RAW

No need to worry, this is all a storyline to set up a triple threat match at WrestleMania with Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey, and Charlotte Flair. It is a little bit surprising, however, in terms of how WWE decided to go about it, with Becky Lynch apologizing to Stephanie and Triple H and Vince McMahon immediately electing to not accept her apology and replacing her with Charlotte Flair. It seems that Charlotte is now playing in a similar role to the one Randy Orton played at the end of 2013 up to WrestleMania in 2014, where she is the corporate chosen one. Not to worry though, this is all just a show, after all kayfabe is dead. The new generation of wrestling fans probably does not even know what that means. The only reason I know, being 22 and all, is because I have studied up on my wrestling history. But Becky Lynch will in fact be a part of this match.

Kayfabe Definition: In professional wrestling, kayfabe is the portrayal of staged events within the industry as “real” or “true,” specifically the portrayal of competition, rivalries, and relationships between participants as being genuine and not of a staged or predetermined nature of any kind.

I also thought EC3 looked really good again this week, despite the fact that he lost. It’s good to see him doing well this goes around as a WWE superstar after his first round with the company down in NXT didn’t go so well. He significantly improved in the ring after spending a few years in TNA. I also absolutely need to mention The Revival becoming new Raw tag team champions. Corey Graves is absolutely right, it is about time. These guys are superb technicians in the ring. If you have ever seen them wrestle in NXT, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Don’t get me wrong, I love Roode and Gable, but Roode is approaching the end of his career and Gable is capable of so much more as a single competitor after being a two-time tag team champion. The fact that The Revival is being pushed after I don’t even know how long of doing little to nothing is a sign that WWE is taking notice of the new promotion AEW spearheaded by Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks as well as the Khan family.

They are beginning to realize that superstars such as The Revival and Finn Balor may jump ship if they are self-aware enough to realize that they are not being pushed the way they probably would be with another promotion, and they are doing everything they can to keep the guys they currently have since WWE is self-aware enough to recognize the presence of a potential competitor. I’m not saying by any means that AEW will turn into WCW, but it’s worth keeping an eye on since they are targeting WWE superstars whose contracts are expiring.

Becky Lynch did a good job opening up Raw with a confrontation with Stephanie McMahon. The storyline with her heading into WrestleMania is very reminiscent of Seth Rollins’ storyline heading into WrestleMania 33 versus Triple H, as he also had a knee injury and doctors wouldn’t clear him (an unsanctioned match ended up transpiring). Her WrestleMania opponent Ronda Rousey continues to receive a Reigns-like response from the crowd (this is probably at least partially due to the fact that she may be leaving WWE after WrestleMania). This would be a massive blow to the company if they were to lose Dean Ambrose and Rousey.

Curt Hawkins also may finally end his losing streak after all since he is teaming again with Zack Ryder. Now, this is the one piece of criticism that I have for this week: I hate to admit it, but Drew McIntyre may indeed be right when it comes to Kurt Angle. We probably should have seen the last of him at WrestleMania 33 when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. That’s tough for me to admit because I am a huge fan of his. Kurt is my favorite superstar of the Attitude Era. But lots of wrestlers have this issue of not knowing when it’s a good time to walk away. Take The Undertaker for example: he has had three great opportunities to walk away.

1. WrestleMania 28 (which I was at) – He could have retired at 20 – 0
2. WrestleMania 30 – He could have retired after the streak was ended
3. WrestleMania 33 – After putting Roman Reigns over, this would have been a perfect time to retire after losing his second WrestleMania match

Side Note: I was thrilled to see Lio Rush get a match on Monday Night Raw against none other than Finn Balor. It’s good to see him finally getting some exposure in front of a very large audience. Roman Reigns also may be very close to returning. This comes as no surprise to me as I had absolute faith that Roman would return sooner rather than later ever since he announced his diagnosis in October. Mojo Rawley has also cut some interesting promos of late talking to himself in a mirror.

On Raw, Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey cut pretty good promos about how they were going to tear each other apart at WrestleMania (obviously the crowd responded way better to Becky). Dean Ambrose took a totally clean loss to Seth Rollins, signifying that Seth has officially risen to a level of superstardom that is completely above Dean Ambrose. That’s not a knock on Dean Ambrose, I’m just saying. I am actually a huge fan of Dean Ambrose, considering that I’m from Cincinnati.

I read something recently suggesting that Dean’s character become like this generation’s version of Brian Pillman, where the WWE gives him more creative freedom and flexibility on the mic since that is clearly where he does his best work. I have also heard that Dean may have a WrestleMania feud with EC3, but EC3 may have a match before that with Bobby Lashley since they both love to pose so much. I wasn’t sure how well EC3 would get along during his second stint with WWE, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Seth Rollins also took six F5’s from Brock Lesnar or an F30.

Side Note: Congrats to Roman Reigns on his role in the movie Hobbs & Shaw with The Rock. I know that Roman isn’t wrestling right now, but I haven’t forgotten about him. I think about him at least once a day and I get a little bit inspired every time I do. I also love how Corey Graves called himself the Tony Romo of WWE. I for one can’t get enough of Corey Graves as a commentator for WWE. That comment is so appropriate because Tony Romo is really starting to find his footing as a broadcaster for the NFL.

On this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw, we saw a rare appearance from “The Beast” Brock Lesnar, another great match from Seth Rollins, the debut of Heavy Machinery, and another message from Ronda Rousey that was lacking in entertainment to a certain degree. Now, regarding the segment featuring Brock Lesnar, despite the fact that it featured Vince McMahon and Paul Heyman was great as always on the mic, I wasn’t that entertained by it. It kind of took me back to the days just a few years ago when WWE was hopelessly trying to position Roman Reigns in the same role they are currently trying to position Finn Balor. I know the role works a lot better for Balor, but it just feels a little soon to me for them to be doing another story like that. Maybe I am just being a downer. All the hatred of Reigns from a few years ago really rubbed me the wrong way.

