Edge accepts Finn Balor’s challenge, The Judgment Day VS Johnny Gargano and Dexter Lumis
Edge’s music opened the show and before the Rated-R Superstar could really say anything, the Judgment Day interrupted. After Finn Balor said something, Edge accepted Finn’s challenge for a WrestleMania match before he said that he’s wasted the last year of his comeback feuding with these guys and the only way to settle this to face off inside Hell in a Cell! Balor seemed totally fine with this before he said that “Hell can’t deal with my Demons”. Nice hint. Finn then unleashed Rhea Ripley, Damian Priest and Dominik Mysterio onto Edge before Johnny Gargano, Dexter Lumis and Candice LeRae came down to “even the odds”. I thought this was a fine way to start Raw and I really liked that Candice LeRae came out with her husband and “Son-in-law”.
Grade: C+
This lead straight into the opening match of the night as The Judgment Day’s Damian Priest and Dominik Mysterio took on Johnny Gargano and Dexter Lumis. I thought everyone looked pretty good in this match and the turning point came when Dominik Mysterio tried to win with his feet on the ropes. Candice pushed his feet off the ropes, but this just meant that she got laid out by Rhea Ripley. We then got a really cool face-off between the Eradicator and Dexter Lumis. In the end, Damian Priest made the blind tag on Dom before he delivered the South of Heaven Chokeslam onto Lumis for the victory. Judgment winning was the right call.
Grade: C+
Omos and Brock Lesnar come face-to-face, Cody Rhodes VS LA Knight, Elias VS Bronson Reed
The Miz was about to be interviewed by Cathy Kelley before Chad Gable came up to him asking if he’d seen Otis. Miz told him no as he’s only just arrived at the building and he should just go and make some flyers. The A-Lister then turned down Cathy Kelley’s request of being his co-host at WrestleMania before the cameras ran over to see Damage Control beating up Trish Stratus. Omos then made his way down to the ring with MVP for his face-to-face confrontation with Brock Lesnar. The Beast came out, Brock laughed about how much taller Omos is before the Nigerian Giant through him out of the ring. Brock then walked off. This literally achieved nothing. I’m not excited about this feud at all and segments like this aren’t helping anyone. The next match of the night then saw the 2023 Men’s Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes take on the Megastar LA Knight. Both men have been performing on a really high level recently and this was a solidly competitive match. Knight looked particularly good, but that isn’t really a surprise anymore. In the end, Cody Rhodes was able to overcome the heel’s antics to get the victory with the Cross Rhodes. Rhodes then cut a passionate promo after the match saying that he acknowledges the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns, but he needs the champ to acknowledge him.
Grade: D for the face-to-face, B- for the match
Byron Saxton interviewed Seth “Freakin” Rollins backstage and he was quickly interrupted by The Miz who announced that Logan Paul will be hosting ImPaulsive TV next week. Baron Corbin then walked in and asked if he could be on the show which the Miz rejected. He then asked Seth if he wanted some boxing lessons before WrestleMania, but Rollins said he’d rather take lessons from his daughter. This ended up with Rollins accepting Corbin’s “challenge” for a match tonight. I feel sorry for Baron because everyone’s being horrible to him. Elias then made his way down to the ring as he was about to take on the Colossal Bronson Reed. This was a literal squash match that saw Bronson Reed hit some ridiculous offense before he picked up the win with the Tsunami. It sucks for Elias to be in this position, but it’s exactly how Bronson Reed should be booked.
Grade: C+
Austin Theory VS Angelo Dawkins, Rey Mysterio returns to Raw
Cathy Kelley was waiting outside the trainers’ room hoping to get a word with Trish Stratus before Chad Gable walked in with printed “missing flyers” describing Otis. Becky and Lita then walked past and completely ignored Gable as they walked into the trainers’ room. I now also feel sorry for Chad Gable. Kevin Owens was then interviewed and he said that whilst he wishes Sami Zayn the best, he doesn’t want to fight with him and he feels exactly the same way towards Cody Rhodes. We then got a clip from earlier on in the day where the Street Profits were taking the mick out of Austin Theory. Theory rightly snapped back and said that at least he’s going to WrestleMania before he ripped Montez Ford apart. This then lead into the next segment as the United States Champion debuted his new entrance before he took on Angelo Dawkins in singles action. This was a totally fine match where both people played their part in this match well. Dawkins looked competitive in this match, but one mistake allowed Austin Theory to hit the A-Town Down for the win. After the match, he locked in the STF onto Dawkins before Montez Ford ran down to make the save. Theory and Ford will have a match on next week’s Raw.
