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WWE Monday Night Raw comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Mar. 29, 2021) from the ThunderDome at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, featuring all the latest build to the upcoming WrestleMania 37 pay-per-view (PPV) extravaganza at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
Advertised for tonight: Asuka and Rhea Ripley have a contract signing for their Raw women’s title match at the big show, Matt Riddle takes on Sheamus in a non-title match that could have big implications, Bobby Lashley is attempting to recruit someone to take out Drew McIntyre ahead of their WWE championship match, 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. 29
Try to find a way to spike the senses, climbing, climbing, climbing, never falling. If it was up to me I’d freak the clouds, let them fall and drip to the sea, but alas, I’m just here to liveblog this pro wrestling show for you, folks.
The show opens with footage of Drew McIntyre being interviewed as he entered the building earlier tonight.
He says Bobby Lashley has painted a huge target on his back by offering anyone that can take him out a title match, and he wants everybody to consider two things: One, is Lashley good for his offer, and two— if you come for him you’re getting an old-fashioned Scottish ass-kicking.
Live in the arena, Bobby Lashley makes his entrance, flanked by his Hurt Business stablemates Montel Vontavious Porter, Cedric Alexander, and Shelton Benjamin.
MVP gets on the mic and offers us an official announcement from the Hurt Business— they’re less than two weeks out from WrestleMania, and they want to make their business proposition perfectly clear. Lashley takes over and says whoever takes Drew out will get a title match AT WrestleMania. Montel takes back over and says Drew has had his time and somebody new deserves a shot at WrestleMania.
This segues into footage of Cedric and Shelton losing a handicap match last week and getting barred from ringside at WrestleMania. Bob berates them for not getting the job done and also for losing the tag titles, saying he can’t count on them for anything right now and he’s worked too long and too hard to associate himself with incompetents.
MVP agrees and gives them an opportunity to speak up for themselves. Alexander complains about doing it in public and Benjamin asks if they’re just here to be embarrassed, pointing out that Lashley wouldn’t even be champion without them. He and MVP get into a shoving match, Bob attacks Cedric, and Shelton takes Lashley down! Brawling, backing the champion into the corner but he recovers and hits a reverse STO!
Matt Riddle is interviewed backstage and says he doesn’t know why Sheamus attacked him but it pisses him off and he doesn’t like being pissed off.
Riddle moves on and runs into Titus O’Neill and tries to pitch him on having ice cream at WrestleMania. Titus makes nice and leaves immediately, and then Sheamus blindsides the King of Bros and sends us to break.
Back from commercial we get a hype reel promoting COVID vaccination— I’ve got about ten days to go before my second shot and once again I implore you to go get yours as soon as you can, folks.
Commentary hypes up various festivities for later in the night and then we get a recap of the opening segment, because Raw is three hours long. (Three hours long.)
Backstage, Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin run into five-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion and complain at him, asking for a one-on-one match between Shelton and Bob tonight, and one between Cedric and Bob next week. When he hesitates, they ask him to find his balls (gross) and walk off.
At this point in the show we learn Samoa Joe couldn’t be on commentary tonight so MVP is in his place.
Matt Riddle vs. Sheamus
Sheamus backing him into the corner, referee John Cone gets right in there and gets them out, front chancery, the Celtic Warrior takes him down but Riddle reverses to a waistlock. Sheamus rolls out and into a reverse chinlock, uppercuts, a headlock takeover and he grinds his fist into Matt’s face. Off the ropes, shoulder block, Riddle floats over, sleeper hold applied but the Celtic Warrior slings him off.
Matt hangs in there, sleeper on the mat, Sheamus rolls over but Riddle stays on him and shifts to a waistlock after being backed into the corner. Back elbows from the Celtic Warrior, short-arm lariat, trading strikes, whip across, Riddle with a front kick, roundhouse, pump knee combo and then a dropkick sends Sheamus to the floor! To the apron, Penalty Kick connects, corkscrew Asai Moonsault lands true and we go to break!
Back from commercial, Sheamus has Riddle locked down with fishhooks before hitting a seated senton to punctuate! Right hands, a backbreaker, but Matt kicks out! Headed up top, Riddle floats over, sunset flip powerbomb attempt but Sheamus blocks with punches! Jockeying for position, Riddle hits a Spanish Fly! Trading punches, Pele kick sets up the charging forearms and the overhead exploder suplex!
Chest kicks, knee lift into a high jump senton, again Sheamus kicks out! Triangle choke applied, deadlift powerbomb to counter but Riddle hangs onto the hold! Sheamus reaching, he gets the ropes and referee John Cone counts the break! White Noise on the apron, cover... NOPE! Alabama Slam follows, still just two! Sheamus catches a kick and counters...
