7 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Raw (3 Mar - Results & Review)

4. Another Week, Another Jey Stand-In

Keeping a Jey Uso/Gunther feud that, in some way,s seemingly peaked three weeks ago white hot is a tall order, but WWE seems up to the task so far.

Part of the formula to keep the rivalry piping has been to keep the two opponents apart. They’ve managed to accomplish this by using Alpha Academy as stand-ins for Jey, with Gunther being disgusted by the comical antics of Otis and Akira Tozawa. He thumped Tozawa last week and dressed down Otis on Monday night as being in the same category as Uso – a people-pleaser and clown who doesn’t belong in his sacred ring.

Gunther then proceeded to battle Otis in a competitive match that saw the Ring General once again underestimate his opponent (perhaps foreshadowing what could happen at WrestleMania with Jey) as Otis fired up and won a chop battle(!) with Gunther, landing a Caterpillar for a near-fall. However, Gunther came back with a shotgun dropkick, a series of clubbing blows, and finally a powerbomb for the win.

Post-match, Gunther continued the attack on Otis and Akira before Jey ran down for the save, but he got sidetracked by A-Town Down Under (who will undoubtedly be Gunther’s stand-ins for Jey to battle the next couple weeks), allowing the Ring General to put the number one contender to sleep.

Solid stuff here, as the match is already baked and ready to serve, but WWE is just keeping it hot until it’s time.