WWE Monday Night RAW Review // 12th March 2018

With four week's til WrestleMania, this week's RAW saw a number of new matches formed and storylines developed. After a segment on Miz TV, Seth Rollins and Finn Balor would face off one on one, the RAW Women's title picture began to thicken as Mickie James faced Asuka and Alexa Bliss accidentally told the world how she felt about Nia Jax, Braun Strowman inserted himself into a battle royal to find a Number One Contender to Cesaro & Sheamus' RAW Tag Team titles, John Cena challenge The Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania, Roman Reigns confronted Vince McMahon about Brock Lesnar no-showing for the third week in a row and Sasha Banks went one on one with Sonya Deville as The Boss' issues with Bayley continued...but was it any good? Lets take a look.

Commentary - Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Jonathan Coachman, Cesaro & Sheamus
Interviewer - Renee Young & Charly Caruso
Ring Announcer - JoJo

The Miz, Seth Rollins & Finn Balor segment

A really fun edition of Miz TV saw the relationships between The Miz, Seth Rollins and Finn Balor fleshed out ahead of their Intercontinental Championship match on 8th April. The segment had similar elements to what we've seen Jinder Mahal doing over on SmackDown in the United States title feud between Bobby Roode and Randy Orton, but did it without needing a lame top 10 ranking list. Miz attempted to find friendship with both men, whilst simultaneously throwing out insults, especially towards Balor who he called a "great up and comer" and "The Man...in bingo halls", whilst the issues bubbling under between Rollins and Balor came to the forefront as well to a big pop. The segment was built nicely to it's conclusion with three strong performances, with Balor bringing some fire when getting in Rollins face and offering to fight him right there in Detroit and Rollins doing the same as he talked about the importance of the title and the match at WrestleMania, but it was Miz who owned the segment as he looked on with glee, rubbing his hands together as Rollins and Balor looked to come to blows. They'd eventually notice Miz and beat him down, before Rollins took the opportunity to blindside Balor at the close of the segment. These three put on the best action of the Men's Elimination Chamber last month and if WWE keeps adding fuel to the fire over the next three episodes then they should have a great three way at Mania.

Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor 

Finn Balor got the better of Seth Rollins this time round, with the two showing glimpses of what we know they can do together, but taking quite a while to get there. The earlier portion of the match seemed to go on way too long and I honestly couldn't tell you all that much about the first six, seven or eight minutes, because not that much happened at all. Rollins controlled for a bit, Balor controlled for a bit, it was a run over of the trope of the match between two guys who respect each other, but not done all that well. It took way too long for things to heat up, but when they did, as the pair started trading stiff forearms it became a real enjoyable watch, as the two went back and forth resulting in a Pele Kick from Balor being answered by a jumping enziguiri from Rollins. Had this started a little earlier, it would have been great to see the intensity continue to be ramped up, but unfortunately the match was over soon after as Balor countered a Falcon Arrow from Rollins with a small package to pick up the win. The finish was a real nice piece of business, however, playing off a spot we've all seen from Rollins multiple times, whilst also boosting Balor after he'd had to face The Miz second a few weeks ago. 

Asuka, Alexa Bliss & Mickie James segment 

No real surprises from this segment with Alexa Bliss and Mickie James interrupting an in-ring interview with Asuka, as the Empress of Tomorrow gave her reasons for choosing Charlotte Flair as her WrestleMania opponent. Some jokes about Asuka's English being bad, Asuka's reasoning being that she wanted to face someone she hadn't already beaten and the crowd being impatient with Asuka's promo, despite it being pretty clear what the Osakan was saying. In fact, it was Bliss who seemed to struggle the most with her English! A perfectly fine segment, with good performances all round, but it played out exactly as expected and perhaps wasn't even that necessary considering Asuka is shifting over to SmackDown now. The most interesting part came at the conclusion as Bliss tried calling out an opponent for Asuka, who I'm sure we're supposed to assume was Nia Jax, leading to Mickie James blindsiding the 2018 Royal Rumble winner and this match taking place. 

Asuka vs. Mickie James 

Asuka goes to 38-0 in televised singles competition, tapping out Mickie James with the Asuka Lock at the conclusion of a short, yet enjoyable match, in front of a disrespectful Detroit crowd. This match was above and beyond my expectations, because honestly I'm not the biggest Mickie James fan and have found her increasingly sloppy since her return last year, but this was probably one of her most accomplished performances since then. Building around an injury suffered by Asuka, as her leg connected with the ringpost after James ducked a kick, the match did a good job at lifting up James' chances of victory and even if most fans know WWE wouldn't have Asuka lose 4 weeks out from WrestleMania, the injury at least allowed for a stronger and more impressive victory. The strongest part of the match was a lovely sunset flip powerbomb out of the corner from James, that landed with real impact, but unfortunately garnered a "CM Punk" chant from Detroit. This was a problem throughout the match and promo, as the crowd for whatever reason wasn't interested, chanting "Rusev Day" as well during the match. I'm not sure why Detroit didn't want this, but it didn't come across well on camera, especially considering they were ruining a perfectly good match by not paying attention.  

