The WWE Raw Reaction for 1/31/22
Welcome to the Raw Reaction, where I offer my take on this week’s show in Cincinnati, OH.
As always, you can check out John’s full in-depth report here.
The show opens up with highlights from the Royal Rumble before we go to Promo Time with Adam Pearce. Pearce announces that this year’s Elimination Chamber match will be for the WWE Championship. Bobby Lashley and MVP come out to protest. The 2022 Royal Rumble winner, Brock Lesnar, comes out in his ring gear. Lesnar says he’s ready to fight for his rematch right now. Lashley balks and heads to the back. Pearce announces that Lesnar is the first person qualified for the Elimination Chamber. I’m pulling for anybody but Lesnar to win the Chamber.
Our opening bout has Rhea Ripley taking on Nikki A.S.H. The match was good and a decisive win for Ripley. Hopefully, this is the end of that feud. Ripley should move on to her WrestleMania program. As for Nikki, I don’t know what could be next for her. She’s never really recovered from getting obliterated by Charlotte Flair and dropped the Raw Women’s Championship to her.
The scooter race between Chad Gable and Riddle starts. Let’s hope it is mildly passable.
Alexa Bliss is shown in the psychiatrist’s office with a replica Lilly doll. Meh.
Dominik Mysterio is out next to lose to The Miz in awful fashion. Double meh.
The Kevin Owens Show is up next with guest Seth Rollins. We get a video recap of the Universal Title match before Rollins announces that he has been entered into the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match. Owens looked surprised that Rollins was just entered where he has to qualify in a match with Austin Theory. Owens wants to go backstage with Rollins to have Adam Pearce add him (Owens) to Chamber without having to qualify first. Theory then comes out for his qualifying match.
The match was pretty good with Owens bumping to help put Theory over. Owens hasn’t done any of the Saudi shows lately, so the outcome was rather expected. Theory picked up the win and looked really good in the match. Theory still has no chance in the Chamber though.
Hometown Hero Angelo Dawkins of the Street Profits takes on Dolph Ziggler next. The match was pretty basic paint by numbers and, surprisingly, Dawkins got the win in his hometown. Granted, he was facing Dolph Ziggler, but the hometown rib is real my friends.
The scooter race is on lap 49 of 50. This will be ending soon. Riddle was in the lead when Otis popped out tackle Riddle at the finish line to allow Chad Gable to win the race. Riddle challenged Gable to a match but got Otis instead. Adam Pearce showed up and made their match an Elimination Chamber qualifying match. Thanks for telling us the ending, Pearce.
The match was really good and competitive. Otis used his power and tried to use his striking ability. Riddle sold several of Otis’s moves quite well to make them look devastating. Riddle managed to hit Otis with a splash-like move to knock Otis down to pick up the win. It was laid out quite well to look like Riddle managed to surprise Otis with a move off the ropes to pin him.
Bianca Belair takes on Carmella next. Carmella looks stupid in her mask and Corey Graves is getting unbearable on commentary during her matches. He’s cleared to compete so let him and don’t replace him. Anyway, Belair finishes Carmella off in a decent match.
Alexa Bliss is still making googly eyes to the Lilly doll. I’m still not interested.
Gable announces the third and final challenge for next week will be a Quiz Bowl. Oh dear.
Our next (main event) match has AJ Styles taking on Rey Mysterio in an Elimination Chamber qualification match for the final spot. This match was terrific. Both guys can still go in the ring and put on a great match. It was back and forth with lots of big spots. Styles picked up the win after countering Mysterio into a Styles Clash.
The main event time is Promo Time with Rhonda Rousey. Rousey talked about Lynch and Flair and which one she would rather face. Lynch is the money match here. Lynch comes out to demand an answer from Rousey, to which Rousey answers “You’ll have my answer on Friday.” Good way to hype Smackdown. Rousey leaves and the crowd starts to as well. There are five minutes left and Lita comes out. Lita puts Lynch over and then challenges Lynch to a match at Elimination Chamber. Lynch agrees and we’ve got a dream match set up to close out the show.
Let’s look at tonight’s highs and lows.
The Highs
The Styles/Mysterio qualification match was the match of the night. Owens/Theory was a close second. The in-ring action was pretty solid this week.
It was great to see both Lita and Becky Lynch in the same ring together. Their match at Elimination Chamber should be really good.
The Lows
Will the Alexa Bliss journey to Raw take longer than Veer Maahan’s return to Raw? I don’t think I care about either at this point.
They hyped Rousey as making her decision but she was not the final segment. The crowd started leaving after Rousey did, not realizing that Lita was the final piece. It just felt oddly timed to me.
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That’s all I’ve got, until next time.