Sheamus wins by pinfall with a pump knee strike.
Post-match Sheamus celebrates in the turnbuckles and Riddle knocks him down with a boot!
We get a recap of last week’s Braun Strowman / Shane McMahon developments, because it’s WrestleMania season and recaps are afoot.
Shane is walking backstage with Jaxson Ryker and Elias when he runs into an interview, but he’s not willing to disclose specifics of his “expose” on Braun.
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial we get a hype reel for WrestleMania.
Drew McIntyre is walking backstage when he runs into AJ Styles and Omos and says he won’t turn his back on them because Styles is absolutely the kind of guy that would take Lashley’s offer. AJ says they’ve got their own WrestleMania plans already, and he’s too busy focusing on his match against Xavier Woods tonight, anyway.
Drew resume walking, shouting to ask who’s gonna take a shot.
Shane McMahon, Elias, and Jaxson Ryker are in the ring together.
Shane complains about people thinking he was faking his injury and blames adrenaline for his sprint last week, and says he needs to be 100% to beat Braun Strowman at WrestleMania. He’s done some research on young Braun, and he’s got a report card in Braun Strowman’s name that shows him getting Ds in every class and bad remarks on top of it.
He also has a picture, showing Braun in a dunce cap and a WrestleMania XV cardigan in front of a blackboard with “2+2=5” and “I’m not stupid!” written on it.
This sucks and it’s bad.
McMahon says maybe Braun just needs a big warm hug from the three of them, and this is what finally brings Braun Strowman to ringside.
He gets in the ring and we go to break.
Braun Strowman vs. Jaxson Ryker
Strowman makes no bones about going for Shane McMahon early, he shrugs Ryker off when he tries to take advantage of the distraction and beats him down in the corner. Headbutt, Shane up on the apron and Jaxson comes from behind with punches. Braun puts him in the corner, chop block, bulldog, Strowman recovers...
Braun Strowman wins by pinfall with the running powerslam.
Post-match Elias lays Braun out with a knee and he and McMahon beat the monster down until he shrugs them both off at once!
Braun gets on the mic and reminds Shane that he promised him any kind of match he wants and he’s picked a stipulation— a steel cage match.
Hooray.
A recap of Miz challenging Bad Bunny to a match and then beating Jeff Hardy and getting El Kabong’d by Bunny follows to send us to break
Back from commercial we get the intro video for the Dirt Sheet.
John Morrison tells us his hair is so big because it’s full of secrets, and the Miz welcomes us to the show.
They run Bad Bunny down for putting his nose into their business and Miz promises to get his revenge. We cut to them in white suits in front of a black background to introduce the video for Hey Hey, Hop Hop.
It sure is a whole music video.
Damian Priest and Bad Bunny make their entrance.
Priest says Bunny will handle them at WrestleMania, and Bad says something in Spanish, which Damian is slow to translate as “He’s going to make you his bitch.”
Miz and Morrison roll out of the ring and confront the babyfaces, who go into the ring and destroy the set to Miz’s consternation.
Backstage, Randy Orton cuts a promo about all the great talent he’s gone toe-to-toe with— Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, the Undertaker, Kane, John Cena— but none of those men compare to the Fiend, so he chose to light him on fire. He says that Alexa Bliss has known that she could bring him back and at least he knows what he’s dealing with, and he’s gonna do whatever it takes to get the Fiend out of his life once and for all.
Bobby Lashley makes his entrance and we see Shelton Benjamin walking backstage to send us to break.
Back from commercial, we get a recap of what just happened, because we’re all trapped here, circling endlessly around the pit.
Bobby Lashley vs. Shelton Benjamin
Benjamin right in with punches, Lashley shoves him back, go-behind, back elbows, duck a lariat, big waistlock takedown from Shelton! Knee lifts to the ribs, off the ropes and Bob catches him with the reverse STO and beats him down! Shoulder thrust in the corner, Bob chases Cedric away, but when he returns Shelton hits him with Paydirt... NOPE! Boots in the corner, running knee but Lashley hits a thrust spinebuster!
Another spinebuster, Bob gets the Hurt Lock...
Bobby Lashley wins by submission with the Hurt Lock.
New Day are backstage with AJ Styles and Omos, telling them they brought same games and icebreakers to see if they can get them some chemistry as a team. They mock AJ for being scared and he relents and says they’ll play the games.
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, commentary hypes up our newest additions to the WrestleMania cards.
