Here we are, the last Raw before WrestleMania 32. What was expected off this night is the WWE going all guns blazing for Sunday. They sort of did exactly that with the opening segment. Many questions arise.
Which legend is going to meet Dean Ambrose next? AJ Styles in Brooklyn and would Jericho give him the WrestleMania match that he wants? What about the Divas title picture? More on the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal? It was a packed show. Here are the 5 points to note from this week’s Raw before WrestleMania 32-
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1) All guns Blazing
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The opening segment of Raw had the Undertaker walk down to the ring in front of a hot Brooklyn crowd. What followed was him saying this Mania won’t be his last and threatening Vince McMahon.
When he was done saying, in a very matter of fact tone, that he’ll defeat Shane McMahon, the latter’s music hit and we went from a war of words on two polar opposites of the arena, to in the ring to a brawl.
Shane O’ Mac had clearly won the trash talk battle by merely saying that Taker’s legacy died two years ago when he was beaten by Lesnar. But while the brawl was led by some absolutely hilarious looking punches from McMahon, the segment was elevated by the mere possibility of Shane teasing to take a leap through the announce table.
And he did, suddenly the main event between the 46-year-old and the 51-year-old Taker took a giant leap. Shane McMahon missed Taker completely with that leap. But the sheer attempt made a huge difference.
He crawled back up and made it to the end of the ramp. Taker then got up in his Phenom pose and now it will all be settled in the main event of Mania.
2) First WrestleMania
Jericho was just so hilarious as a heel on this show. And it all worked to reach the obvious conclusion of giving Styles a match against him. Jericho finally got distracted by the Y2J-acka** chant and the Brooklyn audience wasn’t doing him any favours.
They even overwhelmingly chanted for Styles when his music followed Jericho’s. Jericho lost to Ryder and then The Ayatollah of Rock N Rolla lost his mind. And it took some losing of his mind to get Styles his first WrestleMania match. In the end, Jericho spewed out some great lines – this is yet another WrestleMania for the veteran and he addressed Styles as “You rookie!”.
This match can be really, really good.
3) Too Much
If only they had him doing minimalist appearances, if only they had put him in the mid card longer enough to really grow as an endearing character, if only, then maybe Reigns would have been every bit of what the company thinks of him.
Reigns ran to the ring after another lengthy Triple H promo. He and his wife Stephanie McMahon were pretty effective as heels. The interesting part is that if Triple H retains his title and if Shane McMahon wins, there’s still some interesting drama that can ensue since Authority or not, they’re still going to be around Shane if he assumes power.
Maybe that’s why Shane and Triple H/ Stephanie haven’t interacted much to the build up to Mania. But this wasn’t it. Triple H and Reigns tried to beat each other up in the ring, backstage and then in the main event. This was just too overbearing to watch and was not interesting at all.
4) It’s going to be a mad, mad, mad Mania
Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar stood in the middle of the ring and did their usual shtick. Heyman called Ambrose an idiot, a dreamer, a lunatic et al for even thinking that he can beat the one in 22 and one. And on a night of interruptions, Dean Ambrose pulled a cart at ringside and took all the tools, correction, weapons, he can use for WrestleMania.
He did this all the while ignoring and not giving two cents about The Beast being in the ring staring at him with a kendo stick in hand. And all the while Ambrose’s music was playing out in the arena. Ambrose took everything he wanted in that cart and then walked away.
He’s going to walk into WrestleMania with that cart to give a performance of a lifetime.
5) Just Wait for WrestleMania
Towards the end of the show, there was a 6 man tag match between 6 of the 7 performers in the Intercontinental title picture. The Brooklyn crowd was quite rabid for this match, in the beginning, much more for all the brief interactions between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens.
Being New York and its love for heels, Owens got the loudest ovation for his entrance. There were no big spots which are understandably reserved for Mania. Also, you do not want any last minute injuries.
Soon, the crowd lost interest. They began chanting “This is Booty” and “New Day Rocks” but stayed alive for Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. They were the last two in the ring and Zayn pinned his archrival.
