Monday Night Raw Review - March 27, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Damage CTRL Interrupted Trish Stratus and WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Becky Lynch and Lita on Miz TV Hosted by The Miz; Lynch def. IYO SKY

It was refreshing to not have Miz interacting with Seth Rollins for one week. Instead, he hosted Miz TV with Stratus, Lita and Lynch, which merely served as a backdrop for their exchange with Damage CTRL. Bayley and Lynch did a majority of the talking. Lynch mentioning that Damage CTRL have done nothing since SummerSlam and that this rivalry needs to end was a shoot, brother. I'm convinced at this point that Damage CTRL will win at WrestleMania 39, possibly with an assist from a newly-turned Stratus. The subsequent Lynch vs. SKY match was very good and a reminder of what SKY is capable of. In a perfect world, Damage CTRL would lose at 'Mania and SKY would move into singles competition, but as noted, I'm not expecting that.

Seth "Freakin" Rollins def. Mustafa Ali

I like that they called back to Ali wanting a match with Rollins so many months ago and Rollins giving it to him here despite Ali not wanting it in this moment. I don't think they ever did go one-on-one, though this wasn't what I had in mind for them originally when Rollins was United States Champion. Instead, it served as a squash to heat up Rollins before WrestleMania, and that's perfectly fine because Ali is the ultimate enhancement talent at this point.

Omos Attacked Brock Lesnar During the Official Weigh-Ins

Weigh-ins always feel out of place in wrestling because crowds rarely care, but I actually thought this was well done. No, I am not looking forward to Omos vs. Lesnar at WrestleMania, but the build has been fine and they've thankfully kept their segments short, including this one. Lesnar wasn't going through with the weigh-in crap and so he just went right after Omos. In other words, this was exactly what it needed to be.

The Street Profits, Braun Strowman and Ricochet def. Alpha Academy and The Viking Raiders

For as little as I care about the WrestleMania Showcase matches coming up this weekend due to the lack of stakes, I will say that this was a really fun showcase of the four teams set to take part in the men's match. This had enjoyable action and the crowd was into it, which I assume will be the case in the Fatal 4-Way tag team match as well. Alpha Academy and Viking Raiders continue to lose, but what else is new?

United States Champion Austin Theory Addressed John Cena

This was filmed earlier in the day when the arena was empty and he explained the significance of that. I thought it was a nice touch, especially since he didn't have to deal with the dumb "What?" chants. The promo itself was good, but I've been disappointed by the build to Cena vs. Theory. You can argue that the match sells itself, but Cena showed up once to verbally bury Theory and that was it. Theory has done a decent job of holding up his end in Cena's absence, but I wish I was more excited for it than I currently am.

Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville def. Michin and Candice LeRae to Qualify for the Women's WrestleMania Showcase Match at WrestleMania 39

I was really digging the duo of Green and Carmella and was hoping they'd be the last team in the women's WrestleMania Showcase match as had been rumored, but it looks like Carmella will be off television again for an undisclosed reason until after WrestleMania, which is a bummer. That said, Deville was a solid second choice to be Green's partner because they also work well together. Not a single person in the crowd cared about the match, but at least it had the right result.

Rey Mysterio def. Damian Priest by Disqualification

Priest has been the biggest afterthought of The Judgment Day recently due to not having a WrestleMania match, but it was cool to see him in there with Rey before Rey vs. Dominik this weekend. They had a good match and the non-finish with Dominik attacking Rey protected both men in defeat. I am way more excited for Rey vs. Dominik than I ever thought I would be. Kudos to them and WWE for turning a lot of people around on the storyline.

Intercontinental Champion Gunther def. Dolph Ziggler (Non-Title)

I know Ziggler is a former Intercontinental Champion in his own right (as well as a former world champ, but who the hell remembers that?), but I didn't think it was necessary for this to last over six minutes and through a commercial break. Ziggler has been at the bottom of the barrel for years now and should not have been competitive with Gunther, who at least went over decisively. This was a warm-up for Gunther ahead of his Intercontinental Championship defense against Sheamus and McIntyre.

Cody Rhodes def. Solo Sikoa

This was the perfect main event on the final Raw before WrestleMania. Rhodes is obviously challenging for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship on Sunday and Sikoa has been undefeated in singles competition since arriving on the main roster. If there was any time for Sikoa to suffer his first one-on-one loss, this was it, and they executed it exceptionally well. It was a terrific main event to boot with Sikoa definitely proving he could hang in such a prominent spot. Rhodes and Roman Reigns will face off one last time on Friday's SmackDown, but as far as Raw is concerned, this was a hell of a way to close out the WrestleMania go-home show.

Overall Show

This go-home edition of Raw succeeded in leaving me looking forward to WrestleMania weekend, that much is for sure. Rhodes vs. Sikoa was the highlight of the night, but everything else served a purpose and held my attention. The latest build for Bianca Belair vs. Asuka via the video packages was lazy, but I can't say I expected much different based on what we've gotten with them so far. All in all, this was a thumbs-up effort to keep the 'Mania momentum rolling.

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