- We begin with an awesome video package documenting the 'shoot' nature of the feud between the Undertaker and AJ Styles. Taker then cuts a shoot promo of his own in a darkened room somewhere (probably backstage), calling Styles by his real name Alan Jones (Alan! Can you imagine the Undertaker vs Alan Styles haha?). It's a quality promo by the deadman and the realist I've seen since his biker gimmick twenty years ago.
He namedrops his wife Michelle McCool doing a better version of the Styles Clash than AJ, and laments him for not coming to WWE when the legends like Austin, Triple, Kurt Angle etc were there, only coming once nearly all had gone, which felt pretty harsh on the current roster. Even if we're dealing with Biker Taker (he even says he'll 'make AJ famous' like he used to so we probably are), he's still burying people. A 'shoot' Undertaker though is very intriguing and the promo is a highly entertaining way to begin. Raw actually living up to its name for once!
- Becky Lynch's turn at speaking now after she arrives in her big truck (truckers and bikers, you'd be forgiving for thinking this may be Sons of Anarchy). She starts talking about her match with Shayna Bazler and after 20 seconds the 'Rawness' Taker had brought back to Raw has gone as her promo feels SOOOO scripted. She then introduces her Mania match from last year by saying 'Let's take a look'. WTF Becky, you're not hosting Superstars or whatever, you're supposed to be a badass (shakes head disappointedly).
Her Mania 35 match plays in full. Skip.
She then has a nice line about Bazler being in Rhonda Rousey's shadow before being blindsided and brutally attacked by Bazler herself on the announce table.
I'm gonna level with you. Ruth and I have been big Becky Lynch fans but she's rapidly losing her edge. Not sure if she's heel or what but the coolness is going and these scripted promos don't help. Bazler looks great but would be better being built as the female Brock Lesnar. An unstoppable cage fighting monster with a high pain threshold and no sense for humanity. The Elimination Chamber match she had was well booked when she destroyed everyone but she shouldn't be doing the sit down interviews like she did last week on Raw. An unstoppable monster for badass hero Becky to conquer, that's what we want, would be incredible in my opinion.
- Anyway, Aleister Black vs (no entrance, must be getting squashed) James Cade. First match tonight, (50 minutes in!) and its a quick one as Aleister hits the Black Mass after about a minute and Cade is (shockingly) squashed. Nothing match to build up Black. Let's move on.
- Lots of recaps before we get a 6-man tag team match with Kevin Owens and The Street Profits vs Seth Rollins, Angel Garza and Austin Theory. Theory is subbing for Andrade who we're told has a serious rib injury. He makes the jump up from NXT and joins fellow NXT alumni aka everyone in this match. Makes a big change for him after jobbing to Tyler Breeze on last week's NXT (Ruth reviewed it, make sure you check it out and see what she thought of it).
It's an average, chaotic 6-man tag highlighted by a nasty missed over the top to the outside flip by the Profits' Ford. He lands right on the concrete, looks so painful, the sound is made worse by there being no fans. Sidenote: multi-man tag matches seem to work well in these empty arenas as they provide quite a bit of noise and atmosphere, makes up more for lack of crowd participation, just a quick observation I had.
Owens and Street Profits win after Owens stuns Garza. Rollins curb stomps him after and leaves.
- After a lot more adverts and recapping we unexpectedly go back to Kevin Owens in the ring, hanging off the bottom rope, alone and exhausted. He then cuts a passionate promo on Rollins and puts forward how he's always been a 'nightmare to work with' and how Owens hasn't had a Wrestlemania moment yet but will this weekend when he 'burns down' and beats Rollins.
Great promo work by KO as he feels so real (Becky take notes) and stares right down the camera and makes you believe every word. Good stuff Kev.
- Unfortunately for Kev we now go to a fellow Canadian cutting a promo, Edge, and he gets upstaged as it's actually better than his. In some sort of boiler room type place (where's Mankind??) he appears unhinged as he talks about being a 'junkie' for wrestling and how he had a grit and determination to get to the top that Randy Orton never needed or wanted to have.
He recaps the last few weeks, speaks how Orton needs him to stay motivated and calls him out for going too far and including his family in the feud. Awesome work by Edge, you feel how the last 9 years have taken their toll on him and how manic Orton has made him become. Another quality promo building up a Mania match, slightly better than KO's (sorry Kev).
- Asuka vs (no entrance, could this be another squash?) NXT's Kayden Carter is our final match and it is, for the second time tonight, a quick squash. Asuka wins with an Asuka Lock, is amazingly animated and crazy as usual and hysterically does a bit of Japanese commentary aimed at her Mania oppents Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. Needless to say it's another nothing match but Asuka is still great and a joy to watch even in a short burst. A little sorry for Carter, she deserves a bit more.
- Rhea Ripley is attacked by Charlotte Flair outside the arena and they big up Mania. Ripley has such star power, she's gonna be huge.
- Replay of Lesnar/Rey Mysterio from Survivor Series last year. Skip.
- Your main event, Brock Lesnar looks menacing whilst Paul Heyman cuts a promo. Is it worth the wait? Abso-bloody-lutely. 100%.
Despite a few strong promos tonight, this Heyman promo blows the rest out of the water and is the best thing on this show by a mile. He gets over how big a deal the go home segment on the go home Raw before Mania is and how many times Brock has been featured on it. He speaks about Drew McIntyre being 'special' and how he's better than the average guy at the gym or even the current WWE roster.
However, in a stroke of genius he recalls how other special talent such as The Rock, Hulk Hogan, John Cena, Undertaker and even UFC's Randy Couture were not just defeated by Brock, but became 'not so goddamn f*cking special' and were 'Brock's bitch'. He name drops their finishers and how they didn't work before bringing it back to McIntyre and how the Claymore kick won't work at Mania.
Finally he guarantees this time next year Brock will be on the go home segment again and McIntyre will just be 'Brock's bitch' like the rest of them. End of show as Brock smirks and stares at camera.
Let's cut straight to 3 count because there can only be one true recommendation....
3 Count (3points of interest)
1, 2 and 3. Paul Heyman's master promo in the go home segment. Taker, KO's and Edge's work was very good, maybe even great and if you're a fan of theirs or just promos then check them out, however they all fall at the feet of the genius Heyman. Made even more intense with no crowd. His look back into the Raw past and then into it's future, this is the one promo that everyone MUST see from this show. Round of applause. Amazing.
Ring The Bell (Show Recommendation?)
Don't watch the full show. Has an old WWF 80s/early 90's Supertsars feel. It's basically all promos, squash matches and filler with an average 6-man tag in the middle. Go see the Heyman promo, like I said it's AMAZING. If you like seeing wrestlers speak well then seek out the rest bar Becky Lynch. Sorry Becky.
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