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This week's final RAW episode before WrestleMania 36 kicked off with a message from The Undertaker directed towards AJ Styles ahead of their upcoming Boneyard match at WrestleMania 36. Styles had previously disrespected The Undertaker for the past couple of weeks and took things a bit too far by disrespecting The Phenom's wife Michelle McCool in the last episode.
The Undertaker said that AJ must have been mad because Michelle does the Faithbreaker, i.e. her version of the Styles Clash better than him. The Deadman then closed his promo by saying that he would make Styles famous at WrestleMania.
Not many matches took place on this week's episode, considering that the WWE is understaffed currently due to the coronavirus pandemic. A few more matches were announced for WrestleMania 36 and the show closed with WWE Champion Brock Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman guaranteeing that Lesnar would decimate Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania.
Three matches took place on this episode and now, without further ado, we will get into the details of each match and grade them based on their match quality.
#1 Aleister Black vs Jason Cade
Aleister Black got himself a little warm-up match ahead of his match with Bobby Lashley at WrestleMania. The Striking Man from Amsterdam faced enhancement talent Jason Cade in a rather short match because he did not give his opponent much of a chance to mount any offense on him.
As soon as the bell rang, Black attacked Cade with strikes and kicks. He then sat down on the mat cross-legged like he often does to confuse his opponents which did the trick on Cade as he caught the latter when he attempted to kick him.
After a flurry of strikes, Black connected with the Black Mass spinning heel kick to get the pinfall victory. An easy win, which will put Lashley on notice ahead of their match this weekend.
Result: Aleister Black defeated Jason Cade
Grade: B
#2 Kevin Owens & The Street Profits vs Seth Rollins, Angel Garza & Austin Theory
United States Champion Andrade was originally supposed to team up with Rollins and Garza in the match but his business associate Zelina Vega announced that he had suffered a serious rib injury and would not be able to compete since he was not medically cleared. So, Vega brought in NXT Superstar and former Evolve Champion Austin Theory as his replacement.
As a result, the debutant, Theory will also team up with Garza to face the RAW Tag Team Champions Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins, The Street Profits at WrestleMania for the titles.
The match started with Owens and Theory inside the ring where Owens immediately unloaded on the latter after getting instigated by Rollins. The match was the most hard-hitting bout of the night with the six men pulling out all the stops, although Rollins represented a sort of an anomaly, as he always tried to sneak in between matches and tried to capitalize on his opponents when they were at a disadvantage.
One moment in the match involved Ford running the ropes and leaping to take out Theory who was outside the ring but he ended up crashing at the bottom of the ramp as the debutant side-stepped to evade Ford. Owens hit a Stunner on Garza to get the pinfall win after he got a near-fall on him following a Swanton Bomb from the top rope.
After the match, Rollins barged into the ring and ended up nailing Owens with the Stomp before running away. Following the incident, Owens took a mic and said that Rollins might have a successful track record while he does not have a single WrestleMania moment, but he will be changing all that this weekend when he becomes the one to burn it down and earn his WrestleMania moment by pinning Rollins.
Result: Kevin Owens & Street Profits defeated Seth Rollins, Angel Garza & Austin Theory
Grade: A
#3 Asuka vs Kayden Carter
One-half of the Kabuki Warriors and Women's Tag Team Champion, Asuka faced NXT Superstar Kayden Carter in a fairly short match on this week's RAW. Also, it was announced that Asuka & Kairi Sane will be defending their Women's Tag Team Titles against Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross this weekend at WrestleMania 36.
The Empress of Tomorrow took a mic and yelled something in her native Japanese before asking who Carter was. However, the latter immediately responded with a dropkick as soon as the match started and covered Asuka to get a 2-count after hitting her with a springboard dropkick.
Asuka countered Carter's move and hit her with a German Suplex following an ankle lock. She then nailed her with a kick in the middle of the ring and applied the Asuka Lock to get a submission victory.
Result: Asuka defeated Kayden Carter
Grade: B
