The Elimination Chamber is over for another year, and we now know who will be challenging Brock Lesnar for his strap at WrestleMania, and which woman is going into the Show of Shows as the champion. It felt like this was the week to make almost every champion look either crap or irrelevant, as only one pair of title holders won a match; everyone else lost or took part in promos. One champion didn’t even show up despite being pencilled in! Let’s take a look at how everything played out.
The Universal Title
The challenger to the Universal Championship was crowned on Sunday, and Roman Reigns was all set for a showdown with the title holder Brock Lesnar this past Monday night on Raw. Lesnar mustn’t have got the message though, as Reigns delivered a promo all by his lonesome.
For whatever reason Lesnar no-showed, it was definitely for the best. “The Big Dog” laid into the champion’s lack of respect for the WWE superstars and fans, and the crowd was behind Reigns all the way through the segment. It seems that Vince McMahon is planning on going down the route of having The Shield’s muscleman bash “The Beast’s” light schedule so the fans see Roman as the wrestler who shows up every week. Either way, the No. 1 contender’s mic work was solid. It was delivered faultlessly, and the truth behind the words can’t be denied.
It was hard for Roman to make an impact this week, given that his WrestleMania opponent wasn’t at Raw, but he certainly made the most of the opportunity given to him. While it doesn’t make for an exciting build-up, it does give Reigns a lot more credibility, and a lot more support from the fans as well.
The Intercontinental Title
The Miz cut one of the most passionate promos in the history of Raw on Monday, expressing his anger at being overlooked, despite holding the most prestigious championship on the red brand. Wanting to know who his opponent will be at Mania, Seth Rollins headed down the ramp to answer The Miz’s question.
It’s a shame; the second “The Architect’s” music hit, you knew Miz was going to lose his match. It went down the enjoyable but predictable route, and sure enough, Rollins won.
Then came Finn Bálor.
Right after losing to Rollins, The Miz faced “The Demon King”, and ate his second pinfall of the night.
“The A-Lister” had a horrible time on Raw. His promo was Oscar-worthy, yet he was absolutely destroyed, and lost all of his credibility right at the time when he needs to be building up a head of steam. Taking two losses in one night is bad and The Miz needs to rebound hard next week.
The Raw Women’s Title
On Raw this week, we returned to the wonderful six-woman tag matches that fill our hearts with so much glee. There’s nothing better than grouping all the superstars into one big tag match, am I right? For those wondering, yes, I did just copy and paste those lines from last week’s article, but if Vince can get away with copy and pasting matches, I should be able to get away with it, too.
The team of Asuka, Bayley, and Sasha Banks fought Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss, Mickie James, and Nia Jax this week. “The Empress of Tomorrow” scored the win via tap out on Mickie. Asuka’s win was the right call, as she needs to look truly unbeatable in the build-up to WrestleMania, but Bliss was an afterthought in this match. The attention was on Bayley and Banks after the former refused a tag from her so-called best friend.
A match not worthy of the champion this week, Bliss needed to win a singles bout just to prove she can win one-on-one matches. Here’s hoping she gets the chance to shine on the next episode of Raw.
The Raw Tag Team Titles
In a bid to finish off some unfinished business once and for all, Sheamus & Cesaro put their Raw Tag Team Championships up for grabs yet again in a rematch from Elimination Chamber against Titus Worldwide.
The teams faced off this time in a 2 out of 3 falls match, and Sheamus picked up the first fall in less than 10 seconds with a sneaky assist from “The Swiss Cyborg”. The stipulation was completely pointless as The Bar got a clean sweep. All it really did was make the challengers look even weaker for losing twice in one night (look at that, Miz, you’re not the only one!).
The champs have done well over the last few days, successfully defending their titles twice, but their victories weren’t a surprise to anyone. With a lot of momentum behind them, Sheamus & Cesaro are looking to the future, and are waiting for a new team to rise to the challenge at WrestleMania.
The Cruiserweight Title
The second round in the tournament to crown a new Cruiserweight Champion got off to a great start on 205 Live this week. Cedric Alexander and TJP kicked things off, and Roderick Strong and Kalisto closed the show.
Watching Alexander and TLP collide is like watching two video game characters. The feats they managed to pull off in the ring this week were nothing short of incredible. There were multiple head-scissor takedowns, painful submissions, and changing directions in mid-air. Though both deserving of advancement, Alexander won the match and will compete in round three.
