WWE RAW 2/26/2024: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved
Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show where very little actually happens because everyone is still jet-lagged from the Australia trip! At least, that's what it felt like to most of us, but we still managed to feel strongly about several elements of Monday's program! The WINC writing and editorial staff might not have much to say this week about Sami Zayn finally getting a win over Shinsuke Nakamura, or the promo exchange between Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre — to read more about those, you should consult our live coverage/results page. But we did find plenty of other things to form opinions about.
So, did we appreciate the rare red brand appearance from Paul Heyman? Did we have fun with the street fight between Imperium and the New Day? And most importantly, what are the science-backed psychological reasons we want Chad Gable to win the Intercontinental Championship? The answers to these questions, and several more you never asked, lie before you — these are three things we loved and three things we hated about the 2/26/24 episode of "WWE Raw."
Loved: The women's division carries Raw
I'm on the record as not loving the decision to move forward with Rhea Ripley vs. Becky Lynch at WrestleMania. I would very much have preferred Ripley take on Liv Morgan, with whom she has a lengthy history, while Lynch battles Nia Jax, with whom she has a lengthy history. But while the ship has sailed on that one, at the very least it seems as though WWE knows what they have in the foursome of Ripley, Lynch, Morgan, and Jax, any of whom would make a fine Women's World Champion at the moment.
There was a lot of women's action on this show, including three of the six matches (possibly a "Raw" first?), but neither Raquel Rodriguez vs. Chelsea Green (with Piper Niven reportedly on the shelf with an injury) nor Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark vs. Indi Hartwell and Candice LeRae (because Baszler is somehow still stuck in the tag division) were much to write home about. The real juice came in the show's opening promo segment between Lynch and Ripley, which ended with Lynch getting jumped by Jax, and the match between Jax and Morgan, which seemed right away like it was destined for a non-finish and got one when Lynch retaliated against Jax, causing a DQ. So now Lynch vs. Jax is happening next week and Morgan is mad at everyone. I'm assuming Lynch vs. Ripley at Mania is still the plan, but I'm very glad Jax and Morgan aren't just being forgotten about, because they've been putting in great work (that match was fire until the DQ) and they both deserve a chance to shine at the Show of Shows.
On a largely mediocre episode of "Raw," it was the women's division that carried the water. And it's hard to be upset about four deeply entwined characters, all of whom are wrestling their asses off right now as we approach WrestleMania 40.
Written by Miles Schneiderman
Hated: Bayley continues to be disrespected
One would think winning the Royal Rumble and thus earning a WrestleMania 40"match would be enough to get you a lot of love and attention. It's true for only one Rumble winner. While WWE has bent over backwards to promote Cody Rhodes' Mania match, they've all but ignored Bayley.
WWE has focused more on Becky Lynch than Bayley and Lynch had to earn her Mania match weeks after the Rumble at Elimination Chamber. Prior to winning that match, Rhea Ripley versus Lynch was heavily teased. WWE went so far as to book them both at the WrestleMania 40 kickoff press conference in Las Vegas. Bayley was nowhere to be found. Of course, Rhodes was also heavily featured.
Earlier on Monday, a graphic to signal "40 days to WrestleMania." It featured Rhodes, Ripley, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, IYO SKY, and Bianca Belair. As of now, Belair does not have a match at the biggest show of the year. Bayley was once again left off. Her opponent, SKY, made the graphic.
Belair likely made the graphic because she is currently co-starring in the Hulu show, "Love & WWE" with her husband, Montez Ford. Belair has three-peated at "WrestleMania", so perhaps that's another reason she was included. Rollins also does not officially have a match at "WrestleMania 40".
Following the WrestleMania kickoff press event, CM Punk took to Instagram to say that Bayley needed to have respect put on her name. Apparently WWE has missed that memo. She has been continuously disrespected. Bayley has earned the right to be promoted as much as Rhodes, Ripley, and Lynch. And while we're at it, she earned the right to main event WrestleMania 40 just like Rhodes did.
Written by Samantha Schipman
Loved: Street fight
I found the entirety of tonight's episode to be incredibly lackluster coming off of a completely predictable premium live event that had me up at 5 a.m. But, this is supposed to be something I loved on the show, so I have to get props to the street fight between Imperium and The New Day. I'm a sucker for a good hardcore stipulation (as hardcore as these things can get on TV, that is), so I was already excited when it was announced. And when the show started to drag through the first hour, I started to look forward to it even more. Even the video package explaining the feud between Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci against Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods was expertly done. If you forgot just why these two teams were fighting, it explained it perfectly. Kingston accidentally injured Vinci, and the story wrote itself from there. As a sidenote, I'm also really enjoying babyfaces coming out in hockey jerseys of the city they're in during street fights. It was almost like Woods and Kingston were paying homage to Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens wearing Pittsburgh Penguins jerseys during the Steel City Street Fight last year –- and that memory made me smile.
The fight was pretty brutal when it came to the use of weapons, starting with New Day beating the crap out of Imperium with the broken trombone, and ended with multiple table spots. Kingston and Woods got the table out from underneath the ring so quickly at the beginning of the match, they didn't even give the fans time to start chanting "We want tables!" It seemed like Kaiser and Vinci were still trying to make GUNTHER proud throughout the match, as well, with pretty wicked chair and kendo shots. I don't think they let New Day get their hands on the kendo sticks throughout the entirety of the match.
While I LOVE New Day, Imperium winning the match makes a little more sense. New Day has been around forever, and you want to surround the most dominant Intercontinental Champion in history with winners. On a show that felt just, for lack of a better, more eloquent phrase, "BLAH," this was the only little bright spot during the entire three hours of "Raw." Leave it to The New Day to be able to do that for me, as well as to help put another tag team over.
