WWE Raw Results: Highlights, Analysis, and Grades for February 27

Raw, Source: WWE.com

Raw makes one final stop before WWE Fastlane. Goldberg is in the house, and Seth Rollins addresses his injury situation.

Previously on WWE Raw, Kevin Owens opened the show with a terrific promo. He still hasn’t given a reason as to why he hates friendship. But he did proclaim he has no fear of Goldberg.

Roman Reigns continued his streak of dominating The Club. Somehow, The Big Dog has no problem handling the tag champs solo. But he isn’t having the same luck when he meets up with Braun Strowman.

And Bayley celebrated her Women’s Championship victory by waffling over relinquishing the title to Stephanie McMahon. It was a whole thing. Anyway, Charlotte Flair lost to Sasha Banks, but she still gets a rematch with Bayley at WWE Fastlane.

Tonight, Seth Rollins is making his first appearance in several weeks. Since being reinjured at the hands of Samoa Joe, Rollins has kept a low profile. His immediate future – namely WrestleMania – is in doubt because of his knee. WWE is claiming that Rollins is “doubtful” for WrestleMania. But will The Architect have something different to say?

Related Story: WWE WrestleMania 33: Match Card Predictions 7.0, Post Elimination Chamber

In addition, Goldberg will be live this week. On the final Raw before Fastlane, the legend will address Kevin Owens. The two are set for an epic WWE Universal Championship match at Fastlane. Goldberg kicked off tonight’s episode in the middle of the ring. What did he have to say?

Please continue reading for everything that happened on WWE Raw on February 27.

Goldberg and KO Have Words

I have to be honest, I was a little distracted while Goldberg was talking. As he paced the ring, I noticed his shirt had a hashtag in the design (#Every1IsNext). So naturally, I spent much of his spiel thinking how absolutely stupid that is.

But I digress. Goldberg lets everyone know he’s a man of his word who has never gone back on a promise. And he’s promising everyone and his brother that he’ll win the Universal Title at Fastlane.

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This prompts an appearance from Kevin Owens, who continues his string of incredible promos. Tonight’s wasn’t as impressive as last week, but it was much shorter and had a different goal.

The takeaway I’m kind of getting from this is that Goldberg is looking past Owens to his WrestleMania match with Brock Lesnar. Owens is only thinking about Goldberg and Fastlane – Chris Jericho is in his rear view. But “Bill” keeps mentioning Lesnar. Is he taking the Universal Champion lightly? And even though he’s Goldberg, is that wise?

I’m glad that Owens is finally getting to look like a credible threat as champion. My big fear is that it’s happening juuuuuuuuuuuust as he’s pretty much guaranteed to drop the title in 6 days. Since annihilating Jericho at the Festival of Friendship, Owens has been the baddest he’s ever been. If he can maintain that for another few weeks leading into WrestleMania, it’ll make many people forget that much of his title reign has been kind of lame.

Whatever happens, we’ll always have this mic drop.

New Day (Xavier Woods & Big E, w/ Kofi Kingston) vs. Rusev & Jinder Mahal (w/ Lana)

Result: New Day defeated Rusev & Jinder Mahal via pinfall

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Not going to lie, I think the Oscars joke with the New Day tonight is the most topical WWE has ever been. I mean, this is less than 24 hours removed from the gaffe with Best Picture. Pretty impressive.

Also impressive: Big E casually mentioning that he “didn’t write that” terrible joke. E is so good on the mic, it’s a little frustrating that he doesn’t get all that much time to shine. He’s the closest thing to a natural on the mic that I’ve seen in some time. He never really sounds like he’s cutting a promo, he just sounds like he’s talking to a bunch of friends.

Once the low hanging fruit of ice cream jokes have been picked by New Day, they get an actual match against

The Shining Stars

Rusev & Jinder Mahal. It’s a pretty standard tag team match, with the bad guys controlling the match by isolating the smaller of their opponents (Xavier Woods).

It works, because Big E is one hell of a hot tag. Those suplexes are textbook, and the big splash always looks great. I liked the little changeup, with Big E getting tagged as he fell out of the ring so Woods can pick up the victory. Keep the people guessing, you know?

A little dissension showed between Rusev and Jinder after the match. This continues Rusev’s career arc of “have friends for a little while but never for too long.” It’s a shame he and Jinder likely won’t be forming a League of Nations 2.0.

