WWE Change of Guard: Is Vince McMahon Back in Charge?
Monday Night Raw was live from Grand Rapids on February 27th, 2023. There was some good on this show but also some questionable decisions WWE made (hence the title of this article). Let’s see what went down on Raw.
WWE Makes Brock Lesnar vs. Omos Official
Yes, this is a very real graphic & itβs happening.
Brock Lesnar v Omos at #WrestleMania 39 is officially set. pic.twitter.com/GiNWFM5IN7
— Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) February 28, 2023
I’m sorry, but this is a Vince McMahon WWE booking decision right here. But for the record, I don’t think (hope) that this match happens. I do believe this is a swerve and we will get Brock Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley at WrestleMania.
Either two things are going on here. Number one, Vince McMahon pushed for this match to happen, and he got his way. Or Triple H is swerving us and somehow, we will get Lesnar vs. Lashley at WrestleMania. I hope the latter.
Also, the segment with MVP and Lesnar was absolutely gold and shows just how much Brock has grown on the mic.
Vince telling Triple H that Omos vs. Brock Lesnar at #WrestleMania is a money match #WWERAW pic.twitter.com/lUai5YyUEU
— Joey Karni from The Angle Podcast (@theangleradio) February 28, 2023
WWE Puts the Tag Titles on Becky Lynch & Lita
The other questionable booking decision was in the main event. Becky Lynch and Lita winning just has the essence of a Vince booking decision because it’s two established stars who don’t need the titles beating two young stars.
While there could be a bigger story in play, we will have to wait to see how this plays out. With Trish Stratus returning we could be heading to a six-women tag match at WrestleMania.
This is really cool for Becky Lynch. Growing up a huge Lita fan pic.twitter.com/1ex6NvvzXF
— Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) February 28, 2023
WWE Announces The Miz Will Host WrestleMania 39
As many fans expected, the big announcement from The Miz was he will be hosting WrestleMania. Good for him, I guess.
But in all seriousness The Miz has been booked as kind-of a joke and he did not really have a road to WrestleMania.
Is official The Miz is the host of Wrestlemania pic.twitter.com/or478PrNtM
— The Wrestling Blog (@WrestlingBlog_) February 28, 2023
WWE also used this segment to build towards Seth Rollins and Logan Paul’s eventual WrestleMania showdown (which I’m not happy about for the record) which had Rollins facetime Logan Paul on The Miz’s phone. Rollins was entertaining as always and the two will go face-to-face next week.
seth rollins disrespecting jake paul. love this guy π #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/U97C17KYkV
— P H A R A O H β β β β β (@ZackSabreSenior) February 28, 2023
What Else Went Down?
Jimmy Uso & Solo Sikoa defeated The Street Profits
After the match Kevin Owens hit both members of the Bloodline with a stunner, entering through the crowd in Sami-Zayn fashion.
Kevin Owens shows up to hit a quick stunner on Jimmy Uso!#WWERAW pic.twitter.com/l9or82epII
— WrestlePurists (@WrestlePurists) February 28, 2023
Cody Rhodes defeated Chad Gable
Chad Gable is great and deserves more recognition amongst fans. As for the match, we knew Cody would win and he did. I’m looking forward to seeing Cody and Roman on Smackdown this Friday.
Cody Rhodes & Roman Reigns will finally come face-to-face this Friday on #SmackDown π¨#WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/YX3KuWPpfv
— Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) February 28, 2023
Asuka defeats Carmella & Candice LaRae defeats Piper Niven
Not much to take away from these two matches. Asuka continued to build momentum heading into WrestleMania and finally beat Carmella for the first time in WWE.
the way asuka clocked mella, PLSS pic.twitter.com/lzTXZwfd12
— chey β‘οΈ (@womenswrestli17) February 28, 2023
WWE continued the storyline with Nikki Cross and Candice LaRae, which I could see eventually paying off with the two women being paired as a tag team.
Bobby Lashley defeated Elias & Johnny Gargano defeated Otis
Bobby Lashley vs. Bray Wyatt should not happen. If it does, I guess we will all accept it, but it really does not make any sense. In terms of Elias, the sooner him and Rick Boogs get paired as a tag team, the better.
The Otis and Maximum Models storyline is the best thing in pro wrestling right not (not really but it’s amazing) and Otis is just pure entertainment. Johnny Gargano winning is always cool with me, and it looks like he will face Finn Balor next week in what should be a great match.
We meet again, Prince. pic.twitter.com/6kGNhLvkBF
— Johnny Gargano (@JohnnyGargano) February 28, 2023
Final Thoughts & Looking Ahead
Next week’s Raw is absolutely stacked. The return of John Cena is the headline, but I expect a lot of great matches and WrestleMania feuds that will continue to build. I don’t know is Vince is running things backstage, but I think that is something we could find out in the coming weeks.
Get ready for an absolutely STACKED #WWERaw next week!
βοΈ The return of @JohnCena
π± @WWERollins and @LoganPaul meet face-to-face
π @FightOwensFight vs. @WWESoloSikoa
π @FinnBalor vs. @JohnnyGargano
π @BiancaBelairWWE vs. @CarmellaWWETICKETS π: https://t.co/Ksftq1P1bx pic.twitter.com/rlYIjjgKk7
— WWE (@WWE) February 28, 2023
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