After the match - Alexa Bliss confronted Nia Jax about not coming out when they called, whilst continuing to play the act of the manipulating boyfriend, with it also being revealed that Jax had a match next and that Bliss would be facing Asuka on RAW next week - Nia Jax squashed the debuting Joan King, winning with a Samoan Drop in under a minute 

Nia Jax, Alexa Bliss and Mickie James segment

In a superb piece of television, following Jax's squash victory, Alexa Bliss and Mickie James appeared on the screen in the lockeroom and proceeded to bitch about Jax for a number of minutes, with the idea being that we could hear and see them because they were waiting to interviewed by Charly Caruso. At points this was a real uncomfortable watch, as Jax stood in the ring watching the screen, as James seemed to goad Bliss into saying increasingly cruel things about the Irresistible Force. With jibes about Nia's weight, including Bliss calling her "shrek" and saying she was as "dumb as she is big", WWE has to be careful how it presents this feud over the coming week's, but I think at this point its just about toeing the line and if Jax is presenting a successful and able to use her size to her advantage then we've got a real positive story here. The moment when Jax stood on the ramp, looking at the screen and then wiped away a tear before looking back up with rage and power gave me genuine goosebumps and a feeling that shit was about to go down. Bliss and James would eventually bail when Caruso informed them of the mistake, leading to Jax smashing the shit out of the lockeroom in a Braun Strowman-esque moment of fury. It's a shame that WWE hasn't had such a clear plan for Jax and Bliss over the last couple of months, because with some more clarity in the storytelling this would've been an even more impactful moment. That being said, I'm still very excited to see where this goes over the next three weeks and more than looking forward to seeing Jax finally get her hands on Alexa and the RAW Women's Championship.

RAW Tag Team Championship #1 Contendership // 

Over-the-Top Battle Royal // 

Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder vs. Rhyno & Heath Slater vs. Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel vs. Apollo & Titus O'Neil vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. Braun Strowman 

Before the match -  The entire RAW Tag Team division answered Cesaro & Sheamus' open invitation, leading to a big brawl - Cesaro & Sheamus demanded to be traded to SmackDown, but Kurt Angle refused and booked a battle royal with the winner facing The Bar at WrestleMania

What a bizarrely booked match this was, as Braun Strowman became the #1 Contender to the RAW Tag Team Championship. That fact alone should be enough to make you wonder what the hell WWE where thinking when they put this together, but there were so many moments that had me shaking my head throughout this. The story of the match wasn't all that bad as the various tag teams tried to work together to eliminate Strowman, but everything felt a bit heavyhanded in its application, including having the Miztourage and The Revival repeatedly ram Strowman with the steel steps on the outside. This wasn't helped by the commentary team pointing out that it was pretty stupid because Strowman couldn't be eliminated on the floor, no matter how much damage was done. Moving past Strowman there was a number of questionable eliminations, the most obvious one being The Revival being sent out by The Miztourage, moments after Dawson & Wilder had gotten some good heat for eliminating hometown boy Rhyno. The spot wasn't helped by a botch that saw Axel unable to get Wilder over the top rope first time round.  I can't figure out what WWE is doing with The Revival at the moment, but its clear they don't see much of a future for what was one of the most entertaining teams in the company not all that long ago. The majority of this match was a mess and as much as I enjoy Strowman's destruction, I'm not sure I'm interested in seeing him run through an entire division and have a handicap match at WrestleMania. How does this division recover after WrestleMania? 

John Cena segment

It's official, after week's of "will they? won't they?" John Cena finally challenged The Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania. Did Big Match John hold back when challenging one of the most respected professional wrestlers in history? The fuck did he! Whilst the bait and switch stuff with Cena saying he was going to Mania as a fan and drinking some blokes beer was fun, this segment was all about what the 15 time World champion had to say about Taker. The set-up to challenge with Cena referring to something he wasn't "supposed to do" was another case of WWE attempting to add elements of reality into their fiction and whether you bought that Cena was being a rebel or not by issuing is by the by, because the challenge go and enormous pop from Detroit. We've seen Cena throw bombs over the last few years at The Rock and Roman Reigns, but never at someone as universally beloved as The Undertaker, so his comments about Undertaker being a "self-centred, conceited egomaniac" really hit home and produced some fascinating viewing. The line about Undertaker not being "beat-up" because he posts "work out videos on [his] wife's Instagram" got a big reaction from the live crowd as well. With the challenge from Cena at this point going unanswered, it means we've got something to look forward to next week and considering the strength of Cena's comments, we know that The Undertaker won't take that kind of shit lying down. Who knows what their match at WrestleMania will look like, but when it comes to the build-up over the next three weeks, I'm all in.

