WWE Monday Night Raw 2/22/2021

 WWE Monday Night Raw 2/22/2021

 Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/02/wwe-monday-night-raw-2152021.html

More pics and gifs  to come later

John Morrison welcomes the Miz out and he gets fireworks for his entrance.

Miz brags about his win. He name dropped a bunch of people like Cena, Batista, Lashley and Triple H and said they don't measure up and says he has outlasted him. Lashley comes out with MVP a little later, later than I expected.

MVP congratulates Miz and Lashley is wearing a pink suit. MVP wasn't happy that Miz didn't mention how Lashley beat up Drew and helped him. Miz thanks them and says he wants to keep celebrating, telling them to go away.

MVP said Morrison cost Lashley the US title and they reached an agreement where if MVP helped Miz win the title, Lashley would get a shot. MVP and Lashley said they were here to collect a debt. Miz said he will give Bobby a title match, but said he doesn't have time right now. MVP brought up how Miz said Lashley doesn't measure up.

Bobby grabbed him by the throat and said he has one hour to come up with something or he's going to beat him up and take the title one way or another.

Riddle thanks Lucha House Party for having his back. Riddle started going off-topic and said he would name the eagle on his title "Travis". Dorado says his match is soon and he needs to get out there and Riddle unveils a scooter as he rides away.

Riddle vs John Morrison

We get a timer on Miz's ultimatum. John hits a leg lariat and standing SSP's into a Riddle triangle. Riddle blocks some Jomo high kicks and Jomo hits a nice capoeira kick before taking a gutwrench suplex.

Jomo does a nice trip then a spin around into a dragon sleeper. Jomo headkicks him off the apron then kneels on the top rope and tornillo's him. Riddle hurricanrana's Jomo over the top and Riddle does a fisherman's buster on the apron.

We come back from break and Miz has 34 minutes left. Riddle goes for a senton but takes knees. Riddle does his pele kick and exploder suplexes Morrison. Riddle does his floating bro off the middle rope to the outside. Riddle stands on the 2nd rope and Morrison does a run up the buckles spanish fly on him. Morrison took a go to sleep but didn't sell it. Riddle won it soon after with his cradle tombstone slam in a fun match. Not much story but a lot of cool spots.

We get a Rhea Ripley package and she is coming to Raw soon. 

They put over Bad Bunny. Him and Damian Priest are interviewed and BB says this is just the beginning. Priest spots R-Truth with a ref and Truth tries to pretend like he wasn't trying to get his 24/7 belt back.

Truth denies trying to get the belt back. Truth says he just wanted an autograph from "Bugs Bunny". Priest gets up in his face and tells Truth that it is "Bad Bunny". Then Truth runs away.

Miz went up to Adam Pearce to try and get him out of his deal with Lashley. Pearce says he needs to step up and take on all challengers. Pearce says he can make whatever decision he wants, but the clock is ticking.

The commentators shill for Punky Brewster's new tv show.

The New Day vs Retribution(T-Bar and Mace)

T-Bar hits a big knee on Woods to start then hits a yakuza kick to his face. Kofi takes a double sit out chokeslam. Kofi hits a bad trouble in paradise kick on Mace and a better one on T-Bar to win in a short and dumb match.

Mustafa Ali got on the mic and yelled at Retribution. He asked how much longer would he have to deal with this crap?

Lashley heads to the ring.

Adam Pearce comes to the ring and brings out Lashley and Miz. Miz says he needs more time. Lashley says when you waste his time, you waste his money. Miz sticks with the story that he needs more time and asks for one week.

Braun Strowman then comes out.

Braun said if anyone gets a title shot, it will be him. He said Pearce and Shane McMahon screwed him out of the Chamber and Miz tries to turn Bobby on Braun. 

 

Shane McMahon then comes out. He tells Pearce to tighten up the ship and says Braun can't just demand a title shot. Shane maintains that the Chamber was only for former WWE champs, which he is not as he is a Universal champ.

Braun says that idea sucks and everyone in there sucks. Braun says he wants a shot tonight at Shane says that idea sucks. Braun then says give him a match against Lashley. Shane says he'd like to see that match and Pearce agrees, and then they sign it.

Shane says if Braun beats Lashley tonight, next week there will be a triple threat with Braun vs Lashley vs Miz for the WWE title. Miz looks scared then Braun puts over the idea and Bobby chop blocks him. Bobby and Braun then stare down.

This segment was stupid. Lashley freaking lost last night and is now getting a title shot. Braun didn't fight anyone and gets a chance at being put in a title match. Sheamus got screwed out of his 1v1 title shot against Drew a few weeks ago. And now Lashley no longer cares about beating up Miz for breaking his promise or getting his shot tonight. The only person who came out looking competent out of all of this was Braun as he did nothing and just has to win tonight to get a title match.

Tornado Match - The Hurt Business(Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander) vs Lucha House Party

The announcers put over MVP making a great deal. MVP agreed. MVP said he didn't know how Braun got involved and seemingly no longer cares about a title shot tonight.

THB takes control early. Metallik gets suplexed. Shelton puts Lince on his back then Cedric dropkicks him. Metallik gets 2v1'd. Metallik punches Shelton in the corner then gets delay powerbombed. Cedric gets pulled ouside and superkicked in the head by Dorado then is top rope splashes by Cedric breaks the pin up.

Cedric is on the top rope and Lince hurricanrana's him off of it. Metallik then walks the top and ends up taking a big Shelton shoulder. Shelton throws Lince into a Cedric knee then does his jumping reverse sto for the win. This wasn't too good. It just felt long and the heels had a boring heat segment.

Damian Priest with Bad Bunny vs Angel Garza

Priest hits a clothesline to start. Priest did a jumping back elbow and Garza hit a stiff clothesline back. Garza threw his pants at Bad Bunny and mounted Priest with punches. Garza put him in a camel clutch. Priest hit a jumping high kick then a release falcon arrow for only 2.

