WWE Raw recap, review: Rhea Ripley puts Chamber competition on notice
By Ryan Satin
FOX Sports WWE Analyst
Rhea Ripley was the star of Monday Night Raw this week after running the Gauntlet for nearly forty-five minutes.
Welcome back to my "Highs and Lows," this time for the 2/14/22 edition of Raw featuring a women’s Gauntlet match, an appearance from a former NXT champion, a WrestleMania 31 rematch and more.
First, here are the quick match results:
- Street Profits defeated Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode
- Damian Priest defeated AJ Styles via pinfall to retain the United States title
- Omos defeated Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander
- Bianca Belair defeated Rhea Ripley, Nikki A.S.H., Doudrop and Liv Morgan to earn the final entry in the Women’s Elimination Chamber match
- Reggie pinned Dana Brooke at a restaurant to regain the 24/7 title
- Alpha Academy defeated The Mysterios via pinfall with a handful of tights
- Seth Rollins defeated Randy Orton via interference
RAW HIGHS
Rhea Ripley
We all know the twenty-five-year-old Aussie is talented, but when you see her skills on display for that long, you can’t help but be impressed.
I also appreciated how the Gauntlet match was laid out as a whole. There was history in Rhea’s encounter with Nikki A.S.H. to start, a surprise in pinning Liv Morgan, the difficulty of facing a powerhouse opponent in Doudrop and, ultimately, a friend Ripley couldn’t overcome.
All in all, this was an entertaining match and wise way of reminding viewers that Rhea poses a threat to her opponents in the Elimination Chamber — even Bianca Belair, who received a slight side-eye during her friendly post-match celebration.
Will their friendship last in the Chamber? That look tells me no.
Kevin Owens versus Texas
This might have been brief, but it’s clearly laying the foundation for something bigger that’ll take place at WrestleMania in Dallas this April, and I’ve got no issue with Kevin Owens getting a Mania moment with a Texas icon.
Obviously, the first Texas icon that comes to mind is WWE Hall of Famer and badass TV host "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
The roar of the crowd will be deafening if The Texas Rattlesnake’s music hits at WrestleMania this year, and watching him open a can of whoop ass on the guy who currently uses his finisher in WWE would no doubt be a crowd-pleaser.
An appearance from Austin doesn’t seem out of the question, either, since he’s been featured in advertising for WM38 since promotion began.
Rollins vs. Orton
At the end of the day, we as wrestling fans want to watch good wrestling matches, and that’s exactly what this was. Seth Rollins and Randy Orton are two masters of their craft, and right now, both are at the top of their game.
Their match this week was further proof of that.
It’s actually pretty remarkable to see both performers knock it out of the park on such a consistent basis these days.
In fact, when you look back on it, the two Superstars each used WWE’s time away from fans during the pandemic to make minor adjustments in the ring, and when fans returned it made an even bigger difference on TV.
These were just little things too, like being more vocal in the ring (which was needed during the pandemic, but now works even better with fans back), and maximizing the value of each move made in the ring.
When you look closely, it's pretty cool to see.
Tommaso Ciampa appears on Raw
A minor high-point here, mainly because I believe Ciampa would be more valuable on the main roster in 2022, so seeing him make a brief appearance on Raw gives me hope that a move could be in his future. Especially after taking part in multiple dark matches these last few months.
Unfortunately, not much was done to explain why fans who only watch Raw and SmackDown should care about Ciampa, nor why they should tune into NXT 2.0 for a program between him and Dolph Ziggler.
RAW LOWS
Alexa Bliss regains Lilly
Similar to Ciampa, this is only a minor low-point, as I’m willing to see what Alexa’s new character direction will be now that she’s the final entrant in the Women’s Elimination Chamber match on Saturday.
I also want to remain open-minded about the Lilly stuff, as I’ve seen online reports claiming the doll’s merch sales are worth keeping it around for, and I’m clearly not the target audience for this sort of thing.
Thankfully, it seems like there will be changes made to her overall presentation, so I’m hopeful they’ll drop the gimmicky stuff like fireballs and black liquid to instead focus on the mental aspects of a dual personality controlled by an evil doll.
Alexa has proven she has the chops to pull off the latter.
Don’t forget to follow all your favorite WWE Superstars and shows in the FOX Sports app to receive alerts on what they’re doing and more.
Ryan Satin is a WWE analyst for FOX Sports. Satin previously appeared on FS1's "WWE Backstage" and founded Pro Wrestling Sheet, where he broke countless news stories as editor-in-chief.
