Powell’s WWE Raw Hit List: Seth Rollins, Paul Heyman, and CM Punk, The War Raiders vs. New Day for the World Tag Team Titles, Gunther and Jey Uso, Penta vs. Dominik Mysterio

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

WWE Raw Hits

Jey Uso and Gunther: The highlight of the night. Gunther was as smug as ever after beating the holy hell out of Jimmy Uso while forcing a zip-tied Jey to watch. It was fun to watch Gunther’s confidence start to fade while Jey built up to the line about how he intends to pray the night before WrestleMania to ask the lord to forgive him for the man he’s about to become. This was a crucial segment for the WrestleMania match build. Jey rose to the occasion with the best promo of his career.

Seth Rollins, Paul Heyman, and CM Punk: Rollins did a fine job of establishing that Punk and Roman Reigns haven’t been good friends to Heyman. And Rollins didn’t even acknowledged how long Punk let Heyman squirm before finally coming to his defense at the end of this show. Rollins pulling back on a Stomp that he could have hit Heyman with and then telling him that now Heyman owes him a favor was a great way to close the sh0w.

Lyra Valkyria vs. Bayley for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship: The best match of the night with good work from wrestlers. Valkyria going over clean on a former world champion felt like a big win. Bayley initially blowing off Valkyria’s handshake was a nice way to establish some her building frustration. I don’t think Bayley will be turning heel again this soon, but it makes her paring with Valkyria in Friday’s gauntlet match for a shot at the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles at WrestleMania a little more interesting.

Penta vs. Dominik Mysterio: Dom was given a nice run of late offense before Penta got the expected win. The post match angle with Bron Breakker dishing out spears got a nice rise out of the crowd. Finn Balor hitting Breakker from behind and then fleeing before Breakker could spear him left fans wanting to see it happen. It’s hard to imagine that Judgment Day will be the same coming out of the four-way given the animosity that Balor has established with Dom and the other members of the faction. Who gets custody of Carlito if the Judgment Day implodes? Will all of the involved parties do the right thing and let poor Carlito know that the divorce isn’t his fault?

El Grande Americano, Julius Creed, and Brutus Creed vs. “The LWO” Dragon Lee, Joaquin Wilde, and Cruz Del Toro: The LWO provided some flashy offense that the live crowd popped for. Americano going over set the table for Rey Mysterio being granted a match with him at WrestleMania. I’m lukewarm on the Americano silliness, but I’m happy that Rey and Clearly Not Chad Gable cracked the WrestleMania lineup. There’s no telling how many more WrestleMania matches Mysterio will have, so don’t take this one for granted.

WWE Raw Misses

“War Raiders” Erik and Ivar vs. “New Day” Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods for the World Tag Team Titles: The actual match was enjoyable and the beatdown angle was well done. Unfortunately, this was a terrible time to have Tony Hinchcliffe sit in on commentary. It’s not that Hinchcliffe did anything wrong while he was out there, it’s that the match and the post match angle that seemed to set the table for a WrestleMania rematch deserved the full attention of broadcast team and the viewers.