Well, tonight’s RAW got interesting.
The opening segment featured a suspended Roman Reigns interrupting Kurt Angle, only to be arrested by indy guys dresses as U.S. Marshals. Brock Lesnar takes the handcuffed Reigns and beats the snot out of him with suplexes and chairs. So, WWE is really pushing hard to make Reigns as Stone Cold Steve Austin. OK.
The next segment of the night features Alexa Bliss and Mickie James reinforcing their hate for Nia Jax. Well, that turns out to be poorly timed, as Asuka earns a count-out win over Bliss when Jax comes out and destroys her. Backstage, Bliss demands Angle suspend her too, but instead, he orders Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss for the RAW Women’s Championship at WrestleMania.
Good for Jax. Well done segment, protecting everyone, and Asuka doesn’t steamroll over Bliss… Yet.
Braun Strowman hits the ring. He is ordered to find a tag partner to face Cesaro and Sheamus at WrestleMania. He doesn’t want a partner, but he’ll do it anyway. Out comes The Bar, who ramble about doing everything together, including sleeping… Oops. We get a good match between Cesaro and Strowman, which ends with the Monster Among Men as winner. Cesaro is just so good.
Strowman should put a child in the corner and just do everything himself, tag the kid in for the pinfall.
We get some clips featuring hype for The Hardy Compound and The Ultimate Deletion.
Breaking News By USA Today who was first to pick up a copy of the WWE WrestleMania magazine, read Mark Henry will be the next inductee into the HOF. Guess he’s officially retired. I’m happy for the guy, but I’m also upset. ONE friggen World Title. Not even the WWE Championship. Sure, Hillbilly Jim didn’t win any world titles either, but Henry wrestled in an era where there was an abundance of major championships. The fact he had ONE reign, a short one, feels like a travesty. However, he did have a long and storied career, highlighted by his many, many charitable contributions, and Sexual Chocolate. Because no one can forget about that gimmick.
Back from commercial, The Revival picks up a win over Titus Worldwide. The match was decent, but man, I feel bad for Dash and Dawson. I’m noticing Tag Teams in NXT get shafted on the main roster. Bye bye American Alpha, and it seems Revival are sitting pretty in mid-card hell. Sure, they are in the Andre Memorial, but who isn’t going to be in that match?
Absolution defeats Bayley and Sasha Banks – Meh. This is building to the implosion between Banks and Bayley. The story is thus: Bayley is mad about Elimination Chamber. Banks tries to make peace, but Bayley is sour. The match goes awry, leaving Banks and Bayley arguing. That seemed obvious from the start.
John Cena finds a major stride in continuing to call out the Undertaker. It’s awesome. He goes right for the guts, and dishes out some harsh words towards the pride of the Deadman, ultimately calling him a coward. He just wants an answer, doesn’t care if it is a “no.” He gets the crowd chanting “Do Something!” Which is great. Suddenly, Kane arrives, chokeslamming Cena. They get a match next week. Hm.
The Miz comes out with his buddies, carrying the magazine which indicated Mark Henry was going into the Hall of Fame. He cuts another good promo about the lack of respect, and even takes a shot at the former personas of Seth Rollins and Finn Balor, calling them Tyler Black and Price Devitt. The Balor Club earns a win after miscommunication with Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas. Oops. Miz got pinned. Rollins was on commentary charged the ring to save Balor from the 3-on-1 mugging. I like the build for this one.
More hype for The Ultimate Deletion.
We get promo clips hyping the WWE Network Special: 24, Empowerment, featuring the Women’s Division in WWE and the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble.
We then get a package showing Ronda Rousey and her journey from the UFC to WWE. Not bad.
The Ultimate Deletion… I have no words to it’s awesomeness. Bray Wyatt enters, greeted by Vanguard-1, following the piano music to the ring. Matt pulls a “Bray Wyatt… I knew you’d come!”
We go to commercial, returning to see Michael Cole apologizing for what we are about to watch. Not sure if they ripped it right from TNA, but this got strange fast. At least the production value was better. You know, WWE has money to spend. But I agree, this got very strange and cartoony. The barn took Bray back to his early days. We are taken to different areas of the compound, such as “Dome of Deletion” and “Dilapidated City.” I wonder if the fans in the arena sat and watched or if they just went home. I think we got a Killdozer reference. A surprise appearance by Brother Nero or whomever Jeff Hardy will be called causes a distraction, allowing Matt to hit the Twist of Fate and win. The show closes as Matt knocks Wyatt into the Lake of Resurrection. Senior Benjamin is unable to recover the body.
Has Bray Wyatt been… Deleted?
