2/22/2021: WWE Monday Night RAW Review and Results

Feb 23, 20218 min read

Updated: Apr 9, 2021

Elimination Chamber was a night of tenacity, heartbreak, and shock, so how did WWE follow up on their flagship show? Let's get right into it.

The show begins.

After a short recap of the Raw Elimination Chamber match and Miz's shocking cash-in, we see John Morison in the ring surrounded by balloons! It, of course, is a special Championship edition of the most must-see show on television - "Miz TV." After a Nightmare Family-Esque amount of Pyro for the new champion, The Miz on the mic celebrates his brilliance and mentions that he is now the only two-time grand slam champion in WWE history (which I have to say is a pretty impressive feat that speaks to the longevity of the former reality star we all love to hate.) Not amused by this galavanting of feats, Bobby Lashley and MVP make their entrance, storm to the ring, and explain what went down last night. According to MVP, The Miz made a deal with Lashley to take out McIntyre in exchange for being first in line for a title shot. The Miz tries to get out of it but Lashley issues an ultimatum and gives the Miz an hour to give him his match... or else Bobby will give The Miz an "Awesome" beat down.

(For future reference, I will not be grading promo segments, only matches, and I will be using the 1-5 star scale for the shows I review.)

Next up we see the Lucha House Party backstage with the new U.S Champion, Matt Riddle, the Party of Luchas congratulate Riddle on last night, to which he infers to mean his first warzone win where he "went all commando and started blazing it up". Very subtle there, Matt (I love it.) LHP says "no not the bad battle royale game, mark, your first title win on the main roster.", "Oh Yeah that was pretty cool too", responds Riddle. He then explains that he is naming the eagle on his belt Travis and then we go to commercial.

Non-Title Match: Matt Riddle vs. John Morrison

First Match! like 15 minutes into the show! WOOOOOO! It's time for Matt Riddle vs. John Morrison! We see a timer before the entrances showing a countdown to Miz's decision. The action in this match is very good, with lots of technical grappling and good-looking strikes, and even a floating bro from the apron and a middle rope Spanish Fly. The match ends after a starship pain attempt is caught into a Bro Derek, and Riddle picks up the first win of his hopefully long tenure as the United States Championship.

Result: Matt Riddle defeats John Morrison via Pinfall.

Match Rating: 3.5 Stars

We see a vignette telling us that Rhea Ripley is coming soon to a RAW near you! Please don't ruin her, Vince.

Then, we are transported backstage to Bad Bunny and Damien Priest for an interview. Damien quickly notices a very conspicuous R-Truth with a ref in tow and calls him out, Truth plays it cool and acts like he wasn't about to make a move. He says he is a huge Bad Bunny fan, especially when he teamed up with Michael Jordan to defeat the Mon-Stars, which I coincidentally was also a huge fan of. Priest tells him to hit the showers.

We see a recap of the first segment of the show and we are once again backstage with The Miz and Adam Pearce. Miz is trying his hardest to weasel his way out of this ultimatum, but Pearce does not relent.

Retribution (T-Bar and Mace) vs. The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods)

Second Match! Oh boy, am I excited! And it's the New Day! I love the New Day! Who are they facing! It's! It's! ............It's Retribution. Mace...... and T-Bar....... who look like if Bane had bastard children who he beat relentlessly. Match sucked, all you need to know is Retribution hit Kofi with the "high justice" and after Ali commanded them to do it again (which took them 12 years to try and figure out) Kofi managed to hit the Trouble in paradise and get the quick win. Ali is furious with his clan of misfit toys and verbally berates them. Is this leading to a possible Retribution break-up? Do I care? Find out next week I suppose.

Result: The New Day defeat Retribution via Pinfall.

Match Rating: 0.5 Stars

Time is up on The Miz's decision! Adam Pearce is in the ring and brings out Lashley, then The Miz. The Miz says he has come to his conclusion and that he...... needs more time to think it over. Before Lashley can murder Mizanin, Braun Strowman comes out still furious at his exclusion from the Elimination Chamber match and demands a title shot tonight. Then, we get a monumental return, the best wrestler in the world CM... I mean... Shane McMahon is back! He and Adam Pearce eventually make the decision that in the main event it will be Bobby Lashley vs. Braun Strowman, and if Strowman wins then next week it will be a triple threat for the title. Now, during this segment it isn't explicitly made clear that Bobby even got his match he was owed, making it look like he was completely screwed over, it was only when commentary and the post-commercial graphic clarified that Braun will be ADDED to the match already happening if he wins. Classic Fed, making a segment a clusterfuck for no reason then confusing its audience more so than entertaining them. Boo!

Non-Title Tornado Tag Team Match: Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado) vs. The Hurt Business (Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander)

Third Match: Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik of Lucha House Party vs. the WWE RAW Tag Team Champions, Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin. The Hurt Business dominates most of this match-up, with LHP only getting one good flurry of offense before getting shut down, culminating in an assisted knee strike from Cedric and a Pay-der (Paider? Pay dirt? Paid Her?) from Shelton to win. Pretty short match, but watching THB and LHP do their thing is always fun.

