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The go home show of Monday Night Raw emanated from the Capital One Arena in Washington DC. The episode came in the wake of the breaking news of a huge announcement concerning the WrestleMania headliner.
In less than a week now, the annual wrestling extravaganza is going to unfold after a month-long build. MetLife Stadium will witness perhaps the biggest WrestleMania to date. But before, there's one final hurdle that the Raw Superstars need to cross. Let's take a look at five things WWE did right on tonight's Raw.
#5 Stephanie makes a major announcement
WWE had already teased an announcement regarding the main event of WrestleMania, on its Twitter account and the official website.
Stephanie McMahon came out to open the show and announced that she will be the fourth competitor in the main event, to the horror of the sea of fans inside the arena. After waving it off as an April Fool's joke, Stephanie added that both the Raw and SmackDown Women's Titles are going to be on the line in the triple threat headliner on April 7th!
The woman who pins or submits any one of the other two competitors will walk out of WrestleMania 35 with all the gold. The stakes for the closing match at MetLife Stadium have just shot up the roof. The shocking win Charlotte Flair pulled off on last week's SmackDown Live was done for the sole purpose of announcing this stipulation mere days from The Grandest Stage Of Them All.
Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch are all set to compete in the biggest match of their careers. No matter who wins, history is going to be made at WrestleMania 35. The winner will hoist both the titles up over her shoulders in front of 80,000 fans inside the stadium and millions watching at home.
#4 Rollins puts down Lesnar
The Beast and The Beastslayer shared the same ring mere 6 days away from their much-anticipated bout on April 7th.
Heyman and Lesnar came down to the ring to address the WWE Universe, with the advocate making another case for the eventual win for Lesnar at 'Mania. Seth couldn't take another of Heyman's 'spoiler' shtick and came out to face the duo inside the squared circle.
Seth delivered a heartfelt promo, as Lesnar couldn't stop laughing throughout its entirety. The Beast shrugged Seth off and prepared to leave the ring, but was stopped in his tracks and fell prey to a kick. Brock recovered in a jiffy, preparing for a thunderous F5 on Rollins, but ended up getting a low blow, followed by a kick to the head.
Rollins is going to 'Mania carrying tons of momentum with him, after managing to put The Beast down on Raw.
#3 Batista, a man of a few words
The Animal received a sea of cheers as he headed towards the ring, Washington DC being Batista's home. Batista took the mic and addressed The Game, stating: "Hunter, kiss my a**".
The Animal dropped the mic and left the ring, leaving to the back while shaking fans' hands on the way.
Although we didn't get a final confrontation between The Animal and The Game before WrestleMania, this might be for the best. The match at WrestleMania has seen a good enough buildup to make the fans care.
Triple H's career is on the line, plus the bout is a No Holds Barred match. The two Superstars haven't touched each other even once ever since the storyline kicked off during Ric Flair's birthday celebration on Monday Night Raw. The Animal's short promo did its job to the T, as we head towards the long-anticipated match at MetLife Stadium.
#2 Angle and Mysterio fend off Corbin
Kurt Angle and Baron Corbin are all set to face off at WrestleMania, whether anyone likes it or not. Tonight, Angle came down to the ring and the WWE Universe witnessed a look back at his career, with a string of WWE Superstars praising everything Angle's done for the business.
Corbin interrupted the former Olympic gold medallist and struggled to cut a promo amidst the sea of fans chanting Cena's name. A match between the two was teased right away but Corbin backed out at the last moment. Out came Mysterio and challenged Corbin, but to no avail. A cheap shot by Corbin resulted in Angle and Mysterio teaming up to fend off the dastardly villain.
The segment received a good enough reaction and that's all that mattered at the moment. What's worrisome is how will the crowd react to Corbin wrestling in a marquee match at WrestleMania?
#1 The three women collide!
Ever since the triple threat match was announced for WrestleMania 35, we hadn't seen the main eventers go at it against each other in the middle of the ring. On tonight's Monday Night Raw, we saw the headliner trio team up to face The Riot Squad.
The tensions began building up almost immediately as the match progressed. Ronda made Liv Morgan tap out in an instant and chaos ensued.
Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey, and Charlotte Flair went at it in front of a wild crowd at DC. It took a bunch of security personnel and three handcuffs to separate the three women. Putting Ronda and Becky inside the same car didn't help as the brawl continued inside the vehicle.
The thunderous brawl was the best possible way to shoot up the intrigue for the match at WrestleMania. The triple threat has instantly become a must-see attraction!
What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.
