The Raw after Elimination Chamber had many surprises to it. We had Ronda Rousey’s Raw Debut to confront Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. It provided us speculation on who The Miz will defend the IC title next. There was also speculation on who John Cena will face at Wrestlemania.
The Raw Tag Team Titles were up for grabs in a 2 out of 3 Falls Match. There was a 6 women tag team match featuring the Women’s champion. Lastly, Braun Strowman was in action against Elias.
Here is the entire recap of this anticipated Raw following the Elimination Chamber.The show kicks off with Alexa Bliss and Mickie James. Alexa gloats about her successful title defense last night. Asuka confronts them, leading to an altercation with Nia Jax. Bayley and Sasha Banks help Asuka out leading to a 6 women tag match.
Analysis: The promo wasn’t too long which is a plus. Alexa cut a really good promo, especially when talking to Asuka.
Asuka, Bayley and Sasha Banks def. Nia Jax, Alexa Bliss, and Mickie James
Analysis: Not too exciting of a match. Interested to see where they go with Bayley and Sasha after Bayley refuses to get tagged by her.
John Cena cuts a promo saying he wants to face The Undertaker at Wrestlemania. He then says it won’t happen and decides to go to SmackDown.
Analysis: Not sure what they are actually doing here with Cena. It looks like this might be something to catch everyone off guard. At some point, they’ll probably have Taker confront Cena.Bray Wyatt takes out Heath Slater and Rhyno and cuts a promo saying The Great War is not over.
Analysis: This feud is still happening? Why? There really is no point to continuing the Wyatt vs. Matt Hardy rivalry.
The Miz cuts a promo expressing his frustration. He talks about Kurt Angle screwing him over. Seth Rollins comes out to face him.
Analysis: Miz cut a great promo as usual. Just shows how good of an entertainer he can be.
Seth Rollins def. The Miz
Analysis: Okay match. Both guys performed well.
Finn Balor def. The Miz
Analysis: This was confusing. Miz is supposed to be the heel yet he is doing double duty thanks to Angle. The match itself was okay.Roman Reigns cuts a promo, trash-talking Brock Lesnar on being a part-time champion. Brock doesn’t show up to face Roman in the ring.
Analysis: This is actually a better promo from Roman. As much hate as he gets, his promo here was not bad.
The Bar def. Titus O’Neil and Apollo to retain the Tag titles in a 2 out of 3 falls match.
Analysis: The match was decent. Apollo had a good showing in it. Hopefully, that means this feud is done. The Bar’s interview had me interested in who they feud with next though.
Braun Strowman def. Elias by DQ
Analysis: Elias intro was good especially when insulting the crowd at Anaheim. The match itself was decent. A fire extinguisher was a nice touch of trying to take out Braun.
Triple H and Stephanie ask Kurt to apologize to them for the Chamber. Kurt says he lied about what he said at Elimination Chamber. Ronda asks Stephanie to apologize for slapping her. Stephanie apologizes, then Triple H cheap shots Kurt before he leaves the ring.
Analysis: At least they did something different by ending the show with a promo segment. It was confusing why Kurt would just suddenly say he lied. The cheap shot from Triple H was a good way to end the show. It actually gets people a little interested to see what happens next week.
Overall: This was a pretty good Raw. Segments on this show were designed to set up possible WrestleMania matches and that’s what they did.