Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 3.16.20

Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 3.16.20

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– The 2020 Men’s Royal Rumble: Drew McIntyre won @ 60:20 [***½]
– Non-Title Match: Rey Mysterio defeated Champion Andrade @ 7:00 via pin [**¾]

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– Follow all of my reviews at this link.

WWE ANNOUNCEMENT: “In coordination with local partners and government officials, WrestleMania and all related events in Tampa Bay will not take place. However, WrestleMania will still stream live on Sunday, April 5 at 7 pm ET on WWE Network and be available on pay-per-view. Only essential personnel will be on the closed set at WWE’s training facility in Orlando, Florida to produce WrestleMania. The WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony and NXT Takeover will not take place as previously scheduled. We will share further details as they become available. The WWE Hall of Fame ceremony will now take place via Google Hangout.”

– Live from the WWE Performance Center.

– Tom Philips, Jerry Lawler, & Bryon Saxton are on commentary and welcome us to the show.

– We get highlights of last week’s Styles promo on the Undertaker.

Edge Speaks: Edge arrives and we see footage from his feud with Orton. Edge says it’s been a long tome coming, 21 years ago they met and he knew they would always bee linked together. They are even linked by Mick Foley pushing them to greatness but Orton didn’t take the same lessons from Foley as he did. Those lessons slowed Edge to come back and while Orton is talented, he’s had everything handed to him while Edge worked for everything he has. Orton was jealous and angry over Edge one upping him at the rumble. Orton can’t do what he does, he’s jealous and two weeks ago, Beth was there to retire for him so he didn’t have to again. But Orton couldn’t allow her to finish and after years of Edge stopping from making poor decisions, Orton stopped him from one and challenge him to a last man standing match at Mania. Edge will write the story and it won’t be a tragedy, it will be a redemption tale as Orton won’t get back up. Edge was really great here.

– Becky Lynch arrives in a big semi truck.

