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Elimination Chamber Follow Up – HIT: I was not a big fan of Elimination Chamber and have been a little surprised by the seemingly universal praise that I’ve seen for it. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. I did not like the John Cena win, nor his heel turn. I still feel that C.M. Punk should have won which would have kept Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns open as a singles match instead of the presumed triple threat. But, once those decisions were made, WWE did the right thing in the way they followed up on Raw. The multiple videos throughout the show of fans and others reacting to the end of the PLE were well done. They sold how big the heel turn from Cena was. I honestly don’t think most fans had that type of reaction, but finding the ones who did and showing them to sell the reaction was smart. The other ways they followed up on the big happenings were also well done throughout the show.
C.M. Punk – HIT: One of those follow ups was C.M. Punk starting the show to address what happened to him in the EC. His passionate promo about The Rock, John Cena, and Seth Rollins was great. His performance was spot on. I liked everything about it leading to Rollins coming out to interrupt. I loved how Punk just ran at Rollins when he first came out to start the huge pull apart brawl. It wouldn’t have made any sense for Punk to let Rollins come out and talk at that point. It was very realistic. Yes, WWE has way overdone the pull apart brawls. But, this one made sense and was very well done. It felt like a bigger deal than the other similar recent brawls. They returned to it later in the show which ultimately led to Adam Pearce booking them in a steel cage match next week which should be great.
Gunther vs. Otis – HIT: Otis got in much more offense against Gunther than Akira Tozawa did last week which makes sense. While goofy, Otis has been presented as much more of a threat in the ring than his partner. An argument could be made that Gunther gave Otis too much offense, but I feel like it was the right amount. If the match had gone any longer, I would likely feel different, but this worked. The verbal beatdown from Gunther before the match was also good, and the physicality afterwards with Jey Uso getting involved worked too. But, I am still worried about how WWE can fill the next seven weeks of TV between these two before WrestleMania.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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Valkyria vs. Nile – HIT: This was a good Intercontinental Championship match with Lyra Valkyria defending against Ivy Nile. After not defending the Title for a long time, it has been good to see Valkyria defending it a few times lately. They did a nice job of building to the match the last few weeks. I am much more interested in seeing American Made presented as a successful stable, so I would have rather seen Nile get the win here. But, obviously the plan is to continue to have them lose leading to Chad Gable’s eventual return.
Gable Video – MISS: I’m ok with the idea of Gable trying to learn the dark arts of Lucha Libre. It has comic potential, but Gable doesn’t have to be a comedy act. He is good enough to lead a serious heel stable. If you are going to go this route which can work, I would rather see a realistic presentation. I am not a fan of these types of cinematic presentations in pro wrestling. It isn’t believable. Did a camera crew follow Gable to find this master? It takes me out of the moment. And it wasn’t funny. So the content wasn’t even good to make up for the style.
War Raiders vs. Creed Brothers – HIT: This was another good World Tag Team Championship match between The War Raiders and The Creed Brothers. This time, they played more into the big men doing small men things troupe with all of them doing high-flying moves, especially Ivar, and both Creeds. It didn’t tell much of a story in the ring. Instead, it was more of a series of big top rope spots, some of which involved cool double team moves. But those moves built well off each other in a way that kept popping the audience. I wouldn’t want to see every tag match booked this way, but this was a lot of fun to watch. I also appreciate that The War Raiders got the clean win in the end. But, where do they go from here? We have an idea of what’s going to happen with American Made, but what’s next for the champs?
Balor Confronts Breakker – MISS: WWE has gone totally away from A.J. Styles vs. Bron Breakker for the IC Title as Breakker now has shifted focus to Judgment Day while Styles will feud with Logan Paul which is fine. The problem is that Judgment Day looks so impotent against Breakker. He keeps getting the best of them despite the numbers game. I get that they are telling a story of Judgment Day bringing in a new member, so their lack of credibility plays into that. But, they still have to have some good weeks mixed in with the bad, and this was a chance to do so. I can’t take Finn Balor seriously as a threat to Breakker which is unfortunate given his talent.
Ripley vs. Sky – HIT: I did not see WWE putting the Women’s Championship on Iyo Sky here. I don’t think anyone saw it coming. Maybe that was the point? WWE has done some more surprise outcomes lately. But, given how Sky won, or should I say given how Rhea Ripley lost, are we really going to get Sky vs. Bianca Bel Air at WM? WWE wanted to protect Ripley in the way that she got herself distracted as she got upset at Bel Air at ringside. But, that also points to an eventual match between Ripley and Bel Air. And Ripley is going to be in a big match at WM. So does she get the Title back before then? Or does she end up being added to the match to make it a triple threat? I’m not a big fan of the storytelling here, but the match itself was good. It started off a little shaky with some off moments, but it got better after that. Sky and Ripley are good wresters who work well together. It was a strong main event with a surprise ending.
WrestleMania Date – MISS: It is crazy that there are still seven weeks before WrestleMania. I don’t know why WWE scheduled WM so much later than usual, but having to kill so much time between EC and WM isn’t good. I have already mentioned the way they are going to have to stretch out Uso vs. Gunther. Now we are seeing too much time leading to the unnecessary Women’s Title change. Ripley vs. Bel Air is the way to go (even though I am a big fan of Sky), and probably would have been the match if WWE only had 3-4 weeks to build to it. That extra time probably made them overthink the situation to drag things out. When I think of the other announced or likely matches, it makes me nervous to see how they fill so much time.
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
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