The real reason Undertaker is working WrestleMania.
Could another WWE talent be winding down their work for the company?
And all the biggest news from last night’s Raw!
Hello and welcome to the WrestleTalk Super Review-News, I’m Oli Davis.
And to kick things off, here’s the 17th February January, 2020 episode of Monday Night
Raw… in about 5 minutes!
The show opened FROM OUTTA the success of last week’s Matt Hardy and Randy Orton segment.
That was reportedly supposed to be Matt’s farewell from the company, but it did so well
in the ratings, WWE booked Hardy for one last go in a No Holds Barred match tonight… that
they never had any intention of delivering.
Instead, Hardy came out in a neck brace saying he’s not medically cleared to compete after
Orton’s ConChairTo last Monday.
Randy said he loves Edge like a brother and walked out, showing how he’s wrestling with
his own guilty, complex charac-oh no wait, he’s hitting a ConChairTo on the steel steps
this time.
Twice.
Randy’s performance is so compelling right now.
Despite being a psychotic heel in every segment, he still seems partly conflicted by his actions.
Unfortunately, WWE showed no such remorse.
Advertising a Hardy vs Orton No Holds Barred match would’ve been a major selling point
for people tuning in at home, and actually buying tickets for the live show.
Not delivering it is a carny move, and is the exact sort of broken promises that chip
away at audience trust over time - cutting your viewership by a third in just five years.
The immovable ginger beard took on the Unstoppable Leg next, as Aleister Black faced arguably
his most competitive main roster opponent so far: Rowan.
It took two Black Masses for Aleister to pick up an actually substantial win for a change.
It just sucks for Rowan, who had one of the best character reinventions in the company
last Summer.
Charlotte Flair recapped her NXT TakeOver takeover the previous night, where she accepted
Rhea Ripley’s WrestleManiaaar match because the NXT wrestlers these days are so entitled,
with their German suplex no-sells and too many kick outs.
In one of the worst told stories in WWE, Mojojo Rawley’s henchman of two weeks, Riddick
Moss, stole a roll up pin to retain the 24/7 title.
The most over thing in this match was John Cena, because R-Truth did the 5 Knuckle Shuffle,
and he wasn’t even there.
Or was he- It’s time to play everyone’s favourite
game!
Where’s the WrestleMania sign?
It’s there.
Drew McIntyre’s pointing right at it.
Paul Heyman interrupted teasing a Brock Lesnar entrance, but for the first time this year,
he actually wasn’t.
Instead, Heyman introduced WWE’s newest backstage producer, MVP, for a glorified squash
match.
Becky Lynch came down to the ring holding a brown paper bag - hey, that’s Rowan’s
thing - when it actually turned out to be full of money.
But not as much as the male roster members.
Take that, Gender Pay Gap, I roasted you, society!
I roasted you! Lynch said the money is for the fine she’ll
get when she beats up Actual Cannibal Shayna Baszler, when Shayna interrupted on the screen
to say she’s going to “tear the s-word out of” Becky once she’s won Elimination
Chamber.
Ooo, swearword, and also Baszler framing the Chamber as home turf due to her cage fighting
background is a genius bit of context.
Bobby Lashley and Angel Garza vs Rusev and Humbero Carillo was a really fun match next,
with Garza and Carillo lucharing awesomely together, and Rusev still being mega over
with the crowd despite WWE’s best efforts.
But, of course, Rusev took another loss.
And the absence of Liv Morgan implies WWE’s so-called sensitive portrayal of LGBTQ+ storylines
was actually just a shock titaliation tactic they never had any plans for.
Following Asuka giving Natalya a black eye in their match two weeks ago, Kairi Sane had
a neatly modern style match with her here, which she won thanks to Asuka interference.
Seth Rollins hosted a sermon in the ring in full cult leader mode.
He’s growing out his beard.
He’s growing out his man bun.
He wears one evil glove and a furry black jacket.
Seth das UBER HEEL!
He said it’s now time for Phase II of the Triple H Cinematic Universe, where those who
can’t be rehabilitated will be eradicated hashtag join Dark Order.
The copy and paste babyface interference followed and Caruso alert!
We’re getting a Kevin Owens and the Viking Raiders vs AOP and Murphy main event.
AJ Styles made his return from injury next, promising he’ll win the Tuwaiq Trophy to
then never speak of it again, so prestigious, calling himself the new Mr WrestleMania, and
then teasing a number of legend opponents for biggest show of the year: including The
Undertaker, more on that in Laurie’s news in a bit.
This brought out Ricochet to say he’s earned his title match against Lesnar, which if he
just believes in himself enough, he’ll win.
Nobody buys it, so WWE tried to convince you otherwise with Ricochet… winning a competitive
match against the guy who always takes the pin in OC matches, Karl Anderson.
Caruso Alert!
Liv Morgan cut a very awkwardly scripted promo about getting revenge on Ruby Riott, and then
put over the Chamber - which WWE actually did a very good job of building up throughout
the show.
And then it was time for the latest combination of Owens and the Viking Raiders vs Murphy
and AOP!
