This week's recap is going to start with a brief recap of the end of last week in regards to the releases of Tye Dillinger, Hideo Itami, Arn Anderson and T.J. Perkins. Arn apparently was arguing too much with Vince, Tye seemed like he was on the cusp regardless, and Itami was something that we already knew about in regards to requesting a release. But the real shocker to me was TJP. I had seen him at the Worlds Collide event and in hindsight, while he was putting on a good match, something seemed like it was off. He was the inaugural Cruiserweight champ of the modern era, but since then, they just haven't really done anything with him, and every time there was an opportunity at the title, he seemed to be the last person anyone thought of, so I get it, and according to some of the dirt sheets, his firing was disciplinary in nature, which is odd, but the Cruiserweights are such afterthoughts for most people, so there's no real indication if he was putting out some backstage heat. Anyway, here's to hoping they can find success elsewhere. I know that AEW is the first place everyone thinks of when wrestlers are released, but out of all of these guys, I only really see TJP getting that call. Hideo and Tye would be great transitioning into more of a training role, honestly. But I don't know if this is the type of house-cleaning that WWE needs to do. There's a lot of dead weight in the Men's division (I'm looking at you, Mojo Rawley, who is also apparently looking at Mojo Rawley as he cuts promos looking into a mirror) that you just know aren't going to be getting pushes at any point in the future.
Anyway, onto Raw!
The show opens with The Big Dog's music hitting, and the crowd pops like crazy. It really is sad that real life tragedy was the thing that finally got Roman over with the WWE Universe. He comes out all smiles and slapping hands with every single ringside-seated audience member, including David Arquette (yes, David Arquette) and shows a lot of love, gave a lot of hugs and drinks in the love from the fans there, and then grabs a mic. He goes on to say that he was nervous about telling everyone about his diagnosis, because he didn't know how people would react, but when he saw the outpouring of love, affection and prayers for his fast recovery, he knew that God was looking out for him. And finally the moment came where he said what he came here to say in regards to his current medical status, and he said that he was in remission, and that "The Big Dog is back". And he said that as long as he's in WWE, he's going to use this platform to raise awareness because he's aware that this kind of support is what can help people get through this. I gotta tell you, this whole segment got me really teary-eyed. It's wonderful to see people embrace Roman the wrestler as well as Joe the human being, and people sharing genuine joy and happiness in a moment like this is what restores my faith in humanity. And as he got to the top of the stage, Seth Rollins' music hit, and came out to join his Shield brother in a big hug. I'M NOT CRYING YOU'RE CRYING. It was smart to keep his in-ring status as close to the vest (pun intended) as possible. I want to see Roman back in the ring, but I don't just want him thrown into a program that doesn't make any sense. He's got to have at least one match before Mania if they plan to throw him in there. And truth be told, I wouldn't be shocked if he didn't make his way over to Smackdown after this. With Smackdown going to Fox, they're going to need a few top guys, and with Rollins and Balor and McIntyre and Strowman and Rousey (and very likely Lynch) on Raw, they could use another big name on Smackdown, and Reigns could be that guy.
Speaking of Top Guys, then we got The Revival, fresh off their loss last week to NXT non-call-up call-ups Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, to face off against the ad hoc tag team of the other two NXT non-call-up call-ups Aleister Black and Ricochet. The evening started off hot for this match as Dash and Dawson attacked Black and Ricochet, but our NXT boys took them out and the match began after the commercial break. As we come back, The Revival is in full control of Ricochet for a minute, but then Black gets the hot tag, and he comes in and cleans house with a fully of strikes and kicks. And after Dash gets taken out ringside by a moonsaulting Ricochet, Black hits Dawson with Black Mass for the win. Now this is the second week in a row that the Raw Tag Team Champions have been put down by a duo from NXT. I don't know if winning the Tag titles from Roode and Gable was a way to keep Dash and Dawson from asking for their release, but they seem to be getting punished for no good reason. It made more sense having Ciampa and Gargano go over The Revival, since they both were, at least as of that air date, both NXT singles champions, but they could have picked another tag team (AOP, anyone?) to have the other pair of NXT call-ups go over since neither of them have titles. Don't get me wrong; I'm always happy to see Black and Ricochet go over, but against The Revival again? That feels like a real slight to The Revival, so I don't know what the purpose of that was. This would have been a perfect opportunity to make sure the WWE Universe was aware that AOP still existed and that way, The Revival wouldn't have to eat a pin again to the "developmental" brand. And also, the chemistry just wasn't there between these teams. You look at last week's match and this one, and the difference in their interaction is crystal clear. DIY and The Revival fell into a very easy rhythm, but there were some mildly stiff interactions in this match.
