By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE Raw (Episode 1,496)
Live from Toledo, Ohio at Huntington Center
Aired January 24, 2022 on USA Network
[Hour One] Jimmy Smith welcomed viewers to Raw and would be joined by Corey Graves and Byron Saxton on commentary. Smith noted that Graves was in the ring for the weigh-in segment. Graves stood with Adam Pearce, who introduced Bobby Lashley. Pearce and Graves stood behind a podium, and a giant scale was also inside the ring.
Lashley made his entrance along with MVP. Footage aired briefly of Lashley going through a workout session. Once Lashley and MVP were in the ring, Pearce wanted to introduce Brock Lesnar, but he was interrupted.
Paul Heyman called out, “Ladies and gentlemen.” Heyman said he was tired of everyone trying to steal his schtick. Heyman introduced WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, who walked out looking like a cowboy from “Yellowstone” for reasons that make sense only to Brock Lesnar (I wouldn’t question it while in his presence either).
Graves actually said that Lesnar’s attire didn’t seem appropriate for a weigh-in. “Mr. Graves, would you like me to get naked for you?” Lesnar asked. They moved forward without any Lesnar nudity. Lashley weighed in at 273 pounds. MVP spoke briefly about Lashley.
Graves asked Lesnar to weigh in and encouraged him to remove some of his clothing. Lesnar removed his cowboy hat and stepped on the scale. He weighed in at 286 pounds. Lashley said Lesnar was acting like a fool because he knows he’s going to be beaten on Saturday. Lashley said it will be the shortest title run of Lesnar’s entire career. “And that’s not a prediction, that’s a spoiler,” Lashley said.
Lesnar replied by asking who’s the comedian now. Lesnar played up the headlines the next morning reading that Lashley beat him via the Hurt Lock and said the new reigning and defending champion of the world would be “Bobby Who”. Lesnar left the ring with Heyman…
Powell’s POV: Lesnar might be one of the baddest men on the planet, but Beth Dutton would hand him his ass. Anyway, the segment was quick and basic. The most interesting thing about it was that the fans were solidly behind Lesnar and booed Lashley. By the way, I don’t think Lashley’s spoiler tease is far fetched. My guess is Lesnar loses the title due to Heyman or the other Bloodline members interfering, which frees up Lesnar to challenge Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship.
The broadcast team narrated highlights of Bianca Belair winning the Smackdown Women’s Championship at WrestleMania. Belair made her entrance heading into the first commercial break… [C]
Graves hyped Maryse’s birthday celebration for later in the show. Smith hyped Damian Priest vs. Kevin Owens for the U.S. Championship and actually acknowledged Priest’s year-long unbeaten streak, which they didn’t do last week. Saxton hyped the academic challenge segment involving Alpha Academy and RKBro… Queen Zelina made her entrance…
1. Bianca Belair vs. Queen Zelina. A pre-taped Zelina promo aired before the match. She spoke about winning the Rumble and challenging for a women’s championship at WrestleMania. Belair held up Vega for a vertical suplex and jogged in place before performing the move. Vega came back and went for a Code Red, but Belair blocked it and countered into the KOD, which led to the three count…
Bianca Belair beat Queen Zelina in 3:45.
Powell’s POV: A nice spotlight win for Belair. My guess is that she wins the Rumble or the Elimination Chamber to get back into another title match at WrestleMania.
Highlights aired of Kevin Owens feigning a knee injury before beating Damian Priest last week…
Owens was interviewed in the backstage area by Kevin Patrick. Owens took offense to Patrick bringing up the way he won and asked if he was suggesting that he was lying. Owens said Patrick has never been in the ring and said his opinion is moot. Owens said he would just keep fighting until he’s the U.S. Champion…
Damian Priest made his entrance for the title match… [C] Kevin Owens made his entrance coming out of the break…
2. Damian Priest vs. Kevin Owens for the U.S. Championship. Mike Rome delivered introductions for the title match from ringside once both wrestlers were inside the ring. The match spilled over to ringside where Priest ran Owens into the barricade. Owens superkicked Priest when he tried to return to the ring. Owens went for a senton from the apron, but Priest put his knees up. Priest chokeslammed Owens onto the apron. [C]
Late in the match, Priest snapped late in the match and started working over Owens in the corner. The referee started his count, but he got between Priest and Owens three times and finally called for the disqualification because Priest wasn’t listening to his commands…
Kevin Owens defeated U.S. Champion Damian Priest by DQ in 9:35.
