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Just a couple of weeks to the biggest wrestling event of the year and this week’s RAW was all business as it completely focused on the rivalries that will unfold at the show.
The WWE Champion Brock Lesnar and his advocate Paul Heyman were in the house and Heyman once again hyped up The Beast, putting him on top ahead of the clash between him and Drew McIntyre.
The night had several promos that saw Superstars like Shayna Baszler, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Charlotte Flair, and Randy Orton further their respective storylines.
Apart from that, Aleister Black managed to book his ticket to WrestleMania by getting a match against Bobby Lashley. Andrade and Angel Garza also had a strong showing at the show and The Street Profits now have a challenger for their RAW Tag Team titles.
In this article, we will look at the five things WWE got right on this week’s RAW during the build towards The Show of Shows.
#5 The Boneyard match
AJ Styles felt like it was the right day to come out and taunt The Undertaker once again. He did not waste the opportunity and came out to make fun of The Deadman’s social media accounts, even showing a video of him swimming with a tiger.
Styles said that Michelle McCool had already taken The Phenom’s soul and buried his career and that Styles would bring it back to life.
With that said, Styles challenged Taker to a Boneyard Match at WrestleMania. While the contract had already been signed, it was interesting to see Styles add another dimension to the match.
A huge match between The Phenom and The Phenomenal One would have gotten a tad bit boring in an empty arena, and the new match-type could allow them to take matters outdoors into a setting that could fit both men’s characters.
While we aren’t sure what the result of the Boneyard Match could be, it can be safely said that it won’t be any worse than having the match between two legends in an empty arena.
#4 Rollins’ response
Kevin Owens wasn’t going to sit around on this week’s show as he made his way to the center and called out Seth Rollins to join him at ringside. KO wanted The Messiah to respond to his WrestleMania challenge, and Rollins obliged.
Rollins was overconfident and told Owens that the Performance Center was built up with a lot of hard work, sweat, and tears and that without Rollins, "there is no NXT, Performance Center or Kevin Owens."
He then moved on to taunt Owens even more and told him that he had no home advantage in this one as Rollins himself has multiple WrestleMania moments while Owens has none.
He made it clear that he was always at his best during WrestleMania events and that he would defeat a failure like Owens with ease.
This was another complete promo from Rollins, possibly his best one during his current feud with Owens. The Messiah was able to strip and break down The Prizefighter by simply using his words, and Owens showed that it was having some effect on him.
While their rivalry has been going on for a few months now, this did not feel stale at all and hit the nail on the head less than a couple of weeks before these two men collide on The Grandest Stage of Them All.
#3 The unexpected challengers
This week’s RAW saw a rather unexpected match between the teams of Ricochet and Cedric Alexander, and Angel Garza and United States Champion Andrade. To make matters more interesting, the winner of the clash was to earn an opportunity to take on the Street Profits at WrestleMania for the RAW Tag Team Championships.
The heels attacked Ricochet even before Cedric could make it to the ring, but The One and Only fought them off.
All four men are extremely athletic and gave fans a good, fast-paced match on a night that was filled with promos once again. The Street Profits watched on as the babyfaces tried to push forward and pick up an unlikely victory.
As the action picked up, El Idolo hit Cedric with the back of the elbow to knock him out cold and pick up the victory for his team. While the ending was a bit off, it allowed the right team to win the match. Later on, The Street Profits hit the ring and a brawl broke out that sent the heels running.
It’s interesting to see that WWE is using another makeshift team to challenge the RAW Tag Team Champions rather than someone like The O.C., The Viking Raiders, or any other team. However, it could work in the long run and Andrade and Garza could take a clean loss from the Champions at WrestleMania without losing any credibility.
#2 The Man’s attack
Charly Caruso and Shayna Baszler were in the ring as the former tried to conduct an interview with the challenger to the RAW Women’s Championship.
While the questions were simple, Baszler seemed like she was in no mood to reply to simple questions. She threatened Caruso and stated that she wanted to destroy Becky Lynch’s world and take away her most prized possession from her.
Right then The Man appeared out of the darkness and attacked The Queen of Spades with a steel chair. She did not stop and attacked her a few more times before walking out.
This was a nice touch to their rivalry and allowed Lynch to get even with the Superstar who once attacked her from the back and bit her neck. The whole thing was short and to the point and added more fuel to the fire between these two women without them having to get physical.
This feels like the most complete feud going into WrestleMania as it has been brewing since Survivor Series and the creatives have kept a stronghold on it ever since to ensure that the stakes are high whenever the opening bell rings.
#1 The Viper’s acceptance
Since Edge has returned to RAW, nothing has been the same. The Rated-R Superstar put up a strong showing at the Royal Rumble, keeping in mind that he’d entered the squared circle after nine long years, but everything changed the night after that.
Randy Orton did not only attack Edge and try to end his career, but he also went after his wife Beth Pheonix, which infuriated the returning Superstar.
Last week on RAW, Edge laid down a Last Man Standing match challenge for Orton at WrestleMania and fans were ready to watch The Viper accept that challenge this week.
Before getting down to business, Orton made it clear that he had far more grit that The Rate-R Superstar ever did and that he was done showing his love for his former friend.
The Viper made it crystal clear that he was ready to take on Edge at WrestleMania and end his story. At a time when promos are leading WWE’s storytelling process, this was another good promo in the development of this rivalry. Both men have shown a lot of emotion in this rivalry, and it will be interesting to see how they take it out in the ring.
This is one of the most well-built stories going into WrestleMania, and fans could get a lot out of it for the rest of the year.