Raw Tag Team Speed Round

Clearly, all of these segments took place as the ropes were being retaped purple for a 205 Live segment. So, let’s go through all of them at once.

First up: Enzo and Cass are fired up for their title match at Fastlane. Well, Enzo is fired up, Cass is more realistic. The man was pre-med, of course Cass is the smart one on the team.

But the dynamic here is very interesting. Usually, both guys are all about having fun. But Cass is breaking out a serious side to contrast with Enzo’s over-caffeinated hyperactivity. Of course, Cass has a match tonight against Luke Gallows because the only way to prep for a big tag match is by splitting the teams in half!

Next: Cesaro and Sheamus are hanging backstage, plotting their next move. They’re interrupted by Samoa Joe (!), who references a past with Cesaro (!!) and seemingly alludes to an upcoming match (!!!).

Let me just say that a Cesaro vs. Samoa Joe match is more precious to me than oxygen. Hell, a Sheamus vs. Samoa Joe match could be nuts as well.

Finally, Stephanie McMahon emasculates Mick Foley yet again. I guess it wouldn’t really be an episode of Raw if that didn’t happen. But Stephanie uses Foley as a comparison to Triple H, who is getting stronger as Foley gets weaker. Maybe it’s some weird kind of Portrait of Dorian Grey kind of thing, I don’t know.

Following the cruiserweight segment, two of these three little vignettes meet up. It’s like Pulp Fiction! Anyway, Samoa Joe interrupts Mick Foley standing around doing nothing. They argue, and Foley does the best thing he’s done as Raw GM and makes Cesaro/Samoa Joe official.

Akira Tozawa vs. Noam Dar (w/ Alicia Fox)

Result: Akira Tozawa defeated Noam Dar via pinfall

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

It may be time to wrap Tozawa up in some bubble wrap or something. That spill he took off the turnbuckle was nasty. Get your hands out in front, man! Protect your head!

It seemed to affect him for the remainder of the match, too. Most notably, it looked like he felt some kind of discomfort after the hurricanrana. He didn’t really get over cleanly and it looked sloppy – to be expected when you fell six feet onto your face like two minutes before. Even on the tope suicida, it looked like he wasn’t at 100%.

The match itself wasn’t bad, but like all cruiserweight matches, there wasn’t a lot of time for it. There also wasn’t a great connection with the crowd. Bless his heart, Tozawa tried – and got some response from the crowd, who apparently like saying AH AH AH AH. But aside from a little pop on the snap German suplex, nothing.

The match exists for the post-match activity, though. The Brian Kendrick continues his attempts at “mentoring” Tozawa by beating him from behind. As a former teacher, I gotta say it’s a unique way to teach someone. But with a tag match coming up at the Fastlane kickoff show, there has to be some kind of rationale for it.

The Women’s Division Speaks!

You know, every time I think the Raw Women’s Division hits a new low, someone breaks out a shovel and digs the hole deeper. Damn Triple H and his burials, that’s why the shovels are always so easy to find!

Let’s recap this: Charlotte comes out with Dana Brooke to run down Bayley, Sasha, and the city of Green Bay. Problem is, she couldn’t be bothered to learn Aaron Rodgers’ name. If that’s your go-home point, you should probably know the name.

Mercifully, Bayley comes down to interrupt. She does her usual schtick, referencing dreams and happiness and rainbows and stuff. We get more Oscars references (we get it, you watched the Oscars), and Stephanie McMahon somehow gets name dropped. I guess she is the most important figure in the Women’s Revolution.

Sasha Banks makes her appearance, and somehow forgot how to talk. It’s been so long since her weird accent reared its ugly head, but oof, it was out tonight.

Anyway, Sasha tells Charlotte that she’s got a stupid face (ugh), and “Bayleyuh” thinks that’s the funniest thing ever (double ugh). Sasha reminds everyone that there’s a tag match coming up, and we should start it.

But wait! Charlotte says that Dana won’t be her tag partner tonight. Judging by Dana’s reaction, this was the first she heard of it. Instead, Nia Jax is the fourth person in this match, and for the love of all sacred let’s get to this match already.

