Hello again everyone! It’s another Monday (Tuesday AM for those reading this), which means another Monday Night RAW. And tonight isn’t just any RAW folks. Nope, tonight is the go-home show as the red brand sets things up, one last time, for Sunday’s Elimination Chamber PPV. Tonight’s show won’t only be about who’s heading to Houston, however. We are inching ever closer to WrestleMania as well, which means we can expect more between the likes of Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch, along with Seth Rollins and perhaps even Brock Lesnar (or, at least, his advocate). Without further delay, let’s crack open this Nutshell!
Best Match of the night:
Even before the tag title change, the tag match between Roode & Gable and The Revival was excellent. It got, and it earned, a “this is awesome” chant. It was a great match, and the titles changing hands was just icing on the cake.
Worst match of the night:
I have a couple contenders here.
First isn’t a match, but a segment…and it deserves consideration. That would be the whole Elias/Lucha House Party segment. Aside from finding a meaningless way for Elias to work the show, that segment was a waste.
The second? While having Kurt Angle, Braun Strowman and Finn Balor work against Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley and Baron Corbin makes sense, the way we got to the six man tag match was just clunky at best. Totally could have done it better and used the other time better.
Crowd Chants of the Night:
Becky! Becky! Becky!
You suck
Get these hands
Burn it down
This is awesome
Star of the Night
In honor of their long overdue tag team championship win, The Revival are my stars of the night. Love them or hate them, Dash and Dawson are a great tag team. Now they have the leather and gold belts to prove it.
Whether this win helps keep the team around? That is another story in and of itself.
Spot of the Night:
Really liked the Revival’s double team face buster maneuver.
Roode and Gable following it with a Blockbuster/German suplex combo was nifty too.
Shatter Machine out of the corner was sweet.
Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:
Dean Ambrose comes down at the tail end of the segment between Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman. He asks for the mic. No one knows what he’s going to say, and considering the history between Rollins and Ambrose, plus Ambrose’ pending exit, and it was not expected for Ambrose to look at Rollins and tell him: “Slay the Beast”. Rollins certainly enjoyed it, as he left the ring with a smile on his face.
Just when it looked like Becky apologized and our WrestleMania main event was set, Vince McMahon came out, said he did not accept Becky’s apology and instead suspended Becky Lynch 60 days and replaced her with Charlotte.
Botch of the night:
I will pick on the speaking tonight, because we had a few gaffes. Right out of the gate, Stephanie McMahon had some issues delivering her lines. Later on, Seth Rollins made a minor oops.
Vince McMahon had one in the final segment too. Verbally, and by doing the change that he did.
But in the grand scheme of things, if that’s what I am picking on, it was a fairly clean evening.
LOL Moment of the night:
Kevin Owens had a “I’m coming back soon” vignette. And he rolled a gutter ball. He laughed, so we should too.
Noteworthy Moment:
Based on events which transpired tonight, Sasha Banks and Bayley get to enter the Elimination Chamber first. That pairing will have a long and challenging path to travel if they intend to become the first ever WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions.
Kevin Owens had a coming soon reminder video. Sounds like he’s due back in about a month. That’s worth watching, as it would mean Owens is back before WrestleMania.
Also, tell me that the Kevin Owens video package didn’t feel more like what you’d expect from a babyface?
Overall lowlights:
Sure, maybe the inevitable triple threat match with Charlotte, Becky and Ronda Rousey will work. Maybe it will be really good. But here’s the thing. How we will have gotten there? Sucks. Having Vince McMahon come out, fumbling over lines and then suspending Becky Lynch and immediately inserting Charlotte into the match, on the surface, is terrible.
The only way I see this one paying dividends is if Hunter and Stephanie aren’t happy with Vince’s decision either, and it leads to a power struggle and match for control of the shows.
Also, as big a deal as WrestleMania is, it felt like we got too much working toward WrestleMania, just a few days away from an intermediary PPV.
Overall highlights:
Loved The Revival winning the tag belts.
Loved the focus on Becky and the WM match trhoughout the show, leading up to the closing segment.
After the final bell:
It kind of felt like RAW did just the minimum to cover Elimination Chamber and was still more focused on WrestleMania…but they did enough to make sure fans have a reason to connect up and watch Sunda’s PPV too.
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