We have two tag title matches on the card tonight. Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax defend the WWE Women’s tag titles against Lana & Naomi. And the RAW Tag Team champions AJ Styles and Omos make their RAW return to defend against The New Day. At WrestleMania Backlash, Bobby Lashley will face Braun Strowman and Drew McIntyre in a Triple Threat Match. Tonight, he faces just one of them because he said he could put either down one on one at any time. Which one remains to be seen.

I’m Amanda and this is the RAW review.

Match Results

AJ Styles & Omos def. The New Day

Charlotte Flair def. Dana Brooke

Damian Priest def. John Morrison

Lucha House Party def. Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin

Randy Orton & Riddle def. Elias & Jaxson Ryker

Sheamus def. Mansoor (DQ)

Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax def. Naomi & Lana

Bobby Lashley def. Braun Strowman

The Show

♦ The opening segment was backstage with Adam Pearce, Sonya Deville, and MVP. Pearce was about to flip a coin to see whether Braun Strowman or Drew McIntyre would be Bobby Lashley’s opponent for the night. Strowman and McIntyre turned up for the toss and argued a bit before Strowman called tails and won.

♦ AJ Styles & Omos vs The New Day – RAW Tag Team Championship match – got the action in the ThunderDome underway. Styles and Omos had some stuff to say before the WrestleMania rematch. Styles started by telling everyone they were the champions and reminding people they won in Omos’ first match. He wanted to know if the WWE Universe missed them – I can’t speak for anyone else, but I hadn’t noticed they weren’t there – and said they’d been on holiday to celebrate. The tag title win made Styles a Grand Slam Champion, and he made sure to remind everyone of that as well.

Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods had some stuff to say as well, namely that Styles and Omos’ work ethic was exactly what allowed them to become eleven-time champions, heavy on the sarcasm, and called it a complete lack of respect to the entire tag team division. They made some good points about how hard they’ve worked and how it’s contributed to their success. Omos said he was sick of them joking around and it seems like he didn’t knock enough sense into them at WrestleMania, but he’s going to fix that tonight.

After a break, the talking stopped and the fighting began, sort of. Styles tagged Omos straight in and he knocked Woods about a bit then threw him into the corner and demanded Kingston. Styles made the rookie mistake of high-fiving Omos for putting Woods down, and the ref argued it was a tag. Woods had his wits about him by the time Styles got in, and it nearly cost him the tag titles via rollup. He kicked out of that but got kicked out of the ring and took a dropkick through the ropes from Woods and a dive, which Omos tried to prevent, from Kingston.

Styles was still in trouble after another break. If The New Day had managed to keep it that way, they might have been ok, but Styles tagged Omos in and he systematically destroyed them. Kofi Kingston was put down for the final time with a powerbomb and Woods was levelled with a kick before Styles tagged in and delivered the Phenomenal Forearm from Omos’ shoulders for the win.

♦ Charlotte Flair was talking to Sonya Deville backstage. Adam Pearce came in and asked what it was about. Deville told him it was nothing for him to worry about. He told her he appreciated her input and feedback but she’s really overstepping her boundaries recently. She gave him a look and a half-smile in response. – I think we may have a new RAW GM.

♦ Eva Marie is coming back. She had a vignette announcing her return. Hopefully, she’s used some of her time away to learn to wrestle.

♦ MVP said Braun Strowman could eat a salad of four-leaf clovers and follow it with a rabbit’s foot stew and he still couldn’t conjure enough luck to change the outcome of his match against Lashley. Neither of them is worried about Strowman or McIntyre potentially winning the title. MVP gave them props for their athleticism, calling them two of the most ferocious warriors that most normal men couldn’t handle. But Lashley is even more of a ferocious warrior and they’re not taking the title.

♦ Elias and Jaxson Ryker tried to get their own back on The New Day by throwing tomatoes at them. Unfortunately for them, Randy Orton got in the way and he was less than impressed.

♦ Charlotte Flair vs Dana Brooke, with Mandy Rose, was decent. Flair spent a lot of the match belittling Brooke, reminding her she used to be her protégé. Brooke finally shut her up by bouncing her throat off the ropes. Brooke is one of the most resilient women on the roster. She weathered everything Flair threw at her and even had the closest of near falls, but she couldn’t escape the Figure-Eight and she had to tap. Mandy Rose dropkicked Flair in the side when she was reluctant to let go, then kneed her in the face and kicked her out of the ring.

Sonya Deville came to the ring after the match. After a break, she and Flair were in the ring. Deville said that as a WWE official, equal to Adam Pearce, she was allowing Flair to make a proposal. Flair complained about Asuka and Rhea Ripley having another title match at WrestleMania Backlash. She had a whole bunch of reasons and fluff, but the basic idea was that she wants to be added to the match. She made it sound like she had something to do with Deville becoming an official, and she used ‘Be fair to Flair’, which we haven’t heard for a long time. She laid the guilt trip on thick, and Deville bought it. After conceding that the men’s title match is already a Triple Threat, she added her.

Rhea Ripley came out and complained about the decision. She said there’s a reason Flair wasn’t in the match and there’s a reason she’s not part of the rematch. She told Flair no one likes her and said a Triple Threat was unfair.

Asuka joined them as said it was bull crap, but also said it doesn’t matter because she can beat them both. Flair told them that’s why no one compares to her. One curveball and they lose their minds. She’s going to take Ripley’s title.

Ripley got in Deville’s face until Flair attacked her from behind and knocked her out of the ring. Asuka threw Flair out of the ring as well.

♦ Humberto Carrillo is not going to let Sheamus bully him. He was telling Kayla Braxton he’s going to keep answering his open challenges because he’s not afraid of him when Sheamus attacked him from behind and gave him a backstage beatdown. When Carrillo was laid out, Sheamus said it didn’t look like he was going to be in any condition to accept his open challenge this week, but there’s always next week.

♦ Adam Pearce yelled at Sonya Deville again backstage. She made excuses that she tried to find him and sent him texts, and finally agreed they should be making decisions together. Alexa Bliss’ doll, Lilly, was in the background.

♦ Before Damian Priest vs John Morrison, with The Miz, got underway, Miz and Morrison had some complaining to do about being pelted with rotten tomatoes last week. Poor Morrison looked a bit put out that Miz spent 95% of the time talking about himself, but he should be used to that by now. Priest had a succinct video promo played during his entrance acknowledging The Miz’ accomplishments and saying it was awesome sharing the ring with him at WrestleMania. But if Miz is wilding out about some tomatoes, imagine how he’s going to feel when Priest breaks his jaw.

The match was decent. Morrison might have won if The Miz hadn’t been on the apron distracting the ref. As it was the bell clap and Hit the Lights handed Damian Priest the victory.

♦ Mansoor is an official member of the RAW roster. He signed his contract in Adam Pearce’s office. Sheamus came in to talk about Carrillo not being able to accept the challenge and mistook Mansoor for an intern. When he was corrected, he got sarcastic and condescending and invited Mansoor to accept the non-title open challenge.

♦ MVP said Braun Strowman shouldn’t be in the title match and tonight’s match shouldn’t be happening. He speculated that, with McIntyre and Lashley having had such similar journeys, he wouldn’t be surprised if they teamed up against Strowman so they can have the match they deserve. A slightly obvious way of sowing that seed.

♦ Lucha House Party vs Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin started during the break, completely unannounced. That always feels slightly disrespectful. Fun match, but a bad day at the office for Benjamin and Alexander. Dorado put Benjamin down with a tornado DDT and kept Alexander out of the wat with a dive over the top. Gran Metalik got the finish with a rope walk elbow drop.

After the match, Alexander yelled at Benjamin and said it was no wonder MVP and Lashley kicked them out. He suggested it was Benjamin they kicked out and he should have turned his back on him as well. He’s in the prime of his career and Benjamin is past his, so the team is done.

Backstage, a little later, Shelton Benjamin told Kayla Braxton he can take the hit and that’s why he’s lasted so long in the business. He’s seen so many bright young superstars like Cedric Alexander come and go. The only reason Alexander was in The Hurt Business was that he saw something in him. Not MVP. Not Lashley. Him. And if Alexander doesn’t want to team with him and learn from him that’s fine. He let him say his piece out there, but if Alexander carries on he’ll be just another bright star fizzling out and Benjamin will continue to survive

♦ Drew Gulak mocked Angel Garza for carrying a rose and being a ladies man who couldn’t score. He challenged Garza to a match and said he’d be smelling the roses when he beat him. Garza said when he wins, he’s going to stick the rose… you get the idea. Lilly was in the background again.

