Welcome or welcome back to our weekly WWE RAW hits and misses series where we recap all the good and bad from the show.
Miss – Sami Zayn’s promo segment
This felt weird and rushed, to be honest. Sami delivered a passionate reminder about his history with Owens. Adam Pearce seemingly laid down the spots for the Unsanctioned Match at Elimination Chamber with how he told Sami he wasn’t responsible for what KO would do to him.
Another (semi-related) question, why is Orton taking so long to recover even though he took the same move KO delivered to Sami?
Hit – AJ Styles evades a spear from Bron Breakker
We got our first live tease of what’s about to come between AJ Styles and Bron Breakker. Poor Dominik got the IShowSpeed treatment because Styles evaded the spear at the last second.
Is it just me or do wrestlers catching stuff always look so smooth? Styles did a great job catching Breakker’s shirt after their angle on WWE RAW.
Miss – Ivy Nile vs. Dakota Kai on WWE RAW
WWE seems to be going the rare babyface versus babyface route with Dakota Kai versus Lyra Valkyria. Ivy Nile versus Lyra made more sense since they teased the match-up with the Royal Rumble elimination spot.
That said, Dakota and Lyra had a really good outing previously on WWE good so, hopefully, this will be a good one.
Hit – Gunther trolls the crowd and Jey Uso on WWE RAW
Seeing Gunther just roast the crowd made this writer happy. The Ring General’s growth on the mic has been nothing short of incredible. Pat McAfee was about to get a beating but Jey arrived in time to make the save. Also, WWE needs to get creative with these pull-apart brawls since we’re still months away from getting his match at WrestleMania 41.
Miss – Penta vs. Pete Dunne
Penta’s matches have been quite formulaic as of late. He doesn’t work to elevate the match but adjusts to his opponent’s pace, which works for his matches, I guess. Kaiser’s involvement suggests we may get ready to witness a three-way dance on WWE RAW or a PLE.
Hit – Roxanne Perez advances to Elimination Chamber
Roxanne bumped for Raquel like her life was on the line. She’s a tremendous talent and truly one of the best WWE have on the roster. As for Raquel, she did what she was supposed to do: look strong but not make it to Elimination Chamber.
Miss – LWO and The New Day segment
The New Day are getting their taste of Dominik Mysterio treatment. This writer was used to seeing Woods and Kingston get cheers from the crowd but this new direction looks great as well. With that being said, LWO without Rey Mysterio aren’t charismatic enough to go back and forth with New Day on the mic.
Hit – Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor on WWE RAW
This was a really good main event featuring Seth Rollins and Finn Balor. Rollins took a different route by working Balor’s leg. The crowd popped big time for Seth telling the referee to suck it over a botched pinfall count. I thought that was hilarious. Somebody on the internet called Finn Balor “Pin Balor” following his loss to Rollins.
How would you rate 2/17 WWE RAW on a scale of 1 to 10? Let us know in the comments!
Catch up on everything that went down on this week’s episode of RAW here.
