RAW - March 4, 2019

This week on RAW they have been pushing us in two very specific directions: Roman Reigns and RAW Women’s Championship. We are going to focus this week on these two story lines and also take a nice little detour to visit our favorite person, Finn Balor, and the boring story line that for some reason they keep pushing on me.

I also want to give a little soapbox here. They are really pushing these NXT folks on me and I don’t like it. I get it, we gotta move towards the future and refresh our talent but come on people! They are fine people and fine wrestlers but if you bring them on be more thoughtful and stop being so mean to  The Revival. Those dudes are hard workers and for some reason are being portrayed as losers. I don’t like it and it totally takes away from the Tag Team Title and the rest of the WWE wrestlers. Okay that is all and I’m going to say about that.

Roman Reigns

Welcome back to the story line, Roman! So we got a really nice new story line now that Roman is back and it is so refreshing. I’m a little tired of the same people fighting over and over again. I mean, I guess for people who were around longer than a few months this is a repeat but for me I’m excited! The whole episode is about getting the Shield back together. The Shield was a three-man team that they dressed in military-like gear. I really like themes for tag teams, so this is right up my alley! It includes Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose. I guess Dean stopped being their friend after Roman left for treatment and there was this whole new story about how he is all alone or something. I have only known Dean on his own and he is enough for me. I like his weird walk and strange face but I get people need friends, so we will just go with it!

This episode was Roman and Seth trying to get him to be friends again. They had odd tactics that I feel like maybe they need a little help in how to make friends in the first place. They would just follow him around and keep asking to be friends one last time and it was not very compelling. I feel like they could have tried harder. Like hey, if we become friends we can beat up people who are mean to you or we can win a belt, or we can get more compelling Pay-Per-View coverage. Normal people would LOVE that stuff.

Anyway, Dean is all “no thanks” and they kept showing up to bug him. He has a match with Elias (OMG I love Elias) and of course he loses and then Seth and Roman come out and bug him again. Like dudes, leave him alone already! Dean takes off into the audience (like wow that takes balls because people are all trying to touch him, I would so hate that!) and then of course the annoying three-some comes out: Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre, and Baron Corbin. They come and start beating up on Roman and Seth. I’m all on the couch telling them to be careful because poor Roman is only five months out from cancer treatment! KID GLOVES! Anyway, Dean feels bad and runs down and helps and magically they can win and push the rest of the folks out. Okay. Then Seth and Roman put their fists into the middle (I think this was a thing they did as the Shield? Just a guess though) and then it takes a very tense few moments and Dean joins his fist too. People FREAK out. Like the shots of the audience you think people are losing their minds. Apparently now the Shield is back and they will be competing in Fast Lane. Hooray! New storyline!

RAW Women’s Championship

Last week Ronda Rousey put her title down and everyone was all WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? So of course, you knew that would be a major theme this week. Stephanie McMahon decided that means she forfeits her title and makes the announcement that Becky Lynch’s suspension was lifted so she can fight Charlotte Flair for the newly vacated title. This launches a hobbled Becky to walk into the ring to sign a very unofficial document about not holding WWE liable for if she gets hurt. I mean…don’t they already sign stuff like this? Also, I doubt she would be signing stuff in the ring without a lawyer present. They could have just invested in a background actor that looked official to have her sign it. I guess I’m a details person.

So she signs this document and then Ronda runs out and I start to cringe because she is not the best microphone person. I think she did pretty well though, I think she practiced a lot! Ronda says she didn’t forfeit the title and then Stephanie says that WresleMania can now be a three way if Becky wins against Charlotte at Fastlane. Cool, another Fastlane fight! Boo that it has to be a three way at WrestleMania. I feel like they are doing this because they worry that a female two-person match wouldn’t be a big enough draw so they have to add more people. I don’t like. The Becky and Ronda match was more than enough for me, in fact better because I don’t care for the whole Charlotte Flair thing. Ugh. So we will see what happens on Sunday.

Finn Balor

The match for Finn this week was really weird. The only reason I’m even writing about it is because Finn is beautiful and deserves to be talked about. This was a rematch of Finn/Kurt Angle/Braun Strowman against the annoying three-some (Lashley/McIntyre/Corbin). I don’t get why Finn has to work with Kurt Angle and why they keep making that poor man go out there. Like he can’t even move his neck from side to side and can only do one move It is just sad and I don’t really understand why this keeps happening. Finn did some super awesome moves (per usual) and I especially loved his flying Irishman out of the ring. One of his better moves! The team lost which was totally annoying and part of the reason is that weird Lio guy. We are going to get real here – I’m annoyed that we are not seeing real and meaningful matches for Fin Balor. No more tag teams, no more NXT matches, just for real wrestling experiences that highlight his real abilities. I think there are some great opportunities for bringing back the Bullet Club from Finn’s past in his Japan wrestling days. A group of three pretty awesome guys, two with height to even out Finn’s speed, and also just a slight edge of badness. YES PLEASE! This current story is a yawn fest and I just worry so much about poor Kurt. He might get hurt and it just is not fair anymore. Give the man a desk job already.

Other stuff that happened:

Heavy Machinery had a gauntlet match against a bunch of other tag teams and won. This team at first was annoying but like I said before, I love me a tag team theme, so they have made it into my heart. I’m cool with bringing them back and I think one of the guys has a slight learning disability which I also find enduring and hopeful so let’s just keep them going!

Tamina vs Sasha Banks was a big push and I was excited for Tamina to have a highlight match for once. My daughter does not enjoy Tamina because “her clothes are scary” but you know, someone has got to fill the bad girl role and I think she does it well. Also, her hair is on point. Damn lady, what shampoo do you use? Sasha Banks wins but the match was a little blah to me.

Natalya and Ruby Riott also was a one on one match this week. I am not a big fan of either of these ladies and honestly didn’t pay much attention to this match. These are fringe people and a semi-repeat from last week. I don’t actually understand this storyline between them so I’m not fully invested.

Triple H also had a nice little in ring rant towards Batista. I don’t really understand what is going on here because I don’t have any background. Why are they so mean to each other? Why does Triple H always yell at people? Where in the world is the Racoon guy from Guardians of the Galaxy? Just so many questions. I guess they are going to have a match or something which makes me nervous because they are kind of old. I mean I guess they are adults and all, but someone should really tell these older guys to hear helmets and pads and stuff. Just so unsafe.

NXT people had another match, but I already commented on that more than they deserve. I’m so over these people but apparently, they are also showing up on SmackDown. Yay for me.