Then we got a backstage segment where Charly interviewed Baron Corbin about the statements he made about Roman's leukemia diagnosis when he was "Acting General Manager" and said that he hoped Roman would never come back, and he initially says he never said those things but then Charly threatens to bring up the footage, and then he backtracks and says that they took his words out of context and that he was under enormous pressure. Chuck then asks if that pressure was somehow harder than Roman fighting leukemia and then he just said that if Roman is back, he better stay out of his way. Say what you will about Corbin's in-ring skills, but he is a pretty fucking great shitheel.
Then came Elias on stage who, after his introduction, was immediately interrupted by Lacey Evans doing another one of her now-infamous walk-ons/walk-offs. I know that there are plans to apparently build her up as one of the next big competitors on the women's roster, but I don't know what the hell this is supposed to make us think, because right now, it looks like she's afraid to actually get in the ring and compete, and that's not making me think they have plans for her, but rather that they don't know what the fuck to do with her. Elias settles back and is about to start playing when he's interrupted by Dean Ambrose, who says that he's feeling happy and kinda dangerous, so he's wanting a No DQ match with Drew McIntyre tonight. Elias initially ignores him but Dean forces some interaction and The Drifter gets some heat when he insults the Atlanta Falcons. Dean hits him with Dirty Deeds, and we basically have our official confirmation that Dean is a babyface again. I'd be much angrier about Dean having no reason to turn babyface if Dean was staying, but clearly, they don't have any plans for him other than him going up to Vince in Gorilla and saying, "I want to do (thing) tonight" and Vince replies, "Whatever".
Then we get one of the weirdest parts of the evening, and that's the tag match between Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan with Liv Morgan vs Ronda Rousey and Natalya. It's not weird for the beginning or the middle, but certainly for the end. The match was pretty good; Rousey and Nattie have good tag chemistry, but they don't have the best chemistry with The Riott Squad, but that's mostly Rousey. But I can't complain too much about Rousey's chemistry with just about anyone, except ironically Nia Jax, because that's where I think Ronda has had to put her best foot forward. But I did have to laugh at Ruby's facial expressions as she sold Ronda's punches in the corner. But where everything started to go insane was when Becky Lynch (still in her Jean Grey during the Morrison run of "New X-Men" cosplay... Google it, people) came around to put crutches to backs, specifically the back of Natalya, and came at Ronda and security and refs and everyone in a suit came out to break the two of them up, and then the cops were also there to arrest Becky as was promised by Triple H last week. As she was being carted off by the cops, Becky shouted that she needed to remain uncuffed so she could hold up the Raw Women's Championship, and that they should be arresting "them" (meaning The Authority) because she was the one that was robbed. You see how simple that is, regarding story? That's Booking 101 right there. Although things would get crazier still when Ronda demanded to speak to Vince, but after a few moments, Stephanie came out and Ronda insisted that Becky (who she called a "ginger douche"... I had to rewind twice to make sure) be released from police custody and be reinstated so that they could have their main event at Mania. Stephanie refused and kept insisting that her opponent would be Charlotte Flair. Ronda then said that if she's only facing their chosen competitor, then the Raw Women's title is just a gaudy belt with no meaning and laid it on the ring mat in front of Steph and left. So... are we to take that to mean that Ronda has vacated the title? That would certainly make for an interesting arc in this months-long story.
Then we got Jinder Mahal (who still is around) and the Singh Brothers complaining about how they weren't invited to Ric Flair's 70th birthday party, so he wanted to issue an open challenge to anyone in the back, and who answered the call? Kurt Angle, ladies and gentlemen. And finally Angle, after a bunch of shots from Mahal and some resting holds, Angle hit a bunch of German Suplexes, and then got him in the Ankle Lock for the submission win, so... yay? I know he was due a win because if they go through with the plans they have for him to have his final match at Mania, he has to at least look a little legit. Other than that, I'm going to keep singing this song, and that's that I don't ever want to see Kurt Angle wrestle again.
Then we got Alexa Bliss out for her "Moment of Bliss" segment where she gave her "Bye, Felicia" treatment to Ronda Rousey in a pretty hilarious way, and then suggested that if Ronda has indeed left, she'll be happy to fill her spot at Mania. Then she introduced Finn Balor as her guest. It wasn't the greatest scripted segment, that's for sure, as Alexa became flirty with Finn suggesting that if Finn removed his IC title belt to show his abs, she would show him her... and an interruption by Lio Rush, who is still on about how how Finn doesn't deserve the title and Bobby Lashley is the true IC champ. So Finn (and interestingly enough, Alexa) goaded Lio into challenging Finn for the IC title, which would begin immediately.
