Raw - February 18, 2019

So this post is several days late, mostly because it took me that long to even watch the full RAW episode this week. I’ve been a little under the weather but more accurately they brought out NXT folks and then the line up was a little meh so it was a tough show for me to watch. Granted the wonderful Fin Balor had a match so that was really the highlight of the entire show.

So the recap in a nutshell for you: Triple H talked about himself, Braun Strowman and Baron Corbin had another fight just like the one we just watched, Finn Balor had a tag team with Ricochet (NXT guy) against Bobby and Lio (again…get creative people), Lucha had a house party versus two guys that always lose, NTX people vs Revival that apparently WWE is super mean to and makes lose, Boss n Hug came out and chatted, Dean Ambrose fought Glasgow guy, Elias had to fight some weird NXT guy, and then Ronda had a rematch of her Ruby Riott match (again…get creative people). So as you can see, nothing that exciting. It took two days to watch this and it was painful towards the end.

The longer version of the recap is here:

Triple H

Triple H came out and talked about himself being in the hall of fame (boast much?) and then he announced that some NXT (I believe this is their minor league folks?) were making special appearances. Not exciting to me because who are these people are and also, I have enough people to get to learn that you are now adding more people right before WrestleMania.

Strowman vs Corbin

The first match was basically a repeat of the Braun Strowman and Baron Corbin match from Elimination Chamber so I’m not spending time on this. It annoys me that they just redid most of those matches and it was lazy storytelling. So, Braun won in the end this time.

An odd thing then happened where that Brock Lesnar front man came out and showed a weird love video about Brock. No one cares, at least I don’t care, so when Finn came out I thought it was going to be super exciting! It was just a weird transition but Finn was there so I was pretty excited!

Finn Balor & Ricochet vs Bobby Lashley & Lio Rush

Second match was my favorite wrestler (and why are we not having more of his?) Finn Balor. He came out with his cute little belt on and was adorbs as usual. Then of course Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush are going to have another match against him. So boring. They brought out a new NXT guy, Ricochet which was fine. Dude has some talent and seems really nice. I wish they could have spent more time getting me to like him and a little less time in seeming like Finn couldn’t handle Bobby on his own. I think Ricochet has a very nice future in WWE so good for him. The audience was a little less than excited which I think is because WE HAVE ALREADY SEEN THESE MATCHES. Finn wins, of course, and then they interview both of them and Finn gets even less mic time. Ricochet was very nervous on the mic which made me love him so he can get added to the list of okay people. Good job, Rico (that will be his new name).

Lucha House Party vs Ryder & Hawkins

Lucha House Party then came out (not sure where the party is and do they live together? Just an outstanding question again) and they were against Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins. So there is some background for the Ryder/Hawkins team. They were apparently a team back in the day but broke up (not sure why) and then poor Curt has had a like 200+ losing streak. I don’t know why, guy seems like a nice enough person so I feel kind of bad for him. They again lost against Lucha. Story continues I guess for them.

Ciampa & Gargano vs The Revival

Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano from NXT apparently are some sort of weird tag team and also individual NXT belt people. They have a tag team match against the tag team Champions The Revival. This seems very unfair to me. Why would the “best” tag team in RAW go against NXT people? This story is lazy and unfair to The Revival. I’m not even getting into this one. Apparently, the NXT people win. I’m not a fan of either of their looks or wrestling style. It was an odd match up because The Revival has a very classic wrestling style and these new guys had a little different style. It just wasn’t exciting and then The Revival lost which angered me even more. It felt like a slap in the face of the entire tag team RAW Championship if some minor leaguers could win so handily. Just annoying. This is the point that we turned it off and came back to in the next day. Give me a break, WWE. Do you even like your fans?

Boss & Hug

The next thing that happened was Boss & Hug came out and had a tearful celebration for winning. It was nice but after taking a break it felt a little blah. I like those ladies so hooray! Then Nia and Tamina came out and tried to ruin it (surprise, surprise) but then got beat up and the scene ended. I don’t know…I think the story writers were on vacation for this episode.

McIntyre vs Ambrose

The following match was a weird throw away match to me. Drew McIntyre (or as I call him Glasgow) versus Dean Ambrose. I thought Like to mention that I have a weird soft spot in my heart for Dean. I feel like he needs friends and is very misunderstood. This match was unnecessary and of course Glasgow beat up poor Dean and it was all kind of fast and brutal. At the end Seth Rollins was being interviewed and Dean asked why he didn’t help. This was kind of unclear as to why Dean thought Seth would help and also Seth is injured right now so he wouldn’t be in the ring anyway. Awkward encounter, not sure what the point was, but hey Seth was there so glad he can walk?

Black vs Elias

Aliester Black versus Elias was another odd matchup to me. So Elias is one of my favorites. I love that he says mean things to the audience and I love his self-confidence. Plus he has a guitar and scarves so we are kind of friends.  This Aliester dude is apparently rock and roll? I don’t know, he had candles and then this rock music playing and the announcers were all “oh he is so hard core” but I don’t buy it. The match was unnecessary and I think the Aliester guy won but I don’t remember because I was talking the whole time about how Elias should just be allowed to play his guitar and needs much better storylines. First, he has to beat up on old people and now this? Ugh. If I could write a storyline for Elias it would be that he creates a band of misfits and they play music that challenges other wrestlers and then they beat up on people all together. There would be a lot of guitar breaking and hilarious musical lines. I digress though, I think the actual WWE writers were exhausted from Elimination Chamber so they just got lazy.

Rousey vs Ruby

The last match, which again, didn’t I just see that, was Rhonda Rousey versus Ruby Riott. You knew that Ruby wasn’t going to win, and why in the world would this match be anything different than what we saw before. Hint: It wasn’t. So, let’s just focus on the important thing here: Rhonda’s look. Elimination Chamber we saw Rhonda sporting a totally different, more edgy look. She came out this time in more muted colors but still a little kilt skirt. She still had braids which I wish she didn’t but to each their own I guess. I think they are transitioning her into a more hard core bad guy which I think fits her persona a little better. I do want to also add that I don’t know why they don’t give her waterproof makeup. She always looks like a mess at the end with her makeup running but maybe that is intentional. Anyway, she won her match that was the same as Elimination Chamber but longer. Good?