-The hot open to Raw this week was a nice and fresh approach to starting the show. I don’t think you want to start every week like they did this week with Bron Breakker, but keeping the audience on their toes every so often is smart.
Too quiet for Breakker
-That said, the audience was quiet for Breakker. As he was destroying the announce area, it felt like the segment needed boos pouring in to get the full emotion out of the angle and the crowd just wasn’t playing along in that way. Something to watch and as cool as Breakker has been, his booking as a heel or babyface isn’t exactly consistent. That matters and is hurting his crowd reactions.
-It’s always good to get a win on television, but needing outside help from the original El Grande Americano to beat imposter El Grande Americano isn’t a great sign for Je’Von Evans. Evans got to show-off his in-ring acumen and offense, but just isn’t presented as a winner to worry about right now.
-Fantastic follow-up for Gunther this week coming out of retiring AJ Styles at the Royal Rumble. Mocking the Styles entrance was some of the trolling heat that Gunther has delved too deep into recently, but they capped it off with a vicious attack angle on Dragon Lee. The visual of Lee laying unconscious on the outside of the ring as Michael Cole proclaimed Gunther as the most dangerous wrestler in WWE was pinpoint presentation and strong framing.
From The Takedown on SI
-What do you do with Gunther at WrestleMania? For as much momentum as he has right now, it seems like most of the other top dance partners are matched up with others with him by the punchbowl by himself.
A bad night at the office
-Not a great night for The Vision. There has to be weeks where the group shows ass for the babyfaces, but this seemed like too much. LA Knight got the best of them at multiple points during the show and Adam Pearce dropped the mic on Bron Breakker when he made fun of his time in the Royal Rumble match on Saturday. AND Penta beat Bronson Reed! The Vision will get revenge next week, but on this show they felt more mid-card than they ever have before.
-Wow, Oba Femi obliterated The War Raiders. Since I’m not a member of The War Raiders, I’m allowed to say how awesome that was. Not for them, but for Femi. Put him in match, though. This attack was too damn random. Awesome. But random nonetheless.
-Alright, Triple H. Hear me out on this. The Bella Twins don’t need live microphones in the middle of the ring anymore. Both Nikki and Brie are just not good at delivering in moments like that. The Nikki speech was cringeworthy and Brie wasn’t much better. All that said, they can fit nicely in a multi-team tag team title match at WrestleMania.
Try not to laugh
-It looked like Maxxine Dupri was about to laugh as she was yelling about breaking Nattie’s ankle. Not exactly the right tone there …
-The reaction that Liv Morgan got from the audience this week reminded me of an earlier point I’ve made regarding her spot in WWE right now. Fans want to cheer her. Enough fans know her journey and can appreciate the work she’s put in to become as good as she is now. Swimming upstream against that is an odd choice, especially when the return from injury was an optimal time to reset. Morgan vs. Vaquer is a strong WrestleMania singles match, but I don’t see Morgan getting booed as a heel by a WrestleMania audience. If I were a betting man, I’d put my money on the women’s world title match being a multi-woman match again this year.
-Stephanie Vaquer vs. Raquel Rodriguez was a good street fight and the match went on long enough to trick me into thinking Rodriguez had a shot at winning the title. That means they did something right. Good action, but glad Vaquer still has the belt.
That’s what a WrestleMania main event feels like
-In case you were wondering what a real WrestleMania main event feels like, now you know. CM Punk and Roman Reigns were both tremendous in the closing promo segment this week on Raw. Both guys got personal enough where it could resonate with the audience that is in the know on that stuff. At the same time, it didn’t get too meta where the story lacks logic if you don’t know the inner workings of the Reigns and Punk history. This was the right balance. More than anything, this was two premiere stars delivering in major moment that they needed to deliver in. That’s what stars do. Roman’s eyes told the story. They were intense, focused, and authentic. I’m sure some people were wondering about how good of a match Punk vs. Reigns could be. They aren’t wondering anymore. My guess is we’ll see more Punk vs. Reigns mic battles in the lead up to WrestleMania. Reigns won this one. Reigns - 1. Punk - 0.
What did you think of this week’s episode of WWE Raw? Let us know in the comments!
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