Elimination Chamber is on Saturday, so this is the last chance for RAW to get everything in place. Brock Lesnar will be appearing ahead of the chamber match, as will WWE Champion Bobby Lashley. Lita will be there to build her title match against Becky Lynch (How much build does Lita vs Becky Lynch really need? I’m sold already). AJ Styles will attempt to take the US title off Damian Priest, but after last week he’s likely to encounter the ‘Damian’ side of Priest. And Riddle is throwing an RK-Broga party…

I’m Amanda and this is the RAW review.

Match Results

Street Profits def. Dirty Dawgs

Damian Priest def. AJ Styles

Omos def. The Hurt Business

Rhea Ripley def. Nikki A.S.H. > Rhea Ripley def. Liv Morgan > Rhea Ripley def. Doudrop > Bianca Belair def. Rhea Ripley

Alpha Academy def. The Mysterios

Seth Rollins def. Randy Orton

The Show

♦ Bobby Lashley and MVP opened the show, which was live from Indianapolis this week. Lashley talked about the Elimination Chamber and how, like him, it has destroyed careers. It’s his last stop before walking into WrestleMania as champion.

MVP talked about the statistics and reminded us none of them are All-Mighty, so statistics didn’t matter and Lashley would win. It was interesting to hear the crowd reaction when he recited the names. Brock is very popular, and Austin Theory got some relatively impressive boos.

Seth Rollins came out and said Lashley wouldn’t be champion for long. He doesn’t think anyone else in the chamber can beat Lashley, but he can.

Riddle was next, riding his scooter and wearing a toga. The toga got a chant. Riddle told a story about getting locked in a gas station bathroom overnight and rambled about being a double champion, then invited Lashley to his RK-Broga party. He didn’t invite Rollins because he has a match against Randy Orton tonight.

Austin Theory was out next, telling everyone how much he’s learned from Vince McMahon. He has to win so he doesn’t let him down.

AJ Styles made it five and accused Theory, correctly, of kissing McMahon’s ass. Unsurprisingly, he too thinks he’s going to win. He wants a defining WrestleMania moment. Riddle invited him to the party as well.

Lashley had a bit of a rant, then Brock Lesnar finally rounded out the group. He wandered around the ring and fist-bumped a few fans, then got into the ring and used Austin Theory as a coat and hat rack. Lesnar and Lashley got face to face and Theory jumped on Lesnar’s back with some goading from Rollins. Theory took a couple of suplexes, everyone else cleared out of the ring immediately. When they’d all gone, Theory took an F5 as well and Brock took a selfie with him.

♦ Street Profits gave us a run-through of the night’s card before Street Profits vs Dirty Dawgs. They did that a lot when they first arrived on RAW and they are invariably effortlessly entertaining. Tommaso Ciampa joined commentary, popping in from NXT 2.0 because Ziggler went there last week. It meant not a lot of attention was paid to a pretty good match.

Ciampa threw a drink in Ziggler’s face after Ziggler pretended to superkick him. Robert Roode got pinned off the distraction. Ziggler superkicked Ciampa after the match.

♦ The RK-Broga party was well attended, but Randy Orton was nowhere in sight. Turned out, he was in the locker room shaking his head. He told Kevin Patrick that he’s not a Broga party kind of guy, and anyway, he has a match to prepare for. Rollins is one of the craftiest people in the locker room and he knows he’s already planning how to steal the title in the Elimination Chamber. But that is Saturday and today is Monday, so Rollins is taking an RKO.

♦ The Rock narrated a video package about his father, as part of WWE’s Black History Month celebrations. It was an excellent video, and very sweet.

♦ Kevin Owens no longer believes he’ll be in WrestleMania and he has turned on the people of Texas that he last week proclaimed to love so much. He called Texans a bunch of ‘Redneck morons’ and sain Texas is the ass of North America. So, I guess happy friendly Kevin Owens is gone for a bit. Chaos and destruction Kevin Owens is more fun anyway.

♦ Damian Priest (C) vs AJ Styles – United States Championship Match – got the benefit of the commercial-free first hour. Sadly, it would easily have fitted between ad breaks anyway. Much too short for a title match, especially one this good. Priest pinned Styles with a roll-up after backing away from the

♦ Alexa Bliss is looking more like her pre-Fiend self. Her therapist talked about how much better she was and said he had a gift for her. He turned off the music, at her request, then spread the remains of the real Lilly out on the table. His gift to her so she can be at peace. She was upset, but centred herself and smiled. But she still looked wistfully at the fake Lilly doll he pulled out.

♦ Omos vs The Hurt Business – Handicap Match – was interesting. Have Alexander and Benjamin upset someone? Cedric Alexander tried to sneak up on Omos, but Omos grabbed him by the skull and threw him into his corner. Benjamin came in and Alexander tried to cause a distraction, but it didn’t help. Omos threw them both around a bit then pinned Alexander.

♦ After the awkward backstage conversation last week, Reggie and Dana Brooke went out for Valentine’s dinner.

♦ Riddle’s Broga party was heating up, but I guess it makes a change from catering. Street Profits turned up on this visit, with their eyes on Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez.

♦ Adam Pearce officiated the contract signing between Becky Lynch and Lita. Theirs is the first women’s division match to appear on a billboard in Saudi Arabia.

Becky Lynch looked to be in a terrible state when she got to the ring. She hasn’t slept because of the trauma of her teenage idol coming for her and attacking her so close to WrestleMania. She begged her to tear up the contract and walk away.

Lita asked for the crowd’s opinion on walking away and said she didn’t come back because she’s got one good match left in her. She’s got a whole championship run left. And Lynch is scared because she saw last week that she’s still got what it takes to beat her.

Becky Lynch got angry after Lita signed and said she doesn’t want to go to that place, but she’s not afraid to go for her neck and the injury that put her into retirement. She’s going to make sure people remember Lita with a tear in their eye instead of a smile.

Lita said if she was partly responsible for creating what Lynch has become, then it’s on her to end it. But the only thing that’s ending on Saturday, is Lynch’s title reign. Lynch threw the clipboard at her and sloped off up the ramp.

♦ We got a gauntlet match to figure out who will enter the women’s Elimination Chamber Match last.

Rhea Ripley vs Nikki A.S.H. was the first match of the gauntlet and it started during the first ad break of the show. I complained last time that their feud didn’t really seem to have any guts, but this was better than their last one on one. Nikki wanted it more and Ripley didn’t seem prepared initially. Nikki countered the Riptide. Ripley caught the crossbody and this time she got the Riptide and the win.

Rhea Ripley vs Liv Morgan was next. Morgan picked a good strategy, coming in high-energy before Ripley had time to recover from A.S.H. and not letting up. Ripley held on for too long when Morgan got to the ropes in a cloverleaf and Morgan used them for leverage to send her into the corner. Unfortunately, her next move put her on Ripley’s shoulders, and from there it was just one superkick to the Riptide finish.

Rhea Ripley vs Doudrop was not what Ripley wanted to deal with as a third match and it was a battle. Give me this as the next long feud with escalating matches. They went blow for blow and headbutt for headbutt. Ripley couldn’t get Doudrop up for the Riptide the first time, but she got her with the second attempt.

Rhea Ripley vs Bianca Belair was the final hurdle for Ripley, and an Everest sized hurdle at that. Belair, fresh as a daisy, and Ripley coming off the back of three tough matches. It started during a break, and they were in full swing when we returned. Somehow, it was still a gruelling match that went clear through another ad break. Heading into that, Ripley created herself some much-needed breathing space by throwing Belair into the steps.

By the time we came back, Ripley had been in the match for over 40 minutes. Belair avoided a Riptide. Ripley struggled free of the K.O.D. and they just kept going. Belair looked to finish it with a moonsault, but Ripley got her knees up and slowly made the climb for that glorious missile dropkick. Belair kicked out and rolled out of the cloverleaf. This time, Bianca Belair’s K.O.D. was executed perfectly and won Belair the match.

Belair enters the Elimination Chamber last. Rhea Ripley earned a ton of respect she should have had already in that one. She spent 44.04 minutes in the match. Belair pulled her up for a fist bump and a hug of respect at the end.

♦ Alpha Academy attacked Riddle while he was singing at his party. That was mean, but Riddle’s singing was terrible.

♦ As part of a promo for a film called Dog, Rey and Dominik Mysterio did a little segment talking about what it was like working as father and son in the industry.

♦ Dana Brooke and Reggie escaped R-Truth, Tamina, and Akira Tozawa, but after Brooke put him firmly in the friend zone, he pinned her for the 24/7 title and ran off leaving her with the bill for dinner.

♦ The Mysterios s Alpha Academy started with Chad Gable wittering on about being less entertaining… which is hard to argue with. He wanted to have a discussion about cheating and how RK-Bro were the worst cheaters because they cheated to beat them in the Academic Challenge. Lots of insulting the crowd, which is dull. He moved on to Rey teaching Dominik that cheating is the way to win. Then The Miz and Maryse turned up to join commentary.

Miz said they were there to make sure no cheating happened, at the invitation of Alpha Academy. That’s like inviting a thundercloud to make sure it stays sunny. The match was largely ignored until Dominik and Gable got into a stint that held everyone’s attention.

Decent match. Gable is a great opponent for the Mysterios, but he probably didn’t think so after taking the double 619 once Otis had been dispatched via a ring post to the shoulder. The Miz interfered, of course, getting onto the apron to mess with Dominik. Rey took him down on the outside and Dominik went for the frog splash anyway. Chad Gable was ready and rolled through, pinning him with a handful of tights.

Miz threw Dominik out of the ring and gave Rey a Skull Crushing Finale after the match.

♦ Alexa Bliss’ therapist discharged her, with the replica Lilly doll stuffed with the original Lilly Doll’s stuffing. He said that as long as she keeps the doll with her she’s cured. Bliss left, talking to the doll, and it all made very little sense. She did reveal that she’s the final competitor in the Elimination Chamber match.

♦ Ronda Rousey & Naomi vs Charlotte Flair & Sonya Deville has been announced for Elimination Chamber.

Rey Mysterio vs The Miz has also been added to what is a truly huge card.

♦ Seth Rollins vs Randy Orton was the main event of the evening and it was great. Orton has never been better, and Rollins is at the top of his game once he shuts his mouth. Orton got a nice chant from the crowd before he tried to put Rollins through the announce desk, but the desk didn’t break. He ignored the ‘One more time chants’, which turned out to be an error because Rollins tossed him over the desk after destroying him at ringside.

A superplex from the very top, delivered by Orton, had the effect of levelling the playing field after the final break. Orton countered Rollins’ Stomp attempt into a bodyslam. Rollins rolled him up as a counter to the draping DDT and almost got the pin off a superkick.

Rollins had Orton reeling and in perfect position for the Stomp, but Orton moved and countered the Pedigree. The draping DDT found its mark, as did the RKO, but before Orton could pin him, Alpha Academy turned up. Riddle followed them and Orton joined his partner to put them down. When he got back in the ring, Rollins met him with a Stomp.

Not a bad episode of RAW to send us into Elimination Chamber. Don’t forget it’s an early start for the Saudi shows, so check your Network/Peacock listings for your time zone (5 PM GMT in the UK, with a kickoff show at 4 PM).