Kurt Angle, Roman Reigns & Mr. McMahon segment 

A real hot segment to kick off the show with, as Roman Reigns' on-going storyline continues to blur the lines between reality and fiction. This saw Reigns storm into the gorilla position to confront Mr. McMahon, after Kurt Angle announced Brock Lesnar would be missing the show for the third week in a row. Gorilla has rarely been shown on WWE's TV product, only occasionally getting glimpsed in documentaries, like WWE 24, so when it became clear what was happening it was actually pretty exciting to watch it go down. Wrestling fans love seeing the curtain pulled back, so seeing Reigns storm up to Vince, with Shane McMahon next to his Dad, despite being the storyline Commissioner of SmackDown, being a good touch to give the moment that "Ooh, is this real?" feel, as did Vince furiously telling someone to "Cut to commercial". WWE seems to be going through past elements of booking that have been successful for Reigns, including how Mr. McMahon was used to boost a failing feud with Sheamus and the worked-shoots and part-timer angle that helped make Reigns' feud with John Cena last September so fun to watch. Will it work and lead to Roman getting cheered against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania? Time will tell.

After the segment - Roman Reigns walked out of Mr. McMahon's office, before McMahon told Renee Young that he'd told Reigns to "Know his role and shut his mouth", before giving his word that Brock Lesnar will be at RAW next week and temporarily suspending Reigns. 

Sonya Deville (with Paige & Mandy Rose) vs. Sasha Banks (with Bayley)

A poor match from Sasha Banks and Sonya Deville here, as Banks got the submission victory with a Banks Statement. The action was weak throughout, with the two failing to connect with each other and running through a number of sloppy sequences, with Banks in particular looking out of sorts. This was extremely evident during a sequence that saw Sasha use the ropes to hit a knee from the apron to Deville inside the ring, with Banks seemingly struggling with the ropes and the knee looking nowhere like connecting as the commentary team described it as a "glancing blow", whilst the follow-up meteora also wasn't one of Banks' best attempts. The highlight of the action was a big roundhouse kick to the chest from Deville, but I'd struggle to pick out anything more from this one. The finish involved Bayley pulling Mandy Rose off the apron, causing the distraction that gave Banks the win, as the Bayley vs. Banks story continues to burn slowly. Out of everyone I thought Bayley had the best performance in this match, standing on the outside, as she looked completely different to her usual bubbly self and appeared to want to be anywhere else. With three episodes left to set up the match, I wonder how long it'll be before WWE pulls the trigger and who actually comes out of this as the villain.

After the match - Bayley left ringside, allowing Absolution to beatdown Banks, opening up more questions about their friendship. 

Also on the show 

- We got a preview of The Ultimate Deletion as WWE showed us more of The Hardy Compound, alongside the debuts of Reby Hardy, King Maxel, Lord Wolfgang, Senior Benjamin and Vanguard1, before Bray Wyatt cut a chilling promo threatening Hardy's family - Kurt Angle would later appoint a referee for the match, which will take place next week. 

- Kid Rock was announced as 2018's inductee in the WWE Hall of Fame celebrity wing. 

- It was controversially announced that there would be a Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania. Considering the backlash, due to Moolah being trash, it will be interesting to see if WWE goes ahead with the name.

- WWE celebrated Indira Gandhi, India's only female Prime Minister, as part of Women's history month.

- Elias blamed the crowd for the injuries he suffered during last week's Symphony of Destruction match, before walking out.

ATPW Scale Rating // 5.36 out of 10  

Written by James Marston // @IAmNotAlanDale

WWE Monday Night RAW Review // 26th February 2018

With Elimination Chamber now in the rear view mirror, the road to WrestleMania for the RAW brand was beginning to clear, as this week's show featured the Intercontinental and RAW Women's titles heavily. As The Miz demanded to find out his opponent for WrestleMania he competed in back to back matches with Seth Rollins and Finn Balor, whilst a number of women's divisions storylines and developments were included in a six man tag team match as Mickie James, RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax clashed with Sasha Banks, Bayley & the undefeated Asuka. But how did it all go down in Anaheim? Lets take a look! 

