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Being in the thick of WrestleMania season, the action in WWE should be heating up more and more. Instead, Raw felt like it was just a little below average this week. Even though there was some Ronda Rousey physicality, a Symphony of Destruction involving Elias and Braun Strowman, as well as the announcement of an upcoming match on the Hardy Compound, everything was a little bland. The blame could lie in the fact that there were no strong matches. Overall, this was merely an okay three hours.
With not much in the way of praises to dish out, jumping into the heart of this article is that much easier. There were a few botches worth highlighting, including Ronda Rousey's unamusement of drum rolls to Asuka's headscissor transition into an octopus hold that didn't quite work out. Also, there was the issue of the USA Network cutting off Paul Heyman, which may or may not have been a spiteful move in lieu of a recent visit by FOX execs.
#5 Ronda's Samoan Drop draws criticism
Ronda Rousey showed off slightly more of her arsenal in the opening segment of Raw. After it was decided that she and Kurt Angle would take on the McMahon-Helmsly Regime in a mixed tag match at WrestleMania, a scuffle broke out that ending with a Samoan Drop onto Stephanie.
The move looked fine enough for the untrained eye, but ECW legend Tommy Dreamer noticed a big problem. On Twitter, he kindly pointed out that she trapped her arm on this manoeuvre. In the long run, that could cause some unnecessary damage. Dreamer even mentioned Samoan Drop-connoisseurs like Roman Reigns and Nia Jax that she could ask for help.
#4 Headscissor botch
In this exchange, Asuka tilted around Nia Jax's body via swinging head scissors. She ended up on her feet in a moment where both of them were unsure of what to do next. Nia eventually picked her up and turned the exchange into a Sidewalk Slam.
Right after this, Jax picked Asuka back into a Sidewalk Slam-style position again. Then, The Empress of Tomorrow locked in an Octopus Hold. In hindsight, that was likely what Asuka was originally trying to transition into after the headscissors.
#3 Jobbing out The Revival
File this one under "outrageous." The Revival went head to head against the Raw Tag Team Champions, Sheamus & Cesaro, with a chance to put themselves into title contention going into WrestleMania. After weeks of feuding with Titus Worldwide, it felt like Dawson & Wilder were about to heat up the tag scene on Monday nights. Whatever hopes there might have been were dashed by the surprisingly clean end to this match.
Cesaro applied his Gotch Neutralizer and that's all there was to it. The Revival, a team who was in WWE.com's match of the year for 2016, will not be vying for their current brand's titles at WrestleMania. Michael Cole offered a summary of the match fallout moments after the bell rang: "Hey guys, say what you want but The Bar has vanquished yet another contender." Yes they have, Michael, and it's a shame.
#2 No drum roll
Nobody can argue with Ronda Rousey's star power or her presence. WWE scored a big win with bringing her into the company. However, she still needs a little polishing when it comes to her live promos, as evidenced by this interaction with Stephanie McMahon.
The Chief Brand Officer tried to build a little suspense for the big WrestleMania match reveal. She teased a drum roll, then got excited as she heard the crowd biting a little onto her comments. Before the crowd could get too amped up, Ronda turned her back to the camera and announced to Stephanie that she wanted to have a match with her.
This opening segment was replayed later in the show, which any references to drumrolls cut out. It made for an awkward replay. Even so, the crowd busted into "Yes!" chants moments after Rousey got in McMahon's face. She may have a few kinks to work out in her mic game, but the crowd is more than hyped for her to help cover any deficiencies.
#1 USA Network vs. Paul Heyman
Paul Heyman took the main event slot of this episode of Raw. While no monumental revelations came about during this segment, he did drop some taboo language and name dropped The Wild Samoans for emphasis. A Heyman promo is always a good thing, but depending on how you watch Raw you may have missed a significant portion of it.
Apparently, the USA Network cut the live feed right at 11:00pm EST. Viewers instead say the beginning of the new Josh Duhamel show covering the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. USA eventually caught their mistake and switched back to WWE.
Perhaps this was an act of shots being fired against WWE? It is awfully convenient that a botch of this level occurs mere days after WWE has some executives present from a rival channel. It Fox continues to show interest, WWE may have to not rely so heavily on that overrun.
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