The biggest winners and losers of last night's Raw (February 17)

This week's WWE Raw was a show that felt like it was either very hot or very cold. In regards to some angles, like Drew McIntyre's quest for the title or Charlotte Flair's acceptance of Rhea Ripley's challenge, things fell flat, but elsewhere, WrestleMania was boosted by good storytelling and solid matches to add to the hype.

Who were the biggest winners and losers of last night's Raw? Let's take a look.

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Winner: Randy Orton

This is Randy Orton at his best. After a passionate promo from Matt Hardy, Randy Orton feigned a retreat, and then attacked with a brutal fury, hitting two con-chair-tos, on the steps, to an already-injured Matt Hardy. He had to be stretchered out.

Rumor has it that Matt Hardy is once again departing from the company soon. If this is his last dance in WWE, it will have been a memorable one, and it helped to build what already feels like the most emotional match at WrestleMania, one that means a lot more than just the typical match featuring an over the hill legend.

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Winner: Aleister Black

The Rowan squash matches for months on end seem to have led to this. Aleister Black, being who he is, took the big man to arguably his best match in WWE to date, winning in the process, of course.

For Aleister Black, it was a notable victory, more so than the recent squash matches, so we'll put this in the mild win column for him for now.

His road to WrestleMania still looks uncertain, though. We still don't know what direction his character has, aside from winning a lot of random matches. So we need to see what's in store for him next before we can say that he's turned any corners.

Winners: Becky Lynch and Shayna Baszler

I was worried about the promos this feud would deliver, but this was a good way to keep it relatively short and sweet. Becky Lynch's reign has felt like it's just been there for the past few months. Last night, she dropped a bag of money in the ring and said it would pay off the fines she would accrue for the violence inflicted on Shayna Baszler. That's Becky at her best.

Shayna Baszler came back on video, saying she would win the Elimination Chamber and go to WrestleMania. WWE has done a good job of making her a threat, all but telegraphing her victory in the Chamber, but that's OK.

Both of them have needed a new environment for a long time. So far, it's working. Let's just hope their weaknesses can be hidden or at least de-emphasized for as long as possible. We all remember the tepid promos and the lackluster match at Survivor Series that Vince McMahon himself reportedly hated.

Smart booking like this is what will be needed.

Loser: Kairi Sane

Shayna Baszler's old rival Kairi Sane was coincidentally in action last night against Natalya, but she didn't look to be at her best. Chalk it up to typical heel booking, but Kairi Sane looked weak here, needing Asuka's help to only win via countout.

Long have there been complaints among fans that WWE books almost all of its heels to be hapless chickens. This match was a great example. Kairi Sane is certainly the kind of performer that deserves a better performance.

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Winner: Seth Rollins

Seth Rollins delivering his first sermon as the Monday Night Messiah was a good new direction for his character to take, after weeks of a lot of screen time, but uncertainty as to where the story would be going next.

We got another big fight in last night's main event, where Rollins' group lost by disqualification. It was underwhelming, but the sermon was something more interesting.

Let's hope that the red brand's team can come up with a new wrinkle in this story that leads somewhere by WrestleMania time. This was a good start.