Written by Brian Thomas McNamara
The Big Dog Returns
The show begins with one of WWE’s trademark recap packages, retelling Roman’s leave announcement from October. It’s a superb recap that sets the stage for the big announcement to follow.
Right out of the gate, we get the return of the big dog, Roman Reigns. A very emotional Roman greets the fans on either side of the aisle and around ringside. It’s poignant and touching and… hey, wait is that former WCW Champion David Arquette at ringside? Roman continues around the ring and hugs his mother. After ten minutes, Roman finally speaks. He tells the crowd he misses them and a furtive “This is your yard” chant breaks out in the crowd, which Roman one-ups into “This is OUR Yard.” Roman talks about his faith and the role of the fanbase in his recovery.
Roman goes onto to say the purpose of a superstar is to win titles and go up the ranks. But he wants to use his platform for awareness and helping others with leukemia. He’s immensely likeable in this honest, frank and charismatic self – WWE, make this his character. He finally brings the crowd back to his health update. He smirks and delivers the news quickly: “The good news is I’m in remission, y’all. The Big Dog is back!” An entire stadium welcomes back Roman as he thanks the crowd once more – which he promises won’t be the last them he thanks them.
Seth Rollins’ music hits as he comes to welcome back his buddy and the two stand smiling on the ramp. Oddly, no Dean Ambrose, despite being featured in the package earlier and his semi-turn against McIntyre.
Aleister Black and Ricochet vs. The Revival
Black and Ricochet are accompanied to the ring by individual hype packages showcasing their time in NXT to help sell them to the TV audience. Before the match can even start, The Revival sneak attack our NXT arrivals. Black and Ricochet quickly get back on their feet and put the hurt on the Revival before both pull out their outside dives.
We come back from commercial with the Revival in control but not for too long as Ricochet hot tags in Black. The Dutch Destroyer breaks out some Muay Thai strikes and a rope-assisted Moonsault to quickly change the tempo of the match. The Revival battle their way back in control in this old school versus new school match. Ricochet lands a reverse moonsault from the corner to the outside on Dash Wilder and Aleister hits a Black Mask on Dawson to win the match.
Winners: Black & Ricochet via pinfall
Baron Corbin is interviewed backstage about his bad comments about Roman’s diagnosis as he tries to play it off and say he had a hard night that night as well. We cut back to the ring to hear Elias’ theme hit before we cut away to commercial.
We come back to Elias in the ring sporting an amazing floral shirt and purple scarf. He’s then interrupted by Lacey Evans as she does her fashion show strut. Before Elias can strum a bar, he’s interrupted again by Dean Ambrose. Dean comes out to demand a No DQ match with Drew McIntyre. Elias goes for the cheap heat on Atlanta with some Super Bowl jokes and Dean says he’s out here to help Elias with his song. Dean quizzes him on what he can play before saying he wants to hear “Dirty Deeds.” Elias goes for the guitar strike, but Dean evades and hits the Dirty Deeds. Dean quickly exists the ring, leaving Elias in the ring as the Riott Squad enter.
Ronda Rousey & Natalya vs. Riott Squad
Sarah Logan comes out strong with punches to Natalya before tagging in Ruby Riott. Natty charges across the ring with Ruby and tags in Ronda. Ruby and Ronda exchange a few blows before Ruby hits a hard STO on Ronda. Natty and Ronda do a good job of keeping Ruby separated before Liv Morgan interferes and pulls on Natty’s foot. Liv taunts Natty from the outside before getting caught between her and Ronda. Improvising a Heart Attack, Ronda does a Super(wo)man Punch from the steel stairs as Natty strong arms Liv. Sarah Logan surprised Natty with a dropkick to the stomach as Ronda returns the action to the ring as we cut to commercial.
Logan and Riott have taken the lead during the ad break. Natty tries to get to Ronda by sneaking through Sarah’s legs, but Sarah’s able to hold her down and lock Natty into an inverted high-angle cloverleaf. Logan takes a cheap shot at Ronda, but Natty tags in Ronda. Ronda delivers three hip tosses to Logan, then corner punches. Riott slides in just in time to be subjected to corner punches before Ronda lands a punch on Logan that knocks her down. Ruby breaks the pin and we continue.
Then Becky Lynch appears in the timekeeper’s area. She knocks out Natty and then bashes her with her crutch. She faces off with Ronda and they trade crutch shots before the trainers break them up. Ronda pops a trainer in the face, oddly. After a few beats the Atlanta PD show up to arrest Becky for breaking her suspension. In the struggle to restrain her, Becky knocks into Ronda and Becky is locked into handcuffs on the entrance ramp.