Powell’s POV: I was wondering why the company didn’t bother to advertise this title match, but then they gave us the same finish they just used for the Natalya vs. Aliyah match on Smackdown. Weak.
It was brief Royal Rumble promo time. Rhea Ripley delivered a backstage promo. She said she had a score to settle with Nikki ASH, but her focus was on winning the Royal Rumble. Dana Brooke spoke about winning the Rumble while showing off her WWE 24/7 Championship. Liv Morgan also said she will win the Rumble match…
Rhea Ripley made her entrance for a six-woman tag match. She will team with Morgan and Brooke against ASH, Carmella, and Tamina… [C] Morgan and Brooke made their entrances… Backstage, Sonya Deville scolded Damian Priest for not controlling his emotions…. The heel trio made their entrances while their “I’m going to win the Rumble” pre-tapes aired…
3. Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan, and Dana Brooke vs. Nikki ASH, Carmella, and Tamina. Carmella wore one of her face masks. In the end, Ripley caught Carmella in a standing leg submission hold for the win.
Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan, and Dana Brooke beat Nikki ASH, Carmella, and Tamina in 2:20.
Afterward, ASH hit Ripley with a cheap shot and then went to ringside and struck her superhero pose…
Powell’s POV: The ring entrances for each team took longer than the actual match.
Raw Tag Team Champions “Alpha Academy” Chad Gable and Otis made their entrance for the spelling bee potion of their academic challenge… [C]
[Hour Two] Gable and Otis stood in the ring along with Kevin Patrick, who was the host of the spelling bee. Gable announced that there would be a triad of events in the academic challenge in the coming weeks. Gable did his usual GPA schtick and announced that he and Otis would be in the Rumble match.
Randy Orton and Matt Riddle made their entrance. Patrick announced that the winners of the first challenge would choose next week’s challenge. Otis was first up for his team and correctly spelled Emmental (cheese).
Riddle’s word was calibration. He wondered if it was “calibrotion” and then asked Patrick to use it in a sentence and then put it into letters for him. He then figured it out because he calibrates his scale (for weed) and spelled the world correctly.
Gable’s word was disillusioned. Gable misspelled the word, then accused Patrick of saying the word wrong. Orton stood up and told Gable to take a seat. Orton’s word was dumbbell, which Patrick said was one of the most misspelled words in the English language. Orton got it right.
Gable pitched a fit. Orton told him to shut his mouth, then said he would shut it for him. Orton challenged Gable to a match. Orton said Gable was clearly the least intelligent person in the ring, so he spelled out how he would beat him – RKO… [C]
Powell’s POV: No, I did not have to look up the word they gave Otis (that’s a lie). A cute segment that didn’t overstay its welcome.
4. Randy Orton (w/Riddle) vs. Chad Gable (w/Otis). Gable stuffed an RKO a few minutes into the match and immediately fled to ringside. Gable returned to the ring and performed a cool sequence that led to a takedown. Orton rolled to ringside for a moment. A graphic listed AJ Styles vs. Austin Theory for later in the show.
Orton and Gable both ended up at ringside where Orton slammed Gable on the broadcast table. When they returned to the ring, Otis climbed onto the apron and distracted Orton. Gable clipped the knee of Orton, then executed a top rope moonsault and covered him for a near fall. [C]
Late in the match, Orton set up for an RKO, but he was distracted by Otis taking out Riddle at ringside. Gable caught Orton in a backslide for a two count. Orton came right back with a powerslam. Orton went for a punt kick, which Gable avoided. Gable applied the ankle lock. At ringside, Riddle beat Otis with his scooter, which distracted Gable. Orton escaped the ankle lock and then hit the RKO before pinning Gable.
Randy Orton beat Chad Gable in 13:55.
After the match, Riddle selected a scooter race for round two of the academic challenge…
Powell’s POV: A fun match that made Gable look competitive with Orton even though he ended up taking the pin. The crowd was hot for Riddle and Orton.
