The WWE Raw Reaction for 3/21/22
Welcome to the WWE Raw Reaction, where I offer my take on this week’s show in Chicago, IL.
As always, you can check out John’s full in-depth report here.
We kick off the show with glass shattering and “Stone Cold” Kevin Owens comes out for Promo Time. Owens did a halfway decent Stone Cold Steve Austin impression, getting the entire look down. The Chicago fans lost their minds over the appearance of Austin only to have Owens come out. It was a great way to work the fans. After Owens cut his promo with most of the Austinisms in it, he gave a random guy a Stunner and closed out with the beer bash. It was a great segment and an interesting way to kick the show off.
Our opening bout is a tag team match between the Mysterios and Dolph Ziggler/Robert Roode. The Miz came out for commentary. The tag match was pretty good even with the Seth Rollins interruption in the middle of it. After some decent action, the Mysterios picked up the win. After the match, The Miz attacked Rey and unmasked him. That of course drew epic heat from the Chicago crowd. Miz and Paul have no chance at WrestleMania.
Omos takes on Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez in a handicap match. It’s still hard to say who has the handicap here. Omos dominates and picks up another win. He really needs to start bumping in his matches. He’s exposed every single week as to how limited he is in the ring. He’ll never be as awe-inspiring as Andre the Giant.
Promo Time with AJ Styles is up next. Styles says he’s back and ready to fight Edge at WrestleMania. Seth Rollins comes out and wants to fight Edge in Styles’ place. Styles says no and that brings out Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville to make the match for later. Rollins really needs a better angle than trying to cut into everyone’s WrestleMania match. Yes, I know he’s supposed to face Cody Rhodes, but this is a terrible way to go about it.
Oh look, Carmella and Queen Zelina are fighting backstage. I tried to find a reason to care but couldn’t. Moving along.
More tag team action is next with Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley teaming up to take on Natalya and Shayna Baszler. I really like the entrance Morgan and Ripley have put together. It could work out long term. The match was solid for the little bit of time they got. Natalya and Baszler won with a Hart Attack. After the match, Queen Zelina and Carmella beat up their WrestleMania opponents before kissing and making up. Still don’t care. These titles will be changing hands at Mania.
The Tron movie is up next. Oh wait, that’s Becky Lynch looking like Data? Lynch talks for a minute or two about injuries before leaving. Not much really happened here.
Oh look, Veer Mahaan is the super secret Night After WrestleMania callup. But, they also didn’t say what year.
US Champion Finn Balor takes on Austin Theory next. Pat McAfee graces Raw Commentary with his presence before going to a ridiculously long commercial break. McAfee schools Graves on commentary and causes the distraction to allow Balor to win the competitive match. 50/50 booking at its finest. Why haven’t they announced Balor’s WrestleMania match yet?
RK-Bro faces Alpha Academy in tag team action next. The match was good. A poorly placed commercial break spot cut out more of the match than we saw. Anyway, Riddle picked up the win here. After the match, Riddle gets double-teamed by Alpha Academy before the Street Profits clear the ring of Alpha Academy. Riddle thanks The Street Profits for the help before getting double teamed by them and left laying. I really like this new edge to the Street Profits. I don’t think they’ll go full bore heel, though.
Pointless 24/7 title segment and Intergender Tornado Mixed Tag Match. Can we just retire the title? These spots are getting worse and worse as the weeks tick by.
Main event time with Seth “Freakin” Rollins taking on AJ Styles. The winner faces Edge at WrestleMania. This is going to be a great match. There’s a problem though, neither man can take the loss this close to WrestleMania. We do get the great match we were expecting out of these two. There’s Edge to blast Styles with a chair for the DQ finish. Problem solved. Why didn’t Rollins attack Edge for costing him his chance for a WrestleMania match? Logic hole aside, this was a great match and well worthy as a Raw main event. Hopefully next time, we can get a proper match with an actual finish. A best of seven series between these two would be nice. Anyway, Rollins yelled “bullshit” repeatedly to end the show and teased what he might do next week.
Let’s take a look at tonight’s highs and lows.
The Highs
The main event between Seth Rollins and AJ Styles was a great match and a worthy main event. Definitely worth checking out.
We have another week with solid tag team action. You’d almost think that they were trying to build up the tag team divisions or something silly like that.
The Lows
We had a great main event with yet another lousy finish. I get why they did the finish but stop booking yourselves into a corner. It doesn’t really help in the long run.
Can we please get rid of the 24/7 title? It has outlived its usefulness. Although, I’m sure Tozawa appreciates the little wear and tear on his body every week.
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That’s all I’ve got, until next time.