WWE RAW 22nd February 2016 - 3 things that worked

What a way to kick off the first episode that marks the official beginning of the Road to Wrestlemania! What a way to get probably the biggest pop of the year so far with one of the biggest returns in a while!Also, two matches were added to the card and they couldn’t be more eye-popping. Brock Lesnar and one of the best babyfaces in the WWE right now, Dean Ambrose, are set for an intriguing showdown and the Chairman of the company has cut quite a deal with his prodigal son.Here are the 3 things that worked greatly for this episode of Raw:

#3 Divas story arc

Charlotte is just so apt as a heel

Charlotte isn’t one of the better promo workers in the company but her long-drawn lines and flat delivery was everything that made you want to boo her. She played the perfect heel to the rocky and very reluctant partnership between Lynch and Banks.

The two women will face off against each other for the right to face Charlotte at WrestleMania for the Divas title. What worked was surprisingly Charlotte’s monotone of a promo and the fact that WrestleMania will have a proper arc for the women wrestlers.

#2 Here comes the money

Guess who’s back.

What was completely great about this show was the return of Shane McMahon. It was so surprising that it had the audience freaking out, something that made them jump from one chant to another.

Shane McMahon let it reign over him for a while. Times like these just call for a Severus Snape reference. It was as if after all this while, the audience was like ‘Always’. This gave us three of the greatest characters in sports entertainment share the ring for the first time in years. Vince, Shane and Stephanie McMahon were compelling in their own roles.

Shane McMahon is here to stay at least till Mania. That can never be bad news.

#1 Lesnar vs Ambrose is ON

Lesnar runs over Ambrose’s face

Yes, Shane McMahon’s return was the absolute biggest story of the night but the best storyline of the night belongs to Dean Ambrose and Brock Lesnar. The Beast did not get the job done at Fastlane.

Ambrose made sure it did not happen. So the Beast set out to diminish the possibility of Ambrose even being there anymore for Raw or even WrestleMania by attacking him viciously before Raw.

But, but, but the beauty of Ambrose’s characters is that he will keep coming back to you. He’s crazy enough to do that. It’s not good for him but just like dust, just like air, he’ll still rise. (Yup, that’s from a Maya Angelou poem)

And this feud is what was brewing during the whole build up for Fastlane and WWE just gave it to us in spades for WrestleMania.

Also, Lesnar walking over Ambrose’s face is just how real the excitement for this storyline is.