#brawn strowman

[jaycosplay]

Brawn Strowman ated Elias. He needed his vitamin E

[realmofinsanity]

Hot take: Brawn was so thirsty for Sister Alexa that he drowned in her bath water...

[unoficialy-married-to-ace-austin]

ROMANS BACK!!! Im so exited!!! I already have a fanfic idea for him that will be posted some time this week!!

[dreamlikemusings]

............um holy hell i’m scared

[hazyheel]

Monday Night Raw  3/4/19 Review

We started the night with Roman Reigns coming out to a huge reception, and it still makes me happy to see that everyone is cheering him. He talks about how he needs to take his yard back, and he brings out Seth Rollins. The two talk about how they have inspired each other. Rollins said that he understood Reign’s feeling, losing a title without being pinned. Rollins offered him the Wrestlemania match, but Reigns declined it. Reigns then also said that he wanted to get the Shield back together, but Rollins was apprehensive. Reigns said that life was short, and they didn’t know how much time they had left, so they had to get back together. Rollins agreed, and they called Dean Ambrose out. Dean came out, but before he could say anything, Elias attacked him with a guitar and ran away. Ambrose was then too pissed to really reunite with his brothers, and walked to the past.

Grade: C-. It was a tough pill to swallow when I realized that this promo wasn’t as good as I had hoped. Considering that the Shield only broke up five months ago, and Ambrose’s heel turn totally flopped, I am not nearly as excited for the return of the Shield as I should be. Plus, the dialogue was a bit contrived and corny, so I wasn’t really feeling this. Still, one last ride for the Shield will be fun, and I like that Roman is back, so I will cut it a bit of slack.

Backstage, Charly interviewed Heel Inc. (Drew McIntyre, Baron Corbin and Bobby Lashey) and they said that they want a six man tag against Finn Balor, Brawn Strowman and Kurt Angle.

And that was our next match. There was a cool spot after we came back from a commercial, where Balor dove for a tag, but Corbin reversed it into a Deep Six. Angle got a hot tag, and he delivered a triad of German suplexes to McIntyre. Angle botched a rollthrough on a rollup, but still managed to lock in the ankle lock. After we got back from one of the many commercials during the match, Strowman nailed Corbin with a running powerslam, followed by a Coup de Gras for a near fall, broken up by Rush. In retaliation, Strowman rammed Rush through the barricade, taking him out of the match. Lashley then hit Balor with the spear for the win. After the match, the heels continued their assault on the  face team, particularly Kurt Angle. McIntyre nailed Balor with a claymore, and then a double chokeslam into the steps from the others.

Grade C+. Not a bad match, but a bit boring. It definitely was hurt by the odd amount of commercials during the match. But, the closing sequence was exciting, and now we have a logical setup for a rematch between Bobby Lashley and Finn Balor. That will probably be at Wrestlemania, so hopefully they can work on their match. It has potential, but Lashley has yet to have a standout match since he returned. This could be his big break.

Backstage, Charly interviewed Heavy Machinery about how they rubbed the Ascension the wrong way. After cringy backstage footage of them, Otis said that their words hurt his feelings (funny) and they challenged the Ascension to a match.

Next out was Natalya who took on Ruby Riott (jobber entrance). The match was quick, with Natalya locking in a sharpshooter before rolling up Riott for the win. Immediately following the match, Lacy Evans did a catwalk. Her new nickname is the sassy southern belle. Natalya looked just as confused as we are.

Grade: D. Action was surprisingly good for a short match, but it doesn’t seem to do much other than bury Riott. And Evans is still being misused, so I didn’t care about this segment.

Backstage, Michael Che and Colin Jost showed up. Apparently they are gonna be at Wrestlemania. It is clear that WWE wrote this “comedy” cuz those two are way funnier than the stupid segment that just transpired. Although Colin got some heat for wearing a New York baseball cap.

There was then a promo from Triple H, who talked about how Batista betrayed Ric Flair and himself when he attacked last week. He also kinda broke character, saying that he felt bad for Richard Flehr. He made a joke about how Flair has been married several times while talking about their friendship. Trips then ran down Batista for quitting wrestling and complaining about not getting what he wanted. Triple H then said that he will always be waiting for Batista, and told him to have some balls and confront Triple H about their problems. He then said that when they fight, it won’t be about characters, it’ll be about a man who is pissed.

Grade: B. It was a very good promo. Could’ve been in the A-range, but I really wasn’t a fan of the way he broke the fourth wall. These stories will never feel real, so I don’t like how they are trying to make it that way. I’m not into those types of stories. But this rivalry is heating up, and it is quite entertaining.

After a quick recap of the Ronda Rousey situation from last week, Stephanie told Charly that they were going to listen to Rousey, and that they were lifting the charges on Becky. Steph then booked the match at Fastlane between Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch for the vacant Raw Women’s Championship. But they also said that Lynch had to sign a contract that said she can’t sue the company for any injuries she sustains during that match. I like that they actually let Ronda vacate the title, which is very interesting. I don’t know how the match at Fastlane will go, and I am looking forward to it. After a commercial, we saw Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns talking about what happened earlier in the night, but Ambrose didn’t want anything to do with Reigns.

