Opening Segment: Kevin Owens Cuts A Promo On Goldberg
Kevin Owens opened up Raw alone. There was no Chris Jericho by his side, nobody to hide behind. Instead, he sat in a chair and stated his strategy for defeating Goldberg at Fastlane. Owens vowed to outlast Goldberg. He said it is common knowledge that the longer a Goldberg match goes, the more likely it is that Goldberg will falter. Owens was going to address his attack on Chris Jericho last week but opted to drop the microphone and leave the ring. Two weeks before WWE Fastlane, the WWE wants you to take Kevin Owens seriously. He has spent months relying on others to help him win matches. If he drops the title to Goldberg, he was officially a paper champion. If he retains due to outside interference, he is the same old Kevin Owens. If he defeats Goldberg clean, then all of Goldberg’s mystique is gone heading into his match against Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania.
Enzo & Cass Become #1 Contenders For The Raw Tag Team Championships
After months of meaningless feuds, Enzo and Cass have finally been thrust into the Raw Tag Team Championship picture. They defeated Sheamus & Cesaro and will now face Gallows & Anderson for the titles at WWE Fastlane. Sheamus & Cesaro won the Raw Team Championships by defeating the New Day. The New Day were the longest reigning Tag Team Champions in WWE history. Sheamus & Cesaro then did nothing with the titles and promptly dropped them to Gallows & Anderson on the Royal Rumble Kickoff Show. After the match, Sheamus leveled Enzo with a Brogue Kick outside the ring. Cesaro congratulated Sheamus on laying out Enzo. Are Sheamus & Cesaro now heels? I guess those backstage segments with Bayley the last couple of weeks were pointless.
Roman Reigns Beatdown Both Gallows & Anderson
For the second week in a row, Roman Reigns was able to beat the hell out of the Raw Tag Team Champions. There has really been no explanation as to why Gallows & Anderson insist on fighting Roman Reigns. These Handicap matches have done nothing but make Gallows & Anderson look weak. Roman Reigns looks powerful, but he always has. The problem is that he has never been able to connect with the WWE Universe the way that the WWE apparently wants him to. Instead of feeding a random team like the Shining Stars to Reigns, the WWE has instead made the Raw Tag Team Champions look even weaker than they already did before this “feud” with Roman Reigns.
Looks like I picked a bad night to stop sniffin glue…
Or caring about tag wrestling.
But I get it…#Bizness
— Bubba Ray Dudley (@bullyray5150) February 21, 2017
The New Day Are The New Enzo & Cass
After dropping the Raw Tag Team Championships, the New Day have been in random feuds with Titus O’Neil and now Rusev & Jinder Mahal. The New Day were named the hosts of Wrestlemania 33, presumably because the WWE has nothing for them to do. The New Day are now protecting their blueprints to their ice cream that is coming out this year. Why every Superstar they face is obsessed with these blueprints I have no idea. Since losing the United States Championship, Rusev has been relegated to a comedy act. Rusev was once feared as this dominant force, now he is stuck in segments like the one we saw last night.
The Women’s Division On Raw Is The Same Thing Over And Over Again
Charlotte has never lost a match on a WWE PPV, yet is routinely beaten on Monday Night Raw. Last night, she tapped out to the Bank Statement via Sasha Banks. Last week, Charlotte lost her Women’s Championship to Bayley. It was announced that Charlotte will get her rematch for the Raw Women’s Championship at WWE Fastlane. Instead of slowly building Bayley up, she was given the Raw Women’s Championship on a random episode of Raw. Stephanie McMahon wanted Bayley to relinquish the title due to Sasha Banks interfering in her match with Charlotte last week. If Bayley drops the title to Charlotte at Fastlane, that will make Charlotte a 5x Raw Women’s Champion in under a year.
I find it hard to believe that Charlottes undefeated PPV streak would end at Fastlane. It would make much more sense for that moment to happen at Wrestlemania. It also would have made more sense for Bayley to overcome Charlotte and The Authority and finally get her moment at Wrestlemania. Instead, we’ve already seen that moment of her winning the Raw Women’s Championship. The other option is for Bayley to retain and face either Sasha Banks or Nia Jax at Wrestlemania. The problem with that is that Nia Jax receives virtually no reaction from the WWE Universe. Sasha Banks has zero momentum right now and Wrestlemania is five weeks away. It just seems like the better story would have been to hold Bayley down until Wrestlemania. Charlotte could have screwed Bayley out of winning the Raw Women’s Championship until the biggest show of the year.
Roman Reigns Is In No Man’s Land
Roman Reigns has gotten his ass kicked two weeks in a row by Braun Strowman. Reigns will face Strowman at WWE Fastlane. If he defeats Strowman at Fastlane, people will be pissed off. If Reigns loses, what does he do at Wrestlemania? As of now, Roman Reigns is not a part of a major match at Wrestlemania. I’m not sure if the WWE thought that placing Reigns in Handicap matches would cause the audience to be more receptive to him. Whatever they were going for, it hasn’t worked at all.
Michael Cole made it a point to say that Roman Reigns sent a message after he beatdown Gallows & Anderson. I have zero clue what that message is supposed to be. Is Reigns going to face Strowman at Fastlane and then again at Wrestlemania? Reigns is a no win situation right now. If he gets thrust into the Universal Championship picture before Wrestlemania, people will get pissed off. If he is not a part of a major match at Wrestlemana, that feels like a waste. Say what you want about Roman Reigns, at the very least he generates a reaction from the WWE Universe. Right now, he seems to be in a position where the WWE Universe does not want him to succeed, yet the WWE still wants him to be a top guy.