Commentary - Michael Cole, Corey Graves & Jonathan Coachman 
Ring Announcer - JoJo 
Interviewers - Renee Young & Charly Caruso

The Miz demanded to know his opponent for WrestleMania 

This week's main storyline revolved around the Intercontinental Championship, beginning with The Miz discussing his plans (or lack thereof) for WrestleMania XXXIV. The main idea of the segment was that Miz didn't have a scheduled opponent and that General Manager Kurt Angle was doing some mad shit, that might've involved whoever Miz's opponent was on the show. Miz was on good form here, making the most of his time on the mic, as he took the audience on a real journey through a number of clearly identifiable topics, such as being 62 days away from being the record holder for combined days at IC Champion, the lack of his merchandise available at the show and how Angle not having a clear plan for him at The Grandaddy of Them All was a disgrace. Like all good heel promos it was easy to see where Miz was coming from, but also easy to dislike the way he chose to voice those opinions, as he used a variety of vocal levels to keep the crowd engaged, including loudly shouting his point towards the end. The section where he complained about his merch, felt eerily similar to CM Punk's pipebomb promo, whilst having the character also moan about not being in the main event of WrestleMania also felt like a sly dig at the Best in the World from WWE.

then...

Seth Rollins def. The Miz // Pinfall

With the idea that Kurt Angle was considering him for an Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania, Seth Rollins continued his rich vein of singles form with a victory over The Miz, following the Revolution Knee and a ridiculous Frog Splash in the best match on the show. The fight built well from a simplistic base of dropdown, leapfrog, hiptoss sequences, with plenty of interference from Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel at ringside and loud invested audience. Seriously, Anaheim reacted to every movement of Rollins' comeback and it was magnificent to watch, making all the difference and showing just how over he's became following last week's superb gauntlet match performance. The action wasn't overly complicated but was done well, but it was the structure of the match that drove it, with match being paced properly and the big moments seeming to come at the extra right moment for the crowd. The energy for the finish, which saw Rollins on an absolute rout as he took out the constantly interfering Miztourage with a suicide dive was off the charts, as Seth continues to be on fire right now. It could've gone a little bit longer, but with the time constraint the two did a bloody good job. Hopefully the hip injury that seemed to occur off a slingblade on his original comeback sequence isn't too serious for Seth Rollins as he's in a great position to do something big over the next 6 months.

After the match - Finn Balor headed to the ring, leading to Seth Rollins walking out of the ring as he shook his head - The Miz vs. Finn Balor quickly ended in disqualification as Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel interfered with Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson evening the odds, before Kurt Angle restarted the match with everyone banned from ringside 

then...

Finn Balor def. The Miz // Pinfall

Finn Balor gave The Miz his second loss of the evening, picking up a pinfall win over the Intercontinental Champion following a Coup de Grace, after an alright match. This match would've been better off if it had taken place next week, for a number of reasons, as whilst there was nothing wrong with the action, I felt a little uninterested in what was going. Firstly, having the heel Miz battle in two unannounced matches in a row felt like a misstep as the first note of this story, because it undoubtedly creates sympathy with a character I'm not supposed to like, whilst also damaging the victory for Balor in the process. Secondly, the match felt like a step down from the Rollins match, because as much as I like Balor, he isn't in nowhere near the same form as Seth is right now, either in the ring or with the crowd. Thirdly, having the Miztourage banned from ringside removed some of the fuel that has been firing Miz's matches lately and after having already lost one match made it more difficult to believe that the A Lister would be able to be competitive with Finn. That being said, there were a couple of nice sequences in this one, including Balor going for a reverse slingblade with Miz blocking and setting up for a Skull-Crushing Finale before Balor rolled through for a good near fall and Finn using the "Yes" kicks on Miz as Corey Graves exploded on commentary.

After the match - Seth Rollins was interviewed putting down Balor for interrupting him, before challenging Miz to an Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania

Mickie James, Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax attempted to spring a trap on Asuka

An interesting opening segment, began with Alexa Bliss officially reconciling with Mickie James and boasting about her Elimination Chamber victory and concluded with the RAW Women's Champion nailing Asuka with a right hand that knocked the Empress of Tomorrow to the mat, with Nia Jax, Bayley and Sasha Banks all getting involved. The structuring was a little awkward and felt a little bit forced, but in the middle of it all was a great promo from Bliss who excels when given this kind of character work to do. Bliss can simultaneously come across as a bad ass and an annoying brat when on the microphone, which is a real talent and she did a very good job of controlling a crowd that seemed a little rowdy at the start of the show. She put over James's history in WWE, called Bayley a "sad situation" and claimed she could break Asuka's streak at WrestleMania, all with that trademark Bliss swagger and attitude. I'd like to see more of that permeate her matches. The heat she got for talking loudly and slowly at Asuka was brilliant and managed to fall just the right line of "I'd really like to see you get punched in the face". Indeed, however it was Bliss who'd get to hit Asuka in the face, after it turned to all be a trap for a Nia Jax attack, even after Sasha Banks and Bayley had tried to make the save. 

then...

