WWE Raw recap, review: The final Raw before WrestleMania in Dallas
By Ryan Satin
FOX Sports WWE Analyst
This week’s WWE Raw was the last before WrestleMania 38 — and it was chock-full of strong mic work.
Welcome back to my "Highs and Lows," this time covering the 3/28/22 edition of Raw featuring a rare Monday night appearance from Roman Reigns, Becky Lynch receiving an unwanted haircut and KO sending a message to Stone Cold.
Here’s a quick recap of the match results:
- Rey Mysterio defeated The Miz via clean pinfall
- Omos defeated The Viking Raiders via countout in less than one minute
- Sasha Banks, Naomi, Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan defeated Queen Zelina, Carmella, Shayna Baszler and Natalya via pinfall after Ripley hit the Riptide on Zelina
- Austin Theory defeated Intercontinental Champion Ricochet via clean pinfall after hitting his finisher in roughly 2 minutes
- Drew McIntyre defeated Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss after Corbin bailed on his partner, leaving Madcap to fend for himself
- RK-Bro vs. The Usos ended in no-contest after interference from Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins
RAW HIGHS
"The Tribal Chief" speaks
Roman Reigns: 'It's personal with Brock Lesnar.' I WWE on FOX
Reigns’ WrestleMania go-home promo was a perfect example of how far he’s progressed on the microphone these last few years. The intensity he projects now is so strong you can feel it permeate through the screen. He also comes across as incredibly natural and never forced.
Roman’s promo was further enhanced by the vast history behind his upcoming WrestleMania match, and it was smart to address that he’s never defeated Brock on "The Grandest Stage of Them All."
This raised the stakes between them even higher on Sunday and further solidified how important it is for his character to win.
Lesnar’s promo at the start of the show was fun, too. I never would’ve expected him to have the ability to turn "What?" chants around on the crowd and use them to his benefit — let alone stop them altogether.
Brock Lesnar makes a stop at Raw before WrestleMania 38 I WWE on FOX
KO and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
First, I want to call attention to this awesome video package on the career Steve Austin (set to Kid Rock’s Bawitdaba).
I’m an Attitude Era kid who also loved nu-metal and rap rock, so I was directly in the target audience for this. And, yes, it worked like a charm. I’m hyped to see "Stone Cold" open a can of whoop ass this weekend.
Second, props to Kevin Owens for how well he’s managed to sell this entire storyline without Austin making a single appearance on Raw.
From hating on Texas, to bringing the heat once "Stone Cold" confirmed he’d be a guest on the KO Show, Kevin has been first-rate.
Bianca "The Barber" Belair
This was a good bit of final storytelling between Bianca and Becky.
Both Superstars look strong heading into their match this weekend, and Belair getting the better of Lynch by cutting her hair was a great visual.
I appreciate the amount of effort that’s been put into making this feel like a blood feud, rather than just a WrestleMania program between two top performers. It’s helped them stand apart from Charlotte/Ronda.
Edge is serious about AJ Styles
In my opinion, this was Edge’s best promo since his recent shift of character came about. The overall vibe just fit him better. It was less goth and more "evil boss you’d encounter on a Money Plane."
I’m digging what he’s doing with the change so far. It takes guts to try something new at this stage of your career, especially when you’re already so established.
Hopefully this gets Edge to another world title win.
RAW LOWS
Ricochet loses again
No, I didn’t copy and paste my lows from the SmackDown article last week by accident. This happened again, on a show Ricochet isn’t even a part of.
Was there NO ONE ELSE on Raw who could lose to Austin Theory in less than two minutes clean? Did Ricochet, the secondary champion on SmackDown, really need to travel across brands for that?
How does this get anybody invested in seeing Ricochet defend the Intercontinental Championship this Friday on SmackDown?
So many questions, so few answers.
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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.
