“I’m Better Than You, And You Know It”

"Every Man Has A Price For The Million Dollar Man"

"The Best There Is, The Best There Was, And The Best There Ever Will Be"

"Whatcha Gonna Do, When Hulkamania Runs Wild On You"

"And That's The Bottom Line Because Stone Cold Said So"

<h3><strong>A Little Taste of Sunday.</strong></h3>
<p>WWE RAW kicked off with a gauntlet match between the seven men who will be in the Elimination Chamber this Sunday, and essentially, that was SIX WRESTLING MATCHES TO START THE NIGHT! HOW AMAZING! The very fact that this match was put at the beginning of the show was already a huge plus. Of course, there was the Roman Reigns interview before the gauntlet, but we consider it to be part of the match. Plus, it was not the typical long-winding promo we see most weeks. The gauntlet took up two-thirds of the show already, so expect tonight’s review to be a short one, guys. Anyways, here are our thoughts on each part of the gauntlet match:</p>
<p><strong>Rollins def. Reigns:</strong> A big victory for Rollins, and an uncommon clean loss for Roman Reigns. But here, the Big Dog was not sacrificed without reason. Rollins going over was the right choice here. He needed to re-establish himself as a main-event player, and what better way to do so than to have Rollins defeat the most heavily-pushed superstar in the past half a decade? Even better, Rollins’ victory came only 6 days before Elimination Chamber, so this win legitimized his chances of winning the ordeal.</p>
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<p><strong>Rollins def. Cena:</strong> Yet another surprising win for Rollins. Cena used a lot of rest-holds and locks in this match, so it seemed like Cena was the pseudo-heel in the encounter. It was much more epic than we thought, as more spectacular moves were busted out towards the end. But then again, someone kicked out of finishers again. This atrocity really has no end in sight… But hey, looking at the positive side, Rollins had beaten TWO of Vinnie Mac’s golden boys in one night!</p>
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<p><strong>Elias def. Rollins:</strong> Elias earned some credibility by beating a big name, and Rollins was still well-justified for the loss. Commentary did a great job protecting Rollins too by mentioning that he had been fighting for over an hour against some of the greatest in WWE. Smart choices.</p>
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<p><strong>Balor def. Elias:</strong> Not too surprising. Strong showing for Balor. Was not anything spectacular, and the outcome reflected Balor and Elias’ relative position on the pecking order.</p>
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<p><strong>Miz def. Balor:</strong> Classic heel Miz, with lots of interferences from Miztourage. Cheap win we all loved to see Miz get. And the theatricals from Miz when he realized he had to face the Monster Among Men after he beat Balor cracked us up.</p>
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<p><strong>Strowman def. Miz</strong>, winning the gauntlet match: Strowman was very lucky to have picked the final spot. Well, as if someone who flips parts of the arena on a weekly basis would need it. Predictable win for Strowman. Always enjoy seeing him crush Miz and Miztourage. And everyone in general. Strowman is a goddamn star in the making.</p>
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<p><strong><em>General comments:</em></strong> A decently-built match overall, with smart booking decisions to get certain people over and give heels the wins they needed to give their arrogance some weight. In the end, the man fans all wanted to see was the last man standing, and this further added to the enjoyment of those who watched the ordeal.</p>
<p><sub> </sub></p>
<h3><strong>Building the Foundation.</strong></h3>
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<p>Nia Jax attacked Asuka while the latter was doing an in-ring promo this week, and the segment served its purposes: Getting Nia Jax across as a bad-ass female monster, and giving everyone the impression that Asuka’s streak was legitimately threatened. We did not get really excited about the in-ring aspect of their clash this Sunday, however. Nia Jax’s leg drop still looked like a fish slipping on her own oil and flopped down on a hapless Japanese woman’s face. That was what you get for eating too much sashimi, Asuka.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong>The Bar’s Kryptonite? </strong></h3>
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<p>There seemed to be some sort of storyline being written here with the recurring surprise victories of Titus Worldwide over The Bar. If we remember it correctly, this was the third time Titus Worldwide defeated The Bar clean. Well, we would not mind if Titus O’Neil and Apollo (yes, this is his new ring name now) became tag team champions. Titus is above-average on the mic, and not too terrible in the ring; Apollo is so agile and has such a wide smile that he could be forgiven for his sub-par promo skills; and Dana is a nice touch to the team. But she has to get rid of the red polka-dot tie.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong>YAAAAAAWN…</strong></h3>
<p>The men got a great gauntlet match going, whereas the women got a lame 6-woman tag team match. Talk about equality. Okay okay, calm down you sensitive snowflakes. It is just a joke!</p>
<p>Even without any regard for sex, the show-ending match had more negatives than positives. Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville’s parts of the pre-match video-taped promo was dry and looked like the females read them straight out of a teleprompter. The match got really confusing in the middle part but the confusion was not consequential in any way, so it messed up the audience’s brain for no reason.</p>
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<p>But there were a few interesting developments in storylines. Bayley and Sasha Banks showed no sign of their potential cracks in the past couple of weeks, and Alexa Bliss and Mickie James seemed to be enjoying their alliance, at least for the time being. They even did a Jumping DDT together! Kudos to the screenwriters for incorporating meaningful interactions between wrestlers. That was the saving grace of an otherwise throw-away tag team match that ended WWE RAW on a low note.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong>Overall Review: </strong></h3>
<p>The first two hours or so (especially the first one) of WWE RAW was extremely satisfying, as we saw all seven participants of the men’s Elimination Chamber match this Sunday in action, and they did not seem to hold back and gave a good collective effort to start off the show strong. However, it went down from there, and finished poorly with the 452<sup>nd</sup> 6-woman match in the past month. The men definitely built anticipation towards their match at Elimination Chamber better than did the women, but it could be argued that it was through no fault of the ladies’ own.</p>
<p>Here is to hoping that Elimination Chamber will be a strong step towards WrestleMania.</p>
<p>Oh, and there were Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt on the red show…</p>

WWE Monday Night Raw Review & Results: February 19th 2018

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