WWE Monday Night Raw 2/8/2021

WWE Monday Night Raw 2/8/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/02/wwe-monday-night-raw-february-1st-2021.html

Adam Pearce was in the ring and brought out Shane McMahon. They announced Drew would defend his title in the Elimination Chamber and all of other people in it will be former champs - Randy Orton, Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles, The Miz and Sheamus. They tried to play this off as a big deal but it wasn't.

AJ came out and stared down Shane.

AJ Styles liked this match and said Drew has a phenomenal chance of losing. AJ said he always thought of Pearce as a dumb@ss and said he would give Pearce and everyone a taste of the EC here tonight.

Before the match started, Shane was shown getting into a car. Drew said he would have appreciated a heads up about this match and said he thought he was fighting Sheamus. Shane said we needed something big and nothing was bigger than this. Shane said he can prove he is a fighting champion here.

AJ Styles vs Jeff Hardy

Hardy shouldered AJ down early and dropkicked him in the back. Nothing at all happened early. Hardy went over top AJ in the corner and then was holding his knee in pain after. AJ chop blocked Hardy and swung his knee into the post. AJ rolled him into the calf crusher but Jeff hit the ropes.

Hardy was irish whipped and his leg gave out. AJ tried to springboard but Hardy shook the ropes and AJ fell on the ropes. Hardy did his leg drop to the gut and dropkick to a grounded AJ. Hardy hit a twist of fate and AJ moved on Jeff's swanton attempt. AJ put the calf crusher on again and Jeff tapped. The match made sense but this would have been better with a crowd and would have been better if it wasn't the opening match. It also was slow.

Lee brought up Riddle's black eye. Riddle said he healed it by going home and watching the Air Bud movies. Lee asked why he keeps challenging The Hurt Business when they keep beating him up. Riddle said people thought it was ridiculous when Air Bud tried to play basketball, but he didn't give up and Riddle won't either as he wants the US Title. Lee then said he wants to chase the US Title and said he has what it takes to beat Riddle. Riddle said he will see him later and said let the better man win.

Sheamus went up to Pearce in the back. He wasn't happy as he thought he had a 1v1 title match. Pearce said he understood and Sheamus asked how? Pearce tried to blame Shane for this and Sheamus said whose fault is it if this was Pearce's idea. Sheamus said he has seen people like Pearce come and go and Pearce broke his promise. Sheamus said Drew is favored and said he will make Pearce pay by hurting all the other guys in the match and that this would be Pearce's responsibility. 

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

The finish

Mustafa Ali was on commentary. He said New Day lives were at stake tonight and said WWE was a greedy, corrupt company. Woods did a satellite into a russian legsweep and Kofi came off the top to assist with a dropkick. Slapjack immediately shouldered Kofi down. Kofi was caught on a leapfrog but slipped out of it then T-Bar dropped him on his face.

T-Bar and Slapjack both got taken outside of the ring and Kofi dove on both as Ali got mad. Slapjack and Woods had a strike exchange. Woods went for a tag but T-Bar kicked Kofi off the apron then lariated Woods. Woods took a chokeslam/backdrop combo. Kofi got in with the hot tag and boom dropped Slapjack. Kofi hit the trouble in paradise kick on T-Bar and the New Day won with daybreak on Slapjack. Nothing wrong with this one at all.

Damian Priest asked if Bad Bunny would be in his corner tonight.

Ric said he is tired of staying at home and while his daughter might not need him, he needs him. Flair said Lacey Evans has all the qualifications to be a star and needs some motivation and wisdom. Flair said the relationship was just casual, though if Evans was overwhelmed with his charm, that's to be accepted. Ric said Lacey is coming for Asuka's title.

Lacey said we have no idea what's going on and said she respect Ric. She called Charlotte a fool for turning down the greatest ever. Charlotte then came out. 

Charlotte said Lacey should go to the performance center and learn. Charlotte said she never told Ric she didn't want his help. Charlotte said she wanted to add onto the legacy and said he is surrounded with "yes people". Charlotte told Ric not to bring her down and Lacey asked why don't they work together? Ric said they could be a team and Lacey said she is a better than that nasty animal Asuka. Charlotte said she wants to prove that she can do it on her own and called her "Charlotte 2.0". Charlotte said she had a partner. Lacey said Ric told her if she wins against Charlotte, she will get a title shot. Charlotte said they should wrestle now and Ric said "no", then they went at it.

Angel Garza said he would have the backs of Miz and Morrison in the back.

Charlotte Flair vs Lacey Evans with Ric Flair

Charlotte hit some corner spears and a forearm. Lacey worked on Charlotte's arm and threw her. Lacey did a slingshot elbow in. Lacey pulled her down by her hair and she did two kip ups. Lacey did the Ric strut then was exploder suplexed. Charlotte then did it back and Ric got mad. Charlotte was going to dive onto Lacey but Lacey put Ric in the way and she stopped then was pulled off the apron.

