-Just like at the Royal Rumble, this week’s episode of Raw started off with showing various talent in major segments entering the building. It’s very much a UFC and NBA style approach and it plays to convey what and who is important going into the show. Plus, it’s fresh after the same, Kevin Dunn-style, Raw opens for the last 25 years.
Where’s the luck, CM Punk?
-That sound you hear? It’s CM Punk’s tricep tearing. What a bummer. Look, you can say a lot about CM Punk, but the guy can’t buy luck when it comes to injuries. That bug hit him and hit him harder than the punches that put him on his ass in his UFC run. Punk told the world what they already knew to kickoff the show this week and he officially is out and will be for some time because of the torn tricep. He proceeded to cut a very heartfelt promo before being interrupted by Drew McIntyre, who said that he prayed for the Punk injury to happen. All things considered, WWE made the most of the Punk injury. McIntyre got loads of heat for the comments on the injury, leaving a ready made feud on the table for when Punk returns. Add into that a touching promo from Punk and it was all it could be. Thumbs up for making a bad situation mean something.
-Drew McIntyre shined out there this week. It was essentially his first true heel promo and it was dark, twisted, but believable. Well done.
-If only Raw could have zero commercials for the first hour every week? I’m kidding of course, but the tag team match between Judgement Day and DIY this week greatly benefited from not having breaks. This was a very good tag match with a smart finish that saw Judgement Day win cleanly. They’re the priority, so the win makes sense, but DIY wins in losing too. Their act is going to be successful if they can get a groundswell of organic support from the crowd. The loss helps with that and the audience was firmly on their side throughout the match.
Sorry Truth
-After the tag match, poor R-Truth was assaulted by Judgement Day at the command of Damian Priest. Truth, Priest, and Judgement Day had some fun segments together as one, but it would have run it’s course sooner or later. Better to do the turn while fans are still invested than wait too long and do it when they don’t care. Judgement Day turning on Truth here presents them as heels again and now Truth can team with Miz for revenge. Look for this match to take place at Elimination Chamber.
-Ok, I realize that Chelsea Green and Piper Niven are the mid-card heels of the women’s division that exist to get beaten up in order to shine babyfaces. Green has been doing some really strong work and should get another look to see if a jump up the card is worthwhile. It’s one thing to play that type of heel fodder for top babyfaces, but losing to Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark in minutes? Green’s above that at this point.
Nice try
-Well, Seth Rollins made a compelling argument to Cody Rhodes in an effort to get Cody to face him at WrestleMania instead of Roman Reigns, but it’s not going to work. In fact, his argument may have been a little too compelling. Unless the Punk injury changes things drastically, Cody Rhodes finishing the story — the signature story in WWE right now — has to happen against Roman Reigns. In trying to convince Cody to go the other way, Rollins took some stiff shots at Roman’s title that painted it in a very negative light. Rollins called it the Hulk Hogan title, the Hollywood title, and the title people politic to get. When Cody chooses that one, and he will, it’ll have a bit of a stink on it that it shouldn’t. Not a great call by Seth, but nothing that will derail anything either. Now, aside from Seth playing hardball, I liked the segment a lot. It created some intrigue around Cody’s choice and now WWE can play that up for a few weeks while the WrestleMania plans get reworked. Thumbs up.
-Uh oh, Bronson Reed. The loss to Jey Uso was surprising and not a great sign for Reed’s push. That said, clean finishes are important and Jey very much needed the win after going lukewarm the last month.
-Yeah, Kofi Kingston and Gunther did enough out there to plant a small seed of doubt in the obvious finish of Gunther winning and retaining his Intercontinental Championship. That is never a guarantee in Gunther matches because of his dominance, but they pulled it off here. The match was good and Gunther continues on. With Punk out, Gunther immediately becomes a more important player to watch in the lead up and build to WrestleMania.
Rhea Ripley the super babyface
-Rhea Ripley is going to play a super babyface at Elimination Chamber against Nia Jax and it’ll be quite the sight. Jax viciously attacked Ripley this week on the show to continue a story that is primed for Ripley to shine against by overcoming Jax. Again, if you wondered why Jax got the push she did, it was for her Rumble moment with Jade Cargill and this little angle along with an upcoming match against Ripley. Jax is playing the part really well and doing what she needs to in order to get her opponents over. That’s a bad talent? Hardly.
-Bayley’s promo this week was tremendous. Not so much for what Bayley did, but for the facial expressions Iyo Sky played up in the background. Rewatch the promo and just watch Sky. You’ll love it.
-A good main event this week that continued to paint Drew McIntyre as the most dominant force on Raw. He’s on an incredible run right now and like Gunther, is a key talent to watch as the Raw side of WrestleMania gets shuffled up because of the injury to CM Punk.