'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/2wBDAAYEBQYFBAYGBQYHBwYIChAKCgkJChQODwwQFxQYGBcUFhYaHSUfGhsjHBYWICwgIyYnKSopGR8tMC0oMCUoKSj/2wBDAQcHBwoIChMKChMoGhYaKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCj/wgARCAAGAAoDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFAABAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABv/aAAgBAQAAAAAMb//EABQBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP/2gAIAQIQAAAAH//EABQBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAX/2gAIAQMQAAAAT//EACMQAAEDAgUFAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIBAwQREgAFBhQhExYiUYH/2gAIAQEAAT8A11kfb0+Fu4eWk5MZF7qxRULVBy1fGlKqQFynvAbN0EccYdvNLio5xVfmP//EABURAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEA/9oACAECAQE/AFb/xAAYEQEBAAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAgBRwf/aAAgBAwEBPwBkCXZ3P//Z'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The penultimate Monday Night Raw before Wrestlemania 35 took place at Boston, Massachusetts. Wrestlemania is less than two weeks away and there was decent build to the Show of Shows with two matches being made official.
Romans Reigns Vs Drew Mcintyre and the fatal four-way match involving Boss 'N' Hug Connection, Divas of Doom, The IIconics and Samoan Slaughterhouse for the Women's tag team championships were officially announced for Wrestlemania.
The quality of the matches was mediocre at best, with only the Last Man Standing and the men's tag team matches being somewhat decent.
Here are 3 things WWE should have avoided on Monday Night Raw:
#1 Beat the clock challenge
This weeks' Raw started with Ronda Rousey cutting a promo about the RAW Women's championship match headlining Wrestlemania 35. That eventually led to a beat the clock challenge match involving all three ladies fighting for the championship. Ronda faced-off against Sarah Logan, Charlotte against Ruby Riott and Becky vs Liv Morgan.
Ronda Rousey set the pace with a win over Sarah Logan in 1:25 minutes.
Charlotte failed to win her match after failing to submit Ruby Riott.
Becky Lynch went on to win the whole thing by 7 seconds after beating Liv Morgan.
Now, the match did not make sense at all. Beat the clock are usually for a number one contender's match or in some cases a championship match or for some stipulations. On this occasion, nothing was at stake for the winner. None of the competitors really benefited from sub 2-minute matches. The Riott squad were treated like absolute jobbers in this whole mess of a segment/match.
The feud involving Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair was the hottest thing going on in the company but it has cooled done a lot compared to a month ago. This weeks' match further added to the not-so-great booking of the feud in recent times.
#2 Pointless segments
What was WWE doing with the Elias segments?
There was shot of Elias in Times Square, New York. He said something on the lines of giving the greatest performance in the city and how everybody was lining to meet him. In the second segment, someone gave Elias a quarter in a cup. In another segment, some guy stole money from the guitar case Elias claimed he got from singing. Later, that guy stole the whole case while Elias kept on playing.
It was lame and got progressively worse with each segment. Yeah, Elias will be performing a musical act at Wrestlemania 35 which will probably be interrupted by somebody. But all three segments weren't really interesting.
Elias badly needs a feud to stay relevant. All this ripping on the crowd through his songs will get repetitive and only get him so far. Hopefully, after Wrestlemania, Elias gets decent programming to work with.
Talking about needing a feud, here is Braun Strowman. How far has he fallen in the pecking order? From being a potential Universal champion to being in a comedy feud SNL guys is not the direction a superstar needs to take in their career.
Colin Jost and Michael Che are scheduled to be in the Andre The Giant Battle Royal at WrestleMania 35.
#3 Champions losing clean
Monday Night Raw had three matches on the show which involved champions. The first was a handicap match between the team of Lashley and Jinder Mahal and their opponent Finn Balor. Balor went on to win the match after beating Mahal which made him the number one contender for the Intercontinental championship come Wrestlemania. Though Lashley did not get pinned, he was on the losing side.
The second match involved RAW tag team champions The Revival vs Ricochet and Alistair Black. The match was very good, maybe the best one on the show. But, the Revival losing non-title matches is becoming a norm. Their title run has been mediocre, to say the least.
The Kurt Angle farewell tour continued this week when he faced United States champion, Samoa Joe. Both the men had a truly memorable feud in TNA and this was their first match in WWE. The match was average with Angle clearly showing he is not as good as he was a decade ago. Samoa Joe made an appearance on RAW only to end up getting pinned by Angle.
Samoa Joe is set to defend the United States championship against Rey Mysterio at Wrestlemania. Kurt Angle is scheduled to face Baron Corbin at the Grandest Show Of Them All.
