The following editorial was written by Geoffrey Rowland and does not reflect the opinions of WrestleZone as a whole. We encourage you all to discuss Geoff’s thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of this post or by tweeting him @Geoff_Rowland
Coming off of a solid Fastlane event, the WWE took last week to firmly set the table for the Showcase of the Immortals. With WrestleMania less than a month away, the card is nearly set, and the buildup should be intense.
RAW kicked off the post-Fastlane buildup with a face-to-face meeting between Batista and Triple H. The Animal is playing the Hollywood elite role while Trips is playing the pushed too far role in a battle that has been years in the making.
Their promo was a little long and a little clunky, but it worked well to set the stage for a great attraction match. Batista has truly taken a star turn with his work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and his desire to stay involved in the WWE for a couple return trips in the last 6 years is notable. He should get the sendoff he deserves from The Game and the result won’t be nearly as important as just seeing two greats from one of the greatest stables there ever was go at it.
Ronda Rousey cut a promo and delivered a beatdown of … Dana Brooke? … to prove how much of a heel she is now? There is no doubt that Rousey’s star power makes The Baddest Woman on the Planet’s match against Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch a main event attraction, but does the WWE Universe really need Rousey coming out and bagging on the product for being fake?
The audience already knows it is scripted. The audience already knows that the UFC, supposedly, isn’t. The audience still chooses to watch and enjoy the show. Breaking that fourth wall makes no sense and does in fact diminish all of the other work other performers are doing in the WWE.
The rest of RAW seemed to set the table for some matches, but also felt a bit clunky as Seth Rollins is left trying to carry his match with Brock Lesnar despite The Beast’s absence. It is also difficult to look past the fact that Rollins is being forced a little out of the spotlight by the return of Roman Reigns. It is still unclear what the Big Dog will be doing for WrestleMania and it really is hanging over the show as a whole.
Rollins did do what he always does though and tore the house down with a fantastic match against the often-underutilized Shelton Benjamin.
It appears that Bobby Lashley vs. Finn Balor will continue through The Granddaddy of them All as Lashley took back the Intercontinental Championship by using his cohort Lio Rush as a distraction. It is a decent feud that can help push both people through past WrestleMania.
Kurt Angle coming out and announcing his retirement was another solid segment and his match as WrestleMania should be a nice ending to a true Hall of Fame career. He is one of the greats and it is good to see him getting a chance to go out in a good fashion.
Oh … and Braun Strowman is feuding with a comedian. Cool.
And Ricochet and Aleister Black are still a tag team, even on NXT now. That makes sense.