Angel Garza vs Drew Gulak was good but very short. Garza has found his fire and aggression and Gulak was basically along for the ride until the Wing Clipper finished it. After the match, Garza shoved the rose down the back of Gulak’s trunks and kicked his ass.

♦ Riddle had a nice chat with The Viking Raiders then chatted to Randy Orton about carrying on as a team. Orton still isn’t convinced. It might work if he can make Riddle shut up occasionally, but I’m not sure that’s possible. He made him ‘zip it’ and hand him the imaginary key before they went off for Randy Orton & Riddle vs Elias & Jaxson Ryker. It’s fun having Riddle and Orton teaming. You know Orton will snap and destroy him eventually, you just don’t know when it’s coming.

Riddle got his ass kicked for the majority of the match. When Randy Orton got in, he bounced Elias off the announce desk and took out Ryker as well. Once again, Orton was generous with the finish. He delivered the draping DDT to Elias and let Riddle finish it with Bro Derek. He even RKO’d Ryker to stop him from breaking the pin. This week, he raised Riddle’s hand whereas last week he wouldn’t. He walked off exasperated while Riddle was posing though.

♦ Drew McIntyre doesn’t care who wins between Strowman and Lashley, as long as they beat the hell out of each other. He has a lot of questions about MACE and T-BAR, like why are they attacking him, whose side are they on, and why did they lose the stupid masks and keep the stupid names? He doesn’t have answers, but he knows he’s taking the title back at Backlash.

Strowman arrived to talk about MVPs suggestion McIntyre and Lashley might team up. He knows they think he doesn’t belong, but he’s leaving the Triple Threat as champion. McIntyre said maybe, maybe not, but Strowman needed to leave immediately.

♦ WWE Superstars are still telling people to go and get vaccinated. It remains excellent advice.

♦ Sheamus vs Mansoor was probably not the RAW debut Mansoor wanted. He had a good showing after Sheamus disrespected him with a slap until Sheamus knocked him from the top rope to the floor. After that happened, he got his ass kicked for a while. Sheamus dumped him ribs-first on the barricade and he barely beat the ref’s count back in. Even then he fought back and came close to pinning the United States Champion. Somehow, Sheamus got a cut on his head. Sadly, Mansoor got overambitious and went to the top, Sheamus kicked his legs out from under him. He didn’t get pinned though. Humberto Carrillo arrived while Sheamus was setting up for the Brogue Kick and attacked him. After Sheamus had put Carrillo down with a Brogue Kick, he put Mansoor down with one too.

♦ Alexa Bliss was in the Playground with Lilly again. I think the little song she sang was the creepiest thing she’s done so far, but you can decide for yourselves.

♦ Shayna Baszler, & Nia Jax (C), with Reginald, vs Naomi & Lana – WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship match – was irritating. Nia Jax laid Naomi out on the outside by throwing her into the announce desk. Reginald cost Lana the pin by getting half into the ring and distracting the ref. Shayna Baszler tapped Lana out. I’m not sure it even made the two-minute mark, which is disgraceful for a title match.

♦ MVP spent Lashley’s pre-match promo time talking about bulls. I think even he might be running out of ways to say Lashley’s going to win. Bobby Lashley vs Braun Strowman main-evented the show, but was interrupted by Drew McIntyre fairly quickly. McIntyre didn’t do anything except walk down the ramp. Strowman got out of the ring to meet him and got taken out from behind by Lashley. Bobby Lashley offered McIntyre a fist bump, but McIntyre turned away and joined commentary during the break. Unusually, McIntyre kept telling commentary to focus on the match because he was just hanging out. He did offer to let them talk about his book, which is out tomorrow.

Lashley couldn’t lock his arms for the Hurt Lock. He took a sidewalk slam and got out of the ring. Strowman went for his runaround and Lashley shoved him into McIntyre. McIntyre followed him up onto the apron to argue, and as soon as Strowman turned back to Lashley, he got speared and pinned.

After the match, Drew McIntyre delivered Claymore’s to Lashley and Strowman. He has his one on one match with Lashley next week.

I only spotted Lilly twice in the background this week, and even then I had to go back after Bliss said she’d enjoyed her adventures. It’s a fun little extra. What’s not fun is giving a tag title match less than three minutes. NXT also have a women’s tag title match this week. I’d put money on it lasting longer than three minutes.