New Day are in the ring for game night and they introduce their opponents, AJ Styles & Omos.
We get a little trash talk and then into charades!
AJ Styles & Omos vs. New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) (Charades)
Kofi gets “A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton” and Xavier guesses it pretty quickly.
AJ gets The Lion King and does his best but Omos has no clue and doesn’t even guess.
New Day win round one.
Round two is off-brand generic Pictionary!
AJ Styles & Omos vs. New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) (Pictionary)
Xavier draws a rocket ship and Kofi gets it pretty quickly.
Styles gives Omos a little pep talk before calling for a substitution and taking another turn himself. AJ draws the sun and Omos has no clue.
New Day win round two.
Omos has had enough and points out that this has no bearing on their title match and all they have to do is win at WrestleMania.
AJ starts throwing the set around and we go to break on the promise of him wrestling Woods.
Back from commercial, we get some footage of a small child paying tribute to noted racist Hulk Hogan by cutting a pretty good faux-Hogan promo.
AJ Styles vs. Xavier Woods
Fast-paced out the gates, Woods catches Styles with a kick and puts him into the corner for chops. He sends AJ to the floor and goes for a dive but Omos puts himself in the way and Styles comes in from behind. A dropkick sends him back to the floor, off the ropes, tope con giro! Xavier slides back inside and waves to Omos as we go to break.
Back from commercial, Woods drops him with a series of lariats and then a superkick, Styles puts him into the ropes, back suplex, float over, Xavier with a press slam... NOPE! Back and forth, Ushigoroshi for two, tornado DDT for two in return! To the apron, Omos throws Woods inside...
Xavier Woods wins by disqualification, presumably.
Omos press slams Kofi Kingston over the barricade! Omos joins AJ Styles in the ring and hammers Woods with a shoulder block! Chokebomb follows and Omos pins him with one foot while AJ counts!
Cut to Alexa Bliss in her playground, swinging and holding the jack-in-the-box to send us to break.
Back from commercial we get a recap of what we just saw, please imagine I wrote something snarky here.
Another recap follows, this time of Orton/Bliss/Fiend business.
Alexa Bliss is in her playground to give us a informational talk about her jack-in-the-box. She claims they used to be used to contain devils and that’s what happened to Him at TLC. But you can’t trap evil forever, and all the Fiend needed was time. Now he’s salivating at the idea of standing across from Randy Orton at WrestleMania, and Randy can’t understand what’s next.
She’ll offer a hint, though— at WrestleMania, the Legend Killer dies. She cranks the jack-in-the-box until it pops and then giggles as the camera pans to reveal that the Fiend is sitting on the swing next to her.
Drew McIntyre is sitting on a road case backstage when he gets up in frustration and storms into the locker room, camera following him. He asks who’s gonna step up and take him out and earn Bobby Lashley’s prize. He says he’s frustrated nobody came and tried to claim it and mocks somebody for getting their phone out. He tells Braun Strowman he should have been a five-time world champion by now and tells him to step up.
Strowman gets in his face and says he’ll be the first one to come find Drew if he wins the title at WrestleMania. He grabs Humberto Carrillo by the lapels and biels him across the locker room! He gets in Riddle’s face and he begs off claiming Sheamus is a full meal, when finally Angel Garza attacks! McIntyre fends him off with ease and asks if anybody’s taking it serious.
Drew Gulak steps up but hesitates and McIntyre drops him with a headbutt! Ricochet gets up and Drew says he’s known him for a long time and he knows he wants an opportunity. Ricochet says Lashley’s word doesn’t mean anything to him but if he’s looking for a fight he doesn’t need to look any further. McIntyre says he respects that and he’ll see him in the ring.
Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler make their entrance, accompanied by Reginald, to send us to break.
Back from commercial we see Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose have joined commentary for this one.
Naomi vs. Shayna Baszler
Naomi with a waistlock, Baszler backs her into the corner and breaks dirty with an elbow at referee Eddie Orengo’s behest. Whip reversed, up and over but Shayna catches it and kicks the ropes! Bicep stomp, working the arm over, top wristlock, Naomi with a comeback, sitout mat slam into a bridging pin, Kirifuda Clutch reversed, splits leg drop, drag her into the corner, split-legged moonsault attempt but Reginald gets in the ropes!
Lana shoves Nia into Brooke and Rose, they attack her, Baszler boots her off the apron, Naomi thinks fast...
Naomi wins by pinfall with a bridging O’Connor roll.
Asuka runs into Matt Riddle backstage and has a pleasant little chat with him about his scooter before he gets bored and wanders off.
