By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE Raw Hits
CM Punk and Seth Rollins: Punk’s passionate promo made for a great open. Punk showed no fear while ripping The Rock and John Cena in a way that felt personal and believable as opposed to just being typical promo fodder. Punk’s brawl with Rollins was excellent. WWE has gone overboard with pull apart brawls lately and yet this one really stood out due to the physicality and intensity. Punk and Rollins made next week’s cage match at MSG feel like must see television.
“The War Raiders” Erik and Ivar vs. Julius Creed and Brutus Creed for the World Tag Team Titles: A good win for the War Raiders with Ivar getting the pin on his birthday. The crowd energy seemed to fade at one point during the match, but the big top rope spots by the Creed brothers seemed to give the fans a jolt, as they were totally engaged for the remainder of the match. Will we get War Raiders vs. New Day at WrestleMania or will they go with some type of “get everyone on the show” multi-team match?
Lyra Valkyria vs. Ivy Nile for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship: Valkyria hasn’t connected with the fans as a character, but they are responding more to her as a result of the quality matches she’s been having. Valkyria also seems to be gaining more confidence the more the fans get behind her. Meanwhile, Nile has come a long way in the ring and this was arguably her best main roster match to date.
World Heavyweight Champion Gunther vs. Otis in a non-title match: Gunther toying with the undercard wrestlers is a solid way to fill time. The creative team seems to have wisely pulled back a bit on the build to Gunther vs. Jey Uso at WrestleMania to avoid having it peak too soon. We’re still getting angles involving the two, but they are brief and are not positioned to be one of the key segments of the show. Jey has also gone a few weeks without entrance through the crowd. With six weeks to go, one can only assume that they will heat things up again as we get closer to WrestleMania.
WWE Raw Misses
Rhea Ripley vs. Iyo Sky for the Women’s World Championship: The match quality was Hit worthy and the finish was definitely surprising, but I typically dislike title changes that occur this close to WrestleMania. They have six weeks of television to fill, so hopefully this was done with the goal of keeping things interesting and they will somehow circle back to Ripley vs. Bianca Belair in a singles match for the title at WrestleMania. I like Sky, but Ripley vs. Belair is the big showdown match in the women’s division. Unfortunately, I have a bad feeling that they are setting up a Triple Threat and it will feature a Sky as a weak champion because it came off like she only won the title because Ripley allowed herself to be distracted by Belair. On a side note, one of the things that stood out during the chirping that followed the Ripley and Belair ringside shoving match was Ripley telling Belair that she will pay for what she’s done. Was Ripley referring to their pushing and shoving or something involving the Jade Cargill attack?
Penta and Ludwig Kaiser: A minor Miss for the feud feeling too one-sided. Kaiser’s only win in the feud came last week when he pinned Pete Dunne during a Triple Threat that also involved Penta. Kaiser delivered a solid promo, but then Penta got the better of him again and killed whatever heat Kaiser generated with his mic work. I’m not suggesting that Kaiser pin Penta clean, but they need to at least make it feel like an accomplishment when he beats Kaiser, not just a foregone conclusion.
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