Winner: Riott Squad by DQ
We come back to Ronda helping Natty up the ramp. She turns around, marches down to the ring and demands that Vince come out to face her as it’s time to end Becky’s reign of terror. Instead of Vince, plainclothes Stephanie McMahon comes down to ringside. Ronda demands they reinstate Becky because she’s at her wits end. Stephanie retorts that reinstatement is the least of Becky’s problems as she’s being arrested. Ronda smartly chides that Steph’s family could make it go away.
After some back and forth, with Ronda pleading to let it happen because it’s what everyone wants and what a woman-led main event for ‘Mania would mean, Stephanie says no. Ronda then says no to accepting Steph’s answer and the two have a growl off. Ronda disrespects the title, calling it a gaudy accessory, and then lays the title in ring saying it’s time for Vince to make the right decision. As we fade out, Stephanie stares at the Raw Women’s Championship in the ring.
We return to Jinder Mahal cutting a promo against Ric Flair’s birthday because he wasn’t invited to the celebration. He’s apparently challenged anyone invited to the party to meet him in the ring and Kurt Angle appears!
Jinder Mahal vs. Kurt Angle
Jinder comes out strong with a big boot to Angle. Mahal takes charge with punches and chinlocks. Angle fights to his feet, they exchange punches and Kurt’s able to pull out a German suplex. He then takes Jinder on a tour with three more German Suplexes. He briefly scares the Singh Brothers off the ring apron and then locks in the Angle Lock on Mahal who quickly taps out. For good measure, Angle gives each Singh Brother a German Suplex.
Winner: Kurt Angle via submission
A Moment of Bliss
Alexa Bliss calls out Ronda’s disrespect of the title belt and inserts herself in the running for a replacement Raw Women’s Champion if the McMahons are looking for a reliable holder. Now she sits down with Finn Balor. Alexa tries to get Balor to show off his abs in exchange for… a Lio Rush interruption. They barb back and forth about Lashley and how Balor didn’t really win the match. Finn grants Lio a match for the title, which Rush almost immediately regrets. After some emasculating prodding from Alexa, Lio agrees. We’ve got a title defense!
Intercontinental Championship Match: Lio Rush vs. Finn Balor (c)
Lio and Finn lock up and trade some kip-ups. Balor showcases a cocky smirk of approval for Rush’s flips. The size mismatch of Rush and Balor is interesting. Rush seems a little unsure of himself but changes the tempo of the match with an outside moonsault, dive and tope suicido trio. Lio goes for a splash but Balor gets his knees up. Balor screams in pain from blocking Lio and favors his knee, after some brief offense from Balor, Lio is able to target the injured knee and ground Balor. Balor hits two 1916s but can’t put Lio away. Lio gets in some nice finessed spin kicks. Balor tries to go to the top rope but his injured leg slows him down. Balor and Rush trade strikes before Balor counters a springboard cutter into the 1916. He then ascends once more for the Coupe de Grace, lands it even with his injured leg, and gets the pin.
Winner: Finn Balor by pinball
The Ascension get beaten up backstage for making fun of Otis of Heavy Machinery.
Bobby Lashley gives a tongue lashing to Lio for losing the match and losing Bobby his chance at regaining the title as they head down to the ring for Lashley’s match.
Bobby Lashley vs. Braun Strowman
Bobby attacks Strowman before the bell and lays into the monster among men. Braun finally turns it around by reversing a suplex, but Bobby elbows him. A splash from Braun into the corner and a chest strike gets Bobby to roll out of the ring. Braun gets a head of steam and body checks Bobby on the outside and then does the same to Lio Rush. Braun celebrates his victory while a forlorn Lashley looks on.
Winner: Match Never Started
Seth Rollins shares his joy at having Roman back as Ric Flair arrives in a limo.
No DQ Match: Dean Ambrose vs. Drew McIntyre
Drew brings the fight to Drew on the entrance way as Drew can barely get out of his jacket before the fight begins. After just a few strikes, Dean undoes his belt to reveal he’s wearing two belts. Before he can use it on Drew, he takes a big boot that forces him to drop the belt. McIntyre makes good use of the belt and takes early control of the match. Dean gets some offense in and gets Drew to the outside, but the big Scotsman is able to reverse Dean’s suicide dive and slams him into the barricade – once roughly, once poorly – and then suplexes him on the floor.
Back from break in time for Dean to deliver an elbow from the turnbuckle to Drew on the outside. The two trade back and forth, telling a good story of how much damage Drew needs to take to be on even footing with Dean. Dean finally gets the belt in his hand and he lashes Drew a number of times. Drew goes next for the steel steps, but Dean reverses it with a well placed drop toehold that smashes Drew’s head into the stairs something fierce. As Dean drives Drew’s head into the steps, he’s attacked from behind with Elias’ guitar. Elias rolls Dean into the ring and Drew easily scores the pin off a flying kick.