This title match was surprisingly good, with very solid in-ring storytelling as Rush went after Finn's leg to keep him from getting aerial, and Rush looked great in this match. Surprisingly, Rush and Balor have a lot of good chemistry together. Plus we got to see something different out of Balor tonight as instead of hitting the shotgun dropkick to set up for the Coup de Grace, he ended up using the 1916, which is always one my favorite signature moves, and something that Finn doesn't use too often. He finally hobbled up to the top and hit the Coup de Grace for the win.
Once Rush got backstage though, Lashley was there berating him as if they were father and son, which was actually pretty funny to me. Whether or not it worked, it still made me laugh. Then Lashley went out for his match against Braun Strowman, which was not an actual match as Lashley attacked Strowman before the match ever started, but Strowman eventually got the upper hand and steamrolled over Lashley and Rush and that was it, and Strowman declared that he wasn't finished, because he still has McIntyre to get even with after Lashley here and Corbin from last week. That's actually pretty decent storytelling. Not everything has to have some really convoluted reason for being a story; "this person hurt me; I want to hurt them back" is just fine for a compelling story. One of the many problems with Raw is that they tend to over-complicate things.
Then there was a backstage segment with Tucker Knight and Konnor and Viktor, where The Ascension joked back and forth about Otis and that he's fat. Then Otis showed up and slammed K and V into some road crates. So that's probably a match we'll see next week.
Then we got the Dean vs Drew No DQ match that The Lunatic Fringe asked for earlier. It's super easy to predict all of Dean's matches from now until Mania and that's he's going to eat a lot of pins but he's going to at least keep working, and this match was evidence of that. He and Drew have good in-ring chemistry, and it had one of the unintentionally funny moments of the evening which is Dean taking off a belt to start whipping Drew with it, but it's revealed that he was wearing another belt underneath it. It was just such a bizarre visual that I had to laugh, and it didn't hurt to have Corey and Renee discuss it for a moment. This was also a moment in the evening where I started to notice that Corey was slightly more restrained than he was for the last few months. He actually had some funny things to say and wasn't being such a douche, and it reminded me of his time doing commentary in NXT when he was at his best. Anyway, Dean proved that he was still okay with taking his licks because Drew got in some savage belt shots on Dean's back and chest. But just as soon as Dean started to get the upper hand, Elias came out and slammed (but not smashed) his guitar across Ambrose's back. Drew got Ambrose back in the ring and hit him with the Claymore for the win, but then came Corbin and Lashley and it became a four-on-one beatdown. Seth's music hit and he was on the stage with a steel chair...
...then Roman's music hit. And suddenly, this episode of Raw was a brand-new ballgame. I've literally never been so happy to see a series of Superman Punches in my life. Seth was getting in some chair shots, hit the Stomp on Elias, and Roman hit Drew with the spear. When the smoke cleared, Roman and Seth headed back together, leaving Dean in the ring. To me, this was a great non-verbal indicator that Dean, while being a brother, was still not exactly trustworthy and will have to make it up to them over the coming weeks. So, yeah, expect a Shield reunion moment at Mania likely during Seth's match against Brock... and that's a silver lining attached to a cloud. Because if they go in for that moment, it's very very likely that Roman's comeback story will eclipse the story of Becky, Ronda and Charlotte and they'll want to save that kind of moment for the final match of the night. This might account for Vince waffling on whether or not the Raw Women's title match or the Universal title match will be the headliner. I'm still hoping for the women to finally get the headliner, but I have a feeling that a final Shield appearance is the kind of moment that Vince will think will make everyone head home happy.
Then we got a match between Bayley and Nia Jax, which is a preview of the first defense of the Women's tag titles at Fastlane where Boss 'N Hug will face off against Nia and Tamina. This was a good match, and Bayley picking up the win made her look super-strong, and I actually, for once, liked the irony of Nia's overconfidence actually costing her the match when she tried to snatch all of Sasha's hair from her head outside the ring and Bayley hit her with a running knee on the apron that led to The Hugger hitting the Macho Man Elbow from the top rope for the win. I'm sure that we'll get Tamina vs Sasha next week, and there'll be some 50/50 booking between the partners or Nia causing a DQ, but that's just an educated guess. Bayley's been putting in a lot of very solid work lately, which has made me happy because Bayley will always have a special place in my heart thanks to her work in NXT and her friendship with Finn has made for some very super-cute moments.
