Features

The WWE Raw Reaction for 2/28/22

By Kelly Dishnow • Published 1st March 2022
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Welcome to the WWE Raw Reaction, where I offer up my take on this week’s show in Columbus, OH for this episode featuring a US Title and more action on the road to WrestleMania.

As always, you can check out John’s full in-depth report here.

We kick things off with The KO Show featuring Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins host Alpha Academy head of the big triple threat tag team title match next week. Owens runs down Texas before Alpha Academy comes out. They have Shoooosh t-shirts now. How nice. We get a little trash talk out of 2/3 of next week’s match before the fight breaks out with Gable taking a stunner to end the talk show spot.

Here’s Rollins reacting to a John Canton tweet about it. Great stuff.

The fight led to our first match, likely pre-scheduled, a tag match between Alpha Academy and Owens/Rollins. We got a solid tag team match that was given sufficient time to develop. The match looked competitive but Owens and Rollins pick up the win after a Stunner/Stomp combo on Gable again. This definitely gives Owens and Rollins momentum heading into next week’s title match, having defeated RK-Bro last week. I’m not quite sure how that match will go yet.

Hey look, T-Bar is still with WWE. Shame he got demolished by Omos. At least he got TV time, right?

Six Women Tag Team action is next with the trio of Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, and Rhea Ripley taking on the team of Becky Lynch, Nikki A.S.H., and Doudrop. We get yet another solid tag match, going two for two so far. Both teams looked great and sold the current running stories. The match was very competitive. Belair whipped Lynch seven times with her braid and did a real number on Lynch’s stomach. The whipping sounded so loud. Belair picked up the win for her team after hitting Nikki with the KOD slam. Well done, ladies.

Tommaso Ciampa takes on Robert Roode next. Ciampa lost his epic “No One Will Survive” music and the WWE Twitter account got torched over it. Roode cost Ciampa his match against Dolph Ziggler last week on NXT, so Ciampa gets his revenge in a Three Minute (wait for it) Raw Special with the deadliest move in all of sports entertainment, the ROLLUP OF DEATH~! After the match, Ziggler and Roode beat Ciampa up to promote this week’s NXT tag match between Ziggler and Roode and Ciampa and Bron Breakker.

Mixed Tag Team action is next with 24/7 Champion Dana Brooke and Reggie taking on Tamina and Akira Tozawa. Thank God it was kept short, sweet, and to the point of the dueling make out sessions after the match. Riveting TV, I guess.

The Mysterios come out for their tag match against The Hurt Business next. Before the match, The Miz comes out to run his mouth rehashing the same points he always makes in all of his feuds. Yes, Miz, we all remember you main evented WrestleMania as WWE Champion. The fact is, you were the third wheel in that match and all it was supposed to do and did was set up Cena/Rock the following yeear. Oh, and the match sucked. Anyway, Miz shuts up so the Hurt Business can come out. It was another solid match but with a screwy ending. Miz interfered to cost The Mysterios the match to further his WrestleMania feud with them.

RK-Bro take on the Street Profits next. It was yet another solid tag team match, keeping the streak alive. Montez Ford can get some serious height on some of his jumps. The match seemed to run off the rails at the end and The Street Profits picked up the win after Ford pinned Orton with an awkward frog splash that did not look like it was supposed to be the finish. Orton came up holding his arm and everyone looked like they were trying to figure out what went awry. Hopefully, Orton is okay and ready for next week’s title match.

Veer Mahaan is still coming to Raw. So is the Easter Bunny, pal.

Vince McMahon and Austin Theory are talking backstage about McMahon’s upcoming appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. Theory asked if he should accompany him in case McAfee gets out of line and become his WrestleMania match.

The United States Championship is up for grabs next with Damian Priest defending against Finn Balor. This has the makings of a really great match, but they only got 10 minutes. The match was not as good as it should have been but they at least made it competitive. Balor picked up the win to become the new United States champion. After the match, Priest turned heel and laid out Balor after ripping on the fans. If they build the Damian side as more unhinged, then he could become a realistic challenger for the world title by SummerSlam. I’m excited to see what they can do with Priest’s character and if they do it right, they could make a new Latino star out of him.

We end the evening with Promo Time with Edge. Edge wants to know who will accept his WrestleMania challenge from last week and AJ Styles steps to up accept. Dream Match City. Edge said he wanted the bulldog AJ and not tag team AJ so he (Edge) turned heel and beats Styles down. Edge finishes Styles off with a pair of conchairtos to end the show in a shower of boos.

Let’s take a look at tonight’s highs and lows.

The Highs

We have another night of solid tag team action. The mixed tag was considered solid because it was kept short and on point. Smackdown a couple of weeks ago had a night of solid tag matches, too. Perhaps there might be some hope for the tag division after all.

I am so looking forward to the Edge/Styles match at WrestleMania. It is truly a dream match that is finally happening. The promos between these two should be great. I wonder if Edge will do the old Brood entrance at WrestleMania like he’s done for a couple of his matches lately?

The Lows

The timing of the Edge heel turn sorta overshadowed Priest’s heel turn. I think it would have benefitted Priest more if maybe it waited a week or have Edge turn on Styles a little closer to WrestleMania. Priest might get lost in the shuffle with Edge turning being the bigger deal.

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You can hit me up on Facebook or Twitter (@ciscowebwiz76) with any comments or discussion.

That’s all I’ve got, until next time.