wrestling / TV Reports
Kevin’s WWE Raw Review 2.6.17
Loading...WWE Raw
February 6th, 2017 | Moda Center in Portland, Oregon
The show opens with a video package highlighting how Seth Rollins went from Triple H’s guy to his enemy. It ends with the footage from how Raw ended last week, with Samoa Joe debuting to destroy Seth for Triple H.
Mick Foley and Stephanie McMahon are in the ring. Mick admits he’s not happy with this but was told to call Samoa Joe the hottest free agent in wrestling. Joe is out in a suit. He looks like commentator Tazz. Stephanie continues to hype Joe but Foley downplays it and just wants to get this over with. Foley admits he has no problem with Joe, just the people he associates himself with. Joe says Triple H was the guy who gave him a chance after 18 years in the business. If loyalty to HHH means taking out Seth Rollins, then so be it. He warns the locker room about the destroyer arriving. Joe will beat up our heroes, wake them up and do it again. He signs the contract and Roman Reigns’ theme hits. THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE SAMOAN JOE! Reigns says he’s the toughest guy here and threatens Joe. Foley interrupts and books Joe vs. Reigns for tonight. This was kept short, which was good. Joe came off great but hopefully he doesn’t job tonight.
Nia Jax def. Bayley in 9:26
Next week, Bayley gets a rematch at Charlotte. Nia overpowers Bayley, who plays the underdog. Bayley makes a short rally but gets caught and just thrown around. Nia does a RAINMAKER and throws Bayley outside. Bayley pulls Nia into the ring post and tries for the countout win. Charlotte stumbles out in high heels to distract the official. Bayley brings her in the hard way and dropkicks her, but it opens the door for Nia to hit a Samoan drop to win. This felt like a condensed version of their better NXT matches. Charlotte posed over Bayley, which made me wonder why Nia doesn’t just take out the champion, which would make sense. The match told a fine story but it’s hard to care about it when they’ve done it a bunch in better ways. **
Braun Strowman def. Four jobbers in 1:54
It’s a four on one handicap match because Braun is an animal. This group of jobbers looks ridiculous. One dude straight up gets up and runs off. He demolishes them and pins the remaining three at once. NR
Braun is pissed at Foley for not giving him real competition. He says he’s coming to find Foley. Braun finds Foley backstage and yells at him. “I WANT EVERYONE!” Foley books Braun vs. Roman Reigns at Fastlane. I guess Reigns is equal to everyone.
An Akira Tozawa vignette airs.
Akira Tozawa def. Drew Gulak in 3:38
Tozawa made his debut on 205 Live last week. They come at each other with hard strikes and chops. Gulak yelling throughout the match is rather funny. Tozawa sends him outside and hits a big suicide dive that turns into a headbutt because his foot got caught in the ropes. Inside, Tozawa gets two on a shining wizard before winning with the snap German. Fine little showcase for Tozawa who managed to get a reaction in a cruiserweight match. **
The Brian Kendrick comes out and congratulates Tozawa, but nothing more comes of it.
Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho are out now. Owens brags about defeating Reigns at the Royal Rumble, while Jericho promises to beat Sami Zayn tonight. He brings up the Super Bowl and people calling Tom Brady the GOAT. Since that’s his nickname, TOM BRADY JUST MADE THE LIST! Jericho says he wants Champion vs. Champion, Friend vs. Friend against Owens in the Mania main event. Owens says he can’t face his best friend but here comes Goldberg to ruin the promo. Goldberg calls them ladies (IT’S FUNNY PEOPLE) and wants to fight both. He then accepts the challenge from Brock for Mania. Owens calls it a great undercard for KO Mania 2 and agrees that him against Jericho is the main event. Goldberg says something about Owens being the longest reigning champion because he hasn’t faced him. Goldberg puts himself on the list, forgetting that Jericho legit beat him in a fight before. Jericho accepts Owens/Goldberg for the Universal Title on Kevin’s behalf. Kevin Owens is next. Terrible segment. I’m not looking forward to any of this.
Jericho and Owens argue backstage because they have to set up their midcard WrestleMania match. I hate it all.
WWE Tag Team Championship: Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows (c) def. Cesaro and Sheamus via disqualification in 9:00
Enzo and Cass are watching from ringside. I guess the Rusev feud is over. The teams trade blows in the early goings with neither one gaining an upper hand. After the break, Anderson and Sheamus are battling. Surprisingly, it isn’t a heat segment or anything like that. It’s Sheamus kicking Anderson’s ass. Gallows breaks up a pin in hilariously slow fashion. He is knocked outside, where he bumps into Enzo. Gallows superkicks him, so Cass kicks him, resulting in the DQ. This felt like they were killing time until the angle at the end. *½
A Black History Month video package is shown.
They give an update on Seth Rollins’ injury but I missed it.
