This week’s RAW continued the March on the road to WrestleMania. With the matches seemingly set in stone, the red brand looked to take its game up moving closer to the showcase of the immortals.
Paul Heyman gloats about a single F-5
RAW opened with a highlight of the previous week where Brock Lesnar hit an F-5 on the Universal Champion, Goldberg.
Brock Lesnar’s music hit to kick off the show. The crowd began chanting suplex city. Heyman was on his knees, sarcastically in awe of Lesnar hitting an F-5 on Goldberg the previous week. He began hyping up Brock Lesnar. The crowd began chanting “Goldberg” and booing Heyman and Lesnar.
Heyman seemed to introduce Goldberg to the ring but said that he wasn’t there at the venue. He also began calling Lesnar’s story the greatest comeback in sports entertainment history.
Backstage, Mick Foley and Stephanie McMahon began talking about Foley and his job in a standard segment of theirs, but Stephanie told Foley that he had until the end of the night to fire one WWE superstar
Sasha Banks vs Dana Brooke
Charlotte Flair wanted Dana Brooke to “make sure” Sasha Banks to make it to WrestleMania. Bayley was at Sasha’s corner while Charlotte Flair was in Dana’s. The match didn’t take long, as Sasha finished Dana with a roll-up pin.
Sasha Banks defeated Dana Brooke
Charlotte took the mic and started abusing Dana. Dana snapped and attacked Charlotte, seemingly turning face in the process.
Chris Jericho & Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens & Samoa Joe was announced for later.
TJ Perkins & Akira Tozawa vs The Brian Kendrick & Tony Nese
Nese began the offence by attacking Tozawa from behind, Tozawa got the momentum back and even hit a suicide dive before the commercial break. Back after the break, Nese and Kendrick were teaming up against Tozawa.
Nese had Tozawa locked in before managing to tag TJ Perkins in. The crowd seemed to get quite behind TJP for a change. He played the hot tag, and a series of exchanges from one competitor to the other, with Nese getting a near fall on TJP. The former Cruiserweight Champion hit a flying DDT on Nese, but Kendrick broke up the pin.
Nese picked up the win for his team after shoving TJP into Tozawa and ended up holding TJP’s tights for the roll-up win.
The Brian Kendrick & Tony Nese defeated TJP & Akira Tozawa
Backstage, Anderson & Gallows were asked by Charly Caruso which team they’d rather face at WrestleMania, and they said that they have already beaten both teams and that the spotlight of the tag team division should be on them.
Chris Jericho & Sami Zayn defeated Kevin Owens & Samoa Joe
Kevin Owens under a spotlight, and before he could speak, the crowd chanted “Y2J”. Owens reminded the crowd that it was exactly a month ago when he turned on Jericho and aired the video package. Owens said that he was never Jericho’s best friend, and said that Jericho never considered him his best friend either, and he wanted to get closer to the Universal Championship.
Owens then began insulting Jericho and Sami Zayn before introducing Samoa Joe. Sami Zayn came out followed by Chris Jericho, who got the best reaction of the night at that point.
Kevin Owens teased a fight with Jericho but immediately tagged in Samoa Joe. Joe began against Jericho, who surprisingly was getting the better of Joe. Owens and Jericho began decimating Sami Zayn, followed by Chris Jericho. Their constant assaults led to the heels getting disqualified.
Chris Jericho & Sami Zayn defeated Kevin Owens & Samoa Joe by disqualification
After the match, Owens & Joe continued their assault, catching Jericho in a Coquina clutch followed by a pop-up powerbomb.
Backstage, Nia Jax came in and demanded justice for Sasha Banks being added into the RAW Women’s Championship match and not her. Stephanie set up a match for her to take on Bayley later in the night.
Jinder Mahal spoke to Mick Foley and demanded an opponent to showcase his talents, not wanting to be fired. Foley announced Roman Reigns as his opponent
New Day was backstage for a program called "New Day Talks and had The Big show as the guest host to promote the new Jetsons-WWE collaboration. Titus O' Neil interrupted demanding to know why The Titus Brand was not the focus of the Jetsons-WWE collaboration. He shoved Big Show and walked away
Enzo & Cass vs Sheamus & Cesaro – Winner faces Anderson & Gallows for the RAW Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania
Cesaro went up against Big Cass at first. A lot of back and forth led to a stalemate at first. The former Tag Team Champions had the momentum going in their favour after the break. However, once Big Cass was tagged in, he hit two fall away slams. Sheamus tagged himself in and began getting the better of Cass until he sent Sheamus outside.
Gallows & Anderson came out and attacked Sheamus and Cass, leading to the match being ended in a no contest.
The match ended in a no contest
Anderson & Gallows laid waste to both teams following the match
A recap was shown of the previous week where Roman Reigns confronted The Undertaker.
Mick Foley confronted Gallows & Anderson for their assault. Gallows & Anderson were gloating about their assaults, and Mick Foley made the WrestleMania tag team match a Triple Threat match.
Roman Reigns vs Jinder Mahal
Roman Reigns had control of the match until he heard The Undertaker’s gong. This distracted him and allowed Jinder to get offence. Roman Reigns, however, prevailed and defeated Jinder Mahal with a superman punch.
Roman Reigns defeated Jinder Mahal
After the match, Roman Reigns called out The Undertaker, and Shawn Michaels came out. Roman Reigns paid his respects to HBK but said that he called out Undertaker, and not Michaels. Shawn Michaels told Roman Reigns that Undertaker has gotten in Roman's head, and by WrestleMania, Taker will eat him alive.
Roman Reigns said that Undertaker should wonder what it’s like to face him. HBK told Roman that he was on his side, and he knew what it was like to walk in his shoes. Roman Reigns told Michaels that Undertaker retired him, and vowed to retire The Undertaker.
As he exited and looked back, he was bulldozed out of nowhere by Braun Strowman.
Backstage, Stephanie praised Braun Strowman for his intensity. Stephanie asked Foley whether he decided who he would fire. She claimed that she was doing it for his personal and professional growth. She said that he had an hour to make the decision, or else she would make it for him.
Austin Aries vs Ariya Daivari
This was Austin Aries’ RAW debut. Neville was watching on, and Aries was dominating Daivari, making a statement. Daivari barely got any offence in, and Aries managed to get a suicide dive on Daivari. The finish saw a botched suplex with Daivari landing awkwardly on his neck, followed by the roaring elbow for the win.
Austin Aries defeated Ariya Daivari
Titus O’ Neil vs Big Show
A follow-up of “New Day Talks”, Big Show looked to get revenge on Titus. The match was essentially a squash match. Big Show finished the match with 3 chokeslams. After his first two chokeslams, the crowd chanted “one more time” before he hit a vicious chokeslam.
Big Show defeated Titus O’ Neil
Backstage, Bayley and Sasha Banks spoke about Bayley’s match against Nia. Sasha told Bayley to “forget the haters”, and Bayley asked her which haters she meant. There was a tease of dissent between the two.
Chris Jericho was seen icing his head in the locker room. He spoke about Kevin Owens and announced that he would have a special edition of the highlight reel, with his special guest being the “Real” Kevin Owens.
Bayley vs Nia Jax
Nia Jax started off dominant against the RAW Women’s Champion. Nia looked in the mood of destruction. Bayley got a little offence in, with Nia having a counter to everything. Bayley attempted a guillotine like how she did to Nia at NXT Takeover: London, but Nia escaped. Nia began to viciously assault Bayley, leading to disqualification by the referee. Nia didn’t stop there, slamming Bayley against the barricade.
Bayley defeated Nia Jax by Disqualification
Mick Foley “fires” a RAW superstar
Foley told Stephanie that no superstar he felt deserved to be fired. He stated that one name did come up, and he revealed who he wanted to fire – Stephanie herself. Stephanie told him he had no power, and Foley began letting it out on her. He told Stephanie that she was a good liar and a bad person because she was in on Triple H’s plans the whole time.
Stephanie told Foley that he would know how bad she was, and out came Triple H. Triple H threatened to rip off the legs of his hip that requires surgery. Triple H said that the reason he creates the future is so that he doesn’t have to face has-beens like Foley.
He told Foley that Stephanie really likes him and that he shouldn’t mistake her heart for her weakness. Foley lashed out on Triple H and told him that he doesn’t need to pretend to like him. Triple H indirectly began threatening Foley’s children.
Triple H continued to tell Foley off and told him to leave, and ordered him to listen to Stephanie. As he appeared to be leaving, he stood by the corner, and as Triple H demanded he left, Foley stuffed socko in Triple H’s mouth, and Stephanie gave him a low blow.
As Triple H was about to attack Foley, Seth Rollins came out with a crutch. He dropped the the crutch and began assaulting Triple H. Rollins got the better of Triple H until Triple H began assaulting Rollins with his crutch outside. Triple H began to viciously assault Rollins’ knee, while the referees tried to separate them. This was the end of the show.
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