Sasha Banks, Bayley & Asuka def. Mickie James, Alexa Bliss & Nia Jax // Submission

We weirdly shifted to a six woman tag team match out of the break, which ended up being a real mixed bag, as Asuka tapped out Mickie James with an arm and knee bar combination to win it for her team. There were a number of different storyline developments going on, there was some good wrestling, there was some sloppy wrestling, this was a very busy trios match. The main culprit of the sloppiness was Alexa Bliss, who had a number of awkward moments with both Bayley and Sasha Banks, with the Women's Champion seeming to struggle with her positioning a handful of times in the match. Bayley and Mickie James also looked out of sorts at times, but they also opened with a rather lovely sequence, so I'll let them off this time. Banks put in the best performance of the match, flying in with a fun hot tag, that included lots of meteoras, after tagging herself in on Bayley to audible boos. Obviously, the Banks/Bayley storyline continued after the Chamber with Bayley refusing to tag in when Banks had taken a lengthy spell as the face in peril, which was juxtaposed well when Bayley came back into the match to help Asuka when she was being double-teamed by James and Bliss. This felt like a much more important six woman tag than we've seen for months and even when the action wasn't the best I felt like there was at least a reason to keep watching with the various feuds that were involved.

RAW Tag Team Championship // Two out of Three Falls // Cesaro & Sheamus (C) def. Apollo & Titus O'Neil // 2-0

Why Apollo & Titus O'Neil got another shot at Cesaro & Sheamus' RAW Tag Team Championship wasn't clear, but their 2-0 loss was a much better match than the contest the teams had the previous night at Elimination Chamber. The distraction and Brogue Kick getting the pin on O'Neil within seconds of the opening bell could have come across as one of those lame falls you get in multiple fall matches and I have to admit that I was a little worried when that went down. However, that first fall ended up putting some real steam into the second fall, meaning the action was hotter, more physical and felt more important than what we saw on Sunday. It meant that a wicked series of near falls for Titus Worldwide felt like each one could've seen the scores evened, with a roll-up from Apollo and a standing moonsault standing out as the two best moments of the match. It also meant that O'Neil showed a whole new side of his game, displaying real anger when finally getting tagged back into the match, teeing off on Sheamus and producing a much more satisfying hot tag as the Real Deal looked like he had a purpose for once. The 2-0 victory builds up Cesaro & Sheamus as unstoppable when the belts are on the line and opens an interesting question about how Apollo & O'Neil will be handled heading into and out of WrestleMania.

After the match - During a fun interview, Cesaro & Sheamus claimed that they would be punished at WrestleMania, because "there's no one left to beat"

Braun Strowman def. Elias // Disqualification

Before the match - Braun Strowman claimed he was going to perform a symphony of destruction on Elias - Elias cut a promo about noise pollution, citing Corey Graves' commentary as possible cause, before being cut off by the roar of Braun Strowman's music. 

The Braun Strowman and Elias feud got kicked up a gear this week, as the two competed in a match that ended in disqualification, after Elias used a fire extinguisher. The action was solid, if a little lengthy for what it was, as Strowman dominated the Drifter for a good 90% of the match, with splashes, strikes and biels. Elias got just enough offence in to make it no a complete squash, often using Strowman's offence against him by repeatedly blocking a big splash with a boot to the face, but it was clear that Elias didn't have much to stop the Monster Amongst Men for long. Whether this feud has enough legs to last until WrestleMania I'm not convinced, but the two could get a fun match out of a hardcore based gimmick, perhaps involving guitars and 2018 Hall of Fame inductee, Jeff Jarrett in some way. 

After the match - Elias attempted to continue his assault with the fire extinguisher, but after Strowman rallied Elias was able to escape getting powerslam through the announce table by raking Braun's eye and legging it out of the arena, leaving Strowman to scream "I'm not finished with you!" 

Triple H laid out Kurt Angle, after Stephanie McMahon had apologised to Ronda Rousey 

My main takeaway from this segment was that Ronda Rousey is much better on the microphone when she has an issue to work with, than she is simply addressing a crowd as we saw on Sunday. When she headed out, with her hair tied up, to confront Triple H and Stephanie McMahon she felt like she had a purpose and looked like an absolute bad ass, whilst her later demanding an apology from McMahon upped the ante, putting a real focus on the tension that was present throughout the whole promo. The segment was also peppered with a number of comic moments, that got good laughs from the crowd and kept things feeling comfortably entertaining, amongst the tense scenes that were the rest of the segment. Angle saying he needed the job before trying to back out of what he said on Sunday because he had "double pneumonia" got an audible laugh from Anaheim, as did McMahon getting right up in Rousey's face only to apologise for the slap. The segment ending with Triple H punching Angle in the noggin gave us something to tune in for next week as the story develops, with the commentary team doing a good job of getting that over, even if the punch itself didn't look brilliant.

