24 hours removed from a Royal Rumble that left most WWE fans underwhelmed, we come into Raw with the only advertised segment being a confrontation between Commissioner Stephanie McMahon and Seth Rollins.
Yeah, we were yawning too.
Thankfully, there were three unadvertised appearances that piqued our interest and in our estimation, managed to save the show. Live from the Laredo Energy Arena in Laredo, Texas, this was a show that impressed us at every single level.
Let’s go straight to the arena for our recap of this week’s Best and Worst of Raw.
#1 Best: Meet the destroyer
We got the wrong Samoan at the number 30 spot in the Royal Rumble in Roman Reigns. This week, as we geared up to see Seth Rollins and Triple H finally fight one another, the man who would interfere was the one that we all sought last night.
TNA legend Samoa Joe made his main roster debut, after a blistering run in NXT. We must admit we are thrilled to see him get his due. Especially considering that he’s accomplished everything and more in the developmental arena.
If this is leading to a feud between Samoa Joe and Seth Rollins, the quality of the matches are certain to be off the charts in every single way possible. Both men are exemplary workers and this is a dream feud in its own right.
Yet another brilliant touch by the WWE in this segment is that Triple H and Seth Rollins haven’t thrown a single punch at each other yet. This will probably be the case until they presumably have a big ticket Wrestlemania match, 62 days from now.
#1 Worst: Bell and botch
There were quite a few flubs on commentary from all the members of the team, but that’s become so commonplace that we are going to skim through this one. Let’s move to the biggest botch (or is it a storyline swerve?) of the night.
Nia Jax wrestled the eternally injured Sasha Banks in a Royal Rumble rematch and as one would expect, completely destroyed her.
As she was put in a submission hold, someone called for the bell. Only it wasn’t the referee. Botch? Will the WWE creative team save it by making it look like it was part of a storyline angle?
Another botch that happened came from perhaps the best worker in the roster. Cesaro was part of a 6 person inter-gender tag team match (yawn) and tried a very difficult looking spot balancing himself on the top rope.
As one would expect, he couldn't balance himself and slipped down. The second time round was the charm for him, as he actually pulled off the spot.
#2 Best: Part 3 (or 4) confirmed?
Every time Lesnar has appeared on Raw, his presence has been confirmed at least a week in advance. This time, him stepping out of a limousine for an unadvertised appearance was pretty cool.
Of course, the advocate Paul Heyman cut a brilliant promo using the words ‘yeah but’ as the crux of the matter, and that was quite cool too. However, the real big news is that Lesnar, a defeated monster, wanted retribution against Goldberg and challenged him for a Wrestlemania match.
Will part 3 (or 4, if you count the Royal Rumble), be as short a match as their other contests were? We hope to find out soon enough!
#2 Worst: Same old feuds
Coming off the Royal Rumble, the least we anticipated were fresh feuds for the performers on Raw. We forgot that we are dealing with WWE and rarely do we get what we want.
Considering they were in Texas, someone had the brilliant idea of a ‘Texas Tornado Match’ with Big Cass and Enzo Amore against Rusev and Jinder Mahal one more time. That wasn’t enough for the creative unit... oh no!
So The Club and Cesaro/Sheamus faced off once more, as did Bayley and Charlotte Flair. Only this time it was in a 6 man (and woman) environment. Thankfully Sami Zayn and Chris Jericho had a pretty good match to start the show, and we hope that it develops into a program in the coming weeks.
#3 Best: An interesting championship match
Like all other good things in life, Roman Reigns ruined this match too. Until that happened, the two men were having quite an interesting showdown. Strowman of course, was booked like a monster, dominating most of the match.
However, Owens gave him everything he had, before Roman Reigns interfered and stopped the proceedings. It is obvious that Strowman has great matches with good workers, like Sami Zayn or Owens.
#3 Worst: Still no Emmalina
Bye.
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