Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarrett wrestle on the same show in 2019. EC3 makes his in-ring debut,
but not his speaking one. And Becky Lynch has been suspended by WWE!
I’m Oli Davis - give us a subscribe, press the thumbs up button, tell me if you think
Ronda Rousey is turning heel in the comments below because I’ll be replying to people
FROM OUTTA NOWHERE, and click the ‘i’ above my head to give your rating - where
you can choose from: RawSome, Cor, AVRAWGE, Poor and RawFul - as I review the 4th February,
2019 edition of Monday Night Raw ...in about 4 minutes.
Raw opened with Becky Lynch interrupting Stephanie McMahon’s in-ring introduction of her because
a) she’s The Man, and 2) Brand Split, LOL. But as much as Stephanie wants to see Becky
beat up Ronda Rousey, she’s understandably concerned about Lynch’s apparent knee injury
- and she’ll have to suspend Becky until she agrees to see a doctor.
This was some great character work for Lynch, building on the real-life Survivor Series
concussion, which stopped her from having the biggest match of her career. She’s been
so emotionally scarred by that, she’s become her own worst enemy by covering up her current
injury with bravado and anger. Becky never said any of this, of course, leaving
it to the subtext of her beating up Stephanie - where it was later shown in a slow motion
replay that McMahon kicked Lynch’s injured knee.
In a presumably intentional parallel, the first ever Stone Cold Stunner on Mr McMahon
came when Vince tried to stop Austin from wrestling because he wasn’t medically cleared
either. And to cap off a very effective opening segment,
Becky ran into Ronda backstage when she was being escorted out, where Rousey cut a fiery,
almost heelish promo, made much better without the live crowd booing to fluster her. She
showed intensity, anger and badass rage…
Which was immediately undermined by her smiling and high fiving fans when she walked out to
face Liv Morgan, whom she made tap in a few moves.
And then also her Riott Squad teammate Sarah Logan. I can’t wait to see that team in
the women’s Elimination Chamber match!
Another brand, another four-way match with Heavy Machinery to decide a tag team title’s
No.1 contenders. Brand split, lol. The Revival pinned Bo Dallas for the win.
Kurt Angle was out next to seemingly start his retirement storyline. Which might’ve
registered more on an emotional level, if actual stars were watching on from backstage.
We never got to hear what Angle planned to announce, as both Baron Corbin and Drew McIntyre
interrupted, because they’re still weirdly a faction. One Braun Strowman rundown later,
and we’ve got a tag team main event, players.
Nia Jax made her 48th career heel/face turn appearing in a Black History Month promo.
Seth Rollins only got a video package this week, supporting reports he’s out injured
for at least a month.
With Renee Young now made terrible on commentary, ‘Mean’ Charly Caruso is now WWE’s best
backstage interviewer. ‘Hey Bayley and Sasha Banks, how do you feel about being stupid
losers who stupidly lose all the time?’ Despite Sasha not getting physical at all
in this match, as she’s also reportedly working injured, a worked over Bayley managed
to pin Alicia Fox to qualify for the Chamber.
Having Road Dogg in his corner wasn’t enough to help Jeff Jarrett overcome Elias next,
which the Drifter won easily. They got the better of him afterwards, though, with a brutal
guitar shot to the back that didn’t break. Must’ve been made of Japanese wood.
Finn Balor cut a promo next about how he’s going to take the fight to Bobby Lashley,
just like he took the fight to Brock Lesnar. He does know he lost that match, right?
Instead, he ended up taking the fight to Lio Rush, beating him once Bobby was banned from
ringside.
PAIGE HERE! Not now, Pai-oh, you’ve got a movie about your life to promote. Roll that
trailer.
Because one crappy gimmick wasn’t enough, Alexa Bliss’ awful talkshow segment A Moment
of Bliss had the weirdly mute EC3 on as a guest, who were later joined by Tamina and
Nia Jax (now a heel again). The segment was completely saved by Dean Ambrose
in full ‘I don’t care because I’m leaving the company soon’ mode. Dean dropped his
various heel characters from the last half a year and just dished out zingers.
‘So you’re EC3? What happened to EC1 and 2?’
What are you, a mute chippendale dancer? This turned into a quick debut victory for
EC3 over Ambrose, where he was either very good at selling, or legitimately injured his
shoulder.
The main event was given to the Tall Man Division, with the many meters of Braun, McIntyre and
Corbin meat to marvel at. Unfortunately, the person I most cared about
was the least focused on. After a run of losses, Angle still wasn’t booked as the grizzled
veteran making a comeback, just some old geezer who can barely hang with a man who wrestles
in a waistcoat. And even though the show ended with Strowman
and Angle standing tall, the DQ finish of Braun beating up Drew and Corbin was lame,
and left the crowd cold.
Don’t let the headlines from this show mislead you. Despite Becky Lynch getting suspended
and EC3 making his in-ring debut, this was very much a filler episode that lacked star
power - with both Royal Rumble winners in Becky and Seth currently written out because
of injury. This week’s Raw is a low AvRAWge.