Hello and welcome to another Monday Night RAW. Last night was Elimination Chamber, so most of tonight will deal with the fallout from that. If you haven’t managed to watch it yet, you can catch up on everything that happened here. Tonight’s preview is all about the fallout. Roman Reigns will meet with Brock Lesnar. Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle with have to explain their actions last night. We’ll find out whether Sasha Banks and Bayley’s friendship survived. And we’ll hear what’s next for John Cena.

I’m Amanda, and I’m your guide through this week’s RAW.

The Opening Segment

The show opened with an overview of Elimination Chamber with extra emphasis on the goings on surrounding Ronda Rousey’s contract signing.

Alexa Bliss and Mickie James opened the show proper. It is apparently now official that Bliss will face Asuka at WrestleMania.

Alexa Bliss started off with a hugely self-congratulatory speech about her win last night and her achievements. She credited Mickie James by saying she’s learned a lot from her. She said Absolution has a bright future, just not while she’s champion, called Bayley a ‘sad situation’, and trash-talked about Sasha Banks’ massive ego. Finally, she talked about Asuka being left in a pile of wreckage by Nia Jax, and not being able to wait to finish the job.

Asuka came out, looking all business. Bliss told her she’s not fooling anyone into thinking she’s 100% healthy. Nia Jax humiliated and crushed her. She though Jax had her and was going to be added to the championship match like she deserves to be.

photo credit: wwe.com

Before Asuka could respond Nia Jax stormed to the ring. Asuka took James and Bliss out before Jax got there and bowled her over. Asuka managed to get Jax in an armbar, James and Bliss piled in, Bayley and Sasha Banks ran down to help Asuka.

By the time we got back from the ads, a tag match had broken out.

Asuka, Bayley and Sasha Banks vs Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax and Mickie James

Is there anyone out there who wanted to see another six-woman tag match tonight? Anyone?

There is literally nothing left to say about any six-woman combination of any of WWE’s women’s divisions. It’s all been said. I don’t think this exact combination has been done before, but it hardly matters who’s on which team at this point.

The first really interesting thing was Sasha Banks tagging herself into the match with a hard slap to Bayley.

It genuinely wasn’t a bad match, at all. The women did a great job with the match they were given. They deserve better.

photo credit: wwe.com

Sasha Banks was desperately in need of a tag after a while. She reached out to Bayley, who hopped off the apron and looked at her. Banks tagged in Asuka a few moments later, and as soon as Asuka was being double teamed, Bayley stepped in to help.

Mickie James tapped out to an Asuka armbar.

Key shots after the match of Sasha Banks looking utterly betrayed, and Bayley walking sadly away. Nia Jax looked ready to murder Asuka, while Alexa Bliss looked scared.

The Other Stuff

– Recap of John Cena on RAW Talk before Cena came out to talk about where he goes from here. He said last night he failed, and he was demoralised. He only spent those five minutes feeling sorry for himself then he picked himself up. His last words on RAW Talk were ‘I’ll figure it out’ and he meant his road to WrestleMania. The crowd gave him a hard time while he talked about the nature of failure. He’s asked for something he should have done a long time ago. He wants The Undertaker at WrestleMania. Unfortunately, he’s been told that match is impossible. So he’s going back to SmackDown.

– Bray Wyatt vs Heath Slater – Wyatt attacked Rhyno before the match even started. In fact, the bell never rang, Wyatt just beat Slater up and delivered Sister Abigail to both him and Rhyno. Then he took to the mic and said it was Matt Hardy’s fault. The Great War is far from over, they will face each other again and Wyatt will make sure Hardy’s woken eyes stay shut forever.

photo credit: wwe.com

– Roman Reigns said he’s a man of his word, he said he’d win the Elimination Chamber and he did, so when he says he can beat Lesnar at WrestleMania he’s telling the truth. He’ll get into trouble for telling this truth, but Brock Lesnar’s not there tonight. He was supposed to be, but something happened, and he didn’t show. Brock is an entitled piece of crap who hides behind his contract. He mentioned Lesnar taking pictures with Dana White on social media and said Lesnar has no respect for anyone. They all bust their asses, and Lesnar just shows up when he wants to. Reigns shows up every night. He was born in this business and he was taught there is a fine line between business and respect. He doesn’t respect Brock Lesnar, and he doesn’t fear that b***ch. He’s going backstage to get told off and he’ll take it like a man because he respects this place. One of the best promos Reigns has ever delivered.

– Black History month segment. A repeat of one they’ve shown before.