Grade: C+
Paul Heyman was then interviewed backstage and he wasn’t happy with either Kevin Owens or Cody Rhodes. He then announced that Roman Reigns is coming to Monday Night Raw next week which is cool. Rey Mysterio then returned to Raw and thanked the WWE Universe for the support he has received in his Hall of Fame career. Dominik Mysterio then came out and said that Rey deserves to be in the Hall of Fame which makes no sense as he said the complete opposite last Friday before he complained about Rey getting him a BMW instead of a Mercedes. That’s a clever way to get him to be hated even more. Dom then challenged his father to a match at WrestleMania, but Rey turned it down as he still won’t fight his son. Some of this was good, some of this was repetitive and some of this made zero sense.
Grade: C
Seth “Freakin” Rollins VS Baron Corbin, Bianca Belair VS Chelsea Green
Cathy Kelley was back outside the trainers' room and this time, Becky Lynch, Lita and Edge all came out of the room and said that Damage CTRL were “going to pay and that they should’ve finished the job”. The Miz then joined commentary as Seth “Freakin” Rollins took on Baron Corbin. I thought the in-ring action was solid, but the best part was definitely The Miz. He’s really good when he’s in a role that suits him and hosting WrestleMania in Hollywood is just perfect. He complained that Seth Rollins’ song is the most annoying song he’s ever heard and this resulted in Seth throwing Corbin into the A-Lister. It then got even better as Corey Graves said that he didn’t think the song was as annoying as Baby Shark! The Miz then jumped in the ring and got laid out by Rollins before the Visionary jumped off of Miz’s back and hit the Stomp onto Corbin to get a cool-looking win. This was probably the segment I enjoyed the most on this show.
Grade: B-
Chad Gable was still walking around trying to find his number 1 pupil Otis before Mustafa Ali came up to him and tried to gift him some positivity like he was the girl from Santa Clause 3. Gable was not impressed by his former tag team partner before he finally saw Otis who was taking modeling pictures with the Maximum Male Models. Gable said he’s happy to do this with Otis as well as the training before he jumped in and started posing with Otis. The Models then walked off to find a better location and even though Otis wanted to go with the Master to train, he couldn’t turn down the opportunity to hang out with Maxxine and the MMM. Ali is great, Chad Gable is great, Otis is great, but the best performance in this segment was definitely Mansoor. He not only said that he was “cosmetically” unable to compete because his nail broke, but he also said that Chad broke his camera after he jumped into shot. Bianca Belair’s music then hit as she was about to go one-on-one with Chelsea Green. Chelsea was accompanied to the ring by Carmella and she got a bit of offense in, but this was really just a WrestleMania warm-up match for the EST. Belair picked up the win with the K.O.D. before Mella ambushed her from behind. This led to Asuka running down to make the save like she did last week.
Grade: C
Street Fight: Kevin Owens VS Solo Sikoa
The Main Event of Monday Night Raw was a rematch between Kevin Owens and Solo Sikoa, but this time, it was a Street Fight. Both men are hard-hitting brawlers and this was the style of the match for a while until Kevin Owens set up a row of steel chairs. This backfired on him as Solo Sikoa threw him off of the top rope and sent KO crashing through them. The two then brawled to the backstage area where Owens was met with Superkicks by The Usos. The WWE Undisputed Tag Team Champions then carried Owens back to the ring where Solo picked up the win after hitting the Samoan Spike. The show went off the air with The Bloodline standing tall in the middle of the entrance ramp. This match was fine, but I just wish that Solo would’ve won on his own.
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