Graves hyped Bad Bunny’s upcoming stadium tour and noted that tickets go on sale starting Friday. Smith said the latest Alexa Bliss video was coming up next… [C]
Alexa Bliss’s latest therapy session aired. The therapist said he thought they were making progress. He asked about the first time she met Lilly. Bliss recalled being pushed off the monkey bars and being knocked unconscious when she was six years-old. She said Lilly was there when she woke up. Bliss said she never saw the girls again and Lilly told her not to worry about it…
Footage aired from earlier in the day of Austin Theory showing an unimpressed Vince McMahon one of his selfies. Theory said he would win the Rumble and main event WrestleMania. Theory asked Vince to hook him up with a high number. Vince asked what made him think that he had any influence over that, then told him to focus on facing AJ Styles. Theory ran through some of Styles’ credentials and called him a first ballot Hall of Famer. Vince said “without a doubt.” Theory forgot his phone. Vince told him that he better bring back a really good selfie…
AJ Styles made his entrance… [C] A Veer Mahaan video aired. He is still listed as “coming to Raw”… Highlights aired of Grayson Waller attacking Styles two weeks ago during his match with Austin Theory, who then took a selfie. Theory made his entrance…
5. AJ Styles vs. Austin Theory. Theory had a long stretch of offense and was in control heading into a break. [C] Graves praised Theory for making big claims and backing them up. Theory remained on the offensive coming out of the break and took a big backdrop. Theory jawed at Styles, who then moved when Theory went for an elbow drop.
Styles rallied with a backflip from the ropes into an inverted DDT. Styles hit Theory with a series of strikes that he capped off with a clothesline. Styles performed a suplex into a neckbreaker and followed up with a running forearm that led to a two count.
[Hour Three] Theory caught Styles with an elbow and then put him down with a belly to back suplex and covered him for a two count. Theory jawed at Styles again and then played to the crowd. Styles responded with a jawbreaker. Theory came right back with a roll into a standing Blockbuster for a near fall.
Theory set up for a superplex, but Styles escaped and tripped Theory so that his face hit the top turnbuckle. Styles avoided another move and then connected with a Pele kick. Styles teased a Styles Clash. Theory went for his finisher, but Styles rolled him into a Calf Crusher. Theory reached the ropes to break the hold.
Styles went for his finisher a short time later, but Theory tripped him up while he was springboarding. Theory went for the cover and put his feet on the ropes for leverage, but the referee caught him. Styles ended up hitting a Phenomenal Forearm and scored the pin…
AJ Styles defeated Austin Theory in 17:00.
Powell’s POV: Wow, that was really fun. They were given a lot of television time and filled it with a good, competitive match. I still feel that Theory needs to stand up to the Mr. McMahon character or just do something to move on from being a naive simpleton character. The character screams mid-card and it seems like they see that he can be more than that.
Split screen shots were shown of Becky Lynch and Doudrop. Graves said they would both speak shortly… Smith set up the WWE 2K22 video… [C]
Smith conducted the spit-screen interview segment with Lynch and Doudrop. Lynch insisted that he start with her because she’s the champion. Lynch said Doudrop dreamed of being like her and facing her, and took credit for paving the way for her.
Doudrop said Lynch has been ducking, diving, and struggling to keep her championship. She wondered if Lynch assumed that she would be an easy opponent. Lynch said Doudrop should thank her for giving her her biggest match, her first title shot, and paving the way for her.
Doupdrop said she would show Lynch some gratitude when Lynch shows her some respect. Lynch told her to know her place. Doudrop removed her mic and walked off. Lynch said Doudrop can’t run from their fight. Doudrop showed up on the set and attacked Lynch until they were pulled apart…
Powell’s POV: Good mic work and a quality segment overall, but their feud still suffers from not having a true babyface.
Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio were interviewed by Sarah Schreiber, who congratulated Rey on being on the cover of the WWE 2K22 video game. Rey spoke about how happy he was and said he could only be happier if Dom ended up on the cover someday. Dom spoke about making his own legacy and winning the Rumble match. Rey said Dom would have to eliminate him. Dom smiled while saying that after the stunt his father pulled last week when he tossed him over the top rope, Rey might be the first person he eliminates. Rey wondered if he was kidding. Dom walked away. Rey chased after him while continuing to ask if he was serious…
The Street Profits made their entrance… [C] The Mysterios made their entrance…
6. “The Street Profits” Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins vs. Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio. Dom tripped Dawkins, who tumbled to ringside. Rey held the ropes open while Dom performed a suicide dive. Ford ended up sending Rey to ringside where Dom caught him. Ford followed up with a big flip dive. [C]
Late in the match, the Mysterio set up for a double 619 on Ford, but Dawkins tripped Dom from ringside. Ford charged Rey, who tripped him into the ropes. Rey went for a 619, but Ford caught him. Ford powered up Rey for a move, but Rey countered into a rollup and scored the pin.
Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio defeated “The Street Profits” Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins in 8:00.
After the match, Dom tried to toss his father over the top rope, but Rey countered into a huracanrana and tossed Dom over the top rope. Ford tossed Rey over the top rope. Dawkins tossed Ford over the top rope. Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode showed up and tossed Dawkins over the top rope. The Mysterio and Profits returned to the ring and teamed up to toss Roode and Ziggler over the top rope…
Powell’s POV: So the heels are the only teammates who are actually working together? Anyway, a solid tag match. It looks like the Maryse birthday party segment will close the show.
Seth Rollins was shown messing with Kevin Patrick on a backstage interview set… [C] A video package recapped the recent developments involving Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins…
Kevin Patrick interviewed Seth Rollins about challenging Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship. Rollins said Reigns knows that he has his number. Rollins said he’s the only one who can put Reigns in his place. Rollins said he was going to take one more trip to Smackdown on Friday “because unlike Roman, I like to deliver my messages in person”…
The Miz made his entrance for the birthday party segment. Family photos of Miz, Maryse, and their daughters were set up in the ring along with gift boxes, and the obligatory birthday cake… [C]
Shawn Michaels was announced as the guest for Raw Talk…
The Miz introduced Maryse (her actual birthday was on Friday). A bunch of security guards stood at ringside with their backs to the ring. Maryse’s first gift was a painting of the two of them in royal attire. She opened a second gift and then pointed to the big gift box.
Miz said he thought she bought him that gift, then had security open the box. The giant box contained the brick that Maryse hit Beth Phoenix with. Miz laughed and said it was a sign that they will always be a step ahead of Edge and Phoenix, then had last week’s segment replayed on the big screen. Miz tried to lead a singing of the happy birthday song.
Edge’s music interrupted Miz’s singing. Edge and Beth Phoenix came out. Edge said Miz and Maryse have been really clever, but that and security wouldn’t help them at the Rumble. Edge said they were going to the ring.
Edge and Phoenix destroyed the security guards and entered the ring while Miz and Maryse fled to ringside. Edge and Phoenix tossed some of the photos and then roughed up more security guards that tried to stop them. Miz told Edge not to ruin the cake. Edge powerbombed a security guard onto the cake. Miz and Maryse showed fear at ringside to close the show…
Powell’s POV: The segment was fine in terms of leaving viewers wanting to see Edge and Phoenix get their hands on Miz and Maryse on Saturday. It was wise not to have any physicality between the two sides on the go-home show. Overall, Raw was solid and did a good job of pushing the Rumble event. The weigh-in segment was quick and forgettable aside from Brock’s cowboy attire, but Lesnar vs. Lashley is a match that people want to see even without a strong final push. I will have more to say about Raw in my weekly same night audio review for Dot Net Members. Let me know what you thought of Raw by grading it below.
Join me for my live review of the Royal Rumble on Saturday night.
Did anybody notice Otis actually spelled the word wrong?
Another solid to good episode. Raw is in a good enough groove in recent months.
Looking forward to Bliss becoming the Goddess again (they trademarked it last week), winning the Rumble, and then winning the NXT women’s belt to become a grand slam champ.
I noticed it. It happened quickly but I think he forgot to say the ‘a’.
Maybe I was watching a different version of RAW in the UK but I would have said it was anything but a solid episode. Considering its the final RAW before the royal rumble, I thought the build up was rubbish. A couple of time filling matches, a couple of 2 minute fillers, a comedy spelling skit and a bog standard birthday celebration we’ve seen time and time again over the years. The Royal Rumble is my fave PPV of the year and I’m just hoping the writers have better plans for the show than what they have achieved with RAW lately.