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WWE Monday Night Raw comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Mar. 15, 2021) from the ThunderDome at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, featuring all the latest build to the upcoming Fastlane pay-per-view (PPV) scheduled for this coming Sunday night at the very same venue.
Advertised for tonight: Two title matches, as The Hurt Business, Shelton Benjamin & Cedric Alexander, defend the Raw tag team titles against The New Day, Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston and Riddle defends the United States championship against Mustafa Ali. With only three matches scheduled for Fastlane currently, expect more to become official on this show. All that and more!
Come right back here at 8 p.m. ET when the Raw live blog kicks off once the show starts on USA. It will be below this line here. (REMINDER: NO GIFS OR PICS ARE ALLOWED IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. OFFENDERS WILL BE BANNED.)
WWE RAW RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR MAR. 15
We’ve got to keep our little click clicking at 130 BPM, it’s not too slow. If we’ve got to burn out, let’s do it together. Let’s all melt down together, while I liveblog this here pro wrestling show with you, folks.
The show opens with commentary welcoming us to the show and making it official that Drew McIntyre will challenge Bobby Lashley for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania.
Bobby makes his entrance, flanked by Montel Vontavious Porter as usual.
MVP gets on the mic and talks about Lashley winning the title, and Bob takes over, saying he’s proved all the doubters wrong and did exactly what he said he was going to do, and he had to fight for the title. Lashley says he’s going to destroy Raw and reign supreme, because this is the All Mighty era.
Enter the Miz and John Morrison.
They came down to congratulate him on his branding, saying it’s powerful, just like him, and Miz says he’s been proud to share the ring with Lashley. It was an honor, but he’d be lying to himself if he admitted their rivalry was over, and it becomes clear he’s trying to sell Bob on a WrestleMania match.
Enter Drew McIntyre, big sword and all.
He gets in the ring and formally congratulates Lashley on his title win. He says he knows something about long journeys and plays up the similarity in how they both came back around to WWE, working harder than everyone else.
MVP tries to interrupt and Drew gives him hell for it, saying Bobby can speak for himself, Miz pipes up and McIntyre says he’s gonna turn his back and finish the conversation and the A-Lister has two options, he can either attack and be made an example of or run for his life. Lashley takes advantage and drops Drew with a cheap shot, beating him down!
While Miz and Morrison pick the scraps, Sheamus attacks Lashley as he makes his exit!
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get a recap of what we just saw because Raw is three hours long. (Three hours long.)
Sheamus is interviewed backstage and says he attacked Bobby Lashley because he wants to beat Drew McIntyre at 100% on Sunday and he doesn’t want him to have any more excuses.
Drew McIntyre vs. the Miz
McIntyre recovering quickly, hammering Miz into the corner, smashing his face in and beating him down. Miz gets away and rushes Drew only to get dropped by a headbutt! Putting boots to him, Miz ends up down and out, Morrison throws his sunglasses in and McIntyre stomps them! The A-Lister recovers and scrapes Drew’s face into the ropes, shoulder thrusts in the corner, McIntyre recovers with the Alabama Slam!
Morrison pulls Miz out and gets into an argument with referee Rod Zapata, who ejects him as we go to break.
Back from commercial, McIntyre with a whip across, Miz slips out of a lift, into the corner, basement DDT connects... ONLY ONE! Skull-Crushing Finale blocked, Drew with a series of lariats, whip across, overhead belly-to-belly suplexes! Kip-up, dump Miz out to the floor, follow after him, ram him into the barricade and then into the apron and again!
Disdainful slap, McIntyre breaks the count and smashes Miz’s face into the steel steps over and over! Back inside, Future Shock DDT sets him up, Claymore but Drew doesn’t make the cover! He draws him up and points at the sign before applying the Hurt Lock!
Drew McIntyre wins by submission with the Hurt Lock.
Post-match, Drew hangs onto the hold and tosses Miz aside!
We see Damian Priest and the Grammy award winning Bad Bunny walking backstage.
A recap of last week’s baffling Shane McMahon / Braun Strowman business follows.
We see Braun walking backstage to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Braun Strowman calls Shane McMahon out.
He gets on the mic and deflects, saying he doesn’t know what the problem is and Braun keeps demanding things. Strowman says he’s been bullied his entire life by fancy lads like McMahon and that doesn’t make him smarter. Shane says he thinks those comments are disgusting and he’d never make fun of another human being. Braun says he came out here to confront him but he gets scared and he can tell because McMahon keeps mumbling and fumbling his words.
