I heavily debated whether I should have reviewed or even watched this Raw because it was plodding and frustrating especially with about a little under two weeks left of TV to promote Wrestlemania. But I decided unless something egregious is shown where I quit wrestling altogether, I’ll commit myself to follow the two main TV shows up until Wrestlemania. That said, I have to admit that my interest in this coming Wrestlemania is pretty low. There’s a few matches that I’m looking forward to whereas the bulk fills like filler compared to past Wrestlemania events.
Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY New Contract Signing
Predictably, these three are having a three-way women’s title match at Wrestlemania. Adam Pearce tries to be the mature one in getting these three to conduct themselves in a professional manner but Rhea and Bianca only care about facing each other. #MeToo by the way. Iyo again is a 5th (or third) wheel on this bicycle ride from hell and she gets the last word (or dropkick) in by springboarding, knocking the two arguing women and signing her part of the contract. Just abysmal. Bianca is acting more heelish as weeks go by, which makes me wonder if she’s going to eventually team back up with the full fledged heel of Naomi. Rhea is getting dragged down in this because Iyo is unable to get over on her own but the company insists on pushing her to a degree. I mean just give her a fucking manager that can speak on her behalf already if you want to push her.
Lyra Valkyria vs Bayley
Bayley is officially Natalya 2.0. Honestly, Bayley looks bad in matches these days. I think she tries to get fancy but fucks up a lot. Either that or injuries and age are starting to catch up fast. Valkyria has not impressed me one bit. I honestly tried to get into this match but became frustrated with the sloppiness, the lack of energy or sharpness. But this wasn’t good. I don’t think Bayley should be the Natalya 2.0 of the women’s division. It’s obvious that she’s winding down her career by attempting to be that bridge but it’s too obvious. Anyway, after Valkyria catches Bayley with a roll up/bridge type of surprise pin, it’s mentioned that they’re teaming up for some tag tournament. Why have this match then? Bayley gets momentarily frustrated for losing then changes her mind and shakes Valkyria’s hand. What a mess.
American Made vs LWO
So they’re doing midget man/wannabe Kurt Angle/Dean Malenko as a luchadore because he’s a goof. Poor Rey Mysterio Jr. just exist. I’d prefer him to retire already. I mean it looks like he’s the manager of this stable but no one can replace Rey in what he once could do. I fast forwarded most of this and saw that fake luchadore got the pin by using some sort of foreign object in his mask to knock one of the LWO people out. I want to like Chad Gable but he’s been presented like a goof for so long that it’s impossible to take anything he does seriously or that he’ll ever get a real push. At least with Kurt Angle, he’s was a legit wrestler and could switch it up.
Gunter / Jey Uso Confrontation
I fucking hated this to no end. Jey took forever before he said a single word. By that point, I lost interest and skipped everything. I already watched a clip on reddit to get his main point but Jey is a prime example of where the WWE is really just milking a pebble of every last drop of moisture. I don’t think Gunther got a single word in and mostly emoted. But I had to fast forward the bulk of this segment because I hate wasting time and my patience with the WWE and wrestling in general right now are pretty shot as far as my fandom are concerned.
The War Raiders vs The New Day
This was a tag team match. I want to like the new New Day because they sold me when they tossed Big E out. However, every week I lose more interest because they don’t really do anything. Here, they tried to do something in injuring the War Raiders but were stopped. In terms of the match, I skipped it because there was a jackass on commentary that sounded worse than taking a chainsaw and putting it through your ear. Either way, the new New Day got the DQ win because one of the War Raiders tried to retaliate with a chair. The announcers played up BOTH War Raiders having bad necks so I’m guessing that the new New Day are going to get a rematch possibly at WM and win the titles. But I really hope they aren’t transitional champions and actually DO something heelish that set them apart finally from the rest of this bland division. They nailed the heel turn but everything else has not been convincing.
Penta vs. Dominik Mysterio
This wasn’t bad but I mostly was watching for Dominik. He’s not a great wrestler but he can work if that makes any sense. Penta eventually folded Dominik for his Penta Driver for the win which allowed Carlito to do a sneak attack. Dominik joined in and Bron came out to not really make a save but show that he’s the ultimate in badassery. Best moment was seeing Bron hit this crazy spear on Carlito on the way to the ring and flip in mid air after hitting Carlito. Just to show that Bron don’t care he attacked Penta too but got nailed from behind by Finn Balor. So the main announcement made earlier was the four way between Penta, Dominik, Bron and Finn for the IC title. Everyone is predicting Dominik to win finally and piss off Finn (probably by pinning Finn). That ought to free Bron to move on to say Smackdown after WM and get into a mega feud with Jacob Fatu for the US title while Penta and Rey Fenix join to challenge for the tag titles (and probably win) while Dominik becomes the leader (or subleader since Liv is the real leader) of the Judgment Day and feud with Finn Balor.
Heyman / Seth Rollins Segment
Heyman talks about his loyalties and that brings out Seth Rollins. Seth starts bullying Heyman around which causes Punk to come out to defend Heyman. Rollins hits a curb stomp on Punk to knock him out then almost gives one to Heyman who moves out of the way just in time as Rollins stomps the mat then tells Heyman, “Now, you owe me a favor.” Of course, the actual segment took way fucking longer than this but what do you expect at this point?
Oh, and have I mentioned how Heyman is the center of all of this drama? I rhetorically asked if this whole three way nonsense drama is just a way to bring in Brock because Heyman is sick of everyone. I mean given our administration and that asshole guest “commentator” who showed, it won’t surprise me if Brock shows back up at WM. I really hope not but this whole thing is nonsense and if you look at how things are evolving, it’s really about Heyman at this stage. So why not let it be about a returning Brock for a huge pop?
Final Thoughts
God awful show that was barely watchable. No Cody nor John Cena. There was a recap but I suspect that Cena won’t show up until WM. Maybe Cody will get one more promo in but the important person is Cena. or if they have Cena do anything maybe it’ll be the Smackdown before WM. But too much talking, awful matches, nonstop advertising….I feel ready to go back into wrestling hibernation at this point. At least, this week’s Dark Side of the Ring on Vader ought to be interesting as far as the best actual wrestling subject matter.
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