WWE Raw Review: February 24, 2020

WWE Raw Review: February 24, 2020 by Felix Pichler

Opening segment

We opened the show with Randy Orton who came out to cut a promo as he explained that he knows that the people can’t understand what he did to Edge and he added that he feels sorry from the bottom of his heart. Then, Kevin Owens came out and joined him in the ring and recapped the whole story to also ask Orton why he attacked Edge. KO challenged the Viper for a match on Raw and Orton accepted but added that it wouldn’t take place now.

Opinion: Good first segment of the night in which Orton once more was good on the mic while KO never fails to show off his promo skills.

Rating: B

Angel Garza (w/ Zelina Vega) vs. Humberto Carrillo

In this match, we saw one high-flying move after another and some interesting combinations of these. After one pin attempt after another, in the end, Angel Garza picked up the victory due to a three count.

Opinion: Perfect match for the first one of the night as we had two great athletes and it also made sense to put them into a fight as the storyline already goes for three weeks. Even though the finish was a bit weird, the match was great.

Rating: B

Ricochet vs. Luke Gallows

Surprisingly, AJ Styles and Karl Anderson went backstage after their entrance together with Luke Gallows. The match was quite short as Ricochet performed a Recoil followed by a Shooting Star Press for the victory while we saw Paul Heyman several times backstage watching this match.

Backstage, the OC discussed that they would have to plant their flag on the top of the food chain as WrestleMania comes closer. Aleister Black walked by as AJ Styles told him that they need to remind him who the are before beating him up.

Opinion: Even though Ricochet won this match, it’s impossible to imagine that he would beat Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship. He’s just there to give Lesnar another win ahead of his big fight against Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania.

Rating: B-

Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman

Heyman and Lesnar entered the ring as Heyman cut his promo in which he explained that Ricochet would have no chance against Lesnar at WWE’s Super ShowDown. He added that it would be a spoiler that the Beast would make mincemeat out of Ricochet to then take McIntyre also to Suplex City at WrestleMania.

Opinion: Good promo by Heyman even though it felt a bit flat as nothing happened except Heyman talking about a match which is decided before it even begins.

Rating: C

Erick Rowan vs. Aleister Black

Black sold the beating of the OC by stumbling to the ring. In the match, both men had phases where they were able to dominate. In the final phase, Rowan was at ringside talking to whatever was in his cage. As he returned to the ring, he had to eat two Black Mass Kicks and then got pinned by Black.

After the fight, Sarah Schreiber interviewed Black on the stage who challenged AJ Styles for the next episode of Raw.

Opinion: Both superstars were able to show off their abilities in the ring and in the end a logical ending. Anyways, I can’t wait for the match between Black and Styles. It seems as the push of Black finally arrived.

Rating: B+

Drew McIntyre’s interview and R-Truth vs. Bobby Lashley (w/ Lana)

We saw Drew McIntyre in street clothes backstage as he got interviewed in front of a black backdrop by Charly Caruso. He recalled Vince McMahon calling him the Chosen One in 2009 and they showed the footage. He added that he only has himself to blame that he hasn’t won a World Championship in WWE until now. He noted that he left WWE as a boy and when he returned, he was a man.

As the sit-down interview was over, R-Truth was in the ring and then Bobby Lashley came out together with Lana as they had a scheduled match. The match took not even two minutes as Lashley finished his opponent off. However, in this match, R-Truth was still able to perform the Five Knuckle Shuffle.

Opinion: I really enjoyed the interview with McIntyre while I have no idea what they want to accomplish with such a match between Lashley and Truth.

Rating: C+

Contract signing for the Women’s Elimination Chamber Match

Asuka, Natalya, Sarah Logan, Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan were in the ring to sign the contract while Shayna Baszler wasn’t there. As every single one of the five women in the ring signed the contract, Baszler’s music hit, and she entered through the crowd. She signed the contract and then chaos broke out as all women brawled. Seconds later, all of them were at ringside except Baszler who was alone in the ring as then Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch came out. They fought against each other for a short time in the ring before security came out to separate them

Opinion: This segment was okay, but nothing too special and it is already completely clear that Baszler will take on Lynch at WrestleMania.

Rating: C

Angelo Dawkins (w/ Montez Ford) vs. Murphy (w/ Seth Rollins) and Montez Ford (w/ Angelo Dawkins) vs. Seth Rollins (w/ Murphy)

The match between Angelo Dawkins and Murphy took just about one minute as then Rollins came into the ring to break up a cover. Then, Montez Ford talked trash what led to a match between him and Seth Rollins.

After a few minutes, Dawkins and Murphy were sent to the backstage area by the ref. This match between Rollins and Ford took about 15 minutes and both men had the chance to show off their offensive moves. In the end, Ford wanted to perform his amazing Splash from the top rope, but Rollins rolled out of the way to then counter it with a Curb Stomp for the win.

Opinion: A bit of a weird way to set up this match, but the fight itself between Ford and Rollins was great.

Rating: A-

Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens

Then, it was finally time for the main event of this week’s episode of Raw. It was no surprise that it took just a few minutes until Rollins, Murphy, Akam and Rezar came out to surround the ring, but then also Ford, Dawkins, Erik and Ivar joined them at ringside for a brawl. All men then were away except Rollins who was still at ringside and distracted KO several times. In the end, Orton made use of it to perform his draping DDT followed by a cover. The ref counted incredibly fast and the Viper won the match.

After the fight, Rollins took some chairs to slide them in the ring to Orton while the referee was just standing beside him and did nothing. Owens recovered and then he and Orton stood in the ring both with chairs in their hands. The ref took the chair away of KO while Orton left. Owens went at ringside to grab the ref and throw him in the ring where he pulled his ref shirt open to see underneath a shirt of Rollins who was shown on the stage, seemed shocked and said off-mic that he had nothing to do with that.

The commentators explained that the ref was a Rollins’ disciple. The referee was on his knees begging while Owens was in front of him with a chair. There were “yes”-chants and as KO dropped the chair down, they booed. Owens helped the ref to his feet to then perform a Stunner. He set up a table where he put the referee through with a Powerbomb and then his music hit as the show closed.

Opinion: Good final match while it sucks to see the Street Profits and the Viking Raiders against Rollins, Murphy and AOP in a brawl every week. The idea with the referee was awesome, but I hope they won’t use it regularly.

Rating: A-

Summary

This episode of Raw was okay, but they weren’t able to hype me for Super ShowDown more in any way. There were no really bad segments but also none of them stood out to be extremely special and good. My personal highlight was the story with the ref, but I hope that they use this angle just that one time.

Rating: C+