Seth Rollins does not appear to be from this planet. His stamina and pure wrestling ability is simply off the charts. I love the sheer passion with which he wrestles his matches. The suicide dives, superplexes and falcon arrows, bucklebombs, curbstomps and whatever else are quite a spectacle to watch. He has also improved a lot on the mic in recent times. Seth cut a brilliant promo this week relating himself with the WWE universe by telling them that he was from a town not much different than Oklahoma City, where they were at that night. He basically told the universe that he had the business in his blood and that it was deeply ingrained in every fiber of his being. I have really grown to resonate with him on a deep level in all aspects.

I’m not sure if my opinion matters much, but I have a strong inclination that Seth Rollins will add a Royal Rumble victory to his resume this weekend. I know I said a few weeks ago that it would be a cool idea for Ambrose to win, but he has now lost momentum and it is all on the side of Rollins. Ambrose will still last in the match for quite a while since he is a top-tier superstar, but he won’t be winning by any means. He doesn’t have enough momentum going. Don’t be surprised either if someone like Johnny Gargano enters the Royal Rumble. Switching topics again, I think that Heavy Machinery will be great for the tag team division. They strike me as being able to do for the tag team division what a person like Kevin Owens did for the singles system division in WWE, namely to provide comic relief and add humor into storylines.

Side Note: I am thrilled to see that WWE is starting to take serious notice of Apollo Crews. If he’s not at the point yet where he is winning matches, it’s a huge step in the right direction for him to be even getting matches against superstars the caliber of Bobby Lashley. Speaking of Lashley, Lio Rush has worked wonders for his character in terms of being taken seriously like he should be. I have also heard rumors of a third match potentially being added to the Wrestlemania card. In addition to Seth Rollins and Brock Lesnar facing off for the universal championship, and Ronda Rousey defending her Raw women’s championship against Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair in a triple threat match, Lashley may defend his intercontinental championship against a returning Kevin Owens in a strong upper – mid-card match to help improve the depth of the Wrestlemania card.

I will begin by discussing how excellent of a talker of Alexa Bliss has become. She looks extremely comfortable doing any type of segment that WWE could possibly ask of her, whether that be in-ring or on the mic (or even being naked backstage). As a side note of that segment, the small piece where Otis of Heavy Machinery was absolutely hilarious. I like Otis significantly better than Tucker Knight. He just has a much more distinct look to him and personality as well.

It’s also great to see Bobby Lashley finally starting to be booked as the sheer powerhouse and champion that he should be. It took them nine months to figure it out after he came back, but better late than never. He is finally beginning to be booked like he was before he left WWE in 2008. Lashley winning a title will elevate the status of Lio Rush as a manager too. I am not happy that he elevated himself at the expense of Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, but I guess he had to do it at the expense of someone.

The last thing I will talk about is Finn Balor becoming the number one contender for the universal championship at the Royal Rumble. First of all, it’s nice to see Vince McMahon himself acknowledge that he never truly believed in the abilities of Finn Balor, but Finn acknowledged himself that the WWE universe believed in him, which takes some self-awareness on his end. It’s also nice to see Finn finally, after nearly 2 ½ years, get a rematch for the title he never lost. Braun Strowman’s act is also becoming a little stale. Once one gets over the fact that he is so big and strong, they end up becoming aware of how limited he is in the ring relative to other superstars on the roster. It’s honestly not that I have anything against Braun, I can just only see him flip over four or five cars before I find myself wanting something a little different from him.

I absolutely loved the first episode of Monday Night Raw of 2019. I am in love with the way the show opened, beginning with a brawl between Seth Rollins and Bobby Lashley and subsequently going right out to the ring for John Cena’s music to hit. It was followed by Drew McIntyre waltzing now and giving the same old song and dance to John about how he was going to take advantage of the fact that John Cena was a legend. Cena was borderline sleeping throughout the entire promo and his rebuttal was that he had heard the exact same proclamation from every other superstar for well over a decade and he asked Drew what made him any different from the hundred or so others that have made the same proclamation.

I also thought it was funny when Cena said that he “had to leave just so that you guys would come up with a different promo.” Cena is without a doubt still the best talker in the business. McIntyre then proceeded down to the ring to seemingly start a match with The Franchise when Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush came out and said that they were going to get a lawyer if nothing was done about Seth Rollins attacking Bobby. Rollins then attacked Lashley from behind and Dean Ambrose came out to save Lashley. Cena proceeded to help Seth deal with the two on one assault, and as they were dealing with that, Finn Balor came to help Cena and Rollins even the score. A subsequent six-man tag match was set up and it turned out to be very entertaining.

WWE TV for 2019 is starting off on the right foot. I loved the fact that the show started off with a brawl rather than another monotonous soap opera setting up the main event for the evening. The fact that WWE is keeping Raw fresh and constantly staying open to change is the reason why it will continue to stay on the air for many years to come.

Honorable Mention: I also love the fact that Sasha Banks has been booked to challenge Ronda Rousey at the Royal Rumble PPV for the Raw Women’s Championship. I am really glad that WWE has chosen to put Sasha in the spot she deserves. There has always been something about Sasha Banks that has really resonated with me, much more so than Bayley or Nia Jax. It should be a great match at the Royal Rumble between those two, hopefully followed by Rousey putting her title on the line at WrestleMania in a triple threat match against Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch