WWE RAW HITS & MISSES 3/21: Kevin Owens gives hot start to Raw, Becky Lynch adds to Raw Women’s Championship, more

Stone Cold Kevin Owens – HIT: WWE Raw got off to a good start with Kevin Owens tricking the fans into thinking that Stone Cold Steve Austin was about to come out, only to come out and do a very fun impression of him. He got the fans a second time making them think Austin was about to come out to interrupt him. This all worked well to continue to build anticipation for the KO Show at WrestleMania.

Mysterios vs. Dirty Dawgs – HIT: This was a good tag match between the Mysterios and the Dirty Dawgs. Robert Roode isn’t in a WM match, nor is he the NXT Champion, so him taking the pin made the most sense. The post-match attack by the Miz when he stole Rey Mysterio’s mask worked well to add another layer to their feud. It also set up the idea that Logan Paul will be on next week’s show wearing Rey’s mask.

Styles – Rollins – MISS: This segment started off well with A.J. Styles returning to address Edge and talk about their upcoming WrestleMania match. Styles was good here and his promo was Hit worthy. The problem was the interruption from Seth Rollins. Why doesn’t he challenge Omos to a match? I appreciate how important they are trying to make WrestleMania feel, but it isn’t believable that someone like Rollins wouldn’t have a match when most of the roster is on the card already. So, I’m not buying the storyline. Just like last week, it makes zero sense why Adam Pearce would give Rollins a chance to take a spot away from Styles. Why would he do that? It makes the company seem stupid for having people like him and Sonya DeVille in charge. It also set up a main event which would inevitably be good, but with a lame finish.

Baszler & Natalya vs. Morgan & Ripley – MISS: I give credit for WWE doing something to make the most recent addition to the Women’s Tag Team Title match at WM seem worthy of being in the match by giving them an actual win. It would have been better if they had gotten that win before being added (another decision which calls into question the competence of the authority figures). But, the match was so short. Shayna Baszler & Natalya don’t seem worthy of a title shot, but by losing to them in two minutes, neither do Liv Morgan & Rhea Ripley. They need to find a way to build to a fatal four way or triple threat without having them all just trade wins in the weeks beforehand.

Becky Lynch – HIT: Becky Lynch was very good here talking about selling her soul for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship and what makes her different from Bianca Belair. I like how she acknowledged that Belair had hurt her on accident, but she had hurt Bel Air on purpose. She continued to do a nice job of justifying her new attitude based on the fans liking Belair more than her. This worked and how fans should want to see Belair get revenge even more and become WWE Raw Women’s Champion.

Theory vs. Balor – MISS: The wrestling action between Austin Theory and Finn Balor was good as you’d expect, but Pat McAfee’s involvement brought it down. I was fine with his performance (it was odd to hear a WWE wrestler actually standing up to Corey Graves for the first time ever instead of cowering from him like Byron Saxton does each week). I was fine with the first two times he got involved in the match. But then he got involved several more times. I didn’t like how Balor needed so much help from McAfee. I didn’t like how this did nothing to advance Balor vs. Priest which I’m assuming we are going to get. Why isn’t Balor complaining like Rollins that he doesn’t have a WM match? He is the WWE United States Champion, he should have a match, but he doesn’t, yet he doesn’t seem to care. Give me some consistency. If Priest isn’t going to challenge Balor, maybe Rollins should. I’m still wondering if Priest and Balor end up getting added to Theory vs. McAfee.

Alpha Academy vs. RK-Bro – MISS: Here is another match with Hit worthy wrestling action. I liked that Matt Riddle got the win with his actual finisher, as it seems like Randy Orton is the one who usually does, and when Riddle does, it is after his own RKO. So, this Miss is all about context. The Street Profits had a claim to a Title shot since they had defeated RK-Bro before they had won the Titles. Alpha Academy didn’t earn a shot, they just beat up the other two teams last week (just like Baszler & Natalya). So, here was a chance for them to get some momentum, but they lost. I don’t want to see the Champs lose either. So, maybe WWE needs to find a way to build up to these triple threat matches without having the teams trade wins in the weeks beforehand (which sounds awfully familiar).

Brooke & Reggie vs. Tamina & Tozawa – MISS: There have to be better ways to fill time this close to the biggest show of the year than 24/7 crap.

Rollins vs. Styles – HIT: Just like last week’s main event, the reason behind this match was stupid, but the match delivered. Unlike last week’s match, this week’s main event didn’t have a clean finish, but it made sense from a storyline stand point. Why would Edge allow Styles to lose to Rollins? It makes sense for him to attack Styles to cause a disqualification. Of course, his timing was questionable as they had been wrestling for over 20 minutes at that point and Rollins could have defeated Styles multiple times in those 20 minutes. So, there were some issues with the match, but it was over 20 minutes of very good wrestling action between two of the best in WWE. The fit that Rollins threw afterwards worked well as a tease for what he will do next week to hold up the show before Cody Rhodes comes out.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Raw Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw and Smackdown each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com.

CATCH-UP: HEYDORN’S RAW RECEIPT 3/21: Seth Rollins delivers in starring role despite somewhat illogical story