Welcome to Rinside News’ live results coverage of WWE RAW, the final RAW before WrestleMania.
Last week the WWE Champion, Brock Lesnar, and his advocate Paul Heyman came to the Performance Centre and talked about Drew McIntyre’s fate this Saturday/Sunday. Tonight Lesnar is to appear again and this time we can expect an altercation with McIntyre.
Also tonight, The Undertaker is to appear once more before his mysterious Boneyard match with AJ Styles. This has been one of the best feuds heading into this unusual WrestleMania, and hopefully tonight is that last little bit of fuel to get us all fired up.
Becky Lynch is schedule to be on Raw tonight ahead of her match with Shayna Baszler, which is rumoured to headline the Saturday night of WrestleMania, and that’s about all we know. No matches have been announced ahead of time and we’re likely to see a few replays of previous matches.
And that’s the preview. Let us know what you’re excited to see and if you’re looking forward to WrestleMania this weekend. Follow along here or on the free Ringside News app. Enjoy the show!
WWE RAW
Tonight’s show opens with a lenghty recap of The Undertaker/AJ Styles feud thus far.
The Undertaker cuts a promo ina smoky room, wearing a leather jacket and a bandana. He calls AJ by his real name and says we’re getting real now. He says AJ either has a big set or he’s all talk, but his mouth is writing cheques his ass can’t cash. But he’s heard a lot worse from a lot better.
He says Styles said he would have been a little scared of him 15 years ago and damn right he would have been. AJ couldn’t have stood head and shoulders with the likes of Stone Cold, The Rock, Eddie Guerrero, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Booker T, and more. And Styles waitied until now to come crawling out of the woodwork and challenge him.
‘Taker says AJ will have to pay the ultimate price for disrespecting his wife. And he’s gonna pay that price in a Boneyard, that was AJ’s idea after all. Styles wants to be immortal at WrestleMania and who better to do it than The Undertaker? And he hopes AJ brings those two “assclowns” Gallows and Anderson with him, because he’s bringing the unholy trinity with him. Just know, he will feel the pain, he will get hurt, and he will suffer. And most importantly, he will rest in peace. The music hits and the camera pulls back to show a gravestone with AJ Styles emblazoned on it.
Still to come, Edge will be live, and we have a six-man tag match coming up. We see a clip of Becky Lynch arriving at the PC in her fiery truck earlier today. Lynch will be live, next!
*Commercial Break*
RAW Women’s Champion, Becky Lynch comes out onto the stage. She says last year at WrestleMania she fought two Champions in one match: Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey. And the stakes for her couldn’t have been higher; she talked a lot of trash and attacked the two of them as and when she could. And for the past year she has walked that fine line. She then directs us to a full replay of the main event of last year’s WrestleMania. If you want to read our results of that match, as well as the entire WrestleMania 35 card, you can do so right here.
*Commercial Break*
We’re back live with Becky Lynch on the stage and she says she’s being followed by a dope trying to make her own history. She says she thinks Shayna thinks she is different, and she said last week that she thinks taking the title will destroy her and she’s right. Everyone gets into the business because they have demons to slay, but don’t think she doesn’t know about Shayna’s demons too.
And she’s starting to get to her. Shayna is going to come in full of emotion and she thinks she can slay the demon of Ronda Rousey’s shadow. If she can beat Becky, she’ll be seen as the world-class athlete she is, but if she loses she goes right back into Ronda’s shadow. So when she talks about one of them being destroyed by losing at WrestleMania, which of them does she mean?
Shayna appears from behind Becky and grabs her with the Kirifuda Clutch! Shayna drahs Becky over to the announce table and slams her head into it. Baszler lifts Becky up in a hanging powerbomb position and whips her head into the announce desk. Baszler lifts the RAW Women’s Championship and looks at it, then tosses it onto Lynch and walks off.
*Commercial Break*
Aleister Black makes his entrance to face another unknown talent.
Aleister Black Vs. Jason Cade
The bell rings and Cade runs at Black but he avoids it and hits a rolling kick to drop him. Black sits folded legs in the ring until Cade swings a kick but Black catches it. Black reverses a kick and hits Black Mass for the win.
Winner: Aleister Black
We see a replay of Seth Rollins’ promo from last week. Seth will team with Andrade and Angel Garza to face Kevin Owens and Street Profits next.
