Monday Night Raw Review - February 28, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Kevin Owens and Seth "Freakin" Rollins Hosted The KO Show with Raw Tag Team Champions Alpha Academy; Owens and Rollins def. Alpha Academy (Non-Title)

Both of these teams are very entertaining and thus it was no surprise that their opening segment was as enjoyable as it was. They played off each other nicely and the subsequent tag team match was also a ton of fun. Normally, I'd have an issue with the champions losing, but since they'll both be involved in next week's Triple Threat for the Raw Tag Team Championship, I'm fine with it, especially since it sent the message that Owens and Rollins could capture the titles.

Omos def. T-Bar

Omos being back on TV lately makes me worried they're going ahead with the aggressive singles push that was rumored for him a while ago. He beat AJ Styles clean in roughly three minutes earlier this year and he's done absolutely nothing of note since. I'm not saying he should, but the booking has been bizarre. They talked about how T-Bar was his biggest opponent to date, only to have him squash T-Bar in under a minute. Insert obligatory rant here about how T-Bar deserves better.

Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan def. Raw Women's Champion Beck Lynch, Doudrop and Nikki A.S.H.

Lynch and Belair are confirmed to face off for the Raw Women's Championship at WrestleMania 38 and everyone but Lynch competed in that women's Elimination Chamber match last weekend, so this match made sense. As expected, it was very good from an in-ring standpoint given the level of talent involved. We got a sneak peek of Lynch vs. Belair and everyone else had some time to shine as well.

Tommaso Ciampa def. Robert Roode

First and foremost, WWE changing Ciampa's awesome entrance music is a damn shame. I really shouldn't be surprised at this point because they've been doing it with a lot of people who previously had CFO$ songs, but changing Ciampa's does hurt his badass presentation. Could it be a sign they're actually going to call him up soon? Him against Roode wasn't anything special, but I was happy he won at least. They did a decent job of hyping up Ciampa and Bron Breakker vs. The Dirty Dawgs for NXT on Tuesday night.

24/7 Champion Dana Brooke and Reggie def. Tamina and Akira Tozawa

You know they're desperate to fill television time when the 24/7 Championship crap is getting featured. Seriously, this garbage needs to end. The match was total throwaway and I couldn't care less about the ongoing drama between Brooke and Reggie. The live crowd got a kick out of Tamina and Tozawa sharing a smooch, but that's about it. Again, keep this crap to a minimum and focus on stuff that's actually worthwhile.

The Hurt Business def. The Mysterios

The Miz interrupted The Mysterios beforehand to talk about how victory is virtually guaranteed for him and Logan Paul at WrestleMania. It'll be a fine undercard attraction, if nothing else. Paul didn't appear this week (and I don't know if he will again ahead of the event), but Miz did cost The Mysterios this win. The match felt like an afterthought as a result, but what we got was fine and The Hurt Business winning for once was refreshing.

The Street Profits def. RK-Bro

I really liked the original encounter between these teams from the Day 1 pay-per-view in January, and while this didn't quite reach that next level, it was still a quality contest for the time they were allotted. Unfortunately, all anyone will remember from this is the botched finish. Ford hit his finisher on Orton (who I hope is okay) and then Orton failed to get his foot on the rope. It looked like Dawkins tried to help with that but to no avail. You could tell there was some confusion afterward and I find it hard to believe RK-Bro would lose a week before a tag title match Street Profits aren't even in. Hopefully they're able to run this back at some point.

Finn Balor def. Damian Priest to Win the United States Championship

Similar to the previous match, I know these two are capable of more because we saw them kill it at NXT TakeOver: In Your House in June 2020, and that was without fans. They gave it a great effort here, but I'm hoping they held back intentionally because a rematch is in the works for WrestleMania and all signs point to that happening. Priest finally snapped afterward and cemented his heel turn. He was doing just fine as a face before they needlessly switched up his character, but maybe he'll find more success in this role because the crowds haven't cared about him for months now.

Edge Attacked AJ Styles

I loved everything about this angle and it was the only thing that could have closed the show. Anyone hoping it would be Cody Rhodes answering Edge's WrestleMania challenge set themselves up for disappointment, not to mention that match wouldn't have made as much sense as Styles vs. Edge. A babyface vs. babyface dynamic would have worked I think, and as unexpected as Edge's heel turn was, I'm cool with it. He's obviously an amazing villain and it makes the match even more interesting than it would have been previously. I'm sure we'll hear his explanation next week. If you weren't sold on this 'Mania matchup before, you should be now.

Overall Show

I wasn't overly impressed with last week's follow-up show to Elimination Chamber, but I thought this was a significantly stronger edition of Raw despite not a whole lot being advertised coming into it. Everything with Owens, Rollins and Alpha Academy held my attention, the last stretch of the show delivered with a new champion being crowned and two heel turns, and there was some solid stuff in the middle, particularly from the women. The 24/7 Championship crap continues to be a waste and Omos' push doesn't thrill me, but everything else served a purpose.

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