SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
RAW TALK REPORT
FEBRUARY 22, 2021
AIRED ON WWE NETWORK
REVIEW BY NICK MORGAN, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Hosts: Charly Caruso and R-Truth
This week’s guests: Riddle, Naomi & Lana, and A.J. Styles w/Omos
– Charly introduced the show and R-Truth with her standard “we are CharTruth” bit. They continued to “cry” about the fact that Truth is missing his 24/7 belt which is currently in the custody of Bad Bunny.
– This banal banter continued for a while until they finally got around to talking about Raw and the shenanigans between The Miz and Bobby Lashley over the WWE title.
Morgan’s Analysis: I just have to let you know that I hate the fact that Miz has the title.
-As Charly was recapping the whole angle, Charly seemed totally thrown off and came across as not paying attention to what was going on. Nonetheless, Charly and Truth did their best to promote the one-on-one match between Lashley and Miz for the WWE Championship next week.
– Charly started talking about how Miz has claimed he doesn’t want to be a “transitional” champion. Truth of course misinterpreted what she said and very proudly said he was all about being “transparent.” They finally brought out their first guest, Riddle.
-Riddle said that he was glad that John Morrison was in the Elimination Chamber match with him and Lashley because he could beat Morrison while there was no chance that he could defeat a big guy like Lashley.
Morgan’s Analysis: I do not believe what Riddle just said. Way to play yourself down, huh? I know Riddle is supposed to be “Mr. Chill” and he did an acceptable job in cutting a promo about being the champion and how the “belt will make the man,” but his character and this “California Beach Boy” accent and cadence is just so hard to take seriously, especially after what WWE has done to him over the last few months.
– Riddle took his act off the set and unfortunately it was time for Lana and Naomi who came out to Naomi’s “glow” music and got right down to business talking about the tag team championship “opportunity” they earned. The said they will be cashing in on that opportunity soon. Naomi laid out their thought process: “you miss 100% shots you don’t take.” Of course, Truth totally misunderstood that and thought she was talking about shots of booze. The whole gimmick here is that Naomi has the confidence and the whole goal is to build up Lana’s confidence. The idea being if they can do that, they can win. The conversation soon devolved into how they generate their “look.”
– Thankfully that ended, and we were next subjected to all the standard tall jokes as A.J. Styles and Omos came onto the set. Charly asked A.J. how he was doing since he lost at Elimination Chamber but got a win on Raw. A.J. said he was fine and then went on a tear about where Drew McIntyre was tonight. His point was that everyone else from the Chamber was present on Raw, but not Drew. They might be trying to build up a brief A.J. vs. Drew rivalry while Lashley deals with Miz. They quickly turned to tonight’s antics in the ring regarding Omos slamming Ricochet into the mat after their match. Charly started to ask Omos what was next for him, but A.J. directed back to him. He said that he and Omos together could do anything they wanted and that the sky is the limit. In the midst of people talking over each other and not saying much, Charly signed them off and the show was over.
Morgan’s Analysis: I have to say, this segment was terrible. Everyone was talking over each other, but not saying anything and with the exception of the very beginning when A.J. dumped on Drew, there was no point to the segment other than expressing the fact that Omos is tall, big, and scary.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Wow did this show stink. At 27 & ½ minutes it was a chore to get through. Truth is mopping around about his stupid 24/7 title, Charly is barely conducting an interview, Riddle said Bro eighteen million times and sounds like a warmed over Spicoli (Fast Times at Ridgemont High – google it), Naomi appears to be cringing as she spouts cliches, Lana acts like a six-year-old trapped in Jurassic Park after the T-Rex has gotten out, and A.J. and Omos are getting very boring with their routine. If you can’t tell by now, I really disliked this edition of Raw Talk and they need to do something to make it a bit more serious or at least make it move storylines forward. Short of moving Paul Heyman over to do Raw Talk as well as Talking Smack, I’m not sure how they do it, but they have to do something.
NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S RAW TALK REPORT: 2/15 WWE RAW TALK REPORT: Sheamus threatens McIntyre, Lashley addresses Riddle, and more
Is the writer of this 12? “I really dislike Miz as champ.” #analysis