Again, I’m not complaining - I love this feud and the matches they put on - but WWE
have left themselves massively open to accusations of repetitiveness.
This time, KO had Murphy beat with a Stunner, but Seth caused the DQ for the save - furthering
the storyline that Buddy can’t win without Rollins’ help.
Seth was about to crucify Owens, but the Street Profits ran down for an excellent babyface
save, with a huge shoulder tackle from Dawkins on Murphy, and an enormous Frog Splash from
Ford.
Unfortunately, those very same babyfaces didn’t care when Matt Hardy was murdered at the start
of the show, as Bryan Alvarez so eloquently put it: WHERE WERE ALL YOU BABYFACES WHEN
POOR MATT HARDY WAS BEING KILLED TO DEATH?
That was this week’s Raw in about 5 minutes.
Do you think the main event scene is getting repetitive?
Let me know in the comments because I’ll be replying FROM OUTTA NOWHERE!
And click the i above my head to let me know what you thought of the show, where you can
choose from Rawsome, Cor, AvRAWge, Poor, and Rawful.
While this was an enjoyable episode, it’s nowhere near the quality of the last few weeks.
And not putting on Orton vs Hardy left a bad taste in my mouth.
This week’s Raw is AvRAWge.
Who’s got two thumbs up and likes to thumbs up?
You do!
You, the viewer.
So not only have a thumbs up party to help the performance of the video, but also get
yourself a Dance Chopper t-shirt!
Then he’ll do the thumbs up dance for me forever.
Ha… ha…
Dance Chopper…
Dance You’ve gotta stop telling Chopper to Dance.
He’s a strong independent Chopper.
But he loves to dance.
Choppers love to dance.
Yeah, but you’re making it weird.
I’m not making it weird, don’t be ridiculous.
Dance Chopper.
Have fun with the news!
Thanks Oli.
Time for the news now.
And you may remember the news from last week that one of the matches slated for WrestleMania
Thirty Sea Dog would see the Undertaker take on AJ Styles.
Now WrestlingNews.co are reporting that the Undertaker requested to work with AJ at Mania
because he feels Styles is the “modern day Shawn MIchaels”.
High praise indeed, depending on which era of Michaels we’re talking about, hopefully
early noughties humble Shawn and not Montreal Screwjob ego monster Michaels.
It seems like WWE are leaning into this comparison too as AJ’s promo on last night’s Raw
saw him referred to as the new Mr WrestleMania and name drop the Undertaker, plus a bunch
of other legends he could hang in the ring with.
Obviously, AJ vs The Undertaker is an absolute dream match and if it can reach the heady
heights of Michaels/Taker from Mania 25, preferably without the bit where the Undertaker attempts
to dive into the centre of the earth, that would be aces.
WreslingNews.co are also saying though that AJ won’t be the last ride for Undertaker,
because when does that man actually retire?
WWE could be lining up something big for him at Survivor Series this year, the 30th Anniversary
of his debut in the company.
That feels like a fitting time to bow out if you ask me.
Speaking of bowing out.
Job loss segway.
WWE is might currently be witnessing a bit of an exodus from its, for want of a better
term “talking department”.
After NXT, WWE Now host and beautiful angel Cathy Kelly announced that she would be stepping
away from the company following TakeOver Portland, another member of WWE’s hosting staff also
seems like he might be on the way out.
Former Raw colour commentator Vic Joseph revealed on Instagram that he will be working with
NBA TV for the second half of the season.
This isn’t hard confirmation that Joseph is done with WWE, or even how big his role
within the NBA coverage will be as his own posts says he will be a “small part” of
NBATV.
So there’s definitely the chance that WWE duties and NBA could co-inside, depending
on what sort of contract Vic has with WWE and how exclusive it is.
WrestlingInc confirmed that Joseph is still part of WWE, but he was last seen on live
television on January 20th before the Raw commentary team got switched to Tom Phillips,
Byron Saxton and Jerry Lawler - which was Vince McMahon big leaguing Paul Heyman.
Joseph has not really had the time to bed in on a specific brand, as commentary teams
seem to get shuffled around him quite often, and usually he ends up replaced by Tom Phillips
as has been the case on Raw, 205 Live and NXT UK.
So that leaves us wondering, even if there is space for Joseph to do both NBA and WWE,
where would he fit in on a commentary team?
As a lifelong Cleveland sports fan, maybe working with the NBA will be a more fulfilling
experience.
Speaking of seeking more fulfilling experiences, that is what Shelton Benjamin has not done.
The star revealed on Lillian Garcia’s Chasing Glory podcast that he has signed a new multi-year
deal with WWE, though a specific length wasn’t given.
As Shelton is 44 right now, and that WWE have been signing most people to five year deals
right now, this could mean that Benjamin retires with the company.
Though you would be forgiven for thinking he was already retired as he has barely been
featured on WWE TV in the last year, though he did get dumped out of the Rumble by Brock
Lesnar after thinking he was genuinely friends with The Beast.
Frankly Shelton has not really been billed as a big time player since his Tag Title run
with Chad Gable.
The only person to come off worse since then is Gable!
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I’ve been El Fakidor and that was lucha.