This week’s episode of Monday Night RAW emanated from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This was the last RAW before WrestleMania 33, airing live this Sunday, April 2, 2017, from Orlando, Florida. For full results, check out the magnificent Reverend Kain’s live blog.
Six days until WrestleMania 33
Wait, that’s it?
A face-to-face confrontation between WWE Universal Champion, Goldberg, and his WrestleMania opponent, Brock Lesnar, had been teased for a week. Fans would have to wait until the main event segment when Lesnar and his advocate, Paul Heyman, arrived to the ring. Heyman’s talking was hi-jacked by “Goldberg” and “Suplex City” chants initially. Paul went on to say that things between the two titans of the ring would be settled on Sunday.
Heyman put over the Universal Champion as the centerpiece of RAW. Lesnar lusts after what Goldberg has. Paul also put over Goldberg as a superhero and “The Man”. But The Best, Brock Lesnar, is going to chew him up and spit him out. The more Heyman talked the more fired up Lesnar seemed to become.
Goldberg made his epic stroll to the ring after Heyman’s relentless promotion of the match. Brock was prepared to fight before the pyro shower even started. The Champ remained on the entrance ramp just to say that he did not come to talk, he came to fight. So he took off his belt and came towards ring. Brock got out of the ring and Goldberg took him down with a spear. That was it. Brock did not even attempt to fight after this.
Goldberg retrieved his title and celebrated in the ring as Lesnar retreated. Can Brock deliver on the promises his advocate have made? So far, all he has done is one sneak F-5 to Goldberg. This does not build any excitement for the match for me. Results will vary on this opinion, no doubt, but this segment fell flat. Completely.
Not Like Most Girls . . .
The WWE RAW Women’s Champion, Bayley, started the show tonight. Earlier today, the company announced that the scheduled Fatal 4 Way between the Champ, Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, and Nia Jax will now be an elimination match. Commentary put over the fact that Bayley’s back is against the wall in a situation like this.
Bayley hyped the crowd for ‘Mania and expressed excitement about coming into the show as champion. As she began to address the odds being stacked against her, Charlotte interrupted her. She called Bayley a “paper champion” and said Sasha is merely using Bayley to re-enter the title scene.
Once again, Charlotte was the person warning Bayley about Sasha’s “true” intentions. Of course, Sasha came out to refute those claims. There was a moment where Sasha said she would beat Bayley and the two seemed to gave a tense moment but it was never addressed directly. Then Nia came out and called all of them “cute” and their issues “high school drama”.
A brawl broke out when Sasha went after Charlotte before the scheduled Bayley/Banks versus Flair/Jax tag team match. The match was very well done: Sasha and Bayley worked great together; Charlotte and Nia had moments where they dominated the action in the ring. The women got plenty of time tonight. No complaints there.
Bayley got the hot tag against Charlotte after Nia was knocked off the apron. She came in like a house of fire. She and Sasha successfully fought off a counter attack by Charlotte and Nia. Bayley hit a Belly-to -Bayley on Charlotte to win the match. After the match, an angry Jax took out the other three women to stand tall, holding the Women’s Championship.
The talking segment was not so good. The match was great. That is pretty much the story of the RAW Women’s division and has been for a while.
Redesign; Rebuild; Redeem
An injured Seth Rollins appeared on the show to sign a Hold Harmless agreement to make his unsanctioned match against his former mentor, Triple H, official at WrestleMania this Sunday. The former WWE Champion was limping with a crutch with a brace on his injured knee. Rollins showed no fear and called Triple H out to get the contract signing underway.
Triple H came out to the ring with the contract. He acted like an authority figure with Seth, saying he would explain the contract and threatened to call the match off if Rollins did not sit down in the chair and listen to him. To be honest, it was hard for me to listen to Triple H. He always talks so much. Triple H tried to convince Rollins not to sign the contract for his own sake so Triple H does not have to destroy him completely. Triple H is so caring. He doesn’t want to ruin Rollins but he will because . . . . He can. And poor people are jealous of the filthy rich. Or something.
I have not forgotten this entire beef started because Triple H threw Rollins away, not because Rollins had some moral dilemma and turned his back on the Authority. Seth’s portion of this segment was much better. He has apparently had a “come to Jesus moment” during rehab. This entire ordeal for Rollins is about redemption. He will do whatever it takes to prove that he is not the man he was with Triple H. He hated who he became and vows to go back to the person he was prior.
