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From a WWE Championship rematch to a hard-hitting No Disqualification contest, this week's edition of WWE RAW featured many contrasting moments.
The show excessively dragged on this week, especially during the middle portions of the episode. Despite the situation, there were some noteworthy moments from the latest edition of Monday Night RAW. WrestleMania 37 is approximately a month away, and a major non-title storyline from RAW seems to be heading towards The Showcase of Immortals.
Let us know your thoughts about this particular episode in the comments section below.
Here are the five biggest news stories from this week's episode of WWE RAW (March 8, 2021).
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#5 Reginald proved to be a huge asset for Nia Jax on WWE RAW
Reginald made his move from WWE SmackDown to RAW this week. In the previous episode of SmackDown, Nia Jax picked him up after he was dumped on by key players of the Blue brand's Women's Division.
As a result, Reginald accompanied Jax to the ring on this week's RAW. Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler teamed up to wrestle Lana and Naomi during the episode. Carmella's former sommelier caused an important distraction towards the end of the match, which allowed Jax to pin her archrival, Lana, for the victory.
Reginald has recently gained a certain level of notoriety among the women of SmackDown. Now that he's on RAW, the same could happen in the RAW Women's Division. As for now, his main role on the Red brand is to help out the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions, Jax and Baszler.
At Fastlane, Jax and Baszler are set to face Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair with the titles at stake. Reginald will surely be a major factor then, as he has established connections with everyone involved in the match.
On the Road to WWE WrestleMania 37, let's hope that out of all the possible directions for Reginald on RAW, he shouldn't be "ready for Asuka".
#4 Bobby Lashley's Almighty Era began with a WWE Championship rematch on RAW
Bobby Lashley's 16-year journey finally led to his first WWE Championship victory last week. However, The Miz didn't let go of his WWE title loss too easily.
The A-Lister made the case for why he unfairly lost the WWE Championship, blaming Shane McMahon and even the current champion, Lashley. The Miz said he had previously used his champion's advantage by getting counted out of the match against Lashley. Although this helped him retain the title for a short while, he was forced to defend the belt again in last week's main event. The lumberjack main event match allowed Lashley to become the new champion by unfair means, according to The A-Lister.
Despite The Miz's grievances against everyone, he did appreciate the fact that management gave him a chance to regain the title this week.
The Miz promised to become the new champion since he is "awesome". Unfortunately for The A-Lister, his signature catchphrase did not help him out in the ring against Lashley. During Miz and Lashley's WWE title rematch, the latter was able to reproduce the same result from last week. Lashley became inevitable, and there was no way for The Miz to overcome his opponent in the ring.
After the aforementioned rematch, do you think The Miz has exhausted his WWE title opportunities for good?
#3 Drew McIntyre and Sheamus knocked each other out on WWE RAW
After Bobby Lashey's successful WWE Championship defense, Drew McIntyre gave his two cents on the matter. The Scottish Warrior didn't realize that his feud with Sheamus was far from over.
The Celtic Warrior attacked McIntyre backstage. After the ambush, McIntyre became incensed and demanded a No Disqualification match against his former friend.
Just like every match between McIntyre and Sheamus, the two stars brawled in a hard-hitting contest. Additionally, Sheamus orchestrated a hold called the "Dublin Smile", as McIntyre's face was stretched to a point where he looked like the Joker.
Towards the end of their contest, the two butted against each other by using steel steps. This sequence knocked out both of them, and the referee had to end the match as neither competitor was able to continue in the No Disqualification contest.
Although McIntyre wants a WWE Championship match as soon as possible, Sheamus has held him back in their own feud. It's unlikely that the No Disqualification match from RAW was their last encounter.
At this stage, Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus seems likely for WWE's upcoming pay-per-view, Fastlane.
#2 Shane McMahon confirmed that he liked to annoy Braun Strowman through a bizarre sequence of events on WWE RAW
Braun Strowman addressed his issues with Shane McMahon and demanded an apology from him during this week's WWE RAW. The Monster Among Men was excluded from the Elimination Chamber. He also lost a chance to become a WWE RAW Tag Team Champion last week because of McMahon's last-minute suggestions.
The strange part about the whole ordeal was that McMahon had given the aforementioned opportunity to Strowman in the first place. So when The Monster Among Men demanded an apology from Shane-O-Mac, the latter simply arrived to apologize and then left the ring. However, it looked as if Shane McMahon wanted to say something else to Braun Strowman, even though he kept it to himself at the time.
Later in the night, McMahon confirmed that he had something else to say to Strowman, which led to another segment between them.
The second time around, McMahon purposefully delayed what he actually wanted to say by constructing awkward sentences and taking too much time to get to the point. Shane-O-Mac's mannerisms were truly bizarre. In the end, he implied that Strowman was "dumb" and ran away, which added more weight to the bizarreness of the situation.
Strowman chased him to the backstage area and saw a vehicle leaving the arena, assuming that it was McMahon in the vehicle. As The Monster Among Men walked away in fury, McMahon re-appeared in the frame and called him stupid.
Clearly, Shane McMahon hates Braun Strowman. Is this feud some sort of a running joke for WWE's backstage personnel, that the fans are unaware of? Judging by this week's WWE RAW, there will most likely be a match between the two stars, perhaps at WrestleMania 37.
#1 Alexa Bliss and her "magic tricks" tormented Randy Orton in the main event of WWE RAW
AJ Styles is just as confused as WWE fans when it comes to Alexa Bliss, Randy Orton, and Bray Wyatt's saga. When Styles mocked Orton's current dilemma on this week's WWE RAW, The Viper confronted him to set up a main event clash between the two.
Styles and Orton had a back-and-forth match, which featured an expected interruption from Bliss towards the end. Bliss popped up on the titantron when Omos took Styles out of the ring. She almost opened up the mysterious jack-in-the-box but didn't go all the way to fully open it up. Instead, she lit a match and blew it out. This led to the ring posts shooting fire with Orton in the ring. Only three out of the four ring posts shot fire, which led to some online speculation that it may have been a shot at AEW's explosive botch at Revolution.
Orton also coughed up the black liquid again, which allowed Styles to hit him with the Phenomenal Forearm to win the match.
This was yet another example of a slow-burn tease leading towards The Fiend's return. But the question remains — how exactly will Orton attempt to escape Bliss' magical traps on RAW?
Do check out the latest edition of 'Legion of RAW' with Dr. Chris Featherstone and former WWE Head Writer Vince Russo in the video embedded above.
Meet Randy Orton's lovely wife HERE
