HEYDORN’S WWE RAW RECEIPT 2/13: Final hype for Elimination Chamber hits in spots, misses in others

This week’s episode of WWE Raw has wrapped. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and relive some of the madness.

-Becky Lynch, Bayley, and Bianca Belair set a nice hook for the show in the opening segment. It was simple stuff, but effective in generating a main event. All three women were good and stayed in their lanes nicely to get the angle over. Bianca Belair’s work was notable. It seemed like she took a step back from the EST stuff and was just a confident champion out there. More of that, please.

-The Judgement Day makes me happy. It’s a strange act to like, I get it, but they are working so well right now. The group is all over the show and while they won’t, and shouldn’t, sniff the main event picture, they are a valuable asset to the show on a weekly basis because they can touch so many different areas — women’s division, men’s singles division, men’s tag, etc.

-As far as contract signings go in WWE, the one this week between Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley was “A” material. WWE needed to define both guys and they clearly put Lashley on the heel side of things with the work this week. The physicality between both was madness and since that is a key ingredient to the story, it makes complete sense that they would use it for the final hype. Good stuff here and fans know who to cheer for now.

-Piper Niven had a great week. Her work is believable out there and with a continued strong push, can be a title contender for a babyface champion down the road.

-Man, Paul Levesque and Co. are really threading the needle nicely to navigate the Sami Zayn and Cody Rhodes waters. Instead of running from it and playing defense, they are running directly at the potential issue and using it to further both guys. This only works if the talent can pull off the material and this week both Zayn and Rhodes were perfectly on point. Just great stuff from both guys, which led to strong build for Elimination Chamber and anticipation for WrestleMania at the same time.

-Ohhhh, Baron Corbin. Is this setting up for Corbin to return to the Lone Wolf? Does anyone care anymore?

-I continue to really enjoy the week to week happenings of Bronson Reed. Reed is such a believable monster in the ring and the crowd audibly gasped this week when he climbed to the top rope for the Tsunami. Leaps and bounds better than he was in NXT and is positioning himself for a big spot later this year or early next.

-Look, I don’t want to want them, but somebody send me a link for the red Seth Rollins shoes. The segment was fine, but Rollins vs. Logan Paul just seems a little beneath Rollins at this point. What else should he do at WrestleMania? Well, that’s the question – and problem. Rollins appeared to walk the line of overly reliant on his theme song and actually being over nicely in this. Playing off The Miz helped to that end.

-The Chelsea Green stuff is kind of cracking me up. It’s low card material, but works on a three hour show. Adam Pearce plays off her really well.

-The main event felt flat at times, leading to a tempered crowd reaction. Belair going over was a bit of a surprise considering Becky Lynch doesn’t have a clear path to a WrestleMania match at this point. The psychology of babyface Bianca Belair ruining babyface Becky Lynch’s chances at a WrestleMania match likely contributed to the audience’s lack of investment.

CATCH-UP: Cody Rhodes has high praise for Sami Zayn ahead of WWE Elimination Chamber 2023