9 Ups And 6 Downs From WWE Raw (Feb 17)
Orton shines again, Becky makes it rain while WWE builds to three PPVs.
Buckle up, WWE fans. The Road to WrestleMania is about to get bumpy.
We’re at the stage in the road where the path forks, as we have Super Showdown in less than two weeks, Elimination Chamber in less than three weeks, and Mania in less than seven. And you have angles building to all three PPVs simultaneously.
While this is a necessary thing – and doesn’t get negative marks on its own – it’s still pretty damn confusing and leads to situations like Brock Lesnar defending his title at Super Showdown while building to his title defense at Mania, or retconning a path for Shayna Baszler to face Becky Lynch for the Raw Women’s Championship at WM 36 by entering and winning an Elimination Chamber match.
These situations are frustrating at times, but that doesn’t mean Raw was difficult to follow; you just have to pay attention, and the announcers need to be on top of things. Thankfully, Raw this time of the year keeps moving at a good clip, and everyone is firing – and things aren’t even peaking yet, which is another good sign.
Nowhere is this more apparent than the Randy Orton/Edge feud, where Edge hasn’t been seen in three weeks, but the rivalry has remained front-and-center. Sooner or later, the Rated-R Superstar will return to kick their presumed Mania match into overdrive, but Orton has managed to become even more despicable in the interim.
With that said, let’s get to it…