The Men’s Royal Rumble: #1 is Brock. #2 is Elias. He gets to sing before his death. Brock rushes him and slips on his way out. Back in and suplex city follows. Brock gets the guitar and lays out Elias with it. He dumps him; Elias was 32. #3 is Erick Rowan and his cage. He attacks, and Brock dumps him; thanks for coming Erick. #4 is Roode. He attacks with strikes, but Brock lariats him. The F5 follows and Brock tosses Roode. #5 is Morrison. He attacks with kicks and strikes until Brock dumps him. #6 is Kofi. He attacks, fires away and Brock cuts him off. Germans follow and Brock continues to work him over. #7 is Rey. He attacks with kicks and strikes, Brock cuts him off and clotheslines both Kofi & Rey. German to Rey, one for Kofi and #8 is Big E. The three rally, head in the ring and attack. Trouble in paradise, the big ending follows and Rey hits 619. Brock dumps Rey, lariats Kofi and dumps Big E. F5 on Kofi and he’s over the ropes and done. #9 is Cesaro. He delivers uppercuts, but Brock follows with knee strikes, suplexes and dumps him. #10 is Shelton. Old friends reunite, but Brock just laughs. Shelton & Paul shake hands, and hug. Shelton in the ring and Brock shakes his hand and hugs him. Brock Germans him and dumps him. Brock laughs his ass off. #11 is Nakamura. Nakamura attacks with strikes, kicks and then is quickly dumped. #12 is MVP as Black Panther. Brock fucking dances to his music and MVP attacks. He follows with strikes and eats an F5. Brock dumps him. #13 is Keith Lee! They come face to face and Brock attacks, but Lee fires back, takes him down and follows with strikes. They work into a double down and #14 is Braun. He attacks both, hits corner splashes and dropkicks Lee. To the floor and Braun tackles Lee. Back in and Brock counters and Germans Braun. One for Lee and another for Braun. One more for Lee. Lee and Braun come face to face, they brawl and Brock dumps them. #15 is Ricochet. He charges the ring and flies in but Brock catches him and hits a backbreaker. The German follows as Brock is looking tired. Kicking ass is hard work. #16 Drew. Brock drops the gloves and Ricochet low blows Brock, claymore by Drew and Brock is done after 36-minutes of destruction. Ricochet attacks, but Drew easily dumps him. #17 is The Miz. Future shock by Drew and the claymore follows as he dumps Miz. #18 is AJ Styles. Drew tosses him around, Styles follows with kicks but gets mowed down. Styles fights back and #19 is Dolph. Styles chop blocks Drew, they attack and Dolph then attacks Styles. Drew suplexes Dolph and follows with chops. #20 is Karl Anderson. He attacks Drew, Styles joins in for double teams as Dolph hits a superkick. They try to dump Drew but the OC attacks Dolph. #21 is The Rated R SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPER STAR Edge! He runs wild with spears, faces off with Styles and Styles hits the PELE. Spear by Edge and #22 is King Corbin. He and Dolph attack Edge, chokebreaker to Karl and he follows with strikes on Styles. Corbin saves Dolph and Edge dumps Styles. #23 is the bro, Matt Riddle. He attacks with kicks, runs wild and final flash to Edge but Corbin dumps him. #24 is Gallows. Drew tosses Corbin, magic killer on Edge and #25 is Orton. RKOs follow and he comes face to face with Edge. Rated RKO dump the Good Brothers and work together as #26 is Reigns. He runs wild with strikes, spears Dolph and dumps him, thanks Roman. He works over Drew, but Drew fires back and #27 is Kevin Owens. He attacks Drew, follows with cannonballs on Edge & Reigns, reigns counters the pop up powerbomb, but Kevin hits a stunner. One for Orton, and #28 is Aleister Black. It looks like Joe & Seth are left. He attacks with strikes and kicks, black mass to Drew and they all brawl as #29 is Joe. He brawls with Black, they trade and Joe hits an enziguri. He and Kevin work together and then come face to face and brawl. #30 is Seth Rollins. Buddy & AOP are with him. Joe & Kevin attack, get beat down and then work over Edge, Seth hits blackout on Drew, attacks Reigns and follows with blackout. Black cuts him off and hits head kick, Buddy cuts him off and Seth dumps Black. Stunner by Kevin, and AOP catches Seth to save him. They drag out Kevin to eliminate him. Clutch by Joe, Buddy attacks and Seth dumps him. AOP, Black, Buddy, and AOP al brawl, Kevin joins in and they fight to the back. Edge and Orton are back in and Drew & Reigns are also left. Seth begs Reigns to help him, superman punch by Reigns and they all kick the shit out of Seth as Drew dumps him. Edge, Reigns, Orton, & Drew are left. Edge and Orton talk and attack. They post Reigns and Orton hits an RKO. Edge spears Drew and double RKO Drew. Orton sneaks up on Edge but Edge catches him. Edge then dumps Orton, and comes face to face with Reigns. They go crazy fists, superman punch by Reigns and the spear is countered and Edge spears Reigns and almost tosses him. Reigns fights back and both to the apron as they trade and Reigns eliminates Edge. Drew attacks, superman punch by Reigns and Drew claymores him and tosses him for the win! Drew McIntyre won @ 60:20 [***½] I will say that it was nice to see them mix things up this year with the Brock stuff. The Brock portion was really energetic and exciting, it slowed and lost some of that until Edge appeared and popped the crowd huge. Despite the slow middle, I loved the Edge return, the mini-Rated RKO reunion, and felt the closing stretch was well done and overall it was a really good Rumble. It’s about time with Drew, he got to dump Brock, picked up the big win and now they just have to finally go all the way with him.

– Commentary puts over Drew’s win and then talk about Mania taking place from the Performance Center. We then go back two weeks and get footage of Drew fucking wrecking Brock with multiple claymores,

Taker & Styles Contract Signing: Taker makes a speedy entrance and starts wrecking the table in the ring, no messing around. Post break and they show footage of Styles’ promo on Taker, setting up tonight’s contract signing. Styles’ music hits but no Styles. It hits again and still no Styles. Styles and the Good Brothers are backstage and says people come through the PC and want to belike Taker. They on the other hand, went right to the top. Taker keeps getting involved into a world he doesn’t belong and that no one wants him in, still trying to be involved in Mania. Styles runs down “Money McCool” for being behind Taker embarrassing himself. Styles wants him to let it go, but he has no sympathy for the old guy who keeps getting involved in OC business. He stole victories from Styles and at Mania, Taker can’t run or hide, Styles will pay for his assisted living costs, when he has him rest in peace. Styles signs the contract and tells the Good Brothers to deliver the contract to Taker, but they refuse. They finally head to the ring and have the contract. They try to leave it on the apron, and do so as the DONG hits. Lights out and when they come back on, Taker is behind them and kicks their asses. Styles is pissed as his boys have their asses handed to them. Taker signs the contract and shoves it in Karl’s mouth. It was what it needed to be and avoided Styles & Taker getting physically involved once again.