John Cena tried to work out his Road to WrestleMania

Another intriguing promo came from John Cena, who attempted to lay out his plans for WrestleMania, before announcing he'd be heading to SmackDown Live the next night to try and figure out where he fits on the card for the Show of Shows. The promo focused on a theme which WWE doesn't focus on a whole lot, but really should do more often, that being failure. Cena has touched on this in part during the build to his WrestleMania XXIX match with The Rock, but this felt like a much more effective version of that story. Cena has lost two thirds of his PPV matches since WrestleMania XXXIII, unable to win the RAW vs. SmackDown Survivor Series match, the Royal Rumble, the Elimination Chamber and losing a big singles match to Roman Reigns and this theme catapulted the segment, which remained fascinating throughout because it felt like it had no clear direction, suiting Cena's story. The challenge being laid down to The Undertaker to a great reaction, only for Cena to tell us that match is currently impossible was the most captivating part of it all, because why mention it if we're not going to see that match? It feels like its only a matter of time before the Deadman shows up, but for what reason and why he'd return to face Cena is yet to be discovered. Perhaps we'll see Big Match Cena having to put something on the line to tempt the Deadman out of retirement? 

Roman Reigns addressed Brock Lesnar

Hot damn, this episode's promo streak continued with a hella good effort from the Big Dog, as Roman Reigns slayed Brock Lesnar on the microphone for apparently no-showing the event. This was one of his best efforts on the microphone, calling back to his feud with John Cena last September as it blurred reality with fiction, aided by a real fire that seemed to be burning underneath The Shield member. He ripped into Lesnar for not showing, for flirting with the UFC and only defending his Universal title four times since winning it from Goldberg at WrestleMania XXXIII. The reference to the UFC and the lockeroom feeling disdain towards the Beast for his special treatment felt like they came from a very real place of frustration from Reigns and whether it really does doesn't matter all that much. What did matter was that a crowd that was initially against Reigns when he came out, was mostly onside by the end of the promo and if we can pair that with a couple of good matches on TV heading into the event, then we might see a crowd that isn't attempting to steal Reigns' moment from him in New Orleans on 8th April. 

Also This Week

- Bray Wyatt beat the shit into Rhyno and Heath Slater, before cutting a promo saying that the loss to Matt Hardy at Elimination Chamber had forced him to do so...the feud continues!

- Jarius "JJ" Robertson, a 15 year old double liver transplant survivor who has worked to raise awareness for organ donation, was announced as this year's Warrior Award recipient 

- Seth Rollins, alongside Noelle Trent from the National Civil Rights Museum, discussed the Montgomery Bus Boycott, as part of Black History Month.

- Braun Strowman and The Big Show imploding the ring with a superplex from the 17th April 2017 episode of Monday Night RAW was shown for some reason.

ATPW Scale Rating - 6.18 out of 10 

Written by James Marston // @IAmNotAlanDale

WWE Monday Night RAW Review // 19th February 2018

It was the final Monday Night RAW before Elimination Chamber and WWE threw us a curveball with one of the longest matches in company history. The match included all seven competitors for Sunday's Universal Championship #1 Contendership Elimination Chamber and produced a number of interesting clashes including Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns, Rollins vs. John Cena and The Miz vs. Finn Bálor and took up around two thirds of the episode. But how did it all go down in Phoenix, Arizona? Lets take a look! 

Gauntlet Match // Seth Rollins def. Roman Reigns // Pinfall 

Wowza, what a unique way to kick off RAW this week and what should hopefully prove a brilliant way of promoting the upcoming PPV. I'm going to go match by match on this one, I think, so lets begin by discussing Seth Rollins pinning Roman Reigns with the Curb Stomp, evening the pairs series at three a piece, following a very good opening match. The match went a surprising twenty minutes and the two put in a lot of effort, mixing a number of their previous spots with some early technical exchanges and a superb sequence for the finish. Reigns worked well in the tweener roll here, taking his time and playing to the crowd as Rollins took a beating and looked every inch of the top babyface I've been asking for since he turned in September 2016. He sold the beating and a leg/knee/hip injury whilst making a fierce comeback that included a pair of suicide dives and the Talking Stick Resort Arena was super into it. They were more into the finish though as Rollins managed to counter both a spear and a O'Connor roll attempt to pin Sunday's favourite clean with a roll-up and getting a big pop from the crowd in the process. 

then...