Shane insults his intelligence and Braun says the building reeks of his fear over what Braun will do to him. McMahon insults him more and eventually says if he wants it, he’ll get it tonight!
Mandy Rose, Dana Brooke, Naomi, and Lana are hanging out backstage when “Stone Cold” R-Truth rolls up asking for a hell yeah. The girls point out that he’s a day early and he does “What?” at them a few beats before offering them a Steveweiser. They refuse, he slams it back and says that’s the bottom line because R-Truth said so.
Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler make their entrance and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Maryse does a Women’s History Month bumper.
Nia and Shayna are on commentary for this one.
Dana Brooke & Mandy Rose vs. Lana & Naomi
Naomi and Brooke to start, slide low in the feeling out and Dana feels the glow by way of a back elbow! Rose tags in, off the ropes, she catches a crossbody and turns it into a fallaway slam! Working Naomi over in the corner, hard knee connects, and the heat segment rolls on. Lana gets the tag, tilt-a-whirl Russian legsweep, mat slams, whip reversed, headscissors kick in the corner, double knees in the ropes!
Hangman’s neckbreaker connects... DANA MAKES THE SAVE! Naomi gets double flapjacked, Lana lays Brooke out with a roundhouse, eats an elbow from Mandy, snap suplex and Asuka’s music hits! Shayna rushes to meet her and Asuka lays her out with a reverse roundhouse and beats her down until road agents Pat Buck, former ROH World Champion Jamie Noble, and five-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Adam Pearce pull them apart!
Rose with a schoolboy for two, Brooke makes the tag, Lana blocks Angel’s Wings and hits an X-Factor on Mandy before she leaves! Dana comes in...
Dana Brooke & Mandy Rose win by pinfall with a running swinging neckbreaker from Brooke on Lana.
In Gorilla, New Day are chatting when Matt Riddle and his scooter roll up.
He talks about a cool trick he did on his way to wish New Day luck in their title match.
They keep chatting for a minute before New Day’s entrance music starts and they make their way to the ring to send us to break.
Hurt Business (Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin) (c) vs. New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) (WWE Raw Tag Team Championship
Alexander and Woods to start, Cedric going right for the leg, pace picks up with some lucha leapfrogs, Xavier with a victory roll for two and an arm drag into an armbar after! Tag to Kingston, a “get over here” double-team, legscissors pin for two! Alexander cuts him off, tag made, monkey flip into a spinebuster from Benjamin... NOPE! Quick tags, isolating Kofi while they put Woods into the steel steps on the floor!
Kofi off the top with a double stomp, Woods tags in, clears the ring, hesitation dropkick to Cedric’s back but he reverses a suplex follow-up! X nails him with an elbow, Kofi rolls back in, off the ropes... STEREO DIVES BUT HURT BUSINESS SIDESTEP AND PUT THEM INTO THE FURNITURE AS WE GO TO BREAK!
Back from commercial, Woods and Alexander are trading heavy hands, Xavier with a flying forearm and Cedric with a corresponding lariat! Woods hammers him, caught with a knee, off the ropes, Michinoku Driver... NOPE! Crawling for a tag, Benjamin gets it first but so does Kingston! Shelton clobbers him with a gamengiri, only two! Whip across, step-up tijeras out of the corner, pop-up stomp... STILL NO!
Pop-up drop sets up SOS... SHELTON KICKS OUT! Calling for it, Benjamin ducks Trouble in Paradise but eats a boot out of the corner, elbow, headed up top, Shelton with an avalanche hip toss... WOODS BREAKS IT UP! Diving DDT off the apron, Benjamin catches Kofi from behind, he slips out of the O’Connor roll and hits Trouble in Paradise! Tag made, Xavier up top, Kofi dives on Cedric, Limit Breaker connects!
Another tag...
New Day win by pinfall with Daybreak on Shelton Benjamin to win the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship.
AJ Styles makes his entrance while New Day celebrate, followed shortly after by his Big Buddy Omos.
He gets in the ring and on the mic and begs off, saying they’re just here to congratulate New Day on winning the titles again. But he’s done everything else in WWE and now it’s time for him and Omos to come for the tag titles... at WrestleMania.
Kofi asks if they’re even registered as a tag team, if they even know how to work as a team, and Woods tells Omos that if he wants his match, he’s got it.
John Morrison and the Miz are walking backstage when they run into Bad Bunny and Damian Priest.