Garza hit a nice forearm and clotheslined Priest hard over the top. Garza argued with Bunny and tried to get him to come in the ring. Priest then did a top rope spin kick and a Cross Rhodes to win. Priest kind of got buried here with Garza handling him with no problem for half the match.

A bunch of people ran down to the ring after Bunny and Priest and Bunny cleared them out.

We got another Rhea Ripley package.

Orton said he has been surrounded by failure lately. He talked about setting The Fiend on fire and said he just can't focus on what matters. He said he is still distracted, not by The Fiend, but by Alexa Bliss.

Orton then threw up black goo. Oh, that's totally what this angle needed. Straight out of the Ultimate Warrior in 1992. And I had thought this got as bad as it could already.

Charlotte Flair and Asuka vs Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler

Asuka puts an octopus stretch on Shayna and it gets reversed into a stretch muffler. Flair comes in and hits some nice chops and forearms to Nia, then she and Asuka double dropkick Nia out.

Back from break and Shayna is stretching Asuka. Shayna tries to stomp her arm but Asuka moves. Flair comes in and boots and forearms Shayna. Shayna comes back with leg kicks. Charlotte kind of walks herself into a Nia powerbomb. Not too much happens until Charlotte gets Shayna in a figure four then Nia drops the leg on her.

Asuak gets in and missile dropkicks Shayna. She does corner to corner butt bumps on her opponents then does a bad shining wizard to Nia. Asuka armbars Nia then Shayna kicks her right in the head. Asuka then gets kicked in the head by Charlotte and Nia legdrops her to end the match.

It had some good points to it but the middle portion of this dragged. Charlotte gets visibly frustrated with Asuka after and abandons her in the ring.

Sheamus vs Jeff Hardy

Sheamus goes to work on Hardy early. Hardy props up on the top turnbuckle and headscissors him. Hardy gives Sheamus some aggression back with stomps in the corner. They go outside and Hardy jumps off the stairs into Sheamus into the barricade.

We go to break and come back and Sheamus is clawing at Hardy and elbowing him. Then he hits some irish curse backbreakers. Sheamus continues clubbing him. Hardy fights back with a stiff jawbreaker.

Hardy hits whisper in the wind from the top. Hardy atomic drops him and and tries to splash him but gets Sheamus' knees. Hardy then came off the 2nd rope with a splash. Sheamus is sitting in the corner and Hardy tries to do some kind of dropkick on him but gets kicked back. Hardy then hits a stunner.

Sheamus fights back with a brogue kick and wins it. This was actually pretty fun with both guys being unusually aggressive and stiff.

Charlotte confronts Ric Flair in the back. She said he is distracting him and she wants to protect their legacy. She didn't like his dancing around with the baby announcement. She told him to go home. Ric said he never said the baby was his. Ric said he thought he could motivate her and make her a great competitor.

Ric said he helped Charlotte become great. He said he loves her and was just trying to expand the brand. Ric said he wants their name to be a household name. Charlotte didn't buy it and said he is taking the spotlight. She said it is her time when she is in the ring. Charlotte said Ric still wants to be the Nature Boy on her time and needs to go home.

Charlotte said she is thankful for everything he has done but wants to be Charlotte Flair. Sorry, not buying it. Ric was costing her matches and doing mean stuff to her. I just want this angle to be done with and go away. 

Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke vs Naomi and Lana

Odd to have a face vs face match here. Nia and Shayna watch from the back. Brooke slams Lana and Mandy penalty kicks her. Dana does a handspring into a back elbow and Mandy gets double face bustered for the win in an absurdly short and very basic match.

Lashley was warming up in the back.

AJ Styles with Omos vs Ricochet

This is a rather random match that was done a few weeks ago. Ric gets some strikes on AJ to start and dominates early. AJ suplexes Ricochet into the buckles. AJ dropkicked Ricochet and Ric came back and pounded on him in the corner.

AJ bounces Ric off the ropes and tries to do the cool Styles Clash spot from a few weeks ago but they blow it. Ric hurricanrana's him and then german suplexes him for 2. AJ hits a stiff knee to Ric's body and hits the Styles Clash for the win. This was short and they blew the only real spot of the match.

Omos lifts up Ric by the throat after then just drops him in a rough looking landing as AJ approves.

Miz realizes he is screwed in the back with Morrison, then Braun walks in. Miz and Morrison then just walk away after Braun says something.

If Braun wins, he gets added to the WWE Title match next week - Braun Strowman vs Bobby Lashley with MVP

Miz comes out as they are about to start. I don't even think Drew McIntyre has been mentioned on this show.

Bobby slams down Strowman then Braun does the same. Braun hammerfists him as Miz is at the commentary booth. Braun splashes Lashley in the corner and throws him out on the floor. Braun charges at him out there but runs into the steps. Lashley then jumps onto him off the steps.

Lashley reverse STO's him then pounds on him. Bobby tries to get the full nelson on but can't and nearly lifts Strowman up for a vertical suplex. Strowman has spit all over his face then powerslams him for 2 which shocks Miz.

Lashley does a cool standing spinebuster to Braun then spears him for the win. Miz is shocked and Lashley is too. Lashley clips him then puts him in the hurt lock. Miz comes in the ring with the belt and gets spinebustered down. Lashley then spears him to close the show. Braun looked like a real idiot here for forcing his way into a title shot then getting beat clean. This match was pretty good though as it was a nice hoss match.

Overall thoughts: Not a good show. I liked the main and I liked Sheamus/Hardy but most of the matches were too short, the Orton black goo angle is awful, the set-up to the main was awful and the Flair's angle is awful.