Then came celebration time as all the superstars showed up for Ric Flair's 70th birthday bash. Trips and Stephanie introduced the likes of Shawn Michaels, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat (who still looks like he could whip some serious ass), Kurt Angle and Sting. Then things went flat-out bug-fuck nuts in the best sense of the term as they called for Ric, his music hit, but no one came out. Then on the Tron, you could see a bald dude in a leather jacket dragging a cameraman, and when we got closer, we saw that it was Batista going into Ric's dressing room. The door closed, some thumping sounds were made inside, and then Batista dragged an unconscious Flair out of the room and him looking into the camera and simply saying, "Hey, Hunter. Do I have your attention now?" and him screaming into the camera and smiling and walking away. Trips ran back to get medical attention for Ric and that's how the show closed. Of course this whole thing hearkens back to the 1000th ep of SD Live where Evolution reunited and Batista claimed that Hunter had never beaten him. Then rumors began floating about Batista returning for the Rumble and so on, but this was the right place to do this, since birthday celebrations in WWE never end well for anyone. But this sets up Hunter's Mania match in a really fun way, and I'm not going to say that it's going to be a barn-burner, but it'll be an opportunity to have him fight as babyface, which doesn't happen often for good ol' Triple H, but it'll be a really fun match to see Sapper Morton fight Jarko Grimwood (for movie nerds only)! Of course, there was some post-Raw happenings when Jinder and the Singhs came back out to start the party back up since Ric wasn't going to be around. Naturally, Jinder had to eat a Sweet Chin Music from Michaels and an Angle Slam from Kurt onto the cake. The Singhs got treated equally as poor Sting and Ricky just stood around.
So, yeah, overall, Raw was a really special night for a lot of us, and Smackdown is going to have a lot to measure up to, because they won't have the pops for the big surprises, so they'll have to focus on the quality of their matches and other storytelling.
Now, onto Smackdown!
So the show kicked off with Shane (and Stephanie for some reason) in the ring with the traditional contract-signing table set up with Daniel Bryan sitting there and Rowan standing behind him, both of them looking extremely and hilariously non-plussed. Shane and Steph hype up Kofi Kingston, Daniel's opponent at Fastlane, with a series of title wins that Kofi has had before, and then he comes out with the other members of New Day and he gives an impassioned speech about waiting 11 years for this opportunity for a one-on-one at the WWE Championship and that he's going to defeat Bryan at Fastlane. The crowd is chanting his name like mad. Daniel signs quickly, saying nothing, and staring daggers into Kofi, and Kofi is just about to put pen to paper and then Vince's music hits, and I got excited. Not for Vince, because I wish he would go away forever, but excited that I knew what this meant. Vince briefly praised Kofi for all he's done over the years, but he is not going to have Kofi challenge D-Bry at Fastlane because he's not a big draw, but he's ready to introduce someone who is, and out comes Daniel's new opponent at Mania, Kevin Owens! So, this is exciting for two reasons: first, KO IS BACK! And the second is that #KofiMania is definitely going to Wrestlemania against Bryan. I'm a little disappointed that this is the second time this month that Vince has used this specific deus ex machina to rebook a match that will end up at Mania because of the organic groundswell, but at least this way, we're nearly guaranteed to get the match we want at Mania. Although, depending on how they book this, this match might get a triple-threat as well. But it probably won't because Daniel Bryan is enough of a true professional that he can eat the pin but still carry on his heel schtick. So this is good news, people. Don't get down about it, even if when The New Day walked from the ring after this announcement looking dejected and really pissed off.
Then we got a backstage segment with KO talking to Shane and Steph asking to have a tag match alongside Kofi against Bryan and Rowan tonight, because he saw the overconfident look in Bryan's eyes and he thinks that Kofi deserves this match as much as he does. It's still a little uncertain as to whether or not they're bringing KO back as a heel or a babyface, but I can't really imagine a KO babyface run would last too long, especially since he was chosen to replace Kofi by Vince.
Then we got The Bar vs a reunited Hardy Boyz, because Matt is back and doesn't seem to have a lot of ring rust. Now, I don't know about your specific mileage for the Hardys, but mine is pretty fucking limited. I know they were the biggest thing in tag wrestling for a time back during the early/mid-aughts and they were given total creative control at Impact, but I don't care about any of that shit. Is it nice to see Matt Hardy wrestling again? If you're a fan, sure, but I was confused as all get-out because this was supposed to be Johnny Gargano vs Cesaro one-on-one, and I was fucking stoked for that match, and that got traded for a decent pop for the Charlotte, NC crowd. Anyway, they pulled out all their old tricks and Jeff hit the Swanton Bomb for the pin over Sheamus. Now, some people might thing that the whole "What?" chant is the worst goddamn thing ever, but a bunch of white people trying to do the "Delete" motion in the crowd is the absolute worst because almost every time, they fuck it up and it ends up looking like they're doing the Nazi salute, and that's not a good look. It's a back and downward motion with your arm, not a back and upward motion for God's sakes. Try it both ways and you'll see what I'm talking about.