Looking to join Cedric was Strong and “The Lucha Dragon”. Their clash was just as spectacular as the preceding one, packed with aerial manoeuvres, technical prowess, and back breakers galore. The final combo from Strong that saw him nail Kalisto with a knee, before going into a back breaker, then transitioning into an End of Heartache was phenomenal. Strong won the match, and has moved ever closer to the Cruiserweight Title.
Once again, 205 Live showcased the best wrestling matches of the week. The energy radiating off of the competitors is infectious, and I can’t wait to see what the next episode has in store.
The WWE Title
John Cena has clearly been watching SmackDown Live closely over the last few weeks. After noticing everyone and their mums is involved in the WWE Championship match at Fastlane, the 16-time world champ threw his hat into the ring as well (actually he threw it out of the ring, but you know what I mean), and asked for an opportunity at the title. SDL General Manager Daniel Bryan was willing to let his future brother-in-law compete for the belt; all he had to do was score a victory over the champion, AJ Styles, in the main event of the evening.
The two athletes put on a great match, their excellent chemistry has been proven time and time again, and with Cena’s desperation to go to WrestleMania, the big fight feel was alive and well on SmackDown. Cena managed to pin AJ, and turned the Fastlane main event into a six-pack challenge. All the men involved in the match had a little scuffle to close the show, so expect a six-man tag match to take place next week (I’m really starting to hate six-person tag matches).
Having “The Phenomenal One” lose cleanly right before a title defence seems counter-productive. The theme of the Fastlane main event is pretty much “odds stacked against the champ”, but that doesn’t mean that AJ should be losing on TV. The WWE Champion needs to send a message next week, telling everyone the strap is staying around his waist.
The US Title
There was no match for the US Champion Bobby Roode this week, but he did have a few words in store for his Fastlane opponent, Randy Orton.
Claiming he wants to be the best United States Champion in history, Roode said he is looking forward to his match against the former 14-time world champion. “The Glorious One” mentioned Randy’s issues over the last couple of weeks having something to do with the SDL Top Ten List, but Orton interrupted the title holder by saying it has nothing to do with the list. All Orton wants is to hold the only belt in WWE he has never won. Bobby Roode just so happens to be the one “The Viper” has to run through to get it.
The US Title match is WrestleMania calibre, and the two men fighting for the championship added greatly to the big feel the match has this week. All they both need now is a couple of big wins over former US Champs, and the match at Fastlane will have enough momentum to steal the show.
The SmackDown Women’s Title
The champ was dressed to compete at last night’s SmackDown, but there was no match for her on the card. Instead, Charlotte Flair stood ringside to support her friend Naomi in her bout against Ruby Riott.
Riott showed why she is a threat to the champion this week, picking up the victory over Naomi, and she made a quick exit after the match, gloating on her way up the ramp. The match wasn’t anything special, but it served its purpose.
Charlotte kinda just stood there this week. Don’t get me wrong, she has a lovely posture, but that isn’t as exciting as watching her kick ass.
Riott has done a great job getting under Flair’s skin. The Riott Squad leader was definitely the right choice to bridge the gap needed to carry the women’s division into WrestleMania season. Hopefully she will be a main stay in the title scene, but let’s try and move away from the pointless faction. The division is better than that.
The SmackDown Tag Team Titles
I’ve lost count. I might be four or five or eleventy-billion weeks since we last saw The Usos in a match. The champions showed up this week to talk trash with their challengers at Fastlane, The New Day.
Jimmy & Jey told The New Day that they are the future, and they will win at Fastlane before going into WrestleMania. The Usos have been overlooked for too long; they want a spot on the card, and there’s not a team on the roster who can stop them going to The Granddaddy of Them All.
The Bludgeon Brothers quelled the quarrel by coming out to the ring. The two teams decided that it wasn’t the right time or place to take on Harper & Rowan, so they left for the back.
It’s hard to care for champs that don’t fight, even if they cut promos like their lives depend on it. The Usos need to compete next week and remind their challengers (and the fans) why they are the best in the division.
It’s not been great this week. With WrestleMania right around the corner, WWE have to up their game fast. Having weak champions is certainly not the way to pique our interests.
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