*Commercial Break*
Zelina Vega and Angel Garza come to the stage and she announces that Andrade is unfit to compete. However she has access to all the hottest talent in WWE. Vega introduces NXT newcomer Austin Theory as Garza’s partner.
Kevin Owens & The Street Profits Vs. Seth Rollins, Austin Theory, & Angel Garza W/Zelina Vega
We start the match with Theory and Owens, and Owens clocks Theory with a right hand, then chops him and forces him to the corner. Owens pounds Theory into the corner before tagging Dawkins. Ford tags in right away and Dawkins back body drops him onto Theory, then Garza runs in and the Profits flapjack him onto Theory. The heels roll from the ring to regroup.
*Commercial Break*
Back live and Garza knocks the wind from Ford with a dropkick to the chest. Theory gets the tag and he chops Ford and hits a neckbreaker for a two-count. Theory takes a rear chinlock and Seth coaches him from the apron. Ford fights out but Theory hits a rolling dropkick for another two-count.
Ford counters Theory and tags Dawkins, who knocks both Seth and Garza from the apron before knocking Austin to the corner. Seth tags himself in and drops Dawkins with a superkick as he’s running over Theory. Seth and Owens talk trash. Theory tags back in and stomps Angelo, before applying another chinlock.
Tag to Angel and he kicks Dawkins and applies a camel clutch submission. Seth tag back in and hits a snapmare and a kick to the back of Dawkins. Rollins kicks out of a roll-up and hits a slingblade. Angelo hits counters a kick and hits an enziguiri. Tag made to Owens and Garza, and the former hits the latter with repeated chops and a senton.
Cannonball to Garza in the corner, followed by a swanton bomb but Theory breaks the pinfall attempt. Montez runs in with an enziugiri to Theory, then hits a tope to Theory on the floor – Theory wasn’t really in the right spot and Ford basically landed flush on the ramp. Owens catches Garza with a Stunner for the win.
Winners: Kevin Owens & The Street Profits
As soon as the bell rang Seth ran in and hit Owens with The Stomp. Rollins then leaves, unconcerned for his partners.
We see a trailer for The Big Show Show, which comes to Netflix next week.
*Commercial Break*
Kevin Owens is still sitting in the ring when we return. He says Seth just kicked some sense into him because he’s been thinking a lot about what Rollins said last week. And he has a lot to say.
Last Monday, Seth walked around the PC and said the building was built by him. And that everyone that came through it had him to thank. But he’s heard otherwise. He’s heard the PC was built in spite of Seth. From the moment he stepped foot in the warehouse in Tampa, he was a nightmare to deal with. He thought he knew everything and thought he was better than everyone. And these past few months, Seth has done a tremendous job in proving all these people right when they called him an arrogant “dip$hit.”
He’s aware of his own past and the choices he made. But he’s not delusional like Seth is. Last week Seth proved him right and talked all about his big WrestleMania moments and referred to himself as a god and Owens as a failure. He says those words stung and stayed with him but he knows how skewed Rollins’ views are. He has all the same accolades as Seth, he’s been Universal Champion, Intercontinental Champion, United States Champion, etc. And he’s man enough to admit that he never won any of them without someone standing by his side, watching his back. And so did Seth.
Rollins has always had back-up or found some nefarious way to get his big WrestleMania moments. And the only thing he said last week made sense; that when you get to WWE nothing you did before it matters. And that will be so true come Saturday, because neither of their pasts will matter. The only thing that will matter, is that it’s the two of them one-on-one. And he will prove to Seth that he is not a prophet, messiah, or god, when he beats him and makes his own WrestleMania moment. This Saturday, he will be the one to burn it down.
Edge will be live on RAW to discuss his WrestleMania Last Man Standing match with Randy Orton!
*Commercial Break*
We see a replay of Edge’s return at the Royal Rumble, then the attack by Orton and the lead-up to now.
Edge is in a dark room. He says that Randy claimed he was a junkie for Edge. Well he’s probably right but it’s not an ego thing, he loves the feeling when his music hits. That connection, the intensity he shares with the fans because he is one. He says they’re all junkies for wrestling. At 13 when he saw Hulk Hogan Vs. Ultimate Warrior at WresleMania he knew this was his path. If you’re not a junkie you’re taking up space and you’re in his way.