We went to break and when we came back, Lacey worked the arm. Lacey went from the middle to top rope then turned around to do a moonsault which Charlotte caught with her knees. Charlotte blasted her with a face kick. Charlotte and Ric argued and Lacey knocked CF's shoulder off the mat. Charlotte hit a nice spear and stared down with Ric. Then she was nailing Lacey with forearm elbows and wouldn't break and was DQ'd. Then she did it again. Ric got in the ring and they argued.

This was a decent match with Lacey working the arm and Charlotte having a nice comeback but the finish sucked.

Edge came out and talked. He said he thought he could beat any of the 3 champs and said he won't announce his decision until the Elimination Chamber is over, since Drew might not win.

Miz, Morrison and Garza came out. Miz said the speech reeked of awesomeness and was epic. Miz said if Edge wins at Mania, he is cashing in his briefcase at the event. Edge says he won MITB before and knows all about that. He then ripped Miz for telling him what he was going to do ahead of time. He said Miz wants to be champion, but he needs to be champion. I liked Edge's reply.

Damian Priest with Bad Bunny vs Angel Garza with The Miz and John Morrison

Priest hits a nice spin kick early. Miz hits a kick to Priest's head while the ref isn't looking and Garza throws his pants at Bunny. Priest hits some okay kicks and a big clothesline. Miz and Morrison get on the apron and distract Priest, who is then clotheslined over the top. Miz and Morrison then stomp him. Bad Bunny gets the MITB briefcase and Morrison goes in the ring to chase after it then Miz and Morrison are kicked out. Priest then hits a reckoning soon after and wins in a short match which was probably just designed to get Bunny on TV.

Drew was interviewed about the Elimination Chamber. He said expect the unexpected then started talking about Orton and Sheamus. He said if he doesn't keep an eye on Orton, he won't make it to Elimination Chamber. Drew said he was backed into a corner and he become a wild animal when backed into a corner. He said if you come after me for this title, I will rip your face off.

The announced Lacey Evans vs Asuka for the Raw Women's Title at Elimination Chamber and asked Bianca Belair about it. She said this week has been wild and the honeymoon period of winning the Rumble is over. She said she won't reveal who she will choose to challenge for the title right away. Asuka came in and said congrats on winning the Rumble, but it doesn't mean she is ready for Asuka. Then they both agreed that Lacey Evans is not ready for Asuka. Bianca said if Asuka wins at EC, she might be seeing more of Bianca.

Keith Lee vs Riddle

They said this is their first match against each other. They bump fists and Lee catches a flying armbar. MVP was on commentary and said Riddle didn't win the gauntlet last week, but THB beat themselves. Riddle climbed on Lee's back with a sleeper. Riddle charged at Lee and was thrown off.

Riddle was thrown into the buckles hard and he sold great for a Lee forearm. Riddle took a few more shots and came back with a pele kick. Riddle ran up the ropes and did a flying knee. Riddle then hit a corkscrew moonsault for 2. Riddle hit some sentons on Lee's back. Lee went for a spirit bomb but Riddle caught him with a triangle. Riddle hit a flying knee then was hit with a seated powerbomb for the Lee win. This was pretty good as usual with Riddle's matches. 

Lashley jumped Riddle from behind. Lashley hit like a spinebuster to Lee then put the full nelson on Riddle. Lashley then hit Lee with a running shot and threw him into the post. 

I like angry face Lashley.

They did a nice little package on Orton and McIntyre's history. 

Randy Orton did a promo and said him and Drew have unfinished business. He said the title means everything to him.

Tables Match - Lana vs Nia Jax 

Nia has put Lana through tables on 9 different occasions, so that is why this is happening. Nia hit a big powerbomb on Lana then did it again. Naomi is out here for Lana and Shayna Baszler is out here for Nia. Nia hung Lana with a stretch muffler then swung her head into the ropes. Lana came back with a jumping high kick.

They fought a little on the apron and Nia missed a legdrop on it and yelled "MY HOLE". Lana then pushed her into a table and won. This was pretty good actually and Nia's line about her hole is going to be one that is remembered for a while. 

Shayna attacked Lana and Naomi after but Naomi fought her off.

Shayna Baszler vs Naomi

We went to break and when we came back, this was starting. Shayna jummped on Naomi's arm. Naomi hit some kicks and made it to the ropes on a grounded choke. Shayna threw Lana into the barricade and was rolled up when she came in. This was a very short match.

Drew McIntyre vs Randy Orton

Orton goes for the early RKO then Drew goes for a Claymore kick. Sheamus comes down less than a minute into this and stares down Sheamus. Orton then nails Drew from behind. Orton has his shoulder thrown into the post as we go to break. Orton backdrops Drew onto the table.

They traded some shots and Drew hit two belly to belly suplexes on him. Drew hits a spinebuster then Orton superplexes him from the top. Drew headbutts Orton and takes a draping DDT over the middle rope. Drew comes back and hits a double arm ddt on Orton.

Sheamus tries to interfere then brogue kick's Orton on accident then Drew claymore kicks him, which made this a waste of time for the most part. It wasn't bad but these two are not going to have a super exciting match together due to their styles.

Overall thoughts: Decent show. A couple of bad finishes but the Bliss stuff wasn't on this show(and wasn't even mentioned much at all) and the Flair vs Flair stuff wasn't too bad. The wrestling was pretty good though.