-WWE continues to tease a massive Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins match. It was subtle this week, but the backstage run-in the two had certainly wasn’t an accident. This is the plan at some point and the buzz from the audience when it happened this week is all you need to know as to why.
Is Bron Breakker a babyface?
-Seth Rollins and Bron Breakker had quite the week didn’t they? Brawls, spears, brawls, and more spears. Nearly all of this was effective, because it helped make the audience want to see them fight at Backlash. Thumbs up there. Breakker got a ton of cheers, barks, and an overall positive reaction from the crowd. Fans don’t know how to feel about this story and rivalry.
-It’s got to be so much fun for JD McDonagh and Finn Balor to have a match together on Raw the way they did this week. Those two guys have an incredible amount of personal history together. Hopefully they got a chance to lean back and appreciate how far they’ve come.
-Liv Morgan vs. Roxanne Perez is on the tracks. WWE is sitting on a gold mine with Perez as a babyface. It’s been a while, but that’s a better role for her as a pro wrestler. My advice to Perez? Stop nearly laughing in promo segments backstage. This week it felt like she was going to crack up multiple times when talking to Morgan. Even if she isn’t, it looks like she is, which takes away from whatever the story of the promo is.
From The Takedown on SI
-I absolutely loved the Je’Von Evans and Penta vs. Rusev and Ethan Page tag team match this week. That was pro wrestling. Clear heels and clear babyfaces. Heels doing bad things to try and win. Babyfaces overcoming. Hot tag. Boom. It doesn’t have to be hard and this was executed so well by everyone involved. Rusev and Page won heelishly, the crowd booed, and the announce team sold it as an underhanded win. That’s business.
Bravo, Ethan Page
-Real quick on Ethan Page. Bravo. He’s not going to be wrestling in main events at WrestleMania, but he’s found a spot on the show where he can be a player and make money for a long time.
-Slip aside, Sol Ruca had an excellent Raw debut this week. Opposite Becky Lynch, how could you not? Lynch was tremendous. She’s done some incredible work in the last year, but this may have been her best yet. The open dismissal of Ruca really painted her as sympathetic, which got the audience chanting “Ruca” near the end of the segment. The slip? Yeah, Ruca is going to want that back, obviously. Shit happens, though. It’s not going to derail her push.
-The Joe Hendry stuff is the worst. Right now, he reminds me of what TKO Group thinks pro wrestling is because they don’t really know what it actually is. There is a real character there if they want to find it. Right now, it’s terribly artificial.
The wrong tone for The Ruler
-Man, this Oba Femi WrestleMania fallout is a disaster. Femi goes from retiring Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania to tangling with Otis and Akira Tozawa in a comedy open challenge match? WWE is leaning into the wrong part of his act. The demolishing people and being big is only part of it, but this open challenge has made it the lead trait. Femi has personality. He has aura. There is nuance there that is fun to watch. This open challenge gimmick has stripped all that away. The absolute wrong tone.
-That was a cool pre-taped promo between Asuka and Iyo Sky. Both women came across as emotional about the match and it has a sizzle right now. A sleeper pick for match of the night at Backlash this weekend.
-WWE is going to get a number out of the El Grand Americano vs. El Grande Americano mask against mask match at the end of the month in AAA. That’s wild, but I get it. The six-man tag this week was fine for what it was in an effort to build that match up.
Time to strap Fatu?
-A very strong contract signing angle at the end of the show this week to give Roman Reigns vs. Jacob Fatu a final push before Backlash. This wasn’t fancy, but the promo between both guys did a nice job of framing up the story between them going into the match and why the world title is at the center of their issue. Roman Reigns is Roman Reigns, but it would be odd to see Fatu just do a job on Saturday and move on. The way the story gets more interesting for both guys is if Fatu beats Reigns for the championship.
What did you think of this week’s episode of WWE Raw? Let us know in the comments!
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