Yes, it is another RAW In A Nutshell…but it is indeed a somber night in Jacksonville.
In truth, it’s a somber night all over the wrestling landscape.
News broke over the weekend that WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall suffered three heart attacks and was on life support.
We woke up learning that Hall would be taken off of life support, a move that happened early Monday afternoon.
For the rest of Monday, fans were either offering condolences or hoping for a miracle…or both.
Unfortunately, RAW opened with the dreaded yet expected “in memory of” still image, and it was confirmed that Hall had passed away Monday evening.
So, while we are indeed on the Road to WrestleMania…right now it certainly seems to matter very little.
It’s a somber night in Jacksonville and around the wrestling world…but the show must go on.
Given what happened last week, it may be an interesting night for Kevin Owens. Meanwhile, Seth Rollins is still hoping to find a WrestleMania program.
Not that it seems all that important for the moment.
Still, it is time for us to get into it…it’s time for…
RAW In A Nutshell: A Somber Night In Jacksonville…
source:@wwe, twitter, screenshot
Like it or not, let’s see what comes out of this Nutshell tonight…
Best Match of the night:
Not a shock, but Owens and Rollins delivered a really good main event.
Clean match, generally clean pin for Owens.
Without the possible arrival, not sure what Rollins lines up for Dallas now.
Worst match of the night:
Whoever thought Commander Azeez versus Omos was a good idea? Yeah, that person needs to be future endeavor’d.
Not a good match. Far from it.
source:@wwe, twitter, screenshot
The one point the announcers raise though, is the big one. Who can stop Omos?
I feel like Omos is being built up purely to be the sacrificial monster to someone.
Will it be Gable Steveson? Bron Breakker?
Someone else, completely unexpected?
I just feel that Omos is our current version say, Giant Gonzalez, who was built up just so Undertaker could destroy him at WrestleMania.
Crowd Chants of the Night:
During the first shot of Rollins, there was a distinct Cody chant.
Razor (honestly, a little disappointed that we didn’t hear this more from the crowd, but I feel like if we were in a different area, we would have).
Star of the Night
A nod, as you’d expect, to Scott Hall…for everything he did. He will be missed.
As for the active roster? Rollins and Owens with a solid main event.
source:@wwe, twitter, screenshot
Spot of the Night:
Well, Becky Lynch came back and beat up Bianca Belair with her hair….
I feel like we see that turn into a hair versus hair match at some point…no?
Jobber of the Night:
The camera man in Kevin Owens’ opening segment.
source: YouTube TV, app, screenshot
Upset of the Night:
Nothing in ring.
Plenty of fans and Superstars upset about losing a legend, however. So, I shall use this as a spot to drop this one…
source:@wwe, twitter, screenshot
Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:
Nothing. No Cody Rhodes, nada.
Botch of the night:
The lack of a ten bell salute to open the show was, I feel, a botch.
I fully will admit, right here and now, that hindsight may indicate that Hall passed so close to the opening, or word reached WWE so close to the opening, that it was all they could do.
Still…you knew all day that Hall was on his death bed, right? Barring a miracle we didn’t get.
So…why not have things at least prepped for a cold open, Superstars on the stage, 10 bell salute, cut to the graphic and then commercial?
Come back from that break and it’s the typical “then-now-forever” stuff and the show must go on.
Sure, I am no producer, so I don’t know what was going on logistically. It just didn’t feel right to go from a graphic and then right to Owens.
And if you haven’t figured this out by now, I write this as the show happens more often than not. So…yes, the announce team did discuss it.
It just…took them until 10:24PM to do so.
My botch call stands, even if the package was the usual goods from WWE. Especially because…no ten bell salute.
I almost feel like I could wager a small chunk of change that AEW will do one on Wednesday…and Hall never worked there.
Does Vince hate the ten bell salute now?
LOL Moment of the night:
Just leaving this right here…
source:@wwe, twitter, screenshot
Seriously, I feel like the only way Veer could work out now…is if he comes in and destroys Omos.
Noteworthy Moment:
They did this to Edge…at least it is the same band.
Edge’s new theme song is “The Other Side” by Alter Bridge.https://t.co/lp5IMdGPF3
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) March 15, 2022
I am also going to make a prediction. There have been a couple veiled teases in the past two weeks…I think Paul turns on Miz, either during or right after WrestleMania.
source:@wwe, twitter, screenshot
He wasn’t thrilled last week when Miz ripped Cleveland. It didn’t look much better at times this week.
source:@wwe, twitter, screenshot
It made me almost think of the Tyson turn on DX at WrestleMania. Not quite, but I feel a similar thing could happen.
Overall lowlights:
Maybe I am the crazy one, but I felt let down by the honoring of Scott Hall.
Too brief video package, no ten bell salute. It was a bummer to me.
Also didn’t like waiting till almost the last half hour of the show.
Overall highlights:
We did not start RAW with a ten bell salute (which I think was a big miss), but having Owens go this route was at least something…
“Hey yo.” – @FightOwensFight#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/CkQDmlMlvk
— WWE (@WWE) March 15, 2022
The tag team scene is hot, and while we are (as of RAW) set for RK-Bro and The Street Profits, I feel like Alpha Academy is going to get this to another triple threat.
source:@wwe, twitter, screenshot
If it is as good as the last one those three teams gave us, it should be good.
After the final bell:
Going in, we knew it would be a somber night in Jacksonville. Prior to the opening shot, we knew things were grim for Scott Hall.
Once we saw the opening shot, we knew he had passed. As someone who really grew up watching Razor Ramon, and then watched wrestling go main stream thanks in part to Scott Hall?
It hurt. I can only imagine how much it hurts for his family and friends.
That said, a lot of this show was about going through motions, for a couple specific segments.
One, the eventual Hall tribute. It was a bit of a longer wait that I’d have liked, and it could have been a bit longer, but it was good.
source:@wwe, twitter, screenshot
The other, of course, was for the show to go off air, to see if Cody Rhodes showed up on this somber night in Jacksonville, as had been suggested.
He did not…my one guess being, if he is coming/was supposed to be there tonight, due to Hall’s passing, the circumstances did not feel right.
We shall see.
