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Following the Fastlane pay-per-view, Raw quickly pulled up its socks to head right into the Road to WrestleMania 35 and establish as many matches for the event as quickly as possible. The show opened up with The Shield, and the focus soon turned to the Universal Championship match for the grand event.
Batista made his first appearance after a vicious assault of Ric Flair two weeks ago and confronted Triple H to set the foundation to their No Holds Barred match for WrestleMania. Intercontinental Champion Finn Balor defended his title against The All Mighty Bobby Lashley in a match which surprised us all.
While there were a few shocking spots in the entire night, there were definitely some good ones which made the episode better. Take a look at the 3 good things that happened on this week’s Raw, and share your favorite moments from the show in the comments below!
#3 The Shield kicked off the show
The Shield closed out the Fastlane pay-per-view to much delight of the fans on Sunday night. They followed that with the opening segment on Monday night on Raw. Reigns was emotional and said that if last night was the end of The Shield, he has no regrets.
He followed that up by hyping Rollins up ahead of his WrestleMania showdown with Brock Lesnar as the WWE Universe chanted "Slay the Beast!" Even though the promo seemed to lack a lot, the crowd still enjoyed it which was evident from their chants and applause.
If this was the final promo from The Shield as one unit, it did everything and did so in a short period of time. Rollins followed up the promo with an exchange with none other than his WrestleMania opponent’s advocate Paul Heyman, which brings us right back to the fact that the three men are now more or less on their own.
#2 Ronda Rousey’s focused promo
Ronda Rousey’s new character turn will surely help her in her match against Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 35. After what happened at Fastlane, Ronda did not hold back as she verbally attacked the WWE Universe last night and said Becky Lynch is the hero the fans deserve because she is a coward.
Ronda had come off as a soft woman which was a slight dent to her persona as The Baddest Woman on the Planet, and this promo helped build her image. Ronda was interrupted by Dana Brooke, who received a beating at the hands of Ronda for her actions and her words.
WWE did the right thing by keeping the promo short and focused, and without adding Becky or Charlotte to it, which helped shift the focus back on the Raw Women’s Champion.
However, the creatives will have to be careful with their handling of Rousey as they are building her as a heel entering WrestleMania, and won’t want the crowd to start cheering her too for her honest promos.
#1 Some forgotten superstars received a chance
Raw’s roster is completely packed at the moment. It is so full that at times we forget that superstars such as EC3, Lars Sullivan, and Nikki Cross were called up to the main roster not too long ago. This has led to many superstars competing either on Main Event or not getting matches at all.
Many of them have even been forgotten by fans who are surprised when their music hits as they don't expect these superstars to get chances anymore. This is the case for superstars such as No Way Jose, Apollo Crews, Dana Brooke, and Shelton Benjamin.
However, WWE did a great job by putting all four superstars in last night’s episode. Even if each one of them ended up on the wrong side at the end of the night, they did get a chance to appear before the WWE Universe and also reminded that these mid-card superstars will get some opportunity sooner or later.
