WWE Raw: Rollins keeps Rollin’

Thomas Starr

Rollins is headed to the Elimination Chamber
Rollins is headed to the Elimination Chamber

A solid two and a half hours of wrestling. These shows have been consistently good since that awful debut on Netflix. They are improving their booking of the women’s division, but there is a long way to go. I cannot complain about it much though because there were not any moments that stood out as bad.

Must-see moments:

Sami Zayn’s promo

Sami did a wonderful job hyping his match with Owens. Pearce coming out and saying it would be non-sanctioned was good too, although they rushed all this. Sami hit another level here, which is not a surprise since he is facing his close friend, and they want to create a moment together.

Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor

I debated which match was better this one or Penta’s match. I recommend this one, because of the stakes involved with the winner going to the Chamber. Good match between two pros.

Quick Results:

  1. AJ Styles defeated Dominik Mysterio
  2. Dakota Kai defeated Ivy Nile to earn an IC Title shot
  3. Penta defeated Pete Dunne
  4. Roxanne Perez defeated Raquel Rodriguez to earn a spot in the Chamber
  5. Seth Rollins defeated Finn Balor to earn a spot in the Chamber

Fun Facts:

  1. Dakota Kai, who was fighting for an IC Title shot, had won three singles matches since December of 2023. Two of them were on Main Event. (Source: Cagematch)
  2. Ivy Nile, also fighting for an IC Title shot, had won five singles matches since December 2023. Two of those were on Main Event. (Source: Cagematch)

Chronological recap:

A Sami Zayn-Kevin Owens package aired. These two long-time lovers have continued their torrid, on-again off-again relationship. You just hope these two will one day make it. Also, the video package was good even if we have seen this all before. Again, and again and again.

The spurned paramour Zayn came out in his finest TJMAXX flannel, which highlighted Sami’s bear-like beard and gnarly ruff of hair. Sami toyed with our emotions as he stated this was really, no lies, double forever the end of their long and storied union. He demanded to face Kevin Owens at Elimination Chamber.

Adam Pearce interrupted and told Sami they had already told him no. Pearce explained that they could not sanction the match and would have nothing to do with it. Sami demanded an old fashioned, lights out, no DQ unsanctioned match. Pearce relented. After they had teased Zayn’s death, the crowd popped for the match taking place. Geez, blood-thirsty much?

McAfee, being the genius that he is, completely downplayed the Sami might die part of this and cheered wildly for the match. He is incompetent. Did he not pay attention to the stakes?

The Judgement Day did more nattering backstage. They previewed all their matches, but why are these people still spending time together?

Some guy was in the Redmond position in the crowd. Who are you and what have you done with Jackie? Anyways, they had fun with Google Earth showing where Bayley has been over the last two weeks. Then he introduced Bayley.

Bayley hyped the Chamber match and said no matter what she has accomplished, she still has a lot to prove to herself. The interviewer was from NXT. Vic Venum? Something like that.

AJ Styles vs. Dominik Mysterio

It is good to see Styles in the ring. McAfee called a Styles dropkick a “Total Nonstop Action Dropkick.” Lame. Carlito interfered early and knocked Styles off the ropes. Styles’ ankle got caught under the ropes in an awkward fall. Dom followed that up with a terrible looking dive. I hope AJ is okay.

McAfee called Michele McCool a “trailblazer.” I am going to leave that one alone. It is a joke Hall of Fame after all. Last year we were told The Rock’s grandma was the first female promoter, so who cares right?

After more shenanigans with Carlito, Styles hit the Styles Clash to win.

Winner: AJ Styles

Bron Breakker showed up behind Styles, but AJ pulled Dominik into Bron’s spear. He then dumped Bron out of the ring.

American Made’s Julius Creed is going to be working with Daniel Cormier’s team on the Ultimate Fighter. Julius is a high-level amateur wrestler, so he is credentialed. It will be interesting to see how much he is featured on TUF and whether it helps build an audience for him. Plus, Cormier in a WWE angle?

Lyra Valkyria came out to voluminous indifference. Not surprising considering how she has been booked. Yes, she is the Intercontinental Champion. But she was also beaten by Bayley shortly after winning the title, which did not help her at all.

Ivy Nile vs. Dakota Kai – Intercontinental Title Shot

The winner of this match faces Valkyria next week. They had Lyra sitting awkwardly at ringside. Why not have her on commentary? At least give her a chance to connect with the audience.

This is another puzzling decision in a lengthy line of puzzling decisions regarding their women’s division. Ivy Nile has not won a match on TV since October. Yet she has a chance at a title. She is also nominally a heel, but never does anything that heelish. Dakota has not won a TV match since December and here she is fighting for a title shot. I have no idea if she is a heel, or a face and I watch this every week. Give us something to get behind, WWE.

