7 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (20 Feb - Results & Review)

The Road to WrestleMania often has a series of potholes, speedbumps and traffic jams along the way. It’s just a fact, and some weeks are better than others at navigating these potential pitfalls, while others just manage to pull everything together successfully.

Raw on Monday night was a mixture of things that clicked really well and set the tone for WrestleMania 39 really well, while others fell flat, including some marquee programs for the big show.

The Raw Women’s Championship should feel like a major title program pitting Bianca Belair and her year-long reign against one of the most decorated women’s wrestlers on the planet, Asuka. But the first confrontation between the two fell flat, despite being a match that will probably be tremendous.

Austin Theory should be getting the push of his life heading into Mania and potentially facing John Cena. Instead, he continues to give bland, pre-written promos that say nothing and go nowhere. He’s poised to get verbally run over by the 16-time world champion.

But Raw also managed to deftly promote both Sami Zayn and Cody Rhodes where it could have all gone horribly wrong and the fans could have turned on the Royal Rumble winner. Instead, order was maintained and Cody’s path to Mania remains clear.

All of this is to say that Raw once again was a mixed bag of highs and lows, though it should be firing better.

Let’s get to it…