They rub Bunny’s 24/7 Championship in and Miz says Bad wishes he had even a fraction of his success, they square up and things are tense and here comes R-Truth holding an Austin 3:16 lunchbox over his head like it’s Money in the Bank. He begs off when they catch him and offers gifts of Stone Cold dolls and a smoking skull WWE Championship, and indeed the lunchbox, which has a Steveweiser in it for Priest.
Bunny asks Truth what he wants and he about overheats as he points to the 24/7 title. Bad and Damian chat about it in Spanish and Bunny turns back to Truth, saying he respects him and this business and he deserves the 24/7 Championship more. Bad Bunny makes it a trade for the smoking skull and Damian asks him to say Bad Bunny right for once, which he does.
R-Truth wins the WWE 24/7 Championship by forfeit?
Drew Gulak and the rest of the 24/7 title scene come running and we go to break.
Back from commercial, commentary tells us that WrestleMania tickets are being delayed to an unspecified sales date. Almost like, uh, we shouldn’t be having a massive stadium event during a pandemic, huh? Weird.
Damian Priest vs. Jaxson Ryker
Ryker in control early, but Priest quickly turns him around and this is a squash...
Damian Priest wins by pinfall with Hit the Lights.
Post-match, Elias puts boots to Priest and goes to the commentary desk to get a guitar to El Kabong him with, but Bad Bunny gets in behind him and takes it away! Elias picks him up, Bunny slips out, big right hand and his pal Damian takes over! Bell clap, Hit the Lights!
After that, John Morrison runs interference on the ramp while Miz slips in the ring... AND EL KABONGS BAD BUNNY!
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial we get a recap of what we just saw and listen I’m PMSing and I don’t even have it in me to be cute about the recaps this week.
Bobby Lashley and Montel Vontavious Porter are interviewed backstage.
MVP says he’ll be damned if Sheamus can blindside the WWE Champion and embarrass him tonight, and he guarantees that Sheamus will be at less than 100% after tonight, and the same thing that happens to him tonight will happen to Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania.
Shane McMahon gets on the mic before his match against Braun Strowman can begin.
He claims he needs to warm up and stretches and does push-ups and calisthenics on the floor and whatnot. He had a hopscotch court installed on the floor to help Braun learn to count, and he hops through it. Strowman’s had enough and he gives chase, catching McMahon in the ring and dragging him out of it! He throws Shane into the barricade, runs around the ring to get a head of steam going... AND SHANE CLOBBERS HIM WITH A CAMERA!
He keeps clobbering Braun with it and leaves him laying on the announce table! McMahon climbs up top... DIVING ELBOW THROUGH THE ANNOUNCE TABLE! Shane goes and gets a bucket and calls Braun stupid again before dumping it out... IT’S GREEN SLIME?! Another bucket of slime!
Shane jaws at him some more and we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get a Rhea Ripley hype reel.
A recap of Randy Orton / Alexa Bliss / Fiend business follows.
Alexa Bliss is shown swinging in her playground set backstage.
She recites some poetry before saying it’s time for her favorite game, that of truth through inflicting pain. If Orton wanted her out of his live so badly, he has to take her out of it, and Sunday at Fastlane is his chance.
Asuka makes her entrance to send us to break.
Back from commercial, we get a recap of Molly Holly being announced for the 2021 WWE Hall of Fame class.
Shayna Baszler gets an inset promo where she says she meant to kick Asuka’s teeth out and she enjoyed it, so she’s gonna do it again tonight.
Asuka vs. Shayna Baszler
Asuka gets the jump on Shayna and beats her down, Codebreaker for Jax, shotgun dropkick sends her to the floor after and referee Rod Zapata calls for the bell!
Hip attack, knees, snap suplex, hip attack for Nia on the apron! Roundhouse kick, sidestep a hip attack, big running knee! Mounted punches, rolling around, Asuka looking for the armbar but she can’t get it and runs Jax off again! Looking for the Asuka Lock, reversed, Kirifuda Clutch, the Empress reverses...
Asuka wins by pinfall, reversing Kirifuda Clutch into a pin.
Post-match Shayna keeps the hold on briefly but Asuka recovers and German suplexes her before laying in the Kawada kicks! Buzzsaw roundhouse kick... CURB STOMP INTO THE TURNBUCKLE PADS! The Empress pulls the pad off the bottom turnbuckle and pulls Baszler’s mouthguard out! She makes Shayna bite the turnbuckle ring and grinds her face into it! Hooking her mouth, trapping the arms again but Zapata gets between Baszler and the turnbuckle!
Backstage, Mustafa Ali is giving his Retribution pals a pep talk when Matt Riddle comes screaming by on his scooter and interrupts him.
Commentary hypes the match up and we go to break.
Back from commercial, commentary hypes up the card for Fastlane, including Braun Strowman vs. Shane McMahon.
Matt Riddle (c) vs. Mustafa Ali (WWE United States Championship)
Circling, Ali with a front kick into some punches, uppercut in the ropes, Riddle back with a big chop and he blocks the whip. Right hands from Mustafa, whip blocked, big Karelin lift lays the challenger out! Running knee sends Ali crashing to the floor, where Mustafa suckers him into getting tripped up throat-first into the announce desk!
Back in to beat the count, kick from Ali, to the apron... SWINGING NECKBREAKER OFF THE APRON AND TO THE FLOOR SENDS US TO BREAK!
Back from commercial, Ali in control, Riddle to the apron and Mustafa traps him in the ring skirt for a clubbing blow! Rolling thunder neckbreaker, cover for two! Jockeying for position, Matt with a Penalty Kick, Pele kick, kip-up, charging forearm into the overhead exploder and the high jump senton! Fisherman buster follows... NOPE! Back and forth, Riddle catches him...
Matt Riddle wins by pinfall with the fall-forward Tombstone Piledriver to retain the WWE United States Championship.
Randy Orton is interviewed backstage about Alexa Bliss challenging him to a match at Fastlane.
He laughs and says he’s pretty sure he heard her state earlier that she dared him to kick her out of his life and then I think he went off into talking about punting her but to be honest my attention drifted.
Drew McIntyre makes his entrance and we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get some hype for tonight’s episode of Raw Talk.
We get a recap of New Day winning the tag titles and being challenged by AJ Styles and his Big Buddy Omos and get a match graphic to go with it.
Drew McIntyre gets on the mic and says he wears a kilt shirtless all the time since he embraced his Scottish heritage, and he’s gonna make a guarantee right now— at Fastlane, he and Sheamus are gonna bring a level of physicality like you’ve never seen before and then he’s gonna go to WrestleMania and win his title back.
He’s out here because he’s excited to see Bobby Lashley vs. Sheamus and he wants a ringside seat.
We get entrances for our main event but go to break before it can begin.
Bobby Lashley vs. Sheamus
Lashley with a double leg into the corner, right hands, referee John Cone has a hell of a time peeling them apart and Sheamus goes right after him in return! Big spinebuster from Bob, beating the Celtic Warrior down on the mat, off the ropes and turning the speed up but Lashley drops him with a lariat! Sheamus cuts him off with a chop block and beats him down with repeated knees!
Hooking the arm, fishhooking the nose, overhead elbows, Bob to his feet, back elbow into the delayed vertical suplex! Action spills to the floor, Lashley puts Sheamus hard into the ringpost but gets cut off with a front kick when he returns to the ring! Celtic Warrior draws him up for the Beats of the Bodhran but Bobby blocks and gets clotheslined to the floor as we go to break.
Back from commercialy, Lashley is in control and grinding his fist into the side of Sheamus’ head! To the floor and back in, the Celtic Warrior sidesteps a charge and Bob takes the post hard shoulder-first! Back inside, diving lariat connects but Lashley kicks out at one! Kneeling armbar applied, Bob fights out, forearms into the ropes, whip across, Sheamus sidesteps the charge and he goes crashing to the floor!
Back up on the apron, Sheamus hangs him up on the top rope and follows it up with the Beats of the Bodhran! Irish Curse, again Bobby kicks out at one! Another Irish Curse, another nearfall! Kneeling cloverleaf applied, Lashley counters with a powerslam... NOPE! Whip across, Sheamus with a boot up, sidestep the Brogue Kick, Hurt Lock denied with back elbows and Bob hits the reverse STO instead... STILL NO!
Setting the Celtic Warrior up top, superplex connects! He’s faster to recover, big knee, White Noise but Bob kicks out! Another Brogue Kick attempt but Lashley’s on top of it...
Bobby Lashley wins by pinfall with the spear.
Post-match, Bob grabs the Hurt Lock and chokes Sheamus out!
Drew McIntyre gets in the ring and squares up with Lashley... CLAYMORE!
The Hurt Business guys scamper and Drew jaws at a recovering Sheamus.
That’s the show, folks.