WWE Monday Night Raw: 2/21/2022

This may have felt like an ordinary episode of Raw, except this episode was a special one. WWE’s flagship show has reached episode number 1500 which is absolutely INCREDIBLE! We are so close to reaching 2000! The fallout from Saturday’s Chamber was heavily focused on: WrestleMania matches already starting to build up hype and new matches were teased along the way! So sit back and let’s see what this 1500th Raw had in store for us.

Segment 1: Winner Takes All

Babyface Brock Lesnar is, without a doubt, the greatest thing to happen in wrestling already this year on the WWE side! High fiving the fans, taking selfies with fans, Lesnar building himself up with the reigning defending undisputed line Paul Heyman made famous; this man really has the best run of his entire career! It truly brought out a side of Lesnar that shouldn’t work, yet Lesnar brilliantly made it work. After dominating the Elimination Chamber, Lesnar’s the new WWE champion and as it was made official, BOTH Universal and WWE titles are on the line as Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar do battle on the grandest stage of them all once more! Pretty sure that both belts are going to become unified once more so this really will make things interesting post-WrestleMania. However, a certain Almighty is supposed to be getting his rematch clause for the title in two weeks at Madison Square Garden! Yes, Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesnar are going to do battle once more and who’s to say that Lesnar wins? Maybe Lashley becomes the one to unify both world titles… Only time will tell.

Match 1: Tag Team Match; The Dirty Dawgs vs Finn Bálor and Tommaso Ciampa. (Rating: 3.5/5)

Well, this is another unlikely pairing I never knew I wanted to see. Finn Balor and Tommaso Ciampa were a select few of the many faces that helped pave the path to success that NXT had went through as both men would carry the former black and gold brand on their backs. Ciampa was called up to Raw during a match last week that involved Dolph Ziggler and seeing the mainstream audience show Ciampa the love and respect he deserves truly gives me hope that he will eventually find success either on Raw or SmackDown. The match was won by the former NXT champions after Ciampa rolled Robert Roode up for the pinfall victory. Really hope that either Finn and Tommaso stay together as a team, or they’d end up becoming rivals and face off against each other because the idea of those two as opponents fit better than partners in all honesty.

Segment 2: Miz finds a friend

Well, this was quite interesting to say the least. During the Elimination Chamber show, Miz said in an interview that he would be finding a tag team partner in order to combat against the father/son duo of Rey and Dominik Mysterio because they “cheated” during the kickoff show that costed Miz the W against Rey. Speculation arose on who would be the Miz’s tag team partner! Could it have been a returning John Morrison? Could it be an NXT call up? Or was it someone from a royal family? Indeed it was!… but it wasn’t who the fans were thinking of. Yes, none other than Logan Paul, the YouTube sensation and professional boxer was the reveal and both him and Miz attacked the Mysterios. Paul even hit Rey with a Skull Crushing Finale which looked pretty sloppy but I’m sure Logan will be getting wrestling training soon, and it’s been announced that Miz and Paul will be taking on the Mysterios in a tag match at WrestleMania.

Match 2: United States Championship Match; Damian Priest (c) vs Shelton Benjamin. (Rating:3/5)

Well, this actually caught me off guard. Not only was this match a pretty good bout, but this was the first time in what felt like a while that Shelton Benjamin got booked in a relatively high match on Monday Night Raw! After resigning with the company several years back, Benjamin really had been floating around and not adding much importance to any segments he would be involved in (apart from the eventual Hurt Business stuff) and it saddened me; because Benjamin is a phenomenal athlete and has proven time after time again that he still has what it takes to hang with the younger generation; and this match proved its point. Priest retained after hitting the Reckoning and immediately afterwards threw out a challenge for anybody in the back to accept; except he wanted a big name to face him. And who would be willing to accept this offer? Well, it was none other than Finn Bálor and it became official later on in the night that both men would face off against each other for the US title next week!

Segment 3: a PHENOMENAL request

For the first time since the Royal Rumble payperview, Edge is back on WWE tv! After successfully being victorious against the Miz, it’s time for the Rated R Superstar to pave his road to WrestleMania this year. After yet another passionate promo about the success he’s had at the grandest stage of them all, Edge threw out the challenge (AJ) for any superstar in the back (AJ) to step up and face him at WrestleMania, even dropping the term “phenomenal” in the segment as well. It could be anybody, but of course it’s going to be against Styles. It just has to! Not only to basically confirm the reports that other wrestling sites have written about involving the two facing at Mania, but also because it could possibly be the last couple of WrestleMania events for Edge: so what better way to solidify Edge’s WrestleMania record than by adding the best wrestler of this generation to that list of Mania matches involving Edge. This is going to be super sick and I cannot wait for it!

Main Event: Tag Team Championship Contender’s Match; Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins vs RK-Bro. (Rating:4/5)

Huge implications going into this match: Owens and Rollins would be able to be included in the RK-Bro/Alpha Academy match for the tag titles in two weeks. After great singles matches involving all four of these men these past couple of weeks, a final blowoff tag match was needed and wow was it amazing! The crowd was split, favoring both RK-Bro and the heels. Near falls after near falls, these four really have the craziest chemistry with each other and I didn’t want it to end! Unfortunately it did end but after an awesome sequence with Riddle taking a Stunner from Owens and Rollins Curb Stomping Randy Orton for the pinfall victory. Now in two weeks time it’d be Alpha Academy vs RK-Bro vs Owens and Rollins in a triple threat tag team match for the tag titles!

Final rating: 4/5