The New Day w/ Kofi Kingston def. The Shining Stars in 5:43 (shown)
This is joined in progress following a New Day promo before the break. The Shining Stars work some tandem offense on Xavier Woods. Primo nails a Vader Bomb as commentary discusses how this shouldn’t be surprising from the Shining Stars. Big E gets the hot tag and starts tossing Puerto Ricans around. Woods blind tags in and they hit the New Day finish for the win. The simplest of tag formula and it worked for that. *¾
Chris Jericho gets interviewed backstage about setting up Goldberg/Owens and whether or not it will impact his title match against Sami Zayn tonight. Jericho says Sami got lucky last week and calls the spat with Owens a minor disagreement. Owens shows up and though he isn’t happy, says everything they’ve done so far has worked out and it will at Fastlane too.
The next Hall of Fame inductees, the Rock n’ Roll Express, are given a video package. It’s so dumb that they announce this on Twitter and stuff before the show.
WWE United States Championship: Chris Jericho (c) w/ Kevin Owens def. Sami Zayn in 9:39
Last week, Sami Zayn beat Chris Jericho in a non-title match. They start quickly with some fun back and forth. Zayn gets two on a cross body and is aggressive. He tries the Helluva Kick but Jericho ducks outside. Sami follows with a tope con hilo, continuing the hot start. After a break, they do a lame looking spot followed by Jericho getting two on a Lionsault. Sami hits the corner exploder but Jericho counters the Helluva kick into a Walls attempt. Sami counters that into a small package for two. Great back and forth. Sami seems close to winning only for Owens to deliver a superkick behind the referee’s back. Jercho retains with the Codebreaker. Match of the night and slightly better than last week’s outing. Sami looked good despite the loss and the Jericho/Owens angle was advanced, all with some good in-ring work. ***¼
Backstage, Charlotte talks smack to Sasha Banks. She says Sasha must feel bad about what happened to Bayley, who was fighting for her honor. Roadblock: End of the Line was apparently also the end of Sasha’s career according to Charlotte.
Austin Aries is in the ring for an interview with Cruiserweight Champion Neville. Aries has breaking news that tomorrow, Cedric Alexander, Noam Dar, TJ Perkins, Jack Gallagher and Tony Nese are competing in a Fatal-Five-Way elimination match on 205 Live tomorrow. The winner gets a shot at Fastlane. Neville says none of them scare him, which brings out Alexander. He doesn’t get to say anything but Dar shows up with a microphone. He says he was thinking it would be a good idea to steal the title the same way he stole Alexander’s girlfriend. Gallagher is next to a solid pop. He says a king should be a gentleman. Nese arrives and says nothing because he has no personality. Perkins is last to join, reminding everyone he was the first champion. He comes across as kind of heelish. He throws the mic at Nese and it sets up a brawl involving everyone. People do dives and Neville gets a chance to go last but decides against it to spite the crowd.
Emmalina supposedly shows up next week. Sure.
Cedric Alexander, Jack Gallagher and TJ Perkins def. Neville, Noam Dar and Tony Nese in 5:14 (shown)
Like the New Day tag earlier, this is joined in progress. Several guys get their stuff in at the expense of Gallagher. Neville gets mad when his teammates tag each other in but not him. Perkins gets a mild tag and does his thing. Dar goes to tag Neville who walks out on him, just like he did on 205 Live last week. TJ tries a small package but the pin is broken up. Nese and Dar are not pleased with Neville. Perkins tags in Cedric, who hits a springboard clothesline and the Lumbar Check on Dar. Fine work, but nothing special. **¼
In the back, Owens and Jericho talk about their friendship. Jericho wants to show the world how unbreakable their friendship is. Next week, he wants to hold a festival, which Owens is unsure about. THE FESTIVAL OF FRIENDSHIP!
They do an extended video package to hype Smackdown’s Elimination Chamber. So much for competition.
Samoa Joe def. Roman Reigns in 9:54
We’re supposed to get Reigns vs. Joe but Joe attacks Reigns during his entrance. He throws Reigns into the guardrail and ring post. After a break, Reigns fights his way back in the ring and the match begins. Joe abuses Reigns, who refuses to give up because he’s the BIG DOG. Reigns fights back with strikes and headbutts before hitting a clothesline. Joe nails the atomic drop/boot/senton combo for two. Roman sold the boot horribly. Reigns hits the Superman punch and it’s BRAAAAAUUUUNNNN time. Braun no sells the right hand but sells the Superman punch. Joe kicks Reigns in the back of the head and hits a big uranage that gets the win. I wasn’t a fan of this going the typical Roman route. He gets beat up as commentary sells it like it never happens and makes the superhuman comeback. Why not just have Joe beat up Reigns before the match, causing it to not start? Then he walks off and Braun beats up Roman too. Changing Joe’s finish is odd also. **
Braun enters the ring to kick Reigns’ ass, putting him through the guardrail.