Result: The Hurt Business defeat Lucha House Party via Pinfall.

Match Rating: 3 Stars.

Angel Garza vs. Damien Priest

Fourth Match: Angel Garza vs. Damien Priest (w/ Bad Bunny.) Solid work from both guys here, pretty cookie-cutter match after everything was said and done, I am curious to see how far they push Damien Priest in this ongoing program with Bad Bunny, as he looked pretty good in this Victory over Garza, using his finish "Hit The Lights" to win the day. After the match, Akira Tozawa, Humberto Cario, and Drew Gulak rush the ring, the first two thrown out by Damien, and poor Gulak getting jobbed to Bad Bunny, oh how the mighty have fallen.

Result: Damien Priest defeated Angel Garza via Pinfall.

Match Rating: 2 Stars.

There's a short recap of last Monday's Alexa Bliss antics, and we join The Viper himself who gives a "fiery" (see what I did there) promo talking about how he is distracted by Alexa Bliss, but before he can go on anymore, he coughs up some vicious black fluid, and then presumably dies off-screen.

Comedy Rating: 5 Stars

Non-Title Match: Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler vs. Asuka and Charlotte Flair

Quick recap of the best angle in wrestling - of course I am referring to the Lacey Evans pregnancy angle. We go to the fifth match, Charlotte and Asuka vs. Nia Jax and Shayna Bazler. Apologies to Charlotte, Asuka, and Shayna, but I think any match in which Nia Jax is involved will get an automatic zero stars as she has proven time and time again her incompetence, as well as repeatedly being a danger to everyone unfortunate enough to get paired with her. So yeah, everything not Nia-related in this match was decent enough, but the presence of the irresistible force makes this a nail-biter in all the wrong ways.

Result: Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler defeated Charlotte and Asuka

Match Rating: 0 Stars

Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus

Now I am not sure why the WWE insists on forcing these wrestlers to work after the chamber match, do they not have one of the most stacked rosters in the world? Why make these people wrestle when not wrestling would do more to sell the danger of the Elimination Chamber. The actual match was pretty good, high spots included the poetry in motion on the outside with the help of the steel steps and a pretty brutal-looking whisper in the wind, but a swift brogue kick ends the night for Jeff Hardy.

Result: Sheamus defeated Jeff Hardy via Pinfall

Match Rating: 3 Stars

Emotional baggage time with the Flair Family! Backstage, a sad Charlotte Flair reprimands her dad for messing around on her time. Flair says "I never said the baby was mine" (yeah but we all thought it Ric) and tells her it is about building the brand of the Flair name. Charlotte tells Ric to go home. I feel like I have seen this exact same promo from Charlotte to Ric 37 times, so I was not particularly gripped in this 38th attempt.

Naomi and Lana vs. Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke

It is a squash match for Lana and Naomi thank god, if it went any longer I might have harmed myself.

Result: Naomi and Lana defeated Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke via Pinfall.

Match Rating: 0.5 Stars

AJ Styles vs. Ricochet

This match was decently short and competitive, really all it did for me was remind me of the wasted potential of Ricochet and leave me wanting more from the two, which may not be a bad thing but knowing WWE I doubt any long term program is in the cards between these two competitors. Let's hope they prove me wrong. After a Styles Clash wins it for AJ, Omos comes in and hits Ricochet with a huuuuuuuge toss thingy which Ricochet sells like a sniper rifle.

Result: AJ Styles defeated Ricochet via Pinfall

Match Rating: 2.75 Stars

Bobby Lashley vs. Braun Strowman

Bobby Lashley is continuing to be booked strong here, taking Braun off his feet multiple times and making him look like just a regular guy (which is pretty impressive considering Braun could probably flick me and put me in a coma.) The highlight of this match for me was Bobby Lashley just doing a straight vertical jump from the floor to the apron to avoid a charging Strowman and then hitting a great-looking clothesline from the stairs. Lashley also kicks out of the running power slam, which commentary puts over huge. Then a fierce spear gets the W for Lashley. Next week in the main event it will be The Miz vs. Bobby Lashley for the title, the show fades to black with Lashley wrecking shop and holding the title high.

Result: Bobby Lashley defeated Braun Strowman via Pinfall.

Match Rating: 3.5 Stars

Overall Grade: C +

This show was pretty decent, when I was tasked with reviewing RAW this week I shuddered because I know all too well the utter pain it can be making it through this show. Maybe it was because I could skip commercials, it was not an absolutely soul-crushing experience. This lack of making me want to find something very tall and contemplate every decision I have made combined with some pretty entertaining segments and matches nets this show an okay (but not great) rating of C +.

So how did you feel about the show? Tweet us @BladeJobPW with your opinions, and make sure to tune in every week for the most professional podcast in the world, the one, the only, BLADE JOB WRESTLING PODCAST.