Then we got a backstage segment with Aleister Black and Ricochet prepping for their tag match against Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura, but Lana ended up in their locker room to downplay who they were, but Ricochet and Aleister weren't having any of it. As much as I think Aleister cuts a great promo, I don't think he should be talking a whole lot right now. He should be as quiet and mysterious as possible.
Then we got US Champion R-Truth (finally) coming out with Carmella in tow to issue an open challenge for the title, in honor of his childhood hero... John Cena. Yes, it was very very funny. Answering the call first was Andrade but in a hot second, was bowled over by Rey Mysterio. Mella talked Truth into taking them on in a triple threat, and what can I say? This was a really fun match. Everyone got in good shots, Truth got the roll-up win over Mysterio after avoiding a double 619, and it kept the Andrade/Mysterio feud going, and that's the most important part. I'm betting that's going to be some kind of cool stipulation match that culminates hopefully at Mania.
Then Charlotte came out, with a replay of last night's Raw fallout with Becky's attack and Ronda's possible relinquishing of her Raw title, and she heeled it right the fuck up by putting over Vince's decision to replace Kofi, and then continued to put herself over as the "gold standard" of women's wrestling by staying in their lane, and she used Ronda's words against her as far as Charlotte being the "true" champion and she's planning on going to Raw next Monday and collecting the Raw Women's title. That should be interesting. And I don't think that she got quite as much heat as she would anywhere else because she was very much in Flair Country. It was a great shitheel promo.
Then we got Ricochet and Aleister Black teaming against Rusev and Nakamura. Again, you can't be too disappointed with a match between these four, and I know that it was announced this week that Aleister and Ric were tagging together in the Dusty Rhodes Classic back in NXT so they have to build them up as a potentially formidable team, but there were also viral videos going around about Aleister saying goodbye to the Full Sail crowd, so I'm not exactly sure if that was indeed him basically admitting to being called up, but when he does come up to the main roster, this is the show he should be on, because if this match showed me one thing, it's that I would love to see a program with Black and Nakamura. They have a lot of chemistry together, and this was a solid match that I have no complaints about, and this was a good team to go over.
And we had yet another walk-on and off again from fucking Lacey Evans. This is just not working in any way, shape or form. It's stupid and I hate it and I want to see her inside a ring and not walking a fucking catwalk.
Then we had Kayla backstage with A.J. Styles and questions about his plans for the future. Styles got down on himself a bit but he wanted to get back to the glory of when Smackdown truly was the House that A.J. Styles Built, but Randy Orton sidled up to him and asked him what he said because apparently he doesn't like Styles and wants to fight him. I'm hoping this isn't A.J.'s Mania program, because I feel he deserves someone better than Orton. But as always, Vince is gonna Vince.
Then we got Kevin Owens and Kofi tagging against Daniel Bryan and Rowan. This had a lot of solid in-ring action, and it had some great character work from Kofi and Bryan. Kofi came out with his New Day brothers but it was not all pancakes and dancing. He wanted to face D-Bry to start but Daniel immediately tagged in Rowan. Kofi clearly didn't want to work with KO, but Kevin was hot and rarin' to go. And this match was also a good reminder of what a fucking monster Rowan can be, but this was very much the return of Owens. He had some great spots, including a fucking missile dropkick (but he's done 450 Splashes in the past, so that isn't really a surprise), and even though he didn't get the pinfall over The American Dragon with the Pop-Up Powerbomb, he and Kofi worked together to isolate Bryan in the ring, and KO hit a Stone Cold Stunner for the win. So a big win for KO and another good showing for Kofi. I'm a little disappointed that Sami Zayn isn't back yet, but hopefully, he'll make his way back as a tag partner or singles competitor soonish.
So this ended up being arguably the best week for the main roster shows in a long time with both of them advancing stories and making some compelling TV. Raw edged out Smackdown for being slightly better mostly because of more surprises and more genuinely good things happening for people. So check back tomorrow for my recap of Wednesday's episode of NXT!
Until next time, kids...
Then we got Jinder Mahal (who still is around) and the Singh Brothers complaining about how they weren't invited to Ric Flair's 70th birthday party, so he wanted to issue an open challenge to anyone in the back, and who answered the call? Kurt Angle, ladies and gentlemen. And finally Angle, after a bunch of shots from Mahal and some resting holds, Angle hit a bunch of German Suplexes, and then got him in the Ankle Lock for the submission win, so... yay? I know he was due a win because if they go through with the plans they have for him to have his final match at Mania, he has to at least look a little legit. Other than that, I'm going to keep singing this song, and that's that I don't ever want to see Kurt Angle wrestle again.