Winner: Drew McIntyre by pinfall
After the match, Bobby Lashley and Baron Corbin come down to ringside to help Drew beat up Dean. Elias throws in with them on a sort of “Why the Hell Not basis.” Their assault is paused by Seth Rollins’ music who comes out brandishing a chair. But before he advances, Roman’s theme hits and the Big Dog has arrived to save their friend. They two make quick work of Lashley and Corbin and then beat up on Elias and Drew in the ring. Roman hits a spear on Drew with the backing of every voice in the crowd. Their grim work done, the two march up the ramp leaving Dean alone in the ring. They turn to regard their former friend as we fade out.
Bayley vs. Nia Jax
On her way to the ring accompanying Nia Jax, Tamina ripped down one of the wacky inflatable men from Bayley’s entrance! As the match begins, Bayley goes for quick punches but is rebuffed by a headbutt. She tricks Nia out of the ring but it’s short-lived. Nia quickly returns but Bayley catches her with an impressive hip toss. Nia recovers and shoves Bayley out of the ring.
We come back to Nia in control. Some good speed versus size storytelling as Nia uses her strength to control things but Bayley uses her speed to slip out from under her. A bodycheck later and Nia’s back in control. A drop toehold into the turnbuckle gets Bayley back in the swing of things and she gets Nia out of the ring. After another few exchanges, Bayley finds herself jammed into the corner. Sasha checks on her, but Nia reaches down and grabs Sasha’s hair. Recovered, Bayley dropkicks Nia and Tamina steams past Sasha right into the stairs. Bayley climbs high and drops the elbow for the win.
Winner: Bayley by pinfall
Ric Flair Birthday Spectacular
The entire locker room is assembled on the entranceway as Triple H and Stephanie enter. There’s a giant cake in the ring on a suspiciously big table and a covered table. Trips welcomes back Roman and talks about the hecticness of the Road to Wrestlemania but the importance of honoring Flair. A bevy of important guests comes down to the ring: HBK, Ricky Steamboat, Kurt Angle and the Man Called Sting. (Are there more TNA Champs on this show then not with EC3, Roode, Sting, Angle and Flair in the building?) They play a Flair retrospective and Stephanie announces that they’re giving Ric a replica of the Big Gold Belt. They call for Ric but he doesn’t come out to his music. We cut to Batista (!!!) dragging a cameraman to Ric Flair’s dressing room, he enters and drags out Ric Flair by the scruff of his suit jacket and deposits him on the floor. Batista deadeyes the camera and asks Triple H if he has his attention now. Trips runs from the ring to the back to check on the prone Flair. And that’s the show!
Final Thoughts
It’s great to have Roman back and to have the crowd on his side. This honest, raw and emotional Roman is easy to get behind and believe in. Give us this Roman on a regular basis and he can carry the company on his shoulders.
Perhaps the Roman return ran long, but the entire first hour had incredibly strange timing and odd cuts to commercial. It made the show choppy and left the bulk of some matches on the cutting room floor.
I was surprised that Becky appeared when she did, sporting her inverse Bruce Lee look. I think many were anticipating her to play a part in the Ric Flair Birthday Extravaganza. This was great and both her and Ronda looked great as part of it, but it almost should have come later and not shared as much proximity to Roman’s return. It also felt oddly structured with the match before it and the breaks.
Not sure what to make of the Revival. While I get they’re meant to showcase the NXT call-ups, they are supposed to be expert tag team wrestlers who have been ho-hum since winning the titles. Very odd.
Ronda’s segment was good and up until she forgot her final lines, it was some of the best talking she’s done. However, her delivery was incredibly fast, which made it seem rushed and hard to understand. Which is a shame as the things she said were interesting. WWE seem to not know what to do, she’s a Tough Face? She punched a trainer in the face but also stood up to the McMahons and then “quit?” What? Becky, as ever looks great. And Charlotte feels like the unnecessary cog in this machine. The story just doesn’t need her.
The overall wrestling on this episode felt better than recent Raws, but so much of it just isn’t in front of the viewer. The camera work also seems sloppier of late.
The Ric Flair segment, after a ton of build, felt like an afterthought. From the poor blocking on the ramp that meant HBK and Steamboat were blocked by the assembled locker room to the strange, “Oh, yeah, we got Ric a custom title” reveal Stephanie did. It needed some real thought.
Batista’s Here! And this time they found him a spot but makes sense, even if crashing Ric’s Birthday seemed like Becky’s moment. It was good to see him again in WWE, especially as acting Dave Bautista is somehow incredibly refreshing and heel wrestler Batista is a little… bland. Still, I could watch Batista and Triple H tomorrow and be interested.
Overall, an uneven but decent episode that relied on comebacks and segments to carry it forward.
