However, despite Chelsea Green’s best attempts to keep getting involved, Bianca Belair picked up the win with the K.O.D. After the match, Mella and Green beat down the Champion before Asuka made her way down to the ring, spat blue mist in the face of Chelsea before she stood face to face with her WrestleMania opponent.
Grade: B-
Seth “Freakin” Rollins and Logan Paul come face-to-face, Omos VS Dolph Ziggler, Finn Balor VS Johnny Gargano
Sami Zayn found Kevin Owens backstage and asked him to please work with him to take down the Bloodline. Once again, KO said no. We then got a video package showcasing Rhea Ripley before The Miz was in the ring to be the moderator for the face-to-face between Seth “Freakin” Rollins and Logan Paul. I thought this was a good segment. The crowd absolutely loved singing Seth Rollins’ theme song whilst they absolutely destroyed Logan Paul. Seth also cut a brilliant promo and Logan Paul is such a good heel because he’s so unlikeable. The end of the segment saw Seth “Freakin” Rollins take out The Miz, but this allowed Logan Paul to KO Seth with the “One Lucky Punch”. Good job by everyone involved.
Grade: B
Omos made his way down to the ring to have a match with Dolph Ziggler. We then got a video in the corner of the screen showing that Mustafa Ali’s surprise for Dolph Ziggler was a match with the 7-foot-3 Nigerian Giant. Ali was in the crowd sarcastically cheering on and this went less than a minute and Omos won with the Tree Slam. After the match, MVP told Brock Lesnar that this is how you sell the fight. I thought this was really disappointing. I’ve been really looking forward to seeing what Ali had planned for Dolph and all they got was a minute to promote another rivalry that isn’t half as exciting or interesting. Both men deserve a lot more.
Grade: E
The Maximum Male Models were backstage and Maxxine Dupri was complementing Otis from afar. Baron Corbin then walked in thinking they were talking about him before Mace and Mansoor laughed off Corbin’s model credentials. However, Maxxine told Corbin that if he was to beat Chad Gable in a match tonight, she would consider him for a spot in the Maximum Male Models. This was totally ridiculous and unexpected. After a quick Bloodline segment, the Judgment Day’s Finn Balor took on the Rebel Heart Johnny Gargano. It’s fair to say that both Finn Balor and Johnny Gargano are two of the greatest NXT Superstars ever and even though this wasn’t as good as their match at Takeover Portland in 2020, it was still a pretty decent encounter. The Judgment Day kept getting involved in this match and Dexter Lumis really didn’t do anything to stop this. However, when Finn Balor looked like he was going to pick up the win, Edge’s music hit and he pushed Finn Balor off the top rope and this allowed Johnny Wrestling to pick up the win with the “One Final Beat”. After the match, Edge laid out Finn Balor with a Spear. I just find this whole Edge thing super dull and the biggest gripe I had with this was after Johnny won, he just disappeared.
Grade: C+
Nikki Cross VS Piper Niven, Austin Theory confronts John Cena
Edge made it quite clear backstage that he’s had enough of battling Finn Balor. You don’t say. Also, he said that he cost Finn Balor a match tonight that he had “no right to lose”. Talk about failing to put people over! Nikki Cross then made her way down to the ring as she was about to take on Piper Niven. Nikki Cross was in control for nearly the entirety of this match before Piper hit one move (her new finisher) and got the win. This was bad. This was really bad. It was short, Niven looked poor and Nikki Cross looked really weak for being beaten after receiving just 1 move. I don’t understand how WWE doesn’t know how to book someone as good as Piper Niven.
Grade: E
Rick Boogs was backstage and Elias came up to him and told him to go over to Bronson Reed and tell him “I want a match with you next week”. Boogs did this, but he spoke as Elias meaning Bronson Reed told the musician that he would end him next week. Elias was not happy about this. I actually thought this was cleverly done. John Cena then returned to WWE in his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts. Before the 16-time World Champion could say anything, Austin Theory interrupted and made his way down to the ring. Austin Theory offered Cena the gift of facing him for the United States Championship at WrestleMania, but John said no as Theory hadn’t earnt the right to challenge him. However, after Austin Theory brought the crowd into it, John Cena said he has no other choice than to kick the United States Champion’s ass at WrestleMania. This was excellent, John Cena is just incredibly good at whatever he does whilst Austin Theory looked like a star who was more than ready for a huge spotlight like this one. This is probably already the match I’m most looking forward to at WrestleMania.
Grade: B+
Chad Gable VS Baron Corbin, Trish Stratus lays down a challenge
Cathy Kelley interviewed Sami Zayn backstage and Zayn said that he still isn’t going to stop until the Bloodline crumbles. We then got a matchup that was set up earlier on in the night between Chad Gable and Baron Corbin. I think both men are very good at what they do and I thought they put on a decent match, even if the story was more important. After a pretty short contest, Chad Gable picked up the win after forcing Baron Corbin to submit from a version of the ankle lock. It’s nice to see the Master getting a victory for once.
Grade: C
Becky Lynch and Lita made their way down to the ring to celebrate their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships victory from last week. They both said it was a dream come true before they brought out Trish Stratus to thank her for her help last week. Damage Control quickly interrupted and Bayley wasn’t pleased with the respect that the “so-called Legends” had shown them. This all resulted in Trish challenging Damage CTRL to a six-woman tag team match for WrestleMania which Bayley accepted. I really like Damage CTRL, but this match doesn’t fill me with any sort of excitement.
Grade: C
Jimmy Uso VS Sami Zayn
The main event of this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw saw Jimmy Uso take on Sami Zayn. It’s fair to say that this match didn’t go on for too long on TV (mostly during ad breaks), but the important thing about this whole main event was the arrival of Jey Uso. He jumped on the announce table and this sort of distraction allowed Sami Zayn to pick up the roll-up victory. After the match, Jey Uso stood face-to-face with his brother before he walked out of the ring and stood face-to-face with Sami Zayn. He then hugged Zayn and the crowd went wild. However, Jey then smashed Sami with one of the hardest-hitting Superkicks I have ever seen before Jimmy, Jey and Solo beat up Zayn. Cody Rhodes came down to try and make the save, but Sami was already out cold. It’s a big shame in the sense that this is just leading to a tag match between The Usos, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. However, this was done so well. Jey hugged Sami not because he was tricking him, but because he truly cared about his “brother”. However, this was the only way he could protect his twin brother from Roman Reigns. It’s generally excellent when you think of it this way and I really hope it doesn’t get mentioned until a later date when Roman Reigns is having some time off.
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