Foley Plays the Game – A Raw Recap for 3/13/17

Tonight’s Raw comes to us from the Joe Louis Arena in Detriot, Michigan.  I thought this arena was supposed to be torn down?

Foley Plays the Game

At the top of the show, Steph notifies Foley that he has to fire someone by the end of the night in order to show strength and to keep his job.  He’s clearly upset about it and spends the entire night fretting about it.

At the end of the night, Steph calls him to the middle of the ring to announce his decision.  In the 10 minutes prior, he came to a decision that will boost morale for the entire locker room.  That name?  Stephanie McMahon.  You can guess she wasn’t too happy.  But Foley is right, the authority angle is tired and dead.  Foley continues to insult Stephanie McMahon and her husband HHH.

The Game arrives and defends his wife and insults both Foley and his family.  He went on and on about a lot of things, actually.  That was just the jist of it.  He almost cracked during a CM Punk chant but held it together.  Foley did crack though.  He brought out an old friend, Mr. Socko, and released the Mandible Claw on Triple H.  Stephanie broke the claw with a low blow.

Before HHH could get revenge, Seth Rollins music hits.  The man hobbles out on one crutch and drops it.  Ladies and Gentlemen, Rollins is back…mostly.  He gets in a few good hits but HHH takes him out at the knee and uses the crutch against him, bending it around the knee.  To add insult to (probable) injury, Triple HHH gets Rollins in a kneebar.

The Big Dog in the Yard

Roman Reigns quickly dispatches Jinder Mahal but not without being distracted by an Undertaker gong in the middle of the match.  Mahal capitalized but it was soon over.  It’s a win for Jinder as it’s one of the few times I’ll talk about him on one of the main sections like this.  Good for him.

After the match, Roman Reigns says that he not only wants to face Undertaker at Wrestlemania but he wants to retire him.  He demands that Undertaker appear but instead we get…HBK?

I mean, I guess it makes sense.  The two matches with Shawn are probably Undertaker’s greatest matches.  He warns Roman that he’s too unfocused to really take on The Undertaker.  As a fan, I’d have to agree.  And I think it’s smart to present it that way.  Roman doesn’t care and still insists that he wants to retire him.

But maybe HBK is right.  On his way back up the ramp, Braun blindsides him and beats him senseless.  On social media, a rematch is announced for next week’s Raw.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Undertaker interferes like he should have at Fast Lane.

Everything Else

• Brock Lesnar and Heyman show up to start the show basically to say that Brock’s going to win at Wrestlemania.  Brock does Brock, smiles and bounces around a lot.
• The Club stupidly interfere in the #1 contender match for their championship causing a No Contest/DQ.  It’s dumb because they’re now in a Triple Threat…nerds!
• I almost put this in the main section but we will see where this goes next week.  Dana Brooke was tasked with injuring Sasha Banks in her match this evening.  Upon failing to do so and losing to Sasha, Charlotte fires Dana.  DB snaps and goes after Charlotte.  If they’re smart, this comes back up in the next couple of weeks.  But, I feel like WWE is going to be WWE and have Dana quietly disappear until post-Mania.
• The Brian Kendrick and Tony Neese defeat Akira Tozawa and TJP – The main story here was Tozawa finally getting hands on Kendrick, albeit in a tag team match.  Perhaps Tozawa was a little too focused though.  While he was busy with Kendrick, Neese rolled up TJP with a big handful of tights.  I’m liking that Neese isn’t getting lost in this devision.  It seems like they are trying to give him a legitimate mid-level push in the devision.
• The Playa Playa Teddy Long Tag Team Match special for this week comes to us courtesy of Samoa Joe and Kevin Owens Vs. Jericho and Zayn.  Zayn might have minorly injured his leg on a plancha.  I think it might just be a Kayfabe injury as Joe and Kevin piled onto him.  Jericho came to the rescue.  At this point, the ref already ruled the match a No Contest/DQ (I’m not sure which).  Joe kept Jericho at bay while KO finished off Zayn with a popup powerbomb.
• KO announces the road to KO Mania II while wearing this sweet t-shirt.
• Austin Aries defeats Daivari
• The Big Show destroys Titus and announces entry into the Andre.  I guess that Shaq match isn’t happening after all? Titus wins because he continually tortures us, the audience, with TV time every week.
• Nia loses via DQ against Bayley.  Locks Bayley in the tree of woe.  Like Dana Brooke, I’m not entirely sure what they’re doing with Nia either.  I’d like for Charlotte to lose cleanly at Mania, but I kind of feel like both Dana and Nia might stack the deck against The Queen.

The Road to Wrestlemania

With the exception of that last segment, the Road to Wrestlemania seems more like business as usual for Raw.  Maybe its because I’m not excited about Brock Vs. Goldberg for the Universal Championship.  Maybe it’s because all the matches are getting loaded up in huge multi-man or multi-woman affairs.  Having (almost) everyone healthy presents new challenges, it seems.

Where do Zayn and Samoa Joe end up?  Do they end up in the Dre?

I’m also a little worried, that with the quitting/firing of Foley, that we are back to the same tired Authority Vs. Everyone angle that we’ve seen time and time again. I do expect HHH to disappear shortly after Mania but I’m worried to have Steph unchecked.  It feels a little lazy, creatively.  I’m hoping we have a good