– The Bar vs Titus Worldwide – two out of three falls tag title match – Sheamus got the first fall, on Titus O’Neil via a Brogue kick, within the first few seconds. There were a lot of teases of Titus Worldwide getting one back, but Cesaro pinned Apollo for the second fall to, hopefully, put this feud to bed. In their post-match interview The Bar said they feared they won’t have WrestleMania opponents because they’ve beaten everyone.

photo credit: wwe.com

– Jarrius ‘JJ’ Robertson is this year’s recipient of the Warrior Award. A truly inspirational story.

– Elias vs Braun Strowman – Elias sang, Strowman interrupted, they had a match. Elias alternated between having a go at some offense and running away. Strowman caught him and manhandled him for a bit until Elias set off a fire extinguisher in his face. Elias was disqualified and hit Strowman with the extinguisher. Strowman chased him up the ramp and tried to put him through the announce desk. Elias raked his eyes and ran backstage. Strowman followed him, half-blinded, but Elias kept running and got away. The segment ended with Strowman screaming ‘I’m not finished with you’.

photo credit: wwe.com

– Asuka vs Nia Jax was announced for next week.

The Intercontinental Championship Picture

This took up most of the second hour of the show. The Miz said Kurt Angle takes his superstars for granted. In 62 days Miz will become the longest reigning Intercontinental Champion of all time. He listed some of his accomplishments outside WWE then eventually got to the point. He should be in the main event of WrestleMania because he’s the best. He shouldn’t have been first into the chamber, and Balor and Rollins shouldn’t have been there at all. He still going to WrestleMania because he has the IC title, the most prestigious title in WWE.

He had asked Kurt Angle what he’ll be doing at WrestleMania and Angle told him his opponent tonight might determine that. He wasn’t happy about the might. The opponent was Seth Rollins.

The Miz vs Seth Rollins

Excellent match. Seth Rollins is having the run of his life recently. He dealt with Miztourage interference several times and took a hell of a lot of punishment from the IC champ, especially considering how long he spent in the chamber match last night. He also dealt plenty out. Miz kicked out of the superplex into falcon arrow combo. Rollins escaped a Skull Crushing Finale, and hit two suicide dives, first on the Miztourage, then on all three of them.

photo credit: wwe.com

Finally, Seth Rollins hit a splash from the top turnbuckle a clear three quarters of the way across the ring. That was enough to get the pin.

Finn Balor came out while Rollins was celebrating, and Rollins walked away in disgust.

The Miz vs Finn Balor

Turned out Balor was there for a match. Miz wasn’t interested and got The Miztourage to beat him up, getting disqualified and resulting in Gallows and Anderson coming to Finn’s rescue. Kurt Angle appeared on screen and ejected Dallas, Axel, Gallows, and Anderson from ringside. The singles match would continue, and result in a winner, or there would be no WrestleMania for The Miz.

Another great match. Incredible considering what all of them did last night. Balor had the best of the offence, but Miz had just finished a tough match against Rollins. He didn’t have it all his own way. Miz got a couple of near falls in, and he never gave up, even when Balor was using his own (stolen) kicks against him.

photo credit: wwe.com

Finn Balor won the match with the Coup de Grace.

Backstage, Seth Rollins said he came up short in the chamber last night, but he knows his path to WrestleMania now. He wants The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship. – Triple threat anyone?

The Closing Segment

Stephanie McMahon and Triple H came to the ring and McMahon talked about how important Rousey’s signing had been to them, and how Kurt Angle messed it up by telling lies caused by hallucinating due to double pneumonia. However, Rousey did sign her contract, so WWE owns her now. As a good boss, she needs to get it sorted out.

Ronda Rousey stalked down to the ring and the Authority cleared out. Kurt Angle appeared and tried to calm her by reminding her signing is the best thing she’s ever done. Rousey said she wants this more than anything, but she’s never been slapped before and she’s no-one’s property. Angle said he needs this job, so he has to tell her he lied, he misheard, and he doesn’t even know what he said last night.

McMahon and Triple H got back in the ring, thanked Angle for clearing it up, and said they should put it all behind them and make Rousey the superstar she’s supposed to be.

Rousey said the only thing they hadn’t addressed was Stephanie McMahon’s slap, so she had to apologise, or Rousey was going to rip her arm out of its socket. The crowd chanted ‘rip it out’. Stephanie McMahon apologised. Triple H decked Kurt Angle as he left the ring.

photo credit: wwe.com

RAW has been on a run of decent shows, and it didn’t stop tonight. There’s always the chance that things will get repetitive in the build to WrestleMania, but it’s all good at the moment.