Seth Rollins def. John Cena // Pinfall

The match of the gauntlet however would come as Rollins was able to pick up a second victory, pinning John Cena, after a curb stomp. This was an epic match, going over 30 minutes and taking the gauntlet match to just shy of an hour. After the excitement of Rollins match with Reigns, the pair cleverly brought the crowd down and held them exactly where they wanted them for a good twenty minutes, with Cena taking on the heel role and soaking up time with a methodical approach, with the commentary team doing some of their best work explaining how Cena was looking to conserve energy. This was helped by Big Match John pulling out a number of moves that he's used rarely, if ever, on television, including a modified TKO-style stunner and a trifeca of belly to belly suplexes, meaning the bout didn't actually feel like seeing a John Cena match. Seth Rollins continued to give what may have been the performance of his WWE career, a performance full of gorgeous selling, for both the injury and his desperation to defeat Cena and good old fashioned fighting spirit. Not all of the spots looked as good as they could have, but when one considered that Rollins had been wrestling for north of 50 minutes, I think we'll let that pass. With the crowd growing with the match with the performers and following the story, the finish bought the whole thing together as Rollins missed a Phoenix Splash, Cena nailed an Attitude Adjustment and then did a Mark Haskins-esque roll through to go for another (because I don't think anyone but Baron Corbin has been pinned with just one in the last three years), only for Rollins to slip free and nail the Revolution Knee and a Curb Stomp to advance once more. The sequence was lovely, pulling together all the elements of the story that had been told, with Cena frustrated at being unable to put Rollins away and Rollins desperate to prove himself. The match with Reigns was very good, but Rollins' match with Cena should be required viewing. 

then...

Elias def. Seth Rollins // Pinfall

The fairytale run for Rollins was brought to half by Elias, who downed the two-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion with a pair of jumping knee strikes and a Drift Away. The shortest match of the gauntlet, this was a suitable end to Rollins' story as he battled well against the Drifter, leaving Elias looking like a ruthless bastard in the finish. Seth's fire and determination to stay in the match shone through and he even got a decent roll-up near fall on the way, with the crowd still very much behind the Architect. It felt like the right decision to give the defeat of Rollins to Elias, who as the most unlikely to win the Elimination Chamber on Sunday, he was the one who most needed a big victory. Whilst it came after Rollins had already competed for almost an hour, a victory over a top competitor like Rollins gives Elias something to hang his hat on heading into and out of WrestleMania. Personally, I think a cheap win (something simple like holding the tights on the pin) would've helped Elias even more, as the crowd were so hot for Rollins that the heat for this could have been incredible.

then...

Finn Bálor def. Elias // Pinfall 

Beginning a pattern that would last for the rest of the match, Finn Bálor eliminated Elias from the match with a Coup de Grâce, in what was the least interesting match of the gauntlet. That isn't to say that there wasn't any good work here, because there certainly was and on a normal episode of RAW this probably would've been a highlight, but the crowd and the match was coming down from the drama of Rollins' three matches and this bout was a little drawn out to keep the momentum going. I would've preferred to have seen a bit more of a sprint here, with both men looking to put each other away early, perhaps learning from the mistakes that John Cena made in his match and throwing all their top moves at each other early, in an attempt to get the win in kayfabe and to grab the crowd in reality. The pair both did some solid work however, with the match using some sound psychology with Elias viciously focusing on Balor's injured shoulder, whilst Balor didn't go after the ribs that had been injured by Braun Strowman last week until the very end, hitting a double stomp that would eventually launch him to victory. Balor sold well, with right arm held against his body, but after Rollins performance it felt like the Irishman struggled to gain sympathy from it.

then...

The Miz def. Finn Balor // Pinfall

After losing to John Cena last week, the Intercontinental Champion The Miz needed a victory this week and he duly got that win this week, pinning Balor with a Skull-Crushing Finale, after a match that was full of interference from Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel, The Miztourage. This match continued in very much the same vein as the Balor vs. Elias match, but with Miz able to garner more heat by using the Miztourage to distract Balor during the entrance and with about five minutes lopped off the runtime. Having Dallas go after Balor's right arm with the Miz blocking the referees views may have been my favourite bit of the contest, until Balor launched himself past the Miz and over the top rope onto the Miztourage, nailing a lovely topé con giro on Dallas & Axel, before flying into his comeback sequence of enziguiri, slingblade and shotgun dropkick. The final two minutes bought a match that had lost most of its momentum following Rollins' elimination back up, before after fighting Axel and then Dallas off whilst on the top rope, Balor found himself crotched on the top rope, with Miz getting the win with the SKF. 

then...