Then we got Alexa Bliss out for her "Moment of Bliss" segment where she gave her "Bye, Felicia" treatment to Ronda Rousey in a pretty hilarious way, and then suggested that if Ronda has indeed left, she'll be happy to fill her spot at Mania. Then she introduced Finn Balor as her guest. It wasn't the greatest scripted segment, that's for sure, as Alexa became flirty with Finn suggesting that if Finn removed his IC title belt to show his abs, she would show him her... and an interruption by Lio Rush, who is still on about how how Finn doesn't deserve the title and Bobby Lashley is the true IC champ. So Finn (and interestingly enough, Alexa) goaded Lio into challenging Finn for the IC title, which would begin immediately.
This title match was surprisingly good, with very solid in-ring storytelling as Rush went after Finn's leg to keep him from getting aerial, and Rush looked great in this match. Surprisingly, Rush and Balor have a lot of good chemistry together. Plus we got to see something different out of Balor tonight as instead of hitting the shotgun dropkick to set up for the Coup de Grace, he ended up using the 1916, which is always one my favorite signature moves, and something that Finn doesn't use too often. He finally hobbled up to the top and hit the Coup de Grace for the win.
Once Rush got backstage though, Lashley was there berating him as if they were father and son, which was actually pretty funny to me. Whether or not it worked, it still made me laugh. Then Lashley went out for his match against Braun Strowman, which was not an actual match as Lashley attacked Strowman before the match ever started, but Strowman eventually got the upper hand and steamrolled over Lashley and Rush and that was it, and Strowman declared that he wasn't finished, because he still has McIntyre to get even with after Lashley here and Corbin from last week. That's actually pretty decent storytelling. Not everything has to have some really convoluted reason for being a story; "this person hurt me; I want to hurt them back" is just fine for a compelling story. One of the many problems with Raw is that they tend to over-complicate things.
Then there was a backstage segment with Tucker Knight and Konnor and Viktor, where The Ascension joked back and forth about Otis and that he's fat. Then Otis showed up and slammed K and V into some road crates. So that's probably a match we'll see next week.
Then we got the Dean vs Drew No DQ match that The Lunatic Fringe asked for earlier. It's super easy to predict all of Dean's matches from now until Mania and that's he's going to eat a lot of pins but he's going to at least keep working, and this match was evidence of that. He and Drew have good in-ring chemistry, and it had one of the unintentionally funny moments of the evening which is Dean taking off a belt to start whipping Drew with it, but it's revealed that he was wearing another belt underneath it. It was just such a bizarre visual that I had to laugh, and it didn't hurt to have Corey and Renee discuss it for a moment. This was also a moment in the evening where I started to notice that Corey was slightly more restrained than he was for the last few months. He actually had some funny things to say and wasn't being such a douche, and it reminded me of his time doing commentary in NXT when he was at his best. Anyway, Dean proved that he was still okay with taking his licks because Drew got in some savage belt shots on Dean's back and chest. But just as soon as Dean started to get the upper hand, Elias came out and slammed (but not smashed) his guitar across Ambrose's back. Drew got Ambrose back in the ring and hit him with the Claymore for the win, but then came Corbin and Lashley and it became a four-on-one beatdown. Seth's music hit and he was on the stage with a steel chair...
...then Roman's music hit. And suddenly, this episode of Raw was a brand-new ballgame. I've literally never been so happy to see a series of Superman Punches in my life. Seth was getting in some chair shots, hit the Stomp on Elias, and Roman hit Drew with the spear. When the smoke cleared, Roman and Seth headed back together, leaving Dean in the ring. To me, this was a great non-verbal indicator that Dean, while being a brother, was still not exactly trustworthy and will have to make it up to them over the coming weeks. So, yeah, expect a Shield reunion moment at Mania likely during Seth's match against Brock... and that's a silver lining attached to a cloud. Because if they go in for that moment, it's very very likely that Roman's comeback story will eclipse the story of Becky, Ronda and Charlotte and they'll want to save that kind of moment for the final match of the night. This might account for Vince waffling on whether or not the Raw Women's title match or the Universal title match will be the headliner. I'm still hoping for the women to finally get the headliner, but I have a feeling that a final Shield appearance is the kind of moment that Vince will think will make everyone head home happy.
Then we got a match between Bayley and Nia Jax, which is a preview of the first defense of the Women's tag titles at Fastlane where Boss 'N Hug will face off against Nia and Tamina. This was a good match, and Bayley picking up the win made her look super-strong, and I actually, for once, liked the irony of Nia's overconfidence actually costing her the match when she tried to snatch all of Sasha's hair from her head outside the ring and Bayley hit her with a running knee on the apron that led to The Hugger hitting the Macho Man Elbow from the top rope for the win. I'm sure that we'll get Tamina vs Sasha next week, and there'll be some 50/50 booking between the partners or Nia causing a DQ, but that's just an educated guess. Bayley's been putting in a lot of very solid work lately, which has made me happy because Bayley will always have a special place in my heart thanks to her work in NXT and her friendship with Finn has made for some very super-cute moments.