Champion Andrade vs. Rey Mysterio: Asuka joins commentary, just to be awesome. Vega is at ringside. They get right to it as Andrade takes early control. He grounds Rey until Rey fires back and counters into a head scissors. Vega trips him up allowing Andrade to cut him off. Post break and Andrade is in control until Rey counters out and sends Andrade to he buckles. Rey springboards in with the seated senton, covers for 2. Andrade counters 619 with the back elbow for 2. He follows with the rolling suplexes, but Rey counters out, hits 619 and the top rope splash follows for the win. Rey Mysterio defeated Champion Andrade @ 7:00 via pin [**¾] This was pretty good, as they worked hard and have good chemistry.

– Next are highlights of Shayna Baszler winning the Elimination Chamber for the right to face Becky Lynch at Mania.

Becky Lynch Talks: Becky Lynch arrives and tells Shayna that she knows her existence as champion frustrates Shayna. Shayna has been taught she could bully her way to the op, but she got to Raw and found the legend in Lynch. If Lynch is champion, Shayna’s life makes no sense. Lynch goes out and hunts her prey and she’s a whole different animal than Shayna is used to. Lynch saw her dominate at the chamber, but at mania, she will prove Shayna’s whole life is a lie. Shayna watches on and is not happy. I still want Shayna to go all Clubber Lang on Lynch at Mania.

– They air some classis Steve Austin highlights,

– We see footage of last week’s interactions between Charlotte & Rhea Ripley.

– Charly interviews Kevin Owens. Owens accepts Rollins’ challenge and as for any time and any place, he wants it at Mania at the PC. There’s no better place, Rollins has had the advantage, but when they face here, Owens will have the home field advantage. This is here Owens had the toughest times of his life, and people like Rollins did he didn’t belong and wouldn’t make it in WWE. But he will beat Rollins in the same building he earned his place in. Good stuff from Kevin.

– We go to highlights of Austin winning the title at Mania 14. By the way, this weekend, Steve Cook and I will have anew podcast for you, reviewing WrestleMania 14 and the Raw the night after.

– Brock will be here next week, as will Drew and Randy Orton.

Stine Cold Arrives for 3:16 Day: Austin arrives and enjoys some beers. He admits he blew himself up on his entrance and says from now on, 3:16 in a national holiday. Byron has to give hi a hell yeah, Austin whats him and says 3:16 day is al about giving shit back to people with the middle finger. Byron holds up an “8” sign, Austin reads his cards upside down, and Byron keeps rating him with cards. Austin talks about happy hour being 24 hours long on 3:16, having beer for your morning coffee, four letter words are always acceptable, and invites Byron to the ring for some beers… and a stunner. Becky arrives with a cooler full of beer, steps on Byron and toasts with old Stone Cold. Maybe it’s me, but this did nothing for me. Byron eats another stunner, which he probably loved as he lived out a dream.

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 98. On the show, 411’s Larry Csonka & Steve Cook review the latest episodes of NXT & AEW TV, look the Coronairus’ Impact on Wrestling, & preview the ROH weekend events. The show is approximately 105-minutes long.

* Intro
* The Coronairus’ Impact on Wrestling: 2:05
* AEW Dynamite (3.11.20) Review: 33:10
* NXT (3.11.20) Review: 58:40
* The Head to Head Comparison: 1.12.20
* ROH Weekend Preview: 1:18:42

* iTunes
* Spotify
* Stitcher
* Google Play

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

Tonight’s episode of WWE Raw was far from perfect, but I felt the company did their best to produce something enjoyable and also add some build to WrestleMania. The Edge interview was great, airing the Rumble not only filled time well but also adds to the build for Drew McIntyre vs. Brock Lesnar and allows everyone to see Drew’s big win. Kevin Owens cut a good promo, Andrade vs. Rey Mysterio was pretty good and sets up a rematch, while the Becky & Taker segments were designed to build Mania matches as well. The Austin segment kind of was what it was. I saw a lot of people hating this show on Twitter, but all things considered with the situation, I think that they accomplished a lot and that it was good.