After both men signed the contract for the match, Triple H attacked Rollins’ bad knee. Rollins was able to fight him off, though. He held off the Game using his crutch but it is obvious his knee is a big weakness. The man could barely stand but he still wants to fight.
Personally, whenever anyone can prove Triple H wrong, I’m all for it. This contract signing makes me want to see Seth win so he can move on from this chapter of his career.
Graveyard = Your Yard
Throughout the night, footage of the Undertaker digging a grave under the moonlight was shown. His WrestleMania opponent, Roman Reigns, did not appear to be worried about the ominous sign and came out to address what he intended on doing to the Deadman when they face each other. Reigns started by talking about winning the 2015 Royal Rumble in Philly and headlining WrestleMania twice. But facing the Undertaker will be the biggest moment of his career because he is going to “put the Deadman down”.
Reigns said he did not care what anyone thinks. It is his time now. The arena is his house. And the ring is his yard.
The gong hit.
Undertaker’s voice boomed over the arena, warning Roman that his graveyard will be Roman’s yard. Undertaker has a special place in Hell for Roman and he promises that the Roman Empire will fall. Undertaker made a Roman Reigns tombstone with April 2, 2017, which, how cool is that!
After the video package, the lights were lowered for a long time. Undertaker appeared behind Reigns once the light were on again. Reigns slowly turned to face Taker. The Deadman did his “Rest in Peace” gimmick before lowering the lights again.
So hype for this match at Mania!
Other Segments/Matches:
Andre the Giant Memorial Battleroyal:
Stephanie McMahon put Sami Zayn in a no disqualification match against Kevin Owens for the right to earn his spot into the battleroyal. She also warned that if Sami did not win, he would be fired like his idol, Mick Foley. Owens looked forward to having the chance to end his long time rival’s career and warned of Chris Jericho’s demise this Sunday.
Kevin Owens versus Sami Zayn: ‘Member when WWE promoted a Zayn/Owens match last year as “possibly the last time these two would face each other”. Yeah, about that . . . Look, I enjoy both performers but they have faced each other way too much in the past year. It is overkill at this point.
That being said, this was a great match. Samoa Joe interjected himself into the match, which brought out Y2J, who helped Zayn win the match and save his job. After the match, Jericho backed up Joe and Owens with a steel chair and then he finally put Kevin Owens on The List.
Big Show Over The Top Rope Challenge: Jinder Mahal, Bo Dallas, the Shining Stars Goldust, Curtis Axel, R-Truth all participated in the match. After being unsuccessful one-on-one, they all gained up and eliminated Show. Upset, Big Show knocked them all out. Afterwards, Braun Strowman came out and told show that he would kick his ass right then. Since Strowman does what he wants, everyone will have to wait until WrestleMania to see the two big man clash once again. So, I assume Strowman as well as the other men in this segment will all be in the Andre.
Tag Team Division:
Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows attacked Sheamus and Cesaro backstage, using a ladder in the assault. Later, the Champs were set to face Enzo and Cass in a tag match when Sheamus and Cesaro returned the favor, bringing a ladder with the for their attack. Enzo and Cass joined the brawl and all Hell broke loose with the Tag Champs standing tall to end the fight. Although not official, the triple threat for the RAW Tag Team Championship will probably be a ladder match.
Cruiserweight Division:
Austin Aries versus Noam Dar: Cruiserweight Champion, Neville, was on commentary for this match. Aries was fired up from the get-go, delivering a sick drop kick to Dar and yelling at Neville, “That’s you!” This match had plenty of hard strikes, which is a method I quite enjoy from the Cruisers if they’re not going to flip around in every match. Aries thwarted interference by Alicia Fox ringside and won via submission with the Last Chancery . The Champ and challenger stare each other down from a distance with the WrestleMania sign in the background.
Neville versus Jack Gallagher: This match also had some wicked strikes. Neville won via submission using the Rings of Saturn. After the match, there was an Aries Report with the New Day, to ask who they think would win the Cruiserweight Championship match at ‘Mania with Neville watching from the ring.
Overall Thoughts:
This show dragged a lot. But there were some loose ends that needed to be addressed and this show did what it could to provide that. Some attention was given to the Andre Battleroyal, mostly centering around another beef-on-beef meeting between Strowman and Big Show.
The major stories delivered at least in some fashion, with the exception of the main event. It just seemed hard to focus on the show at times. For a go home show, it should have been better, especially considering the build to this year’s show was fairly well done compared to the previous two years.
However, I am still pumped for WrestleMania 33 and I suppose that is all that really matters here.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Your turn? What are your thoughts on the show?