Then there was a gauntlet match, with Heavy Machinery running the gauntlet. They started against the B-Team, and beat them quickly. Then, they took on the Ascension, whom they beat with a big splash after a bit of a struggle. Then it was Zack Ryder and Kurt Hawkins, and Otis hit a cool pop up power slam, and then a caterpillar for the win.

Grade: C-. Match was kinda bland, and it didn’t have any purpose, but at least Heavy Machinery are doing something. They aren’t perfect, but they are something.

Once again, we had Colin Jost and Michael Che are talking about their jobs as corespondents backstage. They interacted with EC3, kinda. They just called him weird. And then Titus O’Neil asked Colin to take a picture of him and Che, but totally dissed Jost. Che then was about to party with No Way Jose, but Jost stopped him. Pretty funny actually. They aired a video package of Torrie Wilson, who is being inducted into the hall of fame. And Charly talked to Charlotte Flair backstage about how Becky Lynch may not sign the contract, but Flair said that Lynch will sign, and Flair will win. Another backstage interaction between Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, and Ambrose refuses to rejoin the Shield.

Finally, we went back to the ring, for an Elias concert. He got mega heat for just destroying the Philly crowd. Ambrose then came out for his match. Fairly lackluster match, came to a finish when Elias countered Ambrose’s elbow drop with a knee, and then hit the Drift away for the win. After the match, Rollins and Reigns tried to convince him again, but Ambrose walked away. Heel inc. then showed up, and told them that their reunion has failed. But when the heels attacked Rollins and Reigns, Ambrose protected them and they all put their fists in the middle to reunite.

Grade: B-. Subpar match, with a fun ending segment. The Shield reuniting was actually a lot more exciting than I thought. And I am looking forward to the match that was booked for Fastlane. It will be Lashley, Corbin and McIntyre vs. The Shield at Fastlane. Should be fun, and hopefully that will end the very odd and ongoing feud. They are also acknowledging on air that Ambrose is leaving, with Renee saying that he will move onto greener pastures, while Corey says that he is in the WWE, there are no greener pastures and he has no plans.

Next was a match between Sasha Banks and Tamina, with their tag partners at ringside. Nia Jax interfered, pulling Tamina out of the ring. Bayley tried to even the odds, but was whipped into the barricade. Sasha then took out Nia with a meteora, but ate a superkick getting back in the ring and lost.

Grade D-. Bad match, simple as that.

Jost and Che are backstage, and Jost is terrified of everyone. He comes face to face with Brawn Strowman. Strowman steals his New York hat, and gets a pop. Jost tries to small talk him, before asking if wrestling is real. Strowman then lifts him up the wall by his neck. They cut to commercial, and came back with other people trying to get Braun off of Colin. Kinda funny.

Next was the Raw Tag Team Championship match, pitting The Revival against Ricochet and Aleister Black. The Revival got a jobber entrance, which is a travesty. I haven’t seen their entrance since they won the belts. The match started out at a high speed. It didn’t take long for Bobby Roode and Chad Gable to come down to ringside. Black was able to make an awesome comeback using his knee strikes. Ricochet was in control, but when he threw Dawson out of the ring, Gable and Roode attacked Dawson and caused a DQ. Gable and Roode then confronted Ricochet and Black, but the faces got the better of the exchange.

Grade: C. Very short, but good action. A good use of a non finish, but now the champions seem to be being phased out of their own championship storyline to emphasize how new Ricochet and Black are. A difficult situation to work with, but its their own fault that they are in this situation.

In the main event, Steph came down to the ring, holding the Raw Women’s Championship like it is hers. That was annoying as a smarky fan. Charlotte stirred the pot a bit by encouraging Steph to just give Flair the belt. Lynch and Flair hurled insults at each other, and Lynch signed the papers. Thats when Ronda Rousey showed up, and marched to the ring. Another weird commercial, and Ronda just kinda complained about “losing” her championship. Steph changed the Fastlane match stipulation so that if Lynch wins, she gets added to the Wrestlemania match. Rousey then turned heel, saying that the fans didn’t appreciate her. Rousey basically just said “fuck this” to the whole situation, and attacked both Flair and Lynch. She beat the crap out of Lynch, and injured her arm. Backstage, Steph just put over Rousey.

Grade: B+. I disagree with the stipulation of the match that was booked, I personally thought that it should be a #1 contenders match, and I’d have had it come to a draw. But the rest of this was pretty good. They cleaned up the story a bit, and even turned Rousey heel. I think it was a tad early in the story for that, but it’ll work. So, we will have several entertaining matches in the coming weeks, and this was an intense segment. Definitely the highlight of the night.

Overall Grade: C-

Pros: Triple H promo, Shield Reunion, Rousey Heel Turn,

Cons: weird commercials, Natalya vs. Riott, Banks vs. Tamina, Tag Team championship match.

[stevenfromhoenn]

I KNEW IT WAS A SET UP, I KNEW IT AND IM SO MAD

[daddy5atan]

Braun referred to Finn as "my buddy Finn" therefore this ship has sailed

[lhcartoonist]

Wow. Never have I've given less a damn about a title change. Well, can't wait for brawn to smash his briefcase into Roman's face and take it.