wrestling / TV Reports
Acero’s WWE RAW Review 2.26.24
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...Ya smell that…it’s Mania Season, baybeeee!!!
Earlier today, our respective Elimination Chamber winners arrived.
This segues into a nice little EC recap.
IN the ring stands Dominik Mysterio who wants to introduce his Mami, but the crowd hates him. He gets through it as McAfee laughs heartily.
Here comes Rhea Ripley. This weekend, she walked into her home country our Women’s World Champion, and walked out the same way. Nia Jax may have been the biggest threat, but it doesn’t matter how big you are. Mami is always on top.
Becky Lynch is here to ruin the party.
She is out here to say congratulations to Rhea. What a night they both had on Saturday. What a moment for Rhea.
Dominik tries to stand up for his Mami, saying nobody talks to Mami like that. Becky tells him to shut up and calls him a cumquat. She says if his Mami wont put him in his place, The Man will. Rhea is on one hell of a run. She’s been the face for the last year, but she’s spent most of the time being fed grapes by Dom. Meanwhile, she has been the heart and soul of this company. She can do it all, including beating Rhea Ripley.
Rhea asks if she’s done. First of all, never disrespect her Latino Heat like that ever again. Second, congratulations for winning the Chamber match. It’s about time Becky stopped disappointing Rhea and win something to get close to her level. Becky says she is the backbone, The Man, but the men always think they’re the backbone. Behind every great man, is a greater woman. She is not behind Becky, because Mami is always on top.
Rhea leaves the eing, and Becky stands watching her.
Nia Jax attacks Becky from behind, dropping her with ease, and finishing her off with a couple of leg drops.
Nia tries to hit her finisher, but agents and Pearce come down to stop her. Pearce warns her of a fine, and Nia leaves to her music.
We are backstage with Jackie, who has Nia Jax stopped. Nia says there is no way Becky should be going to Mania. She beat her clean, and Becky will not make it to Mania.
Tonight, she has a match with Liv, and she predicts ten times worth of pain for Liv.
Sami Zayn vs Shinsuke Nakamura
Sami starts with wrist control. Shin backs him into the ropes and breaks, then kicks Sami. Side headlock from Shin. Shin runs the ropes, leap frog from Sami. Arm drag to Shin. Shin corners him, hits a right hand Sami rolls outside. Shin follows and kicks, then whips Sami into the barricade, only for him to fly off with a moonsault.
WE ARE BACK and Shin has a modified abdominal stretch. Sami escapes with an elbow. Shin corners Sami, runs with. Aknee, and another, and Sami is hurting. Shin covers. 1..2..NO!!! Stomp from Shin. Shin whips, Sami bounces off, big clothesline from Sami! Big rights in th center, Shin hits a knee, the rope, and Shin bounces up for a Michinoku Driver! Pin! 1…..2…NO!!! Shin hits shoulders in the corner. Shin climbs, Sami punches the head, locks up and spins off the corner wit a Tornado DDT! Shin rolls to the outside. Shin hits the ropes. Shin back in, and he hits a knee. Shin to the apron, grabs Sami on it, locksup and hits a front suplex to Sami.
We are back and although I miss a couple of seconds, I come to with Sami hitting a Blue Thunder Bomb! He pins for 1..2.NO!! Shin kicks out! Sami up in the corner, he runs for a finish, but Shin hits a knee to the face. Shin to the 2nd rope, he dives off with a finisher from behind! Cover for 1..2…NO!!!! Sami rolls to the apron again. Sami to the barricade, and Shin follows with a kick. He flies off the apron with a knee to the head! Shin climbs the apron and rolls into the ring, telling the ref to count. Sami is out. Ref starts the count.
Sami stirs, ref is at 6, Sami climbs the steps, rolls in at 9, Shin is there to hit ANOTHER KNEE! Cover! 1.2….NO!!! Shin’s foot is on the ropes! Stomps from Shin. He stomps the head over and over. Shin in the corner, he waits, Shni rushes the corner, Sami side steps!
