Reviews

WWE Network Review: WWE Raw Talk for 2/22/21

By Aneil Komal • Published 23rd February 2021

This week’s Raw Talk begins with Char-Truth (Charly Caruso & R-Truth) talking about the 24/7 championship. Charly mentions Truth’s failed attempt this week to gain back his baby from Bad Bunny. He explains that Bad Bunny had DP (Damien Priest) which made it hard for him, which Charly adds that she likes DP. We then see the ending of Raw where Bobby Lashley picks up a dominating victory against Braun Strowman. After the match, the new WWE champion, The Miz tries to ambush his challenger but gets destroyed with a spear. Charly announces that next week on Raw, it will be The Miz versus Bobby Lashley for the WWE championship. Charly brings up The Miz becoming the WWE champion and now having to owe a title shot to Bobby Lashley. Truth believes Miz needs to having his game up against Lashley especially what happened on Raw. Charly says it would have been interesting to see a triple threat match with Braun Strowman included. The discussion ends with Charly speaking about The Miz saying he did not want to be a transitional champion.

Aneil’s Take: It will be interesting to see what happens in next week’s WWE championship match. I know a lot of people believe Lashley will leave next week’s Raw as the WWE championship which is hard to bet against. In my opinion, his sudden emergence into the WWE championship picture is refreshing and kind of unexpected. To me, I thought McIntyre would be heading into Wrestlemania as champion and most likely defending his championship against Sheamus. With the addition of Lashley, not sure what will happen now.

The first guest is the new United States champion, Riddle. Riddle says winning the championship at Elimination Chamber was amazing and breathtaking. He knew it would be an uphill battle especially with John Morrison replacing Keith Lee. Riddle adds that he was glad Morrison was in the match since he knew he would not be able to pin Lashley in that match. When asked about beating someone like Lashley, Riddle answers that he likes the challenge of beating a behemoth like the former United States champion. Riddle also says he named his championship, Travis. When asked how it felt to win his first title in WWE, Riddle believed it would never happen. It was almost staggering because he felt like his opportunity to become champion would not come. He says he would never give up and that the belt is going to make him. Riddle then gives Truth some motivation, telling him that the former champion will get his championship back. Charly asks Riddle to give her and Truth a nickname which he says he will need time to do. Charly asks if his championship win opens the door for anything to happen. Riddle answers that winning the title and beating someone like John Morrison did open the door. Riddle ends by saying that it will be the start to be a beautiful thing and even thinks someone will invest in some of his products like ‘bro-gurts’ and ‘bro-nuts’.

Aneil’s Take: Bro, I’ll be honest, I felt like I lost a few brain cells from this interview. I do think in the future, Truth and Riddle should be put in a tag team down the road. Their characters and personalities seem to match up, which can make for a possibly funny tag team. Interesting to hear Riddle says he did not think he would win a championship on the main roster. I did think that Riddle would be pushed out to the United States championship picture with Keith Lee entering, leading up to a Lashley-Lee match at Wrestlemania.

The next guests are Naomi and Lana who dance their way onto the set. Truth says Lana is not crying and is smiling which she thanks Naomi for drying her tears. Charly mentions that Naomi and Lana have a tag team title opportunity which Naomi says she is excited and Lana calls “a dream come true”. Lana reveals that at the beginning of the year, she set out her goals and one of them is to become champion. Charly says she can see the two of them being an awesome set of champions. Naomi says while she and Lana are a unique pairing, they are not new to this, adding that if they do not believe in themselves, no one else will. Naomi says Lana and her relationship go pretty deep. Charly asks if Lana having a tag team partner like Naomi who is a former champion has helped her. Lana says she is extremely lucky to have a partner like Naomi as she gives her strength whenever she has self-doubt. When asked about facing Shayna and Nia, Lana says it is terrifying but she will face her fear. Naomi shows she is not intimidated by them, believing the current Women’s Tag Team champions can be taken down. Charly lastly discusses the inspiration behind their gear. Lana says she gets her idea for comic books while Naomi gets it from Coachella and other festivals.

Aneil’s Take: Unlike the random team of Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke, I think the pairing of Naomi and Lana will be a cool babyface team that’ll last for a few years. Naomi is an amazing babyface while Lana has become a sympathetic superstar as well which the fans can get behind. They will need to come up with a tag team name but other than that, I look forward to what this team will do in the future. With their upcoming tag team title shot, hopefully, this will lead to them walking into Wrestlemania as tag team champions.

The last guest is ‘The Phenomenal’ AJ Styles along with Omos. There is a dispute about Truth’s pronunciation of Omos’ name as he keeps calling him “Almost”. Charly asks how AJ is doing after losing at Elimination Chamber but coming back with a victory against Ricochet. Styles says the chips fell where they may but still showed up to Raw before questioning Drew McIntyre’s whereabouts. Charly believes McIntyre might have a valid reason when Styles says Truth was on Raw after losing the 24/7 championship. When asking if he wanted to see Drew, Styles says he did not want to see McIntyre but question why the former WWE champion was not on Raw. Styles adds that he is man enough to show up on Raw and even got a victory. Styles adds that one person who will not be here for a couple of weeks is Ricochet after what Omos did to him. Truth says he was baffled by what Omos did to Ricochet before Styles questions them on if they know what is JKCB. Styles laughs, revealing it stands for Jackknife Chokebomb which was the move that Omos hit on Ricochet. Truth questions Styles laughing when Omos grabs the mic and asks the Raw Talk host if he has anything to say. Truth asks if Styles can fit in Omos’ pocket but pisses off the big man. Omos hovers over Truth and asks if he wants to end up like Ricochet. Truth points to a paper saying he was asking a question given to him. Charly asks Styles if there is anything he would like to ask. Styles tells her to ask what is next for him and Omos before answering that the sky is the limit. The two-time WWE champion believes there is nothing that the two of them cannot accomplish. Truth says he believes them as Omos continues to squeeze his shoulder. Charly closes out Raw Talk as Styles and Truth have a bit of chatter between them.

Aneil’s Take: While it is still early, I wonder who will Styles face at Wrestlemania. Look at the potential opponents, there are not too many big-name out there for the Phenomenal One. I originally thought Edge was the big name that might be the opponent for him until the Royal Rumble victory. I think the only option you have is him facing Triple H. Other than last year, Triple H usually has his annual Wrestlemania match, and if he were to wrestle this year, why not Styles?

You can see the difference in quality between Talking Smack and Raw Talk just from this AJ Styles interview. If you take a look at Styles’ interview on Talking Smack, it was a hundred percent better than this one on Raw Talk. Again, it’s hard to take the interview seriously when it just seems off track at times. If want to see it for yourself, take a look at his Raw Talk interview and his Talking Smack one with Heyman.