As we inch ever closer to WrestleMania, a lot of plots and subplots opened up and we take a look at a few of them below.
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Monday Night Raw was held in Chicago, Illinois and the crowd were at it from the first minute. The Allstate Arena was fully packed and the raucous crowd were in the thick of the action. As we inch ever closer to WrestleMania, a lot of plots and subplots opened up and we take a look at a few of them below.
The show started with Stone Cold Steve Austin’s music and the crowd went nuts in anticipation of the return of the Texas Rattlesnake but out came Kevin Owens. Dressed like Stone Cold with the trademark Austin 3:16 t-shirt and blue shorts with knee braces and also a bald head. Yes, a bald head (he didn’t shave it but had it concealed). He then went on to talk just like Steve Austin. He used the ‘Hell Yeah’ and ‘What?!’ phrases and played the crowd as the promo went along.
He then continued his personal attacks on Stone Cold and this week was no different. Commentator Corey Graves opined that “the guts in Kevin Owens are downright legendary” and he is not wrong. But if anyone were to take on Stone Cold after the latter being out for so long, then Kevin Owens ticks all the boxes. He can talk, he can play the crowd and he can brawl and those are the exact same qualities that made Stone Cold great. We all know the kind of great chemistry Owens shared with Jericho and expect nothing less from his upcoming meeting with Steve Austin. KO is going the extra mile to make this moment special and we should all be appreciative of that.
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Ever since his SHIELD days, Seth Rollins has been a mainstay of the WWE. For nearly a decade, he has performed and won over crowds, week in and week out. His ongoing storyline of him not having a match at WrestleMania is showing us the side of him we never saw, that of an unhinged and on the edge man. Each time Rollins was on the big screen or in the ring, the raucous Chicago crowd started chanting for Cody Rhodes. At this point, most of us in the wrestling community know about Rollins’ impending match with Cody at WrestleMania 38 but to the visionary’s credit, he has single-handedly carried that storyline without Cody getting involved and that if you think about it is magnificent.
On this episode of Raw, Seth challenged AJ Styles to a match where the winner will go on to face Edge at WrestleMania. The match was a bonafide classic and that’s what you’ll get when you have two people as talented as Styles and Rollins go one on one. It ended in a DQ when Edge attacked Styles with a steel chair and that meant that Styles won by DQ. Rollins snapped and went berserk and ranted on the microphone as the show ended with the crowd once again chanting the name of Cody. Brilliant storytelling on WWE’s part and excellent execution on the part of Rollins. Expect some fireworks when the eventual Cody and Rollins moment takes place.
Even since Austin Theory revealed that he was going to take on Pat McAfee at WrestleMania, both the wrestlers have been going back and forth with each other. From Theory messing with McAfee to McAfee beating the daylights out of Theory, this feud has gone from one level to the other. Austin Theory took on United State champion Finn Balor in a match with Pat as the special commentator.
McAfee tried to get involved in every way possible to prevent Theory from winning and he succeeded as Balor got the win thanks to the interference. It’s clear that both the superstars have some sort of chemistry between them. McAfee is naturally charismatic and Theory is being groomed as the next big thing. Regardless of the outcome, this fight is going to be entertaining and it’s a nice way to get both the superstars, who are still in their infancy in the company, started.
