RAW In A Nutshell: WrestleMania Is Looming Large

Folks, we only have one more RAW before the biggest weekend of the year for WWE is here. That means it’s time for RAW In A Nutshell, and WrestleMania is looming large.

As in, two weeks away, not even. If this was a typical year, the WWE crew would be rapidly getting closer and closer to the host city.

Of course, this is not a typical year…again. So, WWE is already IN the host city, but that doesn’t change the fact that yes, WrestleMania is looming large.

We know quite a few matches for WrestleMania, but some are still coming into focus.

For instance, what will the stipulation be for Shane McMahon and Braun Strowman?

What about the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions? Who will they be facing?

Beyond that, plenty of hype to happen. Will anyone take up Bobby Lashley on his offer to take out Drew McIntyre?

It’s a loaded RAW In A Nutshell, and WrestleMania Is Looming Large.

What else is there to say but…

Let’s crack open this Nutshell and get into it!

Hopefully this one delivers…

Best Match of the night:

I wasn’t fond of too many Superstars involved…but I was otherwise into the action from the main event spot.

Worst match of the night:

As much as I could rip on something…I think every match this show worked in it’s own way. Everything seemed to be used to lead to the looming WrestleMania fun.

Star of the Night

Maybe a lame answer…but there was just too much going on this time. I can’t identify just one.

Spot of the Night:

I will give Bad Bunny this one…because that was not a bad looking punch delivered to The Miz.

Jobber of the Night:

I’d go with a few.

Ryker…Ali…Ricochet.

There ya go.

Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:

Sure, Cedric and Shelton lost last week…but I did not expect WWE to kill off the Hurt Business now.

Not any time soon, either.

Was very surprised by that. I could have seen Cedric or someone being booted…it had been teased before…but not the implosion of the entire group.

Botch of the night:

Maybe this is less a botch and more just insanely bad booking…but I swear, Omas makes me think about Giant Gonzalez.

Like, the only thing the big man could do (Gonzalez) was walk around, be tall and deliver weak choke slams.

WWE used to accentuate his height with the extreme camera angles.

Guess what?

WWE does that with Omas too.

Now, it won’t take much to be better than Giant Gonzalez…but I saw the match and his interaction tonight and that hit me.

Also, that choke slam he delivered to Xavier Woods? Botched landing, and that’s on Omas and to an extent Woods.

Not supposed to land mostly on your lower back, but it sure looked like Woods landed there and on his butt more than anywhere else.

Green is green, and Omas is as green as they get.

LOL Moment of the night:

Either they wrote it this way on purpose, or it just came out wrong…but the whole part of Alexa Bliss talking about her Fiend in the Box just made me laugh.

Also, Well-d0ne Fiend does too, because that whole gimmick is over-cooked at this point. Like, the only way I could see WWE fixing how bad they’ve done The Fiend?

That would be somehow bringing back Bo Dallas. Like, have Dallas be some spiritual advisor that can coax Wyatt back out of The Fiend.

Otherwise, he’s a punchline.

Noteworthy Moment:

King Corbin showed up at the end of RAW to try and take out McIntytre for Bobby Lashley.

I will say this though…why, if Lashley is and has been such a monster, would he need other Superstars to take out Drew?

Heck, he’s pretty much taken out his challenger a few times prior to their looming WrestleMania match. It’s just an odd part of the storyline.

Overall lowlights:

While Alexa was super creepy and impressive tonight…Kentucky Fried Fiend ruins that whole thing at this point.

Kind of not a fan of having Lashley still seeking out mercenary Superstars to take out his challenger. You are a monster heel, you should need no help.

The way that main event segment was going, I honestly felt it would have been a great time to have brought Keith Lee back into the mix.

There’s a history with Drew, and to some extent Lashley.

Could have set up a big match next week, winner goes to ‘Mania. I have to think Keith Lee/Bobby Lashley would be as big or quite possibly bigger than Drew…and probably the best of the two world title main events.

Overall highlights:

I liked what they did with Asuka and Ripley for the most part. Probably could have done better for Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler, but that feels like some post-WrestleMania work there.

While I hate WWE inserting AJ and Omos in the tag title picture-in Omos’ first match, no less-I have to admit, Styles is doing some good work here.

I like seeing Lashley and Drew slug it out. My concern is, having all these other Superstars in the mix to soften up Drew, it feels needless.

After the final bell:

Honestly, not much else to say here but this:

With WrestleMania looming large, WWE has now just a single RAW left to set things up. Did they do enough this week?

Not enough?

Are you interested now, more than before?

With only one more show to go, WWE surely hopes it has hooked it’s RAW fans…