Did we just see the last of Dean Ambrose in WWE? Gimme gimme gimme a match for Batista!
And, oh yeah, the Intercontinental title changed hands again.
Also, have John Cena’s WrestleMania plans been leaked! Click the timestamps in the video
description below to go straight to any of those stories.
I’m Oli Davis - give us a subscribe, press the thumbs up button, and answer our question
of the day in the comments: Do you think Dean Ambrose is now finished with WWE? Because
I’ll be replying to people FROM OUTTA NOWHERE! And click the ‘i’ above my head to give
your rating of the show - where you can choose from: RawSome, Cor, AVRAWGE, Poor and RawFul
- as I review the 11th March, 2019 edition of Monday Night Raw.
47 sleeps until WrestleMania!
Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins opened the show with NEW MERCH and by giving
a farewell address, setting up the next chapters in their singles careers. Roman wants his
first one-on-one match on Raw in five months. Seth will go onto face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania.
And Dean… awkward. Ambrose and Reigns left, leaving Seth to have
a promo battle with Brock Lesnar proxy Paul Heyman - and the two retconned some much needed
substance into their feud. Rollins pointed out how Lesnar had struggled against Daniel
Bryan, AJ Styles and Finn Balor in recent years - implying Brock has trouble with quicker,
more athletic opponents like Seth. Heyman countered that it was only because each of
those wrestlers were late match changes. It was a fascinating angle to take in their story,
and it distracted Seth enough to be surprise attacked with a series of German suplexes
from… you’re not Brock Lesnar.
Because brand split LOL, SmackDown LIVE drafted wrestler Shelton Benjamin - who hasn’t been
properly featured on TV for almost a year - suddenly started a singles match with Rollins
on Raw, which Seth won. Lesnar will apparently be on next week’s episode.
I’ve got a new favourite thing in wrestling everyone - Bobby Lashley pretending to be
Zordon from the Power Rangers. It’s much better than his previous direct look to camera.
I just want to say how much I love my three beautiful sisters.
As if it wasn’t all weird enough, Lashley would then go onto beat Balor thanks to Lio
Rush ringing the bell in distraction, becoming the new Intercontinental Champion, just three
weeks after he’d lost it to Balor at Elimination Chamber. This was one of the more forgettable
title changes in recent times. But don’t be too angry at the booking, because none
of is real, it’s all scripted!
Which Ronda Rousey was out to explain next by calling Becky Lynch and Charlotte carny
conwoman that she’ll expose at WrestleMania. Because, you see, everyone else is playing
at combat sports, but Ronda’s the real deal. Very problematic promo content aside, this
was amongst the best portrayals of Ronda since she’s joined the company - where she completely
annihilated Dana Brooke afterwards (what is it? Bring your undercarder to work day?),
but didn’t lock in the armbar, yelling at the crowd “pay 60 bucks and I’ll give
you an armbar.” When did the Network get so expensive?
In this week’s instalment of the NXT call-up support group, Aleister Black and Ricochet
took on Chad Gable and Bobby Roode. Ricochet’s highspots are impressive, the Black Mass was
protected, and Ricochet and Aleister won again. There’s nothing wrong with this, but it’s
nowhere near the most effective way to book them.
The Revival jumped Black and Ricochet from behind afterwards to continue the tag team
feud.
Why won’t your segment die?! Alexa Bliss revealed next that the host of WrestleMania
35 will be… Alexa Bliss. I’m not entirely sure why WrestleManias need hosts, let alone
special correspondents, and Bliss once again being in a non-wrestling role implies she
is injured and not medically cleared. Speaking of guest hosts at WrestleMania…
It appears WWE are indeed building a WrestleMania match between Braun Strowman and SNL’s Mike
and Colin - as Strowman destroyed a car the two comedians had sent him as a gift. But
that would make it two on one! Who could possibly come to Strowman’s aid? Help us, Nicholas,
you’re our only hope!
Elias beat up No Way Jose for being No Way Jose.
Harlem Heat are going into the Hall of Fame, meaning Booker T will be a two-time, two-time
Hall of Famer. [25]
Lacey Evans made her entrance for no reason [26], and then Nia Jax took on Natalya after
their brawl at Fastlane [27]. Beth Phoenix was out there too [28], and there was a DQ
[29], and Sasha Banks and Bayley jumped Jax and Tamina backstage afterwards [30], and
nobody cared.
And now I will perform the dialogue exchange between Triple H and Batista’s face-to-face.
[CLEARS THROAT] GIMME WHAT I WANT
No. GIMME WHAT I WANT
No. GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME WHAT I WANT
Ok then. In all seriousness, though, this was an incredible
segment, and my favourite thing on the show. Sure, Batista was almost childish in the way
he demanded a WrestleMania match from Triple H, but that’s the intent and a testament
to the man’s acting. This new Batista is obsessed with being in control of the man
he feels has stood over him all his life, it’s a classic Oedipal narrative, the student
resenting the teacher, the son wanting to kill the father.