Rhea Ripley is backstage chatting with Ryan Ward as we go to break.
Back from commercial, commentary recaps some things they’ve already recapped.
Five-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Adam Pearce is in the ring to preside over the Raw Women’s Championship contract signing.
Ripley and Asuka trade barbs and Rhea says she’s going to beat her at WrestleMania and take the title. She signs the contract, Asuka signs the contract, and we’re on! Asuka tells her her confidence is borrowed, not earned, and she has the talent but she has to learn she’s not ready— RIPLEY FLIPS THE TABLE RIGHT INTO THE CHAMPION’S FACE!
Enter Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler, flanked once again by Reginald.
Nia gets on the mic and asks what’s worse, Rhea Ripley having the audacity to ask for a title match at WrestleMania or Asuka for accepting the challenge. Baszler says Asuka should be ashamed and after everything she’s done to her she should know better. They’ve dominated the women’s division for over a year, where’s their WrestleMania match?
Jax challenges them to a match next week, because sure why not.
Ricochet is walking backstage when he runs into MVP.
Porter’s glad he’s finally thinking like a businessman and taking Bob up on his offer. Ricky says he’s not taking the offer because he thinks they’re both full of it, and tonight’s about him. He’s gonna go out there and beat Drew McIntyre for himself.
McIntyre makes his entrance to send us to break.
Back from commercial we get some hype for this year’s WWE Hall of Fame class, including Kane, Great Khali, and Rob Van Dam.
Drew McIntyre vs. Ricochet
Ricochet right in with body blows, McIntyre throws him into the corner, boot up, off the ropes, huge back body drop sends the One and Only flying! Bobby Lashley is walking backstage as Ricochet gets tijeras that sends Drew into the turnbuckles! Punches, a high knee staggers McIntyre, step-up roundhouse kick... ONLY ONE! Action to the floor, Drew with a big right hand, whip, Ricky steps up and onto the barricade, off of which he hits a missile dropkick!
Break the count, pick the leg, perch up top, 450 splash, nobody home, Drew capitalizes...
Drew McIntyre wins by pinfall with the Claymore.
Post-match, Mustafa Ali hits the ring and puts boots to McIntyre! Drew dumps him to the floor and says if he wants the match at WrestleMania he can fight him right now.
And on that note, we go to break.
Drew McIntyre vs. Mustafa Ali
Back from commercial and the match is in progress, Ali posting McIntyre’s legs! Drew stumbles away, float over, chop block takes him down! Pressing the attack, McIntyre hammers him with chops but Mustafa uses the leg as a lever to keep the momentum! Shadows Over Hell splash to the leg... NOT ENOUGH! Ali calls out to MVP to tell Bobby that he’s coming for that opportunity.
Hammering Drew with punches, off the ropes and McIntyre catches him with a belly-to-belly suplex! Another one, Drew cuts him out of mid-air with a headbutt, the countdown ensues...
Drew McIntyre wins by pinfall with a Claymore.
Post-match, Drew demands a microphone and calls Bobby Lashley out.
He says everybody tried and everybody got their asses kicked so it’s time for him to come get some.
Enter Bobby Lashley to send us to break.
Back from commercial we get some hype for tonight’s episode of Raw Talk.
Drew McIntyre tells Bobby Lashley he was so focused on his match he didn’t even notice Montel Vontavious Porter behind him, but no matter what Lashley does, he can’t prevent the inevitable, which is to say their WrestleMania match. Bob reminds Drew that he almost ended his career at Elimination Chamber, and the mauling he gave him there will pale in comparison to what he’s gonna do at WrestleMania.
Drew’s time is up and it’s now the All Mighty Era. McIntyre admits that he beat his ass at Elimination Chamber and he knows just how bad he is. If Drew didn’t exist, Bob would be the man, but he does exist, and tonight all he proved is that he’s afraid. This gets Lashley to pieface him and a brawl breaks out! Drew kicks Lashley off, trading elbows, big headbutt and a boot send Bob crashing to the floor and running away!
King Baron Corbin attacks Drew from behind and lays him out with a back suplex! He draws him up for a back suplex lift dropped into a Rock Bottom! Drawing McIntyre up again, Drew rams him in the corner and hits an overhead belly-to-belly suplex! Deep Six connects, Bob returns to the ring and puts Drew in the Hurt Lock!
Lashley chokes him out and taunts him with the title, screaming “WAR!” in his face. He draws him back up and puts him in the Hurt Lock again, this time with Corbin yelling in his face as he fades.
Bob lets go and holds the title high.
That’s the show, folks.