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Linus O'Howell

WWE Monday Night Raw Review: 26/02

Becky Lynch Interrupts Rhea Ripley, Sami Zayn VS Shinsuke Nakamura

After a recap of what went down at Elimination Chamber on Saturday, Dominik Mysterio was in the ring as he welcomed out the Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley. Rhea talked about how great Elimination Chamber was before Becky Lynch arrived to echo the same statement. Becky and Rhea both took shots at each other over various things before Nia Jax arrived to drop Lynch from behind to close the segment. There was nothing wrong with this segment, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it good.

Grade: C+

 

After Nia Jax said she was going to destroy Liv Morgan tonight, we went into the first match of the night as Sami Zayn took on Shinsuke Nakamura in a rematch from a couple of weeks ago. I thought this was a pretty good contest actually which shouldn’t really be much of a surprise given these guys’ history. Still, it was fun to watch and some of the strikes Shinsuke landed on Sami were pretty strong. In the end, though, a Helluva Kick to the back of the head followed by a normal one was enough for Zayn to pin Nakamura for an important victory.

Grade: B

 


Chelsea Green VS Raquel Rodriguez, Gunther Promo, Imperium VS The New Day: Street Fight

After a really well-done video package highlighting the feud between Imperium and The New Day, Chelsea Green was in the ring to talk trash about Raquel Rodriguez. This brought out Raquel for their scheduled match, and honestly, it went about two minutes (tops) and it ended with Rodriguez hitting the Tejada Bomb for the win after Green got literally no offense in. This was completely pointless, and it probably only would’ve worked if Raquel went back to being the kick-ass Heel she was down in NXT.

Grade: C-

 

Sami Zayn said he’s determined to find a path onto the WrestleMania card before Gunther and the rest of Imperium then walked past in an interesting moment. Cody Rhodes then praised Grayson Waller backstage before Gunther was in the ring to talk about his Intercontinental Championship. The Ring General admitted that he got a bit lucky last week against “Main Event” Jey Uso, but besides that, he’s pretty much perfect. Amazingly, it was The Judgment Day who then arrived as Damian Priest made it clear that The JD want the Intercontinental Title in their ranks. I really didn’t expect this and I’d like to see Gunther face all of these guys (probably not at once though).

Grade: C+

 

Rhea Ripley was not impressed with Dominik Mysterio’s decision to step up to Gunther backstage before Andrade El Idolo walked past to hint that his first match back could well be with “Dirty” Dom. It was then time for a Street Fight as Imperium and The New Day clashed in what I thought was a pretty fun contest. There were plenty of rough-looking spots, whether that be with tables and/or kendo sticks, and this kind of felt like a little bit of a message to those 2K Ratings deciders (certainly on Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci’s side anyway). Amazingly, in the end, Vinci was able to send Kofi Kingston crashing to the outside through a table before Ludwig Kaiser (after throwing Xavier Woods into a steel chair) rolled up Woods for a rather surprising victory. A surprise I was very much happy about!

Grade: B

 


Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell VS Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark, Drew McIntyre Calls Out Seth “Freakin” Rollins, Liv Morgan VS Nia Jax

We got a good video package hyping up Grayson Waller before Chad Gable explained to Adam Pearce why he deserves to be the one to face Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania. It was then time for some Women’s Tag Team action as Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell took on Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark. This really didn’t achieve much as it only went a few minutes, and after Indi tagged in and ran wild for a few moments, Shayna, who’d made the blind tag, just got in the ring and made Hartwell tap out in the Kirifuda Clutch. Insert Shrug Emoji!

Grade: C

 

R-Truth was in The Judgment Day’s locker room as The Miz and DIY arrived to talk about a grand plan they have. Drew McIntyre was then in the ring as he took a few shots at CM Punk before he asked Seth “Freakin” Rollins to make his way down to the ring. The reason Drew did this is because he wanted to tell Seth that he should stop getting involved with The Bloodline as otherwise, it’s going to cost them both at WrestleMania. Rollins responded by telling McIntyre that he understands what he’s saying, but some things “are just worth the risk”. This was great, Drew McIntyre is on fire right now and everything he said regarding the World Heavyweight Championship is correct. However, Seth Rollins also cut yet another good promo and I’m just super excited for this match already!

Grade: B+

 

It was then time for another match as Liv Morgan was about to go one-on-one with Nia Jax. Nia dominated her much smaller opponent, but Liv would continue to show that Babyface heart that’s made her so popular with the WWE Universe. In the end, neither woman would “properly” get the victory as Becky Lynch arrived to jump Nia Jax in a bit of revenge from earlier in the show. I’ll be honest, I didn’t like the idea of a DQ here, but at least it protected both Jax and Morgan. What’s also interesting is the fact that Liv looked pretty pissed off afterwards.

Grade: C+

 


Cody Rhodes VS Grayson Waller

After A-Town Down Under cut a promo, Liv Morgan told Becky Lynch that not everything’s about her, and Jey Uso and Drew McIntyre got into a brawl backstage, it was Main Event time as Cody Rhodes took on Grayson Waller. This was a totally fine Main Event which Cody dominated for the most part, but Grayson was definitely able to get some offense in. Ultimately, Rhodes would get the win over The Arrogant Aussie courtesy of a Cross Rhodes before Paul Heyman arrived with a bunch of security guards to try and convince Cody to withdraw his challenge regarding a singles match with The Rock. That obviously didn’t happen as The American Nightmare just beat up these three losers to stand tall whilst Heyman got on the phone with both Roman Reigns and The Rock. Cool (I guess).

Grade: C+

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