Edge says Randy talked about grit but they have different definitions. Edge says Orton was handpicked by Evolution and drifted for years, deciding when to turn it on and being OK with being OK. Don’t get him wrong, OK for Orton is better than most. It’s Hall of Fame worthy. But grit to him is forging your own Hall of Fame career, it’s thinking about how to get back everyday for nine years and end it on your own terms.
He was mistaken though, he said Orton was jealous of him but that’s not true, Orton is jealous of his passion. You can’t fabricate passion and he has it, but Orton doesn’t. The only time Orton has had the passion was when they were interwined. Whether it was Rated RKO or when they were fighting every night, those were the only times Randy was pushed to his limit and forced to find his passion. And that’s what he wants again.
He says Orton attacked him and made him think he was done. Made him think he’d gotten closure and didn’t need to do it again. But then Orton attacked his wife, uttered the name of his children. And now Orton has accepted the challenge of a man who dove through a fiery table and covered himself in thumb tacks, just to grab the torch that Orton took for granted. Orton has dug himself a hole once again but this time he won’t pull him out, he’s going to push him so far down he’ll never get out.
Asuka will be live on RAW, next!
*Commercial Break*
Asuka makes her entrance to face NXT’s-own Kayden Carter, whose already in the ring.
Asuka Vs. Kayden Carter
Carter dropkicks Asuka right off the bat and delivers a few forearms in the corner. She hits the ropes but Asuka connects with a hip attack. Asuka talks trash and kicks Carter a few times but she catches one of the kicks and rolls her up for a two count.
Carters hits a springboard kick for another two-count. Asuka catches a kick and applies an ankle lock, then hits a German suplex. Asuka hits a headkick to Carter, then applies the Asuka Lock and she taps.
Winner: Asuka
After the match, Asuka joins the commentary team and addresses Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross in Japanese. The Kabuki Warriors will defend the Tag Team Championships against Bliss and Cross at WrestleMania.
*Commercial Break*
We see a video from earlier today when Rhea Ripley arrived at the Performance Centre. She was kicked in the back by Charlotte Flair and sent crashing into a garage shutter. Officials ran up and got between them and Flair said “hey rookie, I’ll see you at WrestleMania”, and Ripley responded “yeah, yeah you will.”
We see the full replay of Brock Lesnar Vs. Rey Mysterio at Survivor Series late last year. For the full results of that match and card, read here.
*Commercial Break*
Something something too big for one night. The announcers rundown the entire WrestleMania card but don’t specify which matches will be on which nights.
Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman are already in the ring when we return. Heyman introduces them and says he hates to pull back the curtain of the industry, he believes in the embellishment. But this is the final WWE RAW before the most unique WrestleMania of our lifetimes, and they call this the go-home segment. And if you look at the history of WWE television, who stands in the go-home segment each year? It’s Brock Lesnar.
Every year Brock is the beast to conquer on the biggest show of the year. This year, Drew McIntyre has truly stepped up and he gives his compliments. Why? Because Drew McIntyre is that special. Compared to the dumbass in the gym who thinks he can do this, Drew is special. Even compared to everyone in that locker room which, let’s be honest, is the most incredible locker room in WWE history, Drew is special.
You know who else was special? The Rock. Who got laid-out by Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam when he took his first WWE Championship. Hulk Hogan was special too, but Brock Lesnar wiped his blood on his chest. Who else was special? Shane Carwin. Randy Couture. John Cena. The Undertaker. They were all special but they were all laid out by Brock Lesnar and made his bitches.
Drew McIntyre is special and needs no embellishment. His Claymore Kick is special but so was Undertaker’s Tombstone, The Rock’s Elbow, Hogan’s Leg Drop, and Cena’s F5. And none of those could get the job done. Heyman says one of two things will happen at WrestleMania: Brock will either avoid the Claymore Kick or he’ll get hit by it and we’ll see if it’s enough.
But you know what? Heyman has something more than a prediction and more than a spoiler, but a guarantee. Brock Lesnar will be standing here in the go-home segment of RAW next year. And Heyman will add Drew McIntyre’s name to that list of victims. McIntyre walks into WrestleMania special this year, but he’ll walk out as Brock’s bitch.
And that’s it for WWE RAW. We still have SmackDown Live on Friday, then it’s two nights of WrestleMania! Until then, good health!