Don’t let the crazy line delivery distract you from this being a fascinating feud dynamic,
and one which will now culminate in a No Holds Barred match at WrestleMania.
The Mania card continued to take shape next, when Kurt Angle announced that is where he’ll
be having his last ever match. But for now, in his hometown of Pittsburgh, he’ll beat
Apollo Crews in minutes. Which was fine, but if you’re going to randomly use Shelton
Benjamin on this episode, doesn’t it make a lot more sense to do it with his former
Team Angle leader Kurt?
It looks like we’ll have to wait another week at least for Roman’s return to the
ring on Raw, as Drew McIntyre brutalised him before his match against Baron Corbin could
get started. WHY ARE YOU A TEAM?! Drew and his Claymore were booked to look incredible
here, concussing Roman with one against the ring post.
Rollins ran down to help his beaten brother, while Ambrose demanded a Falls Count Anywhere
match against McIntyre from Triple H. Which Triple H granted, because there are no authority
figures anymore...
It provided an awesome TV main event, with McIntyre and Ambrose brawling around the entire
arena. Having Dean’s real-life wife Renee Young on commentary helped heighten the drama,
with her reactions to Drew stabbing a pencil in Ambrose’s eye being the best announcing
she’s done so far. The finish appeared to finally write Dean
off WWE TV and for him to leave the company, putting over McIntyre strong as he delivered
a Claymore to Ambrose trapped in a stair rail. Thank you, Dean. You’ll be missed.
With Fastlane now out the way, we finally feel to be on the road to WrestleMania with
the card taking shape. And the Batista/Triple H angle and main event match were fantastic.
This week’s Raw is Cor.
Now it’s over to Luke with the news…
Thanks Oli - great review as always, which just makes sense.
Despite people telling me on Twitter that El Fakidor is out to destroy WrestleTalk,
I still think he’s a totally trustworthy figure who 100% supports WrestleTalk. And
someone else who supports WrestleTalk is Nick Jackson of the Young Bucks - revealing in
the latest episode of Being The Elite that he’s a reader of the WrestleTalk Magazine.
This follows on from Matt Riddle reading the magazine in his Arrival series on the WWE
Network. What I’m trying to say is cool kids are reading the magazine - so you should
probably guy a copy too. Maybe peer pressure isn’t the best way to sell merch. Uh…
if you don’t buy a copy I’ll… I’ll… uhh.. I’ll streak. And trust me, that is
something you don’t want to see!
Speaking of streaks and the world of wrestling has seen some classic ones over the last few
years - with Asuka remaining undefeated for nearly 1,000 days in NXT and on the main roster,
and even Curt Hawkins’ impressive losing streak which has been going on since 2016.
It sort of makes you long for Rusev’s winning streak - you know there one where the Bulgarian
Brute went undefeated as United States Champion and even rode a tank into WrestleMania for
his match against John Cena.
Well now Rusev has a new streak, only this one isn’t quite as good. On the Kick Off
show for WWE Fastlane Baby, Rusev teamed with Shinsuke Nakamura in a losing effort to New
Day, and according to ESPN’s Andrew Feldman on Twitter that was Rusev’s 17th straight
PPV loss. And while that number seems bad, it’s about to get worse, as that number
is actually tied with The Great Khali for the longest running PPV losing streak in WWE
history. Rusev’s last PPV win was at Roadblock: End of the Line in December 2016 - where he
beat Big Cass on the pre-show. Since then he’s been beaten by the likes of Big Show,
John Cena, Randy Orton, AJ Styles and even his current teammate Shinsuke Nakamura .
When this possible history-making record was revealed to Rusev, he responded via Twitter
saying: “Knowing how things are they probably won’t even let me be number 1”
Speaking of Rusev’s WrestleMania 31 opponent, and it’s been widely reported that WWE still
haven’t made a definitive decision on John Cena’s match for Mania 35 in just a few
weeks. Originally it was reported that Cena was set to face Lars Sullivan, who was going
to attack him prior to the Royal Rumble and write him off that show - because remember
WWE announced John Cena for a show he was never going to be a part of. Sadly Lars suffered
what was believed to be an anxiety attack, and he then reportedly no showed a couple
of Raw tapings and house show events. With that storyline being dropped, it was then
rumoured Cena could face Drew McIntyre essentially filling in the Lars storylin, but those plans
were also dropped. Many figured he would face R-Truth for the United States Championship
seeing as Truth was defending the belt in his honour, but he lost that title to Samoa
Joe. And according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, John Cena vs. Samoa Joe for
the United States Championship was not the WrestleMania plan as of last week, with the
new speculation being that he will be the man to face Kurt Angle in his farewell match
which was announced on last night’s Raw - mirroring Cena’s debut in WWE back in
the day. And in a WWE.com interview, Angle revealed that the names being thrown around
for his farewell match do include Cena, as well as some of his former TNA stars like
Samoa Joe, Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley.