Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 02.19.18

Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 02.19.18

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Gauntlet Match: Braun Strowman defeated John Cena, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Elias, and The Miz @ 1 hour & 46 minutes via pin [****¼]
– Non-Title Match: Titus Worldwide defeated Champions The Bar @ 4:33 via pin [*]
– Bayley, Sasha Banks, & Mickie James defeated Alexa Bliss, Mandy Rose, & Sonya Deville @ 15:57 via submission [**]

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– We open with a moment of silence for the recent school shooting in Florida.

– Reigns gets promo time before he starts off the gauntlet match. He puts over the challenges of the Elimination Chamber. He claims that he is the only one that can beat Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania.

Gauntlet Match: John Cena vs. Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman vs. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor vs. Elias vs. The Miz: Rollins and Reigns to start. They work some basic back and forth to begin, and Reigns grounds the action. Rollins looks to escape, but Reigns takes him back to the mat. Rollins escapes and gets a cradle for 2. The backslide follows for 2 again. Post break, and Reigns has things grounded. Rollins escapes but runs into an elbow. Reigns follows with strikes, and then hits a slam for 2.Rollins battles back with elbows and kicks. The blockbuster follows and then sling blade. Rollins springboards in with a clothesline, and then dumps Reigns. Reigns cuts off the suicide dive, and follows with the drive by kick. Back in and Reigns follows with clotheslines, hits the big boot and looks for a superman punch, countered, and Rollins hits a buckle bomb but Reigns rebounds out with a superman punch. Post break, and Rollins heads up top and misses the high fly flow. Rollins lays in rights, Reigns answers back, but gets dumped to he floor. Rollins follows with the suicide dive and another. Back in they go, and Rollins jumps into a superman punch and he kicks out. Reigns sets for the spear, but eats a knee strike and superkick. Rollins then counters a roll up and eliminates Reigns @ 19:55. John Cena is out next. Rollins attacks and picks up a near fall right away. Post break, and Cena has things grounded. He now lay in rights and whips Rollins to the buckles, covering for 2. He grounds things again, and follows with clubbing strikes and kicks. Cena dumps Rollins and looks for a countout. Rollins beats the count, and Cena’s back on the attack. The belly to belly follows, and another and then a third; the cover gets 2. Post break, and Rollins is down again. Rollins counters the AA and hits a DDT for 2. Cena now follows with a pop up cutter for 2. Cena talks some shit and backs off, and then follows with rights. Rollins is exhausted as Cena dances around, telling him to get up. Rollins starts to fire up, they trade strikes but Cena levels him, covering for 2. Cena then dumps Rollins to the floor. Rollins beats the count and is back in. Cena is completely frustrated. Post break, and we’re possibly 50/50 on commercials to wrestling here. Anyway, Cena looks down on Rollins disapprovingly. Cena hits the shoulder tackles, but Rollins counters the proto bomb. He springboards in but Cena catches him in the STF. Rollins escapes and hits sling blade, covering for 2. Rollins now hits a suplex, but Cena stops him from doing the deal and gets a roll up for 2. Rollins hits a pair of superkicks, and covers for 2. They work to the apron and Rollins posts himself. Cena then charge and ends up running into the steps. They beat the count. Cena now hits the proto bomb and five-knuckle shuffle. Rollins counters the AA into a sunset flip for 2. Rollins now locks on the crossface, but Cena powers out and Rollins counters the AA and hits an enziguri, Rollins up top and hits the high fly flow for 2. Cena hits the AA and Rollins kicks out. Cena heads up top, and Rollins runs up and hits the superplex, rolls through and does the deal with the falcon arrow for a great near fall. Cena now locks in the STF again, but Rollins makes the ropes. Cena locks it in again, Rollins fights, and again makes the ropes. Rollins rolls to the floor. They work up top now, Cena looks for a super AA, but Rollins rolls through and powers into an AA for a great near fall. Rollins heads up top, rolls through on the phoenix splash and Cena hits an AA, but Rollins hits the ripcord knee and superkick, the blackout connects and Rollins pins Cena @ 56:18. Elias is out now. He immediately covers Rollins for 2. Elias is really aggressive, attacking and going for repeated covers. Post break, and Elias is working a half crab. We get a screen in screen interview with Cena. He puts over Rollins, but says that he’s trying to balance a lot of things, while Rollins can focus on one thing. He’s now focused on winning on Sunday. Rollins tries to fight back, but his knee buckles on him. Allowing Elias to keep control. Rollins hits a desperation superkick for 2. He dumps Elias to the floor and follows with a plancha, but comes up limping. Back in and Elias hits a knee strike and drift away and Rollins is done @ 64:00. Rollins was fucking awesome here. Balor is out next. He attacks right away, and hits a basement dropkick for 2.the enziguri follows and Balor up top and Elias bails to avoid the double stomp, Post break, and Elias is in control and grounds Balor. Rollins is interviewed backstage, and says that he beat two of the best in the world. But it means nothing if he loses on Sunday. Elias continues to work over Balor, hitting a shoulder breaker for 2. Elias to the ropes and hits a double sledge for 2. The crowd is bored and chanting for Strowman. Elias continues to work the arm and shoulder of Balor. Balor battles back, hitting forearms and then cuts off Elias as he climbs the ropes. To the floor we go, and Balor hits the shotgun dropkick. Back in and Balor hits sling blade, but Elias cuts him off with a lariat, covering for 2. Elias follows with a sitout powerbomb for 2. Post break, Balor hits an apron PK, but then gets posted. Back in and Elias works the arm and shoulder of Balor. Balor escapes and hits a standing double stomp. The sling blade and shotgun dropkick follow, and the double stomp off the top finishes Elias @ 83:40. The Miztourage hits the ring, distracting Balor and allowing Miz to attack. Miz goes for repeated covers, but Balor keeps kicking out. Miz dumps Balor to the floor. He starts working over the shoulder and maintains control. Post break, and Miz has Balor grounded, working the shoulder. Elias is interviewed backstage, and says he beat Rollins and will pick up the scraps on Sunday and head to WrestleMania. Miz lays in the IT kicks, but Balor fires up with strikes and follows with a dropkick for 2. Balor counter the skull-crushing finale into a roll up for 2. Miz again attacks the shoulder, but Balor rolls him up for 2. Balor makes the ropes and Dallas attacks the arm and Miz rolls him up for 2. Balor now wipes out the Miztourage with a tope. The shotgun dropkick follows to Miz, Balor up top and gets distracted by the Miztourage. The skull-crushing finale follows and Balor is gone @ 95:40. BRAUN IS HERE! Miz tries to run, but Braun chases him through the crowd and attacks. Post break, and Braun is destroying Miz, just tossing him around. He then lays the boots to Miz. More body tossing by Braun follows. Braun misses a charge, but then slams down Miz. Balor is interviewed backstage, and says on Sunday, the Miz will be trapped in the chamber with him. Braun hits a dropkick and then it’s back to beating the shit out of Miz. Head butts follow, but Miz manages to low bridge Braun to the floor. Braun cuts off Miz and rolls him back in the ring. But Braun gets distracted and Miz hits the skull-crushing finale, but Braun kicks out, sending Miz to the floor. Braun now hits the running powerslam and wins. Braun Strowman defeated John Cena, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Elias, and The Miz @ 1 hour & 46 minutes via pin [****] This was great, including an absolutely tremendous hour with Seth Rollins shining as a complete star. In just under an hour, Rollins pinned Reigns & Cena clean as a sheet, adding fuel to his new found fire. I thought that it was laid out well, everyone got some time to shine, the mini-interviews were good and added to the story and build to the Chamber match as well. This was a refreshing experiment from WWE here, one that I thoroughly enjoyed. I don’t know if we’ll ever see something like this again any time soon, but it was really great, It’s nice to focus on wrestling matches on a wrestling show.

– Braun promises to win on Sunday and give Lesnar these hands at Mania. He then returns to take out the Miztourage as Miz runs away. He fails as Braun catches him and rolls him down the ramp. He then powerslams Miz in the ring two times.

-Jeff Jarrett is going into he WWE Hall of Fame.

– Added to tomorrow’s Smackdown…

I’ve heard enough insults and pancakes being thrown around. So I'm making it official. #TheNewDay will take on @wwegable and @sheltyb803 on #SDLive… and the winner will face @WWEUsos at #WWEFastlane!

— Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan) February 20, 2018

Asuka Talks: Renee interviews Asuka, who says her destiny is to win the title at Mania. Asuka isn’t concerned with Jax, who she recently beat. Asuka says Jax talks too much, but on Sunday, she won’t be talking, she’ll be tapping. Jax arrives and they brawl. Jax hits a Samoan drop and then follows with three leg drops. An odd little segment to try and position Jax as a legit threat to Asuka. The less Asuka talks the better. I like it when he just rants in Japanese and looks pissed a lot more.

– They hype Ronda Rousey coming to Raw & Sunday’s contract signing.

Champions The Bar (Sheamus & Cesaro) vs. Titus Worldwide (Titus & Apollo) w/Dana Brooke: Cesaro and Titus to begin. Titus lays in strikes and tags in Apollo. He and Titus take control, working quick tags and celebrating. They continue to isolate Cesaro, but Apollo gets sent to the floor and Sheamus attacks. Sheamus slams him to the barricade, and then beats him down and rolls him back in. The champions isolate Apollo, working quick tags and double teams. Sheamus covers for 2. Sheamus knocks Titus to the floor, stopping the tag, but Apollo rolls up Cesaro for the win. Titus Worldwide defeated Champions The Bar @ 4:33 via pin [*] This was nothing match, there was no flow, no heat, and nothing resembling a solid match. It was only made because WWE hasn’t filled the PPV card, and was desperate to add a tag title match to the show.

– Matt Hardy vs. Bray Wyatt is added to Elimination Chamber on Sunday.

THIS SUNDAY: #WOKEN @MATTHARDYBRAND looks to finally DELETE @WWEBrayWyatt at #WWEChamber! #RAW pic.twitter.com/WzL36h8oG3

— WWE (@WWE) February 20, 2018

– We now get a wacky Bray & Matt promo, hyping Sunday’s match, and calling each other liars.

Bayley, Sasha Banks, & Mickie James vs. Alexa Bliss, Mandy Rose, & Sonya Deville: It makes no sense for Bliss to be tagging with Absolution here, since they did jump her when they debuted and she’s been working with Mickie against them recently. Bliss refuses to start with James, tagging in Deville. They lock up, and Deville gets a takedown. James counters out and tags in Banks. Deville quickly cuts her of and tags in Rose. Banks works her over and tags in Bayley. Rose slaps Bayley around, so Bayley fires up and lays the boots to her in the corner and then dumps her to the floor. Post break, and Rose has Bayley grounded. Bayley fights out of the heel corner, and then she and Rose badly botch a corner head scissors spot. Bliss tags in and continues to work over Bayley. Bayley battles back, looks for a tag, but Bliss slaps her and tags in Deville. Deville grounds the action, but Bayley gets the phantom tag, but the ref was distracted. Bayley then runs Rose into banks, and James tags in. She runs wild on the heels, and hits the seated senton and neck breaker. Knee strikes follow; she takes out Deville but Rose cuts her off with a knee strike, sloppily covering for 2. Rose now works an abdominal stretch, and hits a gut wrench suplex for 2. Deville back in and lays in kicks and strikes on James. James hits a head scissors, and Deville cuts off the tag, Rose tags in as Bliss refuses. James cuts of Rose & Deville with a double neck breaker. James tags in Banks, Bliss in as well with Banks running wild. She hits meteora to Deville on the floor, back in and double knees and a meteora follows on Bliss. Bayley takes out Rose, but Bliss slams banks to the buckles but Banks locks on the banks statement for the win. Bayley, Sasha Banks, & Mickie James defeated Alexa Bliss, Mandy Rose, & Sonya Deville @ 15:57 via submission [**] This was an ok at best match, with the mistakes and overall lack ofheat hurting it.

– Absolution beats down the faces and then James saves Bliss and they work together and double DDT Deville. James & Bliss are friends to close the show.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

~GLORIOUS~

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

Raw was absolutely great for the first two hours, and then they completely mailed in the final hour, Still, this was a much better go home show than usual. If you missed it, check out the first two-hours with the great gauntlet match.