Braun Strowman def. The Miz // Pinfall

The gauntlet concluded with a perfectly booked Braun Strowman vs. The Miz match, with Strowman putting the Intercontinental Champion away with a running powerslam at around the ten minute mark. This ended up being a lot more fun than I was expecting, with the cowardly Miz and the dominant and destructive Strowman working well together, with the match featuring a number of spots that emphasised the characters. Miz running away from Strowman at the start the match, only for the Monster amongst Men to charge him down like a stampeding rhino, Strowman hitting a ridiculous English dropkick out of the corner and then a well-worked near fall that saw Dallas diverting Strowman's attention before a Skull-Crushing Finale gave Miz his only near fall of the bout. Miz worked as a great foil for Strowman throughout the match, from his facial expression when he realised he'd have to fight Braun to getting launched out of the ring onto the Miztourage after the Skull-Crushing Finale, Miz really helped to get over Strowman as a force of nature. Of course, after the match, Strowman continued to plough through Miz, Dallas and Axel with multiple running powerslam to the delight of the crowd. I'll be interested to see how this plays into Elimination Chamber on Sunday, where The Miz is scheduled to enter the match at #1.  

Sasha Banks, Mickie James & Bayley def. Alexa Bliss, Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville // Submission

Outside the Gauntlet match, the bout afforded the most attention on the episode was six woman tag bout between the competitors from the first women's Elimination Chamber as Sasha Banks, Mickie James and Bayley went over RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss and Absolution members Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville (with Paige at ringside) as Bliss tapped to the Banks Statement. Considering this went on last and had a good deal of time, I felt a little underwhelmed by this one, as beyond a really good hot tag from Banks, that included her hitting the meterora in various positions, there wasn't all that much of note in the match. Bliss not wanting to be in the ring with James was a nice bit of storyline development, but could've been used more often, whilst James' first hot tag looked extremely sloppy. We've seen so many women's six person tags on TV over the last few years that I'm not sure why they didn't go for a three way tag match here with Banks & Bayley vs. James & Bliss vs. Rose & Deville, as a more effective way to setting up the idea that their are three sets of partnerships in the Chamber this Sunday. After the match, Absolution beat down Bayley and Banks, before James made the save for Bliss and the pair hit a double DDT on Rose. I think its worth pointing out that whilst the men received an hour and twenty five minutes to promote their Elimination Chamber bout, the women got just over fifteen minutes. 

Apollo & Titus O'Neil def. Cesaro & Sheamus // Pinfall 

The newly surnameless Apollo and his Titus Worldwaiiiidddee boss Titus O'Neil picked up their third victory over RAW Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Sheamus in the last month and half in a match that certainly happened on RAW. The match only went about four and a half minutes, with the heel tandem dominating before Apollo got a roll-up win on Cesaro, with nothing to get all that excited about, other than the fact this was a clear case of WWE shoe-horning a match onto a PPV card when they realised they hadn't booked enough for the show. It is however good to see Crews getting a continued push after taking a number of opportunities that WWE have given him over the last few weeks, including wrestling a RAW main event two days after a three match excursion to PCW. Hopefully, he doesn't get lost in the mix at WrestleMania and continues to be featured more on TV as 2018 goes on.

Nia Jax attacked Asuka

The final push for Nia Jax vs. Asuka on Sunday featured a promo from the Empress of Tomorrow before an impactful beatdown from the Irresistible Force. Asuka's in-ring interview with Renee Young seemed like a mistep, that put Asuka in a vulnerable position, with the live crowd seemingly impatient when the former NXT Women's Champion stumbled over some of her lines. For the most part, Asuka was very clear and has a good promo style considering she's not speaking in her first language, but after the stumble it seemed the crowd decided not to listen to the rest of what she had to say. Perhaps, a pre-tape would've worked better. Jax's attack initial saw Asuka get the upperhand with some massive strikes, including a vicious spinning backfist, before Jax's size and untamed power saw her able to catch Asuka off the top rope for a samoan drop. The scrap worked as a nice preview of what we might see on Sunday, whilst also showing us undoubtedly the most vulnerable Asuka we've ever seen, setting up both an interesting tussle and the idea that Asuka's undefeated streak might come to an end at Elimination Chamber.

Also This Week

- Jeff Jarrett was announced as the fourth member of the 2018 Hall of Fame class, joining Goldberg, The Dudley Boyz and Ivory.

- Highlights of Ronda Rousey's WWE return at Royal Rumble, alongside comments from Charlotte Flair, Naomi and Stephanie McMahon, interviews from various talk shows and training footage that is surprisingly not from the Performance Centre. Rousey signs her RAW contract on Sunday at Elimination Chamber. 

- Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy both cut promos that were spliced together, after it was announced they'd be facing off at Elimination Chamber. 

- Roman Reigns & Titus O'Neil discussed the Memphis Sanitation Strikes as part of Black History Month.

- A moments silence for the victims of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that occurred on 14th February. Our thoughts are with the victims families and friends. 

ATPW Scale Rating // 5.58 out of 10

Written by James Marston // @IAmNotAlanDale