WWE RAW HITS & MISSES (3/10): Cody Rhodes’s promo, No John Cena, LWO vs. New Day, TKO Corporate infiltrating WWE programming, Seth vs. Punk, Belair-Sky-Ripley, more

Jey Uso vs. Waller – HIT: This is a minor Hit. It was fun to see the Jey Uso entrance in front of a sold out MSG crowd. It is a good way to start the show on a high note. I’m curious if his match against Gunther ends up opening one of the nights at WrestleMania for that reason (it also doesn’t feel like the type of match that should be closing the show). We haven’t seen the Uso entrance in a few weeks which is smart. His match against Greyson Waller was solid. The post-match attack from Gunther worked well enough to continue his physical dominance over Jey. But at some point, “well enough” won’t be good enough any more. There has to be more to the build than what they’ve done. They have several weeks, so hopefully they have something in mind. Jey is cool, but having him consoled by the very uncool Alpha Academy isn’t smart.

Logan Paul – HIT: This was a strong segment to continue the build towards the eventual match between Logan Paul and AJ Styles. Styles was going to call Paul out, but in a smart heel move, Paul came out first. He gets that hugely negative reaction which is good. I liked his interaction with Andrew Schulz at ringside. Schulz played his part very well, just acting like a fan who was looking forward to the main event like everyone else, much to the chagrin of Paul. The save from Styles worked to start to tease their match. I would still rather see Paul facing John Cena at WM, but this will be a good match.

Corporate WWE – MISS: WWE has been corporate for a long time, longer than their sale to TKO (or Endeavor or whatever), but it got worse after the sale. It has gotten even worse on Raw since they moved to Netflix. Showing some celebrities who are legit fans of WWE and truly excited to be at a show is smart. Showing so many celebrities who are just there to promote a show on Netflix isn’t. It is getting out of hand. I also don’t care about their parent company starting a boxing league with Saudi Arabia. I don’t need to see Dana White on WWE TV. Look at us, we broke a record for the gate at an arena show. Look at us, we made a corporate deal. Look at us, we have a bunch of corporate sponsors for our ring. Look at us, celebrities love us!

LWO vs. New Day – HIT: This was a good tornado tag with Rey Mysterio teaming with Dragon Lee to take on New Day. The action was fast paced and non-stop. New Day was smart to put the table away after the babyface reaction that the LWO got when they brought the table out. That was instant heel heat. It is a simple thing which you would think would be universal, but I’ve seen a lot of heels getting face pops for pulling out tables after a “we want tables” chant. Unfortunately, the table spot was a big botch as Xavier Woods totally overshot the table, then bounced off the barrier and barely touched the table at that point which broke, making it look gimmicked. That was one bad spot in an otherwise good match. The attack from the mystery masked wrestler who apparently wasn’t Chad Gable worked well. I know it’s cheesy, but it’s a good cheesy for me. This can move the LWO onto an American Made feud, with New Day moving onto something else as well. Perhaps getting back into the Tag Title picture?

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Cody Rhodes – HIT: This was another good enough segment, but this is WM season. They can’t keep just being good enough. They have to be better than good. Cody Rhodes’ promo was very strong. I think he was a bit thrown by the “lets go Cena/Cena sucks” chant. I don’t read too much into that chant, as it was probably brought on by nostalgia as opposed to half the audience siding with Cena at this point. The rest of the promo was good.

No Cena – MISS: John Cena turns heel after 20 years and he’s nowhere to be found? I get the schedule, and he will be on soon, but having two Raws in a row (and presumably two Smackdowns also) without Cena to address joining the Rock is a big mistake. If half of your WM main event can’t be on every week in the build up to the biggest show of the year, that is a sign that he shouldn’t be in the main event. It should have been CM Punk with Cena facing Paul instead. I will die on this hill and keep harping on it as it is clearly what they should have done.

Sky – Bel Air – Ripley – MISS: Clearly WWE is heading for a triple threat match with Rhea Ripley getting added to the Women’s Title match between Iyo Sky and Bianca Bel Air. I am not of that at all. The story to get there isn’t off to a good start. The performances from the three women were fine, but the script leaves a lot to be desired. Ripley particularly looked bad here for whining about Bel Air being at ringside last week for her Title defense against Sky. She blamed Bel Air for the loss, which is a heel move. It was totally on her last week to let herself get distracted by Bel Air who did absolutely nothing wrong. I can’t stress enough how bad Ripley looked here. Bel Air looked fine at first, but her dismissive attitude towards Sky made her look bad too. Sky came out looking well by showing fire and slapping both women, but the rest of the segment was a mess and will lead to a disappointing outcome.

Rollins vs. Punk – HIT: The steel cage match between CM Punk and Seth Rollins was a very good main event. It relied a little too heavily on kicking out of finishers (as they both hit their own finisher and each other’s finisher multiple times). But, it was still a good cage match. The intensity and physicality of the start of the match was strong and fit in perfectly with their feud. I appreciated how neither wanted to win by escaping the cage. The announcers did a nice job of emphasizing that point. The Roman Reigns interference was predictable but the right way to go to have him get revenge on Rollins for what happened at The Royal Rumble. He couldn’t finish the job, because of the WWE officials, but then turned his attention to Punk in the ring who looked to be getting consoled by Paul Heyman. That dynamic will be interesting to watch going forward. WWE could have had this match be the blow off to Rollins – Punk, while Punk pivoted attention to Rhodes, and Rollins pivoted to Reigns. That would have been better (like I said, I will keep harping on this), but once the triple threat decision was made, this was a good way to go for the end of this show.

(Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Raw Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com. Follow him on BlueSky @jonmezzera.bsky.social.)