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Quiz Bowl – HIT: I wish these types of segments weren’t part of pro wrestling. Of course, this is WWE’s Sports Entertainment, so you have to accept it to a certain extent. That doesn’t mean you have to like it. The reason I’m giving this a Hit despite my reservations is that it was entertaining. Matt Riddle, Randy Orton, Chad Gable and Ottis are all in on this storyline and are having a lot of fun with it which is translating to the audience. Has WWE put “Shuuush!” on a Chad Gable shirt yet? Put that on WWE Shop now.
Street Profits vs. Alpha Academy – HIT: There were a lot of short matches on this show which started with this tag match which could have gone longer and I wouldn’t have complained. It was a good match. It was nice to see it go commercial free as part of this commercial free first hour. I was sure that The Street Profits would win given WWE’s history of having their Champs lose non-title matches. So, it was nice to see the Champions actually getting the win, although it is a shame that that had to come at the hands of the Street Profits who could be in line for a Tag Title match at WrestleMania.
MVP and Lashley – HIT: I really hope that I’m wrong and that Brock Lesnar doesn’t win the WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber, because Bobby Lashley should be the defending Champ at WrestleMania. He and MVP gave strong performances on the mic talking about beating Lesnar at The Royal Rumble and going on to win the EC to successfully defend the WWE Title. The fans were certainly giving Lashley a babyface reaction, but given that he was in his home town, that isn’t surprising. It will be interesting to see if they end up going in a babyface direction for him at WM.
Styles vs. Priest – MISS: This was a perfectly good 5 minute match between AJ Styles and Damian Priest. The problem is that after doing a great job of protecting Priest, WWE is suddenly having him lose a lot of matches. The United States Champion should not be losing 5 minute matches, even to a big star like Styles. They may be setting up a heel turn for Priest which might play out during the Title match next week. I’m ok with Priest going heel, but does he have to keep losing on the way? And why involve Styles? He should be focused on the EC. I don’t understand having one of the EC participants getting involved with the US Champion.
Miz vs. Dominik – MISS: I actually liked MizTV as it was nice to see a babyface legacy star like Rey Mysterio calling out The Miz for being a cheater. WWE is framing the situation where Miz is jealous of Mysterio being on the cover of the latest WWE video game while he should get that recognition considering his success and fame. But, Mysterio rightfully countered all of Miz’s accomplishments by showing how he didn’t earn them. He didn’t earn titles because he cheated or had help. That all worked. Dominik was ok, but he needs to improve on the mic as his demand to Miz to show his dad respect wasn’t good. Overall, it was a fine segment. The issue is that in the rematch that followed, Rey cheated to help Dominic win. I get that we are supposed to feel that Miz deserved it and have that “what goes around comes around” attitude. But, when you spend an entire segment discussing how Miz is a cheater while getting the fans to chant “cheater” at him, maybe all of that shouldn’t be undone a few minutes later by cheating too.
Belair vs. Cross – HIT: This Hit is for the quality of the match and the fact that Bianca Belair got another strong win on what is presumably her road to a WM Women’s Title match. I like how Belair sold the knee injury throughout the match, but still was able to power through to hit some big moves and come out with the victory. The only problem with the match was that EC participants shouldn’t be facing each other in the lead up to that PLE, because either you have lame cop out finishes, or one of the participants loses. This match wouldn’t have any issues if Nikki Cross wasn’t in the EC. And she should not be in the EC. She hasn’t won a match in forever. She was the loser in all of those tag matches with Rhea Ripley against Queen Zelina & Carmella. She got squashed by Ripley last week. What has she done to deserve that spot?
Theory vs. Owens – HIT: This was another good match between Austin Theory and Kevin Owens. It built well from their match last week where they played into some of the spots from that match with some nice counters. They put the match together very nicely and executed that plan well. I assumed that Theory would get the win again to further the frustrations of Owens and build momentum for the Chamber. Instead, Owens won. Again, why is an EC participant losing this close to the PLE?
Owens’s Story – MISS: The story seems to be Owens trying to convince Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville that he belongs at WM. Wouldn’t that be an easier story to tell if he didn’t win here? He was more of a babyface in the match and in his encounter with them later, but he was clearly a heel in the main event. So, there was some split personality issues with the crowd reactions. I’m not a fan of the “there may not be a spot for you at WrestleMania” angle. It didn’t work for John Cena a few years ago. The show is two nights and each night will last 4 hours. The idea that Owens wouldn’t be booked on the show is utterly ridiculous and unbelievable. I don’t look forward to the next two months of him trying to earn a spot. It doesn’t make sense. But, if you want to tell that story, at least have him lose to Theory as a justification for saying that he might not have a spot on the card. Then Theory doesn’t lose this close to EC.
Lita – Becky – HIT: A very popular star from the past like Lita might be the only one who can get the fans to fully turn against Becky Lynch who remains popular despite being a heel for the last 6 months. I still believe WWE is making a mistake with her as a heel, but in the short term it is working with her going up against Lita at EC for her Raw Women’s Title. Both of them played their parts well here. The mic work was very strong. It should make fans want to see Lita vs. Lynch at the PLE, even if nobody really buys Lita as a possible winner in the match. The physicality at the end wasn’t as crisp as I’d like to see, but it was ok.
Doudrop vs. Morgan – MISS: This was another good match, which shouldn’t have happened. We don’t need to see a wrestler like Liv Morgan who is going to be in the EC lose a match so close to the PLE. This one gets a Miss, because Morgan is still seen by some fans as a legit possible opponent for Becky at WM (as opposed to Cross), so why job her out?
RK-Bro vs. Rollins & Owens – MISS: The wrestling action in the final two matches of Raw was Hit worthy. It started out as a short match between Matt Riddle and Seth Rollins, which turned into a tag match after Owens attacked Riddle and Orton made the save. The problem was the booking. Again, why book Rollins vs. Riddle if you don’t want to give a finish to the match? You want to protect them both going into the EC (unlike the women), so you aren’t going to have a finish. So we get this non-finish followed by a restart as a tag match which is overdone. The problem then becomes do you protect the #1 contenders for the Tag Team Championship one of whom is in the EC also, or do you protect someone who is in the EC and a possible opponent for Bobby Lashley at WM? Owens should have lost to advance the argument that he might not deserve a match at WM. Instead, he and Rollins got the win when Rollins pinned Riddle. So why couldn’t Rollins have just pinned Riddle in the singles match? It seemed like they wanted to protect Riddle, but he still lost. So what was the point of turning this into a tag match? The #1 contenders for the Tag Titles lost. One of the participants in the EC lost. Owens can point to this win as proof that he belongs at WM. So, this was the worst possible outcome to the match.
Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw and Smackdown each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com.
What does PLE stand for???