HELLUVA KICK TO THE BACK OF THE NECK!!! Sami in the corner. Shin turns, ANOTHER HELLUVA KICK! COVER! 1..2….3!!!!!
Winner: Sami Zayn
Roughly ten minutes of that match were just sort of there. Not bad, but certainly not action-packed. Two commercials didn’t help it, either. BUT that final five…that was great.
Total Rating: ***
Match Time: 14:56
We are BACK and Chelsea Green informs us that she is competing in protest. Last week, she would have won the battle royal and gone on to become the most illustrious winner in history, had P-head Pearce not added Rodriguez. Raquel flew all that way to Perth to lose. Just like the Sharks.
Chelsea Green vs Raquel Rodriguez
Green with a slap. Raquel, misses a clothesline but fires back with another. She lifts up Green, hits a Fallaway Slam. Green is dazed.
Rodriguez grabs her and hits another Fallaway Slam. She lifts up Green and hooks the leg, then lifts Green up for a huge Tejana Bomb. Cover for 1..2..3!!!
Winner: Raquel Rodriguez
Squishy
Total Rating: NR
Match Time: 1:12
Jackie is backstage with Sami Zayn! She congratulates Sami and brings up their talks. How much did Sami need this win?
Sami says he’s been bottling up a lot, trying to keep his cool, but this match has been on his mind all week. If he lost tonight, he doesn’t even know what it would have done. That win reaffirmed all he’s been saying. He is a contender and will be a champion, and his path will come his way.
Ludwig Kaiser is here to stop Sami from talking. Jakcie leaves, Ludwig looks Sami up and down, and he and Vinci walk on by. Gunther is next to walk by, scoff at Sami, and keep it pushing.
Cody Rhodes is backstage with the awesome Cathy to talk about his challenge to The Rock. He says Rock slapped him, so he challenged him any time any place. He awaits his rebuttal this Friday.
Cody asks Cathy if she likes Waller. Grayson should like Cody, he’s given Waller great content. Tonight, he gets his first Monday Night Raw main event.
Imperium are here!
Gunther says that after successfully defeating Jey Uso last week, he is still here the longest reigning champion of all time.
He says it was very close, Jey almost had him beat, and he actually felt it slipping away for the first time. Nobody is perfect, but he is very close. Before his men outclass The New Day, he wants to address his future. Over 600+ days, he’s been working hard. He has beaten everybody. Who is going to be his opponent at Mania? He has heard us, all ridiculous claims. Sami? Gable? The Miz? Even R-Truth!
The music of The Judgment Day hits, and out come The Judgment Day sans Mami.
Damien Priest with his briefcase, stands in the middle. He calls Gunther big and bad. They don’t sweat him. Although Gunther has had a dominant run, it’s second to The Judgment Day. Priest hpes Gunther watches this weekend, when they ran the table, and they plan on doing the same thing at Mania. They want more gold, though. That includes The IC title.
Gunther says Priest is obviously not cashing in on him, who is it going to be? Finn Balor? Big Head? Who?
Dom pushes Priest back and stands in front of him. Gunther laughs this off. Dom with the mic, gives us time to boo, then tells Gunther the title belongs to them. Gunther gives Dom a bit of a shove. Priest looks to attack but all of Judgment Day hold him back.
Backstage, Judgment Day walks. Rhea comes over and questions Dom’s aggression towards Gunther.
Dom looks to smooth things over, and runs into Andrade. He says it’s good seeing him, maybe he’ll see Andrade around!
Andrade says he is here to meet with Pearce about his first opponent. He’ll see Dom soon.
Street Fight
The New Day vs Imperium
New Day attacks Imperium at the bottom of the ramp. They’re wearing Sharks jerseys for the cheap pop. Ludwig and Vinci get Kofi at the top of the ramp, looking to powerbomb him, but Woods comes over with a trombone and attacks Ludwig across the back. Kofi grabs a piece and slams it onto Vinci. Kofi takes Vinci towards the ring. Woods is wit Kaiser. New Day grab a table from under the ring, but here come Kaiser and Vinci to attack. New Day enter the ring, hit the ropes, and fly outside onto Vinci and Kaiser!
WE ARE BACK and Kaiser has Kofi hurting in the crowd. Meanwhile, Woods is hitting a hard chop onto Vinci. Vinci with aback suplex to Woods onto the apron. Kaiser chops Kofi over the barricade. Kaiser lifts the apron, the crowd wants a table, Ludwig ob liges…..then shoves it back in to piss off the crowd. He grabs a chair and enters the ring with it. Vinci has Woods trapped. Kaiser attacks the midsection. Chair shot to the back. Vinci has the chair now, and traps it in front of Woods. Kaiser and Vinci each kick the chair into Woods face. Kofi is on the top rope! He hits a crossbody to both men! SOS to Vinci! He lifts Kaiser and body slams hi ONTO Vinci! BOOM DROP TO VINCI! He grabs Kaiser, attacks te back, Kaiser pushes him against the ropes, but Kofi slides down and pulls his leg out. Right hand to the face. Kofi grabs the table! He sets it up, grabs Kaiser on the apron, tries o ra suplex though the table, but Vinci is there to stop him and suplex Kofi INTO the ring. Woods is up now, all four men are outisd.e Kaiser has kendo sticks. He slaps Woods wit it, then tosses one to Vinci and they take turns swinging on Woods. Vinic traps Woods on the steps, Kaiser runs around the ring, but Kofi si there to kick him high. Vinci with a huge clothesline to Kofi! Woods in the ring, Vinci runs in. CROSSBODY TO WOODS! He has a kendo stick now, and he beats on Woods over and over again. Kaiser has a chair, and he attacks the leg.
We come back to Kofi throwing an announcer’s chair into Ludwig’s face. Kofi rolls into the ring. Him and Woods stand over kAiser with kendo sticks. They take turns beating down Kaiser with kendo shots over the back until they break. Woods hypes Kofi up, slaps the chest, and tells Kofi to get the tables! Kofi grabs one, and the crowd is HYPED! They set it up near the announce booth. Kofi lays Vinci across the table. Woods climbs to the top rope. He FLIES ONTO VINCI WITH AN ELBOW DROP!!! Kofi rolls Vinci into the ring. Woods to the top rope. Kofi wth a back breaker, Woods flies off with a leg drop. Cover! 1….2….NO!!! Kaiser pulls the ref out of the ring! Kofi with a suicide dive! Kofi sends Kaiser into the ring. Kofi kicks him in the midsection. Kofi drops his imaginary straps. He lifts Kaiser to the shoulders.
Kofi climbs. Vinci is up! HE SHOVES KOFI OFF THE TOP THROUGH A TABLE!!!! Woods goes to grab Vinci, but he smacks him over the head with a baking pan or something similar. Kaiser sends Woods into the corner where a chair is waiting! Rollup for 1..2…..3!!!
Winners: Imperius
Well that was fun!
Total Rating: ***1/2
Match Time: 18:10
Chad Gable is with Pearce backstage. He has reasons to be Gunther’s opponent. He comes to Pearce as a father. Gunther made his daughter cry, laughed at her misery, and called him a terrible father. He needs to make it right. His reasons are honest. To anyone else, this match would be about a championship, but to Gable, it just means more.
Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell vs Zoey Stark and Shayna Baszler
Candice and Shayna to start. Candice with a quick kick to the lower leg, shoves Zoey off the apron, back elbow in the corner, then she just hits a cannonball off the apron onto Zoey. Knee from Candice, dives in with a headlock but Shayna shoots her off and hits a knee to the face. Tag to Zoey. Zoey stomps the ankle. She wraps Candice around the ropes and shoves her face a few times. Zoey tries for a. cover, gets 2. Candice is up, hits aknee to the face, tag to Indi.
Indi hits Zoey with a boot, enters the ring, clothesline, one for Shayna, another for Zoey, she attacks the back, ducks under a right, tag from Shayna, spinebuster from Indi, but Shayna is there with The Clutch and Indi taps!!
Winners: Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark
Squishy
Total Rating: NR
Match Time: 2:45
R-Truth is backstage with DX and The Miz.
The Miz and DX tell Truth they’re going to get revenge. Ciampa asks Truth if he is ready. All four men leave.
Drew McIntyre is out for a chat.
Drew: “We did it.”
He wants to say thank you. Everyone in the world, thanks for praying harder than they’ve ever prayed. Because of us, this happened. He feels like hell. He is jet-lagged as all hell. He got hurt in the Chamber. His ear drum was blown out. He was talking with the doc, who said he may not make Mania. He asked the doctor who he thought he was, CM Punk? Nothing will stop him from going to Mania.
Drew then sits down cross-legged.
He tells Punk it hurt him not to be part of Chamber and Mania, and probably kills him to see Drew in the title match. But he thought about Punk after the match and wanted to do something special just for him. On the way home, he drank twice as much for both of them. He’s got a message for Seth, and asks for him to come down.
Here comes our champion.
After a lengthy entrance, he congratulates Drew, says this time Drew has an opportunity to do what he’s wanted to do since 2020 – win the title at Mania, and it wont be an empty arena. It’ll be in front of a capacity crowd at the biggest Mania of all time, but there is one thing standing in his way, and it’s Seth Rollins.
Drew says he’s right, beating Seth is no easy job, and beating Drew is no easy job, so why is Seth making it so hard on himself by entangling himself with The Rock and Roman? He wants Seth at 100%. Why is he going to Smackdown to fight their battles when they need him here on RAW. When Drew is champion, he wont care of Smackdown is on fire. He wouldn’t pee on them to put the fire out. His responsibility will be RAW and that title only. He wants Seth to think about one thing – The Bloodline, Seth knows where this is going. It’s happened time and time again, to Drew personally. Their match is in jeopardy. For their sake, back off.
Seth respects all Drew said, but some risks are worth taking. Seth has thought about all of this, replaying it all in his head, and the truth is Drew might be right. The Bloodline may leave him broken, just like everyone else, and Mania may be an easy night for Drew. But what if ihe’s wrong. Some risks are worth taking.
Seth has been selfish in his ife, and he thought the goal was getting to the top, but every time he did, he felt empty inside. It wasn’t until he had his daughter that he realized not everything is about him. Some things are bigger. The title is bigger than them. Taking down The Bloodline is bigger than them. It doesn’t matter who has the title, The Bloodline is going to come for it. So Drew might be right, but what if he’s wrong. What if Seth’s knee is 100%, his back is ready to go, what if they can rip The Bloodline apart once and for all? May the best man win.
Some risks are worth taking, says Seth, and he drops the mic.
Nia Jax vs Liv Morgan
Liv comes out the gate with a dropkick, but Nia hits a big slap, tosses Liv into the corner, and even gives her a stink face. Big chop from Nia, then a Stretch Muffler submission. She drags Liv over to the corner and swings her face into the buckle. Nia to the apron. Liv is hanging over te bottom rope. Nia tries for a leg drop and Nia hurts her hole. Nia is favoring her back. Liv dives through the ropes wit a crossbody!
We are back and Nia misses a senton. Liv is up in the corner, Nia up, too. She runs into the corner, misses, high knee from Liv off the apron. She hangs Nia up. Liv to the top rope. She dives with a dropkick! Nia doesn’t go down but is cornered. Liv hops up, tries for a Codebreaker, Nia holds on, Liv kicks her away, then hits the Codebreaker off the 2nd rope! Cover! 1..2…NO!!!! Samoan Drop attempt, Liv slinks down, Nia hits a headbutt. Nia rushes the corner, and again Liv moves out of the way. Nia hits the post shoulder first. Liv to the apron, launches herself, Nia catches her on the shoulders and drives Liv into the post.