Nia Jax & Charlotte Flair (w/ Dana Brooke) vs. Sasha Banks & Bayley

Result: Nia Jax & Charlotte Flair defeated Sasha Banks & Bayley via pinfall

Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

Now we get to the frustrating part of the Women’s Division: as bad as the non wrestling stuff is, the wrestling stuff is that good. Nia is the de facto weak link here, but she’s more than capable of holding her own in a match like this.

The Sasha/Charlotte spots are the clear cream of the crop. The chemistry between them is off the charts. There really weren’t any weak spots overall, and Bayley and Sasha even showed some impressive teamwork.

Now, the negative: “[INSERT NAME HERE] HAS PINNED THE [INSERT TITLE HERE] CHAMPION” rears its ugly head.

I’m guessing the point is to set up a future Nia Jax challenge for the Women’s Title. Okay, I’ll buy that. But six days before a pay per view, you have a champion get pinned by someone not even in the match? Who came up with that decision? Why not let Sasha take the pin if the bad guys must win?

It was pretty awesome to see Nia just running roughshod over both Sasha and Bayley, though. She’s not like most girls, you know. Having all different types of competitors is always a good thing, so why not have the same thing in the women’s division?

Braun Strowman Has Demands

Sometimes I think Braun is the only character who understands that wrestling is a business, with accepted rules and practices. All he wants is to make his Fastlane match officially official with a contract. It seems perfectly reasonable.

Luke Gallows (w/ Karl Anderson) vs. Big Cass (w/ Enzo Amore)

Result: Big Cass defeated Luke Gallows via pinfall

Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars

Boy, that was quick. [INSERT NAME HERE] HAS PINNED THE [INSERT TITLE HERE] CHAMPION twice in two matches? Definitely have a pay per view coming up.

Here, Big Cass seems to be somewhat holding his own against Gallows in this battle of big men. Outside the ring, Karl Anderson goes after Enzo, but it backfires because The Club are basically Wile E. Coyote in terms of evilness. As Enzo tosses Anderson into the steel steps, Cass hits a big boot to Gallows for the victory.

Major props to Gallows for basically selling that big boot with a backflip. It’s not often you see a guy as big as he is flip over and do a face plant to sell a move. Makes Cass look even stronger.

Of course, if I were a gambling man I’d say that this means The Club will retain on Sunday. We shall see.

Titus O’Neil vs. Sheamus

Result: Sheamus defeated Titus O’Neil via pinfall

Rating: 1.0 out of 5 stars

So we’re booking matches on Facebook Live now? Can we even call this a match?

It looks like Titus is getting a gimmick of being a grabber. Not sure how I feel about that since he got a bogus suspension for grabbing Vince McMahon’s arm about a year ago. But if it keeps him on TV, fine.

Wait, let me rephrase. If this is what he’s doing on TV, maybe he should just stick to live events for a while. This is embarrassing – even for a guy who failed to “make it a win” on the game show NXT. If you can’t win after a pre-match beat down, just stop trying.

Corey Graves Speaks With Seth Rollins

Anyone else get visions of Willy Wonka in their head when Rollins hobbled out on the crutch? It just seemed like such a put-on to me. Guess not!

Before we get into the meat of this segment, let me point out that pockets of the crowd were hot garbage during Seth’s talk. CM Punk chants, someone tried to get a No Way Jose chant going – what is wrong with people?

Anyway, Seth was laying it on real thick. It’s an interesting take with him saying that he deserves this plague of injuries. I figured he would bring up the whole “destroyed the Shield and threw in with the evil Authority” as a reason that he deserved it, but they didn’t get too much into that.

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With WWE themselves reporting that Rollins would likely miss WrestleMania, I figured that report was just to build up drama for this segment. Tonight, I had visions of Seth saying, “Ha! I’ll be fine, book this match right now!” Instead, he kept up with the company line – “the doctors probably won’t clear me.”

As Triple H came out, I still thought the crutch and brace was a setup, and Rollins was going to wallop both Hunter and Samoa Joe with the crutch. Again, I was wrong. But we did get some kind of confirmation that something will happen at WrestleMania between Triple H and Rollins.

It’s a shame the injury has things so up in the air, because I was expecting Rollins and Triple H to have a barnburner of a match. At best, I would assume we’ll get a pull apart brawl. We’ll have to see how Rollins heals up over the next month.