Dakota Kai won a back-and-forth match. The crowd was dead throughout. Kai and Lyra had a good match for the IC Title before, so I am looking forward to it, but is it too difficult to ask WWE to do some character development with their midcard women?

Winner: Dakota Kai

McAfee interviewed A-Town Down Under where they teased dissension. Again. They cut them off mid-sentence.

Gunther did Jey Uso’s entrance and mocked his hand waving. He walked down the stairs calling the fans simpletons. Gunther said speaking to the fans was like reading Shakespeare to a dog. He told a kid to move out of the way before something happened to him. That was funny.

Gunther continued berating the fans and eventually climbed on top of the announcer table. He asked Cole if he really thought Jey could beat him? He implored Pat to say it to his face. Then Gunther hit Pat on the mommy-daddy button with the mic. Pat finally said he thought Jey could win. Jey came out and three officials waved at him to not do it. They had a pull apart, but eh. Gunther had me when he threatened Pat, but then Jey had to stick his nose into this.

After a pause, the cameras followed Jey into the backstage area. He ran into those two scoundrels The New Day. They told Jey they are looking forward to him losing at WrestleMania. They kept walking and ran into “Butch” I mean Pete. Pete bowed up at them for calling him that, but Woods said they was a “language barrier.” That was hilarious.

Pete Dunne vs. Penta

Penta came out to a huge pop. This guy must be making a ton of money on merchandise. The mask they offered his first night in is on back order until May.

Ludwig made his way out as Pete maintained control. Penta fought from underneath as usual. Pete told Ludwig to leave, but when he did not leave Penta tossed Dunne into him and hit his finish on Dunne.

Winner: Penta

They aired a well-produced, and much needed, video package on Roxanne. I know she has been on NXT for years, but they needed to fully introduce her to the Raw audience.

Vic Venum was in the audience again with Dakota Kai. Dakota Kai guaranteed a victory over Lyra. These short promos are a welcomed addition to the show. Dakota was good. More of these and some decisive TV wins and you start to build your undercard. CC: Whoever is booking the women’s division.

Raquel Rodriguez vs. Roxanne Perez

Another mind-blowing decision. Roxanne is short. It is one thing that could impede her in the long term. So, they debut her against the tallest woman on the roster. Now, this could work if she were a babyface, but the highlight package framed her as a heel. So, we have a heel vs. heel match that does nothing for either woman and immediately blows some steam from Roxanne who has a lot of potential in a division that needs fresh faces. Genius booking.

For no good reason, Bianca and Naomi show up at the end of the match. They think Raquel and Liv tried to kill their friend, but the first time Liv and Raquel are out there they wait around to confront them and then do it in the middle of the match. Lazy booking. Roxanne won a match that did nothing for her.

Winner: Roxanne

Karrion Kross showed up backstage to talk for a while about things. I have no idea what the point of that was.

Vic Venum was in the crowd with Ludwig. Kaiser screamed that the momentum around Penta should be his momentum. He momentarily was booed. Okay promo.

Iyo Sky did a cool promo package where she switched between English and Japanese. In 2025, wrestling should be multilingual broadcasts. She pointed out how many times she has beaten Rhea Ripley, hyping their upcoming match.

The New Day came out to that terrible new entrance theme. The crowd booed them unmercifully. Until Woods snapped and told them to shut up. He legitimately had to scream to be heard.

Kofi pointed out that he has been on the roster longer than Rey Mysterio. He also claimed to have more title wins than Rey. Kingston said Rey kicking them out of the locker room was “audacious.”

The New Day began talking about what happened last week, but we have not seen the footage yet. Kofi claimed they made Rey cry.

The LWO interrupted, which momentarily popped the crowd until they realized Rey was not with them. The valiant babyfaces assaulted the heels three on two. The New Day ran away from them. That was funny.

After finding the two women who tried to kill their friend, Bianca and Naomi giggled and skipped backstage. Yes, their friend was nearly killed, and they are silly and goofy after confronting the perpetrators. They did not even get a measure of revenge, but to make sure you know this is all just funsies and zaniness they are bouncing around like normal.

Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor – Chamber Qualifying Match

Cole did an excellent job of explaining the history between these two men. Finn jump started the match, so Cole’s explanation made sense of his actions.

Rollins destroyed Finn’s knee in this match. I am assuming in a working way, but Finn was so good selling this that I was not sure. There was a great spot where Seth went for a FrogSplash, but Finn turned it into a pin attempt.

Seth hit a Pedigree, and the ref counted three, but then claimed it was two. The crowd booed and everyone stood around for a while awkwardly. A couple minutes later, Rollins pinned him anyway. Okay, why not just give him the win earlier since we all saw it? Whatever.

Winner: Seth Rollins

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