Then came celebration time as all the superstars showed up for Ric Flair's 70th birthday bash. Trips and Stephanie introduced the likes of Shawn Michaels, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat (who still looks like he could whip some serious ass), Kurt Angle and Sting. Then things went flat-out bug-fuck nuts in the best sense of the term as they called for Ric, his music hit, but no one came out. Then on the Tron, you could see a bald dude in a leather jacket dragging a cameraman, and when we got closer, we saw that it was Batista going into Ric's dressing room. The door closed, some thumping sounds were made inside, and then Batista dragged an unconscious Flair out of the room and him looking into the camera and simply saying, "Hey, Hunter. Do I have your attention now?" and him screaming into the camera and smiling and walking away. Trips ran back to get medical attention for Ric and that's how the show closed. Of course this whole thing hearkens back to the 1000th ep of SD Live where Evolution reunited and Batista claimed that Hunter had never beaten him. Then rumors began floating about Batista returning for the Rumble and so on, but this was the right place to do this, since birthday celebrations in WWE never end well for anyone. But this sets up Hunter's Mania match in a really fun way, and I'm not going to say that it's going to be a barn-burner, but it'll be an opportunity to have him fight as babyface, which doesn't happen often for good ol' Triple H, but it'll be a really fun match to see Sapper Morton fight Jarko Grimwood (for movie nerds only)! Of course, there was some post-Raw happenings when Jinder and the Singhs came back out to start the party back up since Ric wasn't going to be around. Naturally, Jinder had to eat a Sweet Chin Music from Michaels and an Angle Slam from Kurt onto the cake. The Singhs got treated equally as poor Sting and Ricky just stood around.
So, yeah, overall, Raw was a really special night for a lot of us, and Smackdown is going to have a lot to measure up to, because they won't have the pops for the big surprises, so they'll have to focus on the quality of their matches and other storytelling.
Now, onto Smackdown!
So the show kicked off with Shane (and Stephanie for some reason) in the ring with the traditional contract-signing table set up with Daniel Bryan sitting there and Rowan standing behind him, both of them looking extremely and hilariously non-plussed. Shane and Steph hype up Kofi Kingston, Daniel's opponent at Fastlane, with a series of title wins that Kofi has had before, and then he comes out with the other members of New Day and he gives an impassioned speech about waiting 11 years for this opportunity for a one-on-one at the WWE Championship and that he's going to defeat Bryan at Fastlane. The crowd is chanting his name like mad. Daniel signs quickly, saying nothing, and staring daggers into Kofi, and Kofi is just about to put pen to paper and then Vince's music hits, and I got excited. Not for Vince, because I wish he would go away forever, but excited that I knew what this meant. Vince briefly praised Kofi for all he's done over the years, but he is not going to have Kofi challenge D-Bry at Fastlane because he's not a big draw, but he's ready to introduce someone who is, and out comes Daniel's new opponent at Mania, Kevin Owens! So, this is exciting for two reasons: first, KO IS BACK! And the second is that #KofiMania is definitely going to Wrestlemania against Bryan. I'm a little disappointed that this is the second time this month that Vince has used this specific deus ex machina to rebook a match that will end up at Mania because of the organic groundswell, but at least this way, we're nearly guaranteed to get the match we want at Mania. Although, depending on how they book this, this match might get a triple-threat as well. But it probably won't because Daniel Bryan is enough of a true professional that he can eat the pin but still carry on his heel schtick. So this is good news, people. Don't get down about it, even if when The New Day walked from the ring after this announcement looking dejected and really pissed off.
Then we got a backstage segment with KO talking to Shane and Steph asking to have a tag match alongside Kofi against Bryan and Rowan tonight, because he saw the overconfident look in Bryan's eyes and he thinks that Kofi deserves this match as much as he does. It's still a little uncertain as to whether or not they're bringing KO back as a heel or a babyface, but I can't really imagine a KO babyface run would last too long, especially since he was chosen to replace Kofi by Vince.
