RAW In A Nutshell: WrestleMania Rumors And Innuendo Abound

It’s another RAW In A Nutshell, and WrestleMania rumors and innuendo abound.

OK, mostly just rumors...one rumor in particular.

But, it is still another RAW in a Nutshell…and not just any RAW. We have two RAW shows left, this one and next week’s go-home show.

Or, to put it another way…we don’t have a lot of time left between now and Dallas, and there are still a lot of moving parts as we rapidly approach WrestleMania.

The 800 pound gorilla-sized rumor, of course, involves Cody Rhodes. It seems he’s locked and loaded into a spiffy new WWE contract, but there’s talk we won’t actually see that proven true until Dallas.

Then we have Stone Cold Steve Austin and Kevin Owens. Will we see the Texas Rattlesnake before WrestleMania?

Omos is still searching for a dance partner, too. Wonder if we learn of that one tonight?

Most of the (few) women’s matches seem to be locked in. The Belair/Lynch fun is getting nasty…and the women’s tag champs hate each other.

But other than that…totally fine. Right?

See, things are getting crazy as we approach WrestleMania. So, let’s kick off another….

RAW In A Nutshell: WrestleMania Rumors And Innuendo Abound

Let’s crack open this Nutshell and see what crazy stuff happens tonight!

Best Match of the night:

As soon as they announced it, there was little doubt in my mind. Seth Rollins and AJ Styles took this, and it wasn’t particularly close.

Like, you knew Seth wasn’t winning. WWE wasn’t going to pivot off of Edge and AJ…but you kind of forgot about it during the match.

Really good TV match, in my humble opinion.

Worst match of the night:

Tamina and Tozawa versus Reggie and Dana Brooke.

Seriously, this one has been beaten to death. It feels like it’s the longest running feud on RAW…and while I know it isn’t, it’s probably closer than it ought to be.

Crowd Chants of the Night:

Cody, Cody, Cody.

The first time I heard it, when Rollins was backstage? I figured maybe real, maybe piped in.

When it happened with Rollins in the ring, and he acknowledged? I figured that’s legit.

Took a bit longer than expected, but it seems the live audiences are chanting for him after all…

Star of the Night

AJ was good. Seth was better.

Spot of the Night:

This was fun…McAfee is so fun to watch…

Teamwork makes the dream work.@PatMcAfeeShow @FinnBalor #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/GMaS8w78Mj

— WWE (@WWE) March 22, 2022

And, the way things went tonight…Balor and McAfee versus Theory and Graves, somewhere down the line? Hmm…

Jobber of the Night:

Could be the guy chucking Kevin Owens the beers? He ate a stunner…

Or, how about Commander Azeez and Apollo? I mean…Crews was the Intercontinental Champion not that long ago, right?

Upset of the Night:

Seth Rollins…upset that he lost another shot (allegedly his last one) to have a WrestleMania match.

Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:

Leaving this here…

So…best guess: The Great Kali is fed to Omos at WrestleMania. Veer comes out and attacks Omos on RAW, defending his countryman.

And if that is what we get? WWE should have not said anything about Veer coming on the 4th. Surprises are OK…

Botch of the night:

When Omos went for the double pin, the ref had to tell him he did it wrong.

Probably better to just count that…or not do it…but it was a weird spot, and another reason people have issues or concerns with the Omos push.

Dude might have a high ceiling…but he is greener than Boston’s Green Monster.

Commentary of the night:

Not a line…but it’s almost too bad that Zelina Vega’s other half is not with WWE anymore.

Could totally see Zelina and Carmella break up (that’s not an if, but rather a when), and see it devolve into a mixed tag.

Especially how Cory and Carmella carried on tonight.

LOL Moment of the night:

It was some parts cringe, but Kevin Owens as Steve Austin, down to the knee braces and the prosthetic thing to make him look bald.

Noteworthy Moment:

I’d say WWE was piping in some Cody chants, but then with Rollins in the ring, they chanted…and he acknowledged.

“Rumors are fun, but rumors don’t make moments”, to paraphrase Seth “Freakin'” Rollins. Sometimes you know they have to ignore things…but this time, I guess not.

Omos is said to have a surprising opponent for WrestleMania lined up. I fully expected we’d learn the identity tonight…nope.

Also…are we seeing WWE at least spin some innuendo that Bianca Belair won’t make it to WrestleMania?

After all…if a bone in one’s throat is legit broken, that seems…probably not wise to wrestle with. Not that they’d swap out Belair for say, Alexa Bliss or Bayley?

Overall lowlights:

Yes, I know we won’t likely see him until Dallas…but I kinda hated hearing the glass shatter and not get Austin.

Total heel move, and I get it…but imagine if we hadn’t heard that at all until it was his time to go on WrestleMania Saturday?

Though…either way…that stadium is going to erupt.

Also knew we weren’t seeing him tonight…but…still no Rhodes. Honestly, in a perfect world, we’d not know Rhodes was coming, and Rollins could just be like…screw it, WrestleMania open challenge.

Not a huge fan of Rey’s mask coming off…but then again, it’s not like we’ve never seen Rey wrestle without his mask…

Overall highlights:

I have to give credit to Owens though…he pulled off a decent Owens look-a-like.

Rollins and Styles was great. Even the ending, with Edge causing the DQ-which was kinda perfect for it.

And to be honest, when it was almost looking like a Rollins win was possible…I began to think…well…there’s a history between Styles and Cody too…

After the final bell:

Well, after this final bell, we can forget about the WrestleMania rumors and innuendo.

Instead of rumors and innuendo, we got Seth “Freakin” Rollins having one WrestleMania-sized temper tantrum.

Complete with Attitude Era language which wasn’t always caught by the sensors.

Next week is big…but I bet we don’t see the full realization of Seth’s Nightmare until April 3rd.