Written by Daisy Ruth
Hated: Judgment Day going after a midcard title
I didn't mind the start of this segment, as it was shaping up to simply be yet another 'Who will my next challenger be?' promo from GUNTHER. However, that very quickly changed as soon as Judgment Day appeared to declare they were planning on coming after his Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania.
Mami is on top of the women's division. Rhea Ripley is dominating as the Women's World Champion and is consistently booked to look strong. The rest of Judgment Day is nothing to sleep on either, with Damian Priest and Finn Balor being on top of the tag team division, and Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh often find themselves facing players in the main event scene. As much as GUNTHER has brought prestige to the Intercontinental Championship, there's no need for Judgment Day to be chasing a mid-card title right now, especially on WWE's biggest Premium Live Event of the year. It does nothing to increase their stock at all, and just makes them look weak.
Furthermore, it's becoming more and more apparent with each episode of "Raw" that WWE has no idea what to do with Priest's Money In The Bank briefcase with the tease from tonight. He should be cashing in on a World Championship, period. However, therein lies a problem as there's no way WWE would ever have him cash in on Roman Reigns, and it's hard to find a place for him amongst the Seth "Freakin" Rollins/Cody Rhodes/Drew McIntyre/The Bloodline main event picture heading into WrestleMania 40.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
Loved: It's no coincidence that you root for Chad Gable
As the whole world watched Chad Gable plead his case for facing Gunther at WrestleMania for the Intercontinental Championship, his reasons for going after Gunther struck a chord with many in the WWE Universe — perhaps, it enkindled something with you. Perhaps you have a child of your own, and you want to show them a life lesson about resilience and tenacity through your own actions. Perhaps someone made someone you cared about cry, and you have wanted nothing more than to avenge them through actions of your own. Maybe, if none of those are true, you resonated especially with the idea of fighting for honor and personal satisfaction, rather than the illustrious but superficial shine of gold and glory.
It is no coincidence that Gable is the WWE Universe's choice for Gunther's WrestleMania opponent. In fact, his character is carefully calculated to appeal to the average WWE fan's identity.
There are levels to this assembly. Gable is great when he is speaking honestly, and even alleviates the gravity of his segments with a quick but appropriately-placed "ah, thank yew". He has some serious in-ring skill, as to be expected from a former Olympian. However, those reasons are only surface-level — they are essential to any WWE star, but they are ultimately what the WWE Universe sees on the surface. These reasons are the readily accessible ones when someone asks another, "why do you like Chad Gable?".
There is something deeper when it comes to Gable and his popularity with the audience, and this segment proved it. By invoking his daughter, Gable made himself relatable to the audience. By dismissing grandiose ideas of glory and prestige, Gable endeared himself to the audience, because he showed that he was a hardworking and humble person, just like us. According to Jessica Friedrich's 2014 study on Reality-Era Superstars, babyfaces are deliberately made to be hardworking, honest, and humble in order for the viewing audience to identify with them (36). The traits of a company's top heroes — not just Gable, but Cody Rhodes, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens — are all pushed to the forefront of their personalities, so that you might be able to see yourself in them and align yourself with those traits. The company's top babyfaces are so popular, partially (but significantly!) because their personalities reflect qualities that we personally find important in our own lives.
Gable might have only spoken about his reasons for facing Gunther for a few minutes, but in that, he gave us (me) the opportunity to pull back the curtain, and delve into the social science behind the construction of a babyface. While it may be a bit too "meta" for some, I implore all of us to appreciate the careful consideration behind the construction of a wrestling persona. Acknowledge the fact that yes, your three-hour show about big meaty men slapping meat is worthy of critical thought. Wrestling is a reflection of life, and the stories wrestlers tell speak to what makes us human.
Gable does not want to face Gunther for glory or fame, but to prove something to himself, and to the people he loves. Everyone can relate to that, and that's a part of what makes Gable so likable.
Written by Angeline Phu
Hated: Paul Heyman, flanked by three ding-dongs
I think it's safe to say at this point that Monday's "Raw" was a bit of a wet fart, but when the Cody Rhodes/Grayson Waller match ended with a shade over 10 minutes to go, and with the announce team going on and on with "the internet exploding about Paul Heyman being backstage," I guess I expected something worth talking about. Instead, out came Heyman, with the ultimate goal of getting Rhodes to walk back his challenge to The Rock, accompanied not by Rock, not by Roman Reigns, not by Solo Sikoa, not by Jimmy Uso, and hell, not even by Ebeneezer Anoa'i III (Rikishi's sister's neighbor's best friend, once removed, who they took in at some point), but rather by — you know what? Yep, I'm gonna do it. IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO HE WAS ACCOMPANIED BY. It might as well have been Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, because we were all fighting sleep at that point. Those three didn't scare anybody, let alone Cody, and this show largely sucked.
Seriously, "The Wiseman," The Bloodline's consigliere, the guy representing the longest-reigning WWE champion since ol' Hulkster (or Bob Backlund, depending on who you ask, I guess), comes out to confront Roman's once-and-again WrestleMania opponent with nobody to get his back aside from Mr. Clean, Conan the Librarian, and Kevin Hart, Jr.? And yes, I caught that he dubbed them suspended NYPD officers, but one, how does that even make sense, like, at all? And two, we're in San Jose, California tonight, right? What? What are we doing?
I thought Elimination Chamber was a lot of fun. I even thought so in the moment, having woken up at 3:45 am to work it. I thought we continued things on the road to WrestleMania just fine, albeit predictably (which is also okay). I was ready for a few things to further themselves even more tonight. I didn't get it. Instead, I got Paul Heyman with three guys who would have been just as effective and meaningful in a main event time slot if they were Alvin, Simon, and Theodore.
WWE, you owe us one next week.
Written by Jon Jordan