HERE COMES BECKY!!!! She flies off the barricade with a fist then sends Nia into the announce table head first over and over and over and over again.
Winner: Nia Jax via DQ
Liv got a solid three minutes out of Nia. Good for her.
Total Rating: *
Match Time: 8:02
Becky sends Nia into the ring. Follows. She shoves Nia right back out of the ring and looks to continue the attack, but the ref stops her.
Backstage, Cathy is with Grayson Waller and Austin Theory. Waller says he got the biggest scoop. Good or him and Australia, but Cody disrespected him. Tonight, they flip the script. He will disrespect Cody in his house. Cody will never finish his story.
Backstage, Becky wants Nia. Pearce makes it official next week.
Liv comes in, mad at Becky, says not everything has to be about her, and walks away.
Jey Uso is backstage with Jackie to talk about being so close to the title. Every time he is so close to completing the mission, he falls short. Past enemies and even his own family members.
Here’s Drew McIntyre to tell Jey he’s going through a tough time, and Drew is riding high. He can relate. He wants Jey to know that he deserves this.
Jey laughs it off, then attacks Drew! They go back and forth till agents come to break it up!
Cody Rhodes vs Grayson Waller
Waller’s trunks are atrocious. Anyway, Cody gets his shit in, complete with a vertical suplex that is delayed. He sends Waller out of the ring as we are informed that Paul Heyman is backstage for some reason.
WE are back to Cody hitting a Disaster Kick! Austin Theory hops on the apron to distract, Cody takes the bait, and turns into a huge right hand to the chin.
Waller ends up outside, calls his shot to Theory, rolls in for a Flatliner, but Cody stops it! Cody Cutter! Cross Rhodes! Cover! 1..2…3!!!!
Winner: Cody Rhodes
Most of this match happened during the commercial break, so it was essentially us getting to the final moment with Heyman.
Total Rating: *
Match Time: 7:52
Paul Heyman is here with a few security guards. Cody is quick to grab a chair just in case.
Heyman tries to do his intro, but Cody says he doesn’t care. If this is a setup, bring them out, come on down.
Heyman says the only member of The Bloodline here is Heyman. No one else is here. These gentlemen are his friends from the NYPD. They are off-duty officers. Well technically, they are suspended. He came all the way out here to CA to let cody know that no one wants an apology. He gets how insulting it must be to get Will Smith’d across the face, but Cody needs to take The Rock’s name out his freakin mouth. Heymans’ Heyman is begging him please, pretty please, with a cherry on top, withdraw this challenge…or else.
Cody: “Or else, what, Mr. Heyman?”
Cody says he hasn’t reigned holy terror on this mic yet because he, just like us, were fans of The Rock. How could you not be. Put yourself in Cody’s shoes. Every meal determined by tickets sold, and every ticket was sold by The Rock. He is done with being nice, though. If this is a setup, come and get him.
Heyman has a better idea.
He ushers the cops to hop on the apron. The three of them do. Heyman asks if he can enter the ring, and Cody says no he may not.
The “cops” enter the ring. Cody stands there as they attempt to circle him. Cody says ok, wants to make something clear, if one more person takes a step towards him, he is dropping every person standing in the ring.
Heyman respects this, and says that threat doent apply if Heyman is that one person.
Cody: “Wrong.”
Cody gras the chair and attacks all three men, including tossing a chair directly into one of their faces and hitting a Cross Rhodes! Lol.
Heyman grabs his phones, of which he has two, and tells Siri to call Roman Reigns and The Rock.
Cody tells him to call them both because The Bloodline isn’t hunting him, he is hunting The Bloodline.
Heyman tells both Rock and Reigns this is not going the way he planned as Cody beats down the cops with a chair.
End Show
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