Monday Night Raw Review - March 11, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

World Heavyweight Champion Seth "Freakin" Rollins Confronted Drew McIntyre

Rollins is in a tough spot right now because he's trying to juggle being involved in the build for the WrestleMania 40 Night 1 tag team main event and his Night 2 challenger in McIntyre. Rollins has played his role well in both storylines so far and I thought this was another excellent segment from them. As I've said before, Rollins does his best work as a character when he's serious and not doing the goofy crap. Having him not take McIntyre seriously here was an interesting approach, but hopefully it leads to him dropping the belt to McIntyre.

Becky Lynch def. Liv Morgan

These two had great chemistry when they feuded back in late 2021 and that's still the case over two years later. This was a very entertaining opener and I appreciated that Morgan was made to look so competitive in defeat. I wasn't overly impressed with the last verbal exchange Lynch and Morgan had a few weeks ago,  but the one they had here was a vast improvement. I'm glad they're saving their better material as we get closer to WrestleMania. Nia Jax attacked Lynch and Morgan backstage later on, so Lynch will face Jax in a Last Woman Standing match on next week's show.

Indi Hartwell and Candice LeRae def. Maxxine Dupri and Ivy Nile

So, this was an intriguing development. There was absolutely nothing special about the match itself, but LeRae has been growing more and more frustrated with losing lately and that led to her going off on Dupri here, acknowledging the recent boos and negative comments she's received on social media as well as the real-life death of her brother (which was probably news to everyone watching). I have to assume Dupri signed off on that. I might be in the minority here, but I honestly didn't mind it and didn't think it felt forced since LeRae has been teasing a heel turn for weeks. It was definitely different and I applaud them for the effort. I also applaud them for turning the Dupri stuff into a storyline.

Michael Cole Interviewed Cody Rhodes

This is usually the sort of thing that you see backstage in a sit-down setting, but Rhodes consistently kills it with promos in the ring that this worked just as well in front of a crowd. I can see some fans taking issue with him getting emotional all the time, but I think it only endears him to the audience that much more. His delivery was terrific here per usual and it was a necessary segment to shift the focus back on his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match with Roman Reigns on WrestleMania Night 2.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champions The Kabuki Warriors def. Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark

The crowd couldn't have been quieter for this match and it's hard to blame them. Yes, Baszler and Stark have racked up a handful of tag team wins since the beginning of the year, but there's simply nothing about them as a duo that stands out. It didn't help that this had a heel vs. heel dynamic, but to their credit, it was a well-worked match. The best thing about this was that it wasn't saved for WrestleMania. There's still a chance Kabuki Warriors defend against Bianca Belair and Naomi or Jade Cargill at the event based on what's been teased on SmackDown.

Damian Priest def. R-Truth

This was a blast, and it would've had no business being as fun as it was a few months ago. However, Truth has gotten himself over to such a large degree since returning that crowds have been super into this matches for months. Being Mr. Money in the Bank, Priest had to win here, but I continue to hope that the endgame for the angle is Awesome Truth winning the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania in the newly-announced Six-Pack Challenge Ladder match.

Jey Uso Challenged Jimmy Uso to a Match at WrestleMania 40

It's about dame time Jey addressed Jimmy. Jimmy has cost him multiple matches since SummerSlam and Jey has done very little about it until now. I realize they were waiting until closer to WrestleMania to make it official, but logically, it didn't make a whole lot of sense. Nonetheless, this was short, sweet, straight to the point, and exactly what it needed to be. Jey getting over "Yeet!" as the new "What?" with the crowd is pretty funny.

Sami Zayn def. Chad Gable, Shinsuke Nakamura, Bronson Reed, Ricochet and JD McDonagh in an Intercontinental Championship No. 1 Contender's Gauntlet Match

I was stoked that this was given the main event treatment it deserved. It was wisely executed with Ricochet and McDonagh getting some time to kick it off and the pace picking up once Zayn got in there. His mini matches with Reed and Nakamura were good and his last mini match with Gable was tremendous. Zayn was my pick to win, but I held out hope they'd go with Gable. He came close before ultimately falling short, but those nearfalls certainly were suspenseful. That was a bummer because the real story is with him and Gunther, but I have no doubt that Gunther and Zayn will kill it on the grand stage.

Overall Show

I really, really enjoyed this edition of Raw. While not necessarily perfect (and the crowd wasn't super hot throughout the night), a lot of what we got clicked for me. The build for WrestleMania was spot-on, the mic work was on another level, and the main event was a fantastic piece of business. All of the focus on the women's division for the first two hours was refreshing as well. Raw has been a treat to tune into for most of 2024 and has hit a stride on the road to WrestleMania.

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