In an absolutely unsurprising move, the McMahons and Triple H opened up Raw this week. Vince and Stephanie first showed up to give Triple H a 10 minute verbal handjob. Stephanie mentioned the losers of the Rumble, with AJ Styles getting the biggest pop and Vince asking "who?" Way to be subtle Vince. Triple H was brought out and revealed the title under his jacket. He cut a long promo about how Roman Reigns can be great but he lacks respect. It was actually pretty good.. Stephanie said that they will evaluate the roster tonight to decide the main event of Fastlane. That main event will determine Triple H's opponent for WrestleMania. The opening match saw Kevin Owens take on Dolph ZIggler. Kudos to Owens for continuing to sell the Last Man Standing match from the night before. They worked a solid match that we've seen a million times from them and Owens won. Nothing has come yet from Sami Zayn's appearance in the Rumble.
Because Raw was in Miami, Flo Rida was in the crowd. The Social Outcasts showed up and the feud between Heath Slater and Flo Rida continued. This time, in the form of a rap battle. It was Bo-Rida that faced him and honestly, Bo out rapped him. It was pretty damn hilarious. This led to the Dudley Boyz coming out and we got them against Dallas and Axel. Since Flo Rida sucks, the crowd didn't even care for the celebrity moment and they were flat. This was nothing. Backstage, Renee Young interviewed AJ Styles and my heart couldn't handle that. Chris Jericho interrupted, called AJ a "kid" and was basically a complete dick.
It was now about that time for the first ever official singles match of AJ Styes' WWE career. It was great to see him go against Chris Jericho, though I think they should have saved this and given it some build. Not even for a Pay-Per-View or anything, but at least next week. Maybe have AJ go over a Neville or someone like that, and then announce that he faces Jericho next week. Still, what we got was a pretty good match. AJ looked pumped, while Jericho seemed to be lacking a bit, though that may have been because Jericho was working a more serious heelish style. AJ teased the Styles Clash again, but Jericho countered with a rollup. AJ countered that and picked up the win. They shook hands afterwards, but there was clear tension. Like I could handle this, they put Sasha Banks on right after AJ Styles. She faced Becky Lynch but this was more of an angle than a match, which I'm fine with. Charlotte interfered around the four minute mark. She beat up both girls, giving us more hope for a Triple Threat match in the coming months. That was fine. Backstage, Goldust wanted R-Truth to be his partner. Truth thought it was partner in life because gay jokes are hilarious, right? Anyway, Goldust is back to stuttering from the electrocution years ago. He has the best continuity in the WWE. Also, if he needs a partner, Stardust did tweet that he was done. Maybe a Rhodes Brothers reunion?
Bray Wyatt beat Kane in a seemingly pointless match. With no Brock, they just needed to give Bray something to do. We were told all night long that a major Superstar was returning. Since it was in Miami, we all knew it would be the Rock. He showed up backstage and was a dick to Miz and Big Show, but that was fine. He saw Lana and then things got shitty. He basically said that they hooked up behind Rusev's back. He then mentioned this in front of Rusev. Poor Lana went from strong female manager to easy hoe in under a year. Rock made it to the ring and did some unentertaining stuff. He seemed very hyped up to the point where people made cocaine jokes. The New Day came out and absolutely OWNED him on the mic. From Xavier Woods telling Rock to watch the product to them answering Rock's Plan B mention with "I already been snipped", they delivered. Rock brought out the Usos and they all beat up the New Day. This took up a massive chunk of time.
Things were mostly rapid fire for the rest of the show since Rock took up so much time. Paige and Natalya beat Brie Bella and Alicia Fox in the Total Divas promo special. Miz was upset about Rock interrupting him but then got interrupted again as Kalisto came out. The new United States Champion beat him in a match that better than I expected. Our main event saw Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns beat Sheamus and Rusev. Afterwards, they Shield powerbombed Rusev through the announce table. Stephanie McMahon came out to announce the Fastlane main event. Reigns vs. Ambrose vs. Brock Lesnar! It sounds dope but if you were evaluating the roster based on Raw, how would Brock make it in the match? Also, if you just spent the entire 2016 trying to get the belt off of Roman, why give him another chance? They should have picked two people and then had Roman bring up his rematch clause to get into the match. It's simple, logical booking that they forget. Anyway, overall, this was a solid Raw. Styles/Jericho was good, we got some forward movement with the Divas, New Day delivered and we got a good Fastlane main event. Outside of the Rock segment, most of the show moved by rather quickly, so that's good. 6.5/10.