Then we got The Bar vs a reunited Hardy Boyz, because Matt is back and doesn't seem to have a lot of ring rust. Now, I don't know about your specific mileage for the Hardys, but mine is pretty fucking limited. I know they were the biggest thing in tag wrestling for a time back during the early/mid-aughts and they were given total creative control at Impact, but I don't care about any of that shit. Is it nice to see Matt Hardy wrestling again? If you're a fan, sure, but I was confused as all get-out because this was supposed to be Johnny Gargano vs Cesaro one-on-one, and I was fucking stoked for that match, and that got traded for a decent pop for the Charlotte, NC crowd. Anyway, they pulled out all their old tricks and Jeff hit the Swanton Bomb for the pin over Sheamus. Now, some people might thing that the whole "What?" chant is the worst goddamn thing ever, but a bunch of white people trying to do the "Delete" motion in the crowd is the absolute worst because almost every time, they fuck it up and it ends up looking like they're doing the Nazi salute, and that's not a good look. It's a back and downward motion with your arm, not a back and upward motion for God's sakes. Try it both ways and you'll see what I'm talking about.
Then we got a backstage segment with Aleister Black and Ricochet prepping for their tag match against Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura, but Lana ended up in their locker room to downplay who they were, but Ricochet and Aleister weren't having any of it. As much as I think Aleister cuts a great promo, I don't think he should be talking a whole lot right now. He should be as quiet and mysterious as possible.
Then we got US Champion R-Truth (finally) coming out with Carmella in tow to issue an open challenge for the title, in honor of his childhood hero... John Cena. Yes, it was very very funny. Answering the call first was Andrade but in a hot second, was bowled over by Rey Mysterio. Mella talked Truth into taking them on in a triple threat, and what can I say? This was a really fun match. Everyone got in good shots, Truth got the roll-up win over Mysterio after avoiding a double 619, and it kept the Andrade/Mysterio feud going, and that's the most important part. I'm betting that's going to be some kind of cool stipulation match that culminates hopefully at Mania.
Then Charlotte came out, with a replay of last night's Raw fallout with Becky's attack and Ronda's possible relinquishing of her Raw title, and she heeled it right the fuck up by putting over Vince's decision to replace Kofi, and then continued to put herself over as the "gold standard" of women's wrestling by staying in their lane, and she used Ronda's words against her as far as Charlotte being the "true" champion and she's planning on going to Raw next Monday and collecting the Raw Women's title. That should be interesting. And I don't think that she got quite as much heat as she would anywhere else because she was very much in Flair Country. It was a great shitheel promo.
Then we got Ricochet and Aleister Black teaming against Rusev and Nakamura. Again, you can't be too disappointed with a match between these four, and I know that it was announced this week that Aleister and Ric were tagging together in the Dusty Rhodes Classic back in NXT so they have to build them up as a potentially formidable team, but there were also viral videos going around about Aleister saying goodbye to the Full Sail crowd, so I'm not exactly sure if that was indeed him basically admitting to being called up, but when he does come up to the main roster, this is the show he should be on, because if this match showed me one thing, it's that I would love to see a program with Black and Nakamura. They have a lot of chemistry together, and this was a solid match that I have no complaints about, and this was a good team to go over.
And we had yet another walk-on and off again from fucking Lacey Evans. This is just not working in any way, shape or form. It's stupid and I hate it and I want to see her inside a ring and not walking a fucking catwalk.
Then we had Kayla backstage with A.J. Styles and questions about his plans for the future. Styles got down on himself a bit but he wanted to get back to the glory of when Smackdown truly was the House that A.J. Styles Built, but Randy Orton sidled up to him and asked him what he said because apparently he doesn't like Styles and wants to fight him. I'm hoping this isn't A.J.'s Mania program, because I feel he deserves someone better than Orton. But as always, Vince is gonna Vince.
Then we got Kevin Owens and Kofi tagging against Daniel Bryan and Rowan. This had a lot of solid in-ring action, and it had some great character work from Kofi and Bryan. Kofi came out with his New Day brothers but it was not all pancakes and dancing. He wanted to face D-Bry to start but Daniel immediately tagged in Rowan. Kofi clearly didn't want to work with KO, but Kevin was hot and rarin' to go. And this match was also a good reminder of what a fucking monster Rowan can be, but this was very much the return of Owens. He had some great spots, including a fucking missile dropkick (but he's done 450 Splashes in the past, so that isn't really a surprise), and even though he didn't get the pinfall over The American Dragon with the Pop-Up Powerbomb, he and Kofi worked together to isolate Bryan in the ring, and KO hit a Stone Cold Stunner for the win. So a big win for KO and another good showing for Kofi. I'm a little disappointed that Sami Zayn isn't back yet, but hopefully, he'll make his way back as a tag partner or singles competitor soonish.
So this ended up being arguably the best week for the main roster shows in a long time with both of them advancing stories and making some compelling TV. Raw edged out Smackdown for being slightly better mostly because of more surprises and more genuinely good things happening for people. So check back tomorrow for my recap of Wednesday's episode of NXT!
Until next time, kids...
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