WWE Monday Night Raw Review: 23/03

Linus O'Howell
3 days ago
5 min read

Brock Lesnar Starts the Show, The Usos VS The Vision

This week’s edition of Monday Night Raw kicked off with Brock Lesnar as Paul Heyman cut a promo calling Oba Femi “overhyped”! As usual, Heyman also put his client over, reminding people of everyone that has failed to beat Brock at WrestleMania (besides Roman Reigns), before Oba Femi marched his way down to the ring to send Lesnar crashing to the outside with a clothesline! Once again, Femi stood tall over Lesnar!

Grade: B-

After Dominik Mysterio said he’s going to end the night as a 3-time Intercontinental Champion, The Usos arrived as they were set to take on The Vision in the opening match of the night! Paul Heyman was nowhere to be seen in The Vision’s corner, probably showcasing his lack of care towards Logan Paul and Austin Theory. The match itself was fine; it felt like part 1 of a multi-match feud, and I guess that’s fine! Interestingly, LA Knight showed up when Logan went to use brass knuckles, handing them to Jey Uso as Uso nailed Theory with a right hand to cause the disqualification! After the match was over, Jey completely snapped, getting back into the ring to also floor Paul, and this certainly felt like something that Roman Reigns would do!

Grade: C+

Becky Lynch Promo, Je’Von Evans VS Grayson Waller, Paul Heyman Speaks

After Los Americanos got a better reaction than usual, Becky Lynch came down to the ring to speak about her grievances towards AJ Lee! Becky talked about how stupid it is that the crowd cheers for someone who abandoned them for 10 years, whilst Lynch is a person of the people after taking time away due to the crowd getting fed up of her always winning World Titles! However, the thing that is annoying Becky the most is the fact that her daughter seemingly loves AJ Lee, something The Man can’t handle, before the Women’s Intercontinental Champion showed up to issue a challenge for WrestleMania! Please, this feud has to end after Mania!

Grade: C+

After Jey Uso got offended at LA Knight comparing him to Roman Reigns, Je’Von Evans made his way down to the ring as he was set to go one-on-one with Grayson Waller! Considering that this was just a standard midcard match, both men really went for it here! Je’Von is so entertaining to watch, but I think people forget that Grayson Waller is also very talented! Some of the dives that Evans delivered here were insane, whilst some of the right hands that both men delivered felt proper stiff! I honestly really enjoyed this match, with Kofi Kingston not exactly interested in helping Grayson out, and in the end, a super Hurricanrana followed by an O.G. Cutter was enough for Evans to defeat Waller! Good job by both men!

Grade: B

Adam Pearce seemed more than happy with Paul Heyman’s idea of a World Tag Team Title match next week, whilst Pearce also reminded Heyman that he has an upcoming segment to talk about Seth “Freakin” Rollins! After “The Original” El Grande Americano talked in English (he’s definitely a fake), Paul Heyman found himself in the ring to state that he is worried about the fact that all of his back-up is gone! However, he needs to deal with Seth Rollins, which is why when Seth showed up, Boston PD arrived as Rollins had broken his “restraining order” that Heyman had issued a few days ago! However, after Paul said some things about both Becky Lynch and Roux, Seth Rollins snapped, attacking The Oracle, which resulted in The Visionary being arrested! What a strange storyline; I don’t really understand where this is going!

Grade: C+

Bayley and Lyra Valkyria VS The Kabuki Warriors, Penta VS Dominik Mysterio: Intercontinental Championship

We then headed straight into Tag Team action as Bayley and Lyra Valkyria teamed up to take on The Kabuki Warriors! Kairi Sane looked great here; the crowd were behind her, and I have to say that I feel like her storyline with Asuka has really worked! Kairi also got an awful lot of offense in here, too, which of course meant she lost! Despite Sane saving Asuka from a diving Bayley, Lyra Valkyria was simply better than all of them as she just won with a Night Wing! I like this for Lyra! After the match was over, Bayley and Lyra said they’re coming for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships, with Valkyria challenging The Irresistible Forces to a match next week!

Grade: C+

Penta is apparently friends with IShowSpeed, whilst the reigning Intercontinental Champion also told Dragon Lee that he’s always up for a Round 2! After Je’Von Evans got excited with Byron Saxton (I swear this happens every week), IShowSpeed was cursed by Danhausen! Great! Iyo Sky then checked in on Kairi Sane, who is still getting grief from Asuka, whilst Raquel Rodriguez wants to get revenge on Iyo for costing her her match against Stephanie Vaquer last week! Speaking of Stephanie Vaquer, La Primera started a brawl with Liv Morgan during Dominik Mysterio’s entrance, with referees and security guards having to pull the two women apart! Dominik was then back to do his entrance again, as the AAA Mega Champion attempted to recapture his Intercontinental Championship off Penta in the show’s Main Event! Dom and Penta work well together, with their styles matching up quite well (like it’s MyGM Mode)! Before the match even began, Mysterio attacked Penta, giving the Heel an advantage that he would be able to use throughout the contest! However, that got ruined by a returning Finn Balor, who took out JD McDonagh, a notion that distracted Mysterio enough to allow Penta to retain his Title via roll-up! After the match was over, Finn went after Dominik, with The King of the Luchadores escaping, as Balor instead took his anger out on McDonagh! Finn VS Dom is definitely the bigger story on paper, but I genuinely think it makes more sense for Balor to be angry with JD!

Grade: B-

CM Punk Closes the Show

This week’s edition of Monday Night Raw, live from the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, went off the air with CM Punk stating that he’s proud of his age, and that the only reason he struck Roman Reigns last week was because he doesn’t get to disrespect the World Heavyweight Champion! Punk also took shots at Jey Uso, with Jey storming down to the ring as Punk offered him a rematch for the World Heavyweight Championship! Jimmy Uso then interrupted as he could tell what was going on, telling Jey that they need to focus on defending their World Tag Team Championships, something Jey clearly doesn’t care about! Roman Reigns then arrived to tell The Usos to leave his ring, whilst more comments from CM Punk resulted in Jey Uso charging at The Best in the World! Eventually, Roman floored Punk with a Superman Punch, before an enraged “Main Event” Jey Uso shouted at Reigns to “finish him off”, something The Tribal Chief was more than happy to deliver! The show then ended with Roman sending CM Punk crashing through the announce table, as Punk just laughed! I’ve always said that Heel Roman Reigns is by far the best character in wrestling, and this proved it! On top of that, serious Jey Uso is far better than “The Yeet Man”, whilst CM Punk and Jimmy Uso were also great!