The Shining Stars (Primo & Epico) vs. Big Show

Result: Big Show defeated The Shining Stars via pinfall

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Someone needs to find whatever time machine Big Show used to get to this point. He looks like he’s 20 years younger – possibly even better than he looked back in 1997.

While it’s true that Primo & Epico haven’t exactly been portrayed as stellar competition, it’s still a 2-on-1 match. And it’s 2-on-1 against former tag team champions, so regardless of current status, there’s that.

But clearly, Shaquille O’Neal has lit a fire under the Big Show. He’s more motivated than ever, and in the best shape of his life. It seems like a lifetime ago that he was getting “Please Retire” chants at events.

Tony Nese Talks Strategy With Neville

Somewhere, Drew Gulak is weeping while listening to “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart.”

The team of Nese and Neville is like a weird clone army type of deal. I’m fairly certain the only difference between them is that one drives on the left side of the road, and the other drives on the right.

It’s always fun when a heel tag team can’t get along. Usually the “tenuous coexistence” gimmick goes to the good guys, and the bad guys are always united in evil. But keeping these two from truly uniting is a good thing.

Side note: Someone taught Tony Nese how to emote! Woo hoo!

Jack Gallagher & TJ Perkins vs. Tony Nese & Neville

Result: Jack Gallagher & TJ Perkins defeated Tony Nese & Neville via submission

Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars

More typical Raw cruiserweight action in this one. Very little favors done for any competitor, way too short of a match, and a crowd who could care less.

It’s sad, because there are no fewer than three talented men in the ring in this match. (Okay, okay, they’re all talented.) But with all the down time needed to re-do the ring, the match time suffers, and there’s no time to get anything going.

All that really happened in this one was Neville and Nese didn’t get along, and Gallagher seemed to possibly intimidate Neville. That’s it.

Beth Phoenix Entering Hall of Fame

While it’s nice to see the Glamazon headed into the Hall of Fame, it’s a shame that it basically guarantees no induction for Chyna. I doubt WWE would put two women who were so similar in style in the Hall in the same year.

But Phoenix is a worthy inductee. Multiple time Womans/Divas Champion, Royal Rumble entrant – the list goes on and on.

Sahsa and Bayley Lick Their Wounds

If a Sasha Banks heel turn was being telegraphed any more, she’d already be hitting Bayleyuh. I know Stephanie just gave her a match against Nia Jax at Fastlane, but to me that’s just more fuel for the turn – Sasha is “suffering” because of her friendship with Bayley.

Cesaro vs. Samoa Joe

Result: Samoa Joe defeated Cesaro via pinfall

Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

I’m nearly 100% confident that Cesaro’s knee injury is a work. Commentary picked up on it right away, and while they’ve been consistently good as of late, I wouldn’t expect that to be weaved into the call so seamlessly if it was legit.

Since his arrival on the main roster, we’ve come to know Joe as the “destroyer.” Going up against Cesaro gives him an opponent who is basically inhuman, and makes him look even stronger and more terrifying. Even on one leg, Cesaro is one of the toughest WWE Superstars out there.

But the knee “injury” gives the Swiss Superman an excuse (man, I hate using that word) when he comes up short. He still goes for all of his normal moves, but on one leg he can’t plant for the swing, and he stumbles on the ropes for his springboard uppercut. It’s a kind of stubbornness, thinking you can do more than you physically can.

Kudos to both guys for – I’m assuming – calling the match on the fly. There was an appropriate amount of leg/knee submission maneuvers by Joe, and Cesaro fought out of them to play face in peril.

Following Joe’s victory – via urinage, which is a nice alternate finisher for him – he’s assaulted by Sami Zayn. Sami used the same path of attack that Joe has used many times – and Joe didn’t see it coming. Their match at Fastlane is now official, and if it’s half as good as any of their bouts in NXT it’ll be a match of the night contender.

Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns Make It Official

Man, how badly do Mick Foley and WWE want to part ways? It seems like for the past few weeks, whenever Foley’s on screen, anyone he interacts with just rips him apart. I look forward to Kurt Angle, Raw GM on April 3.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Foley starting to stand up for himself. It’s like he remembered he’s a former world champion and a Hall of Famer, and he shouldn’t be getting pushed around. However, the more he keeps mentioning on screen that he doesn’t know how long his tenure will be is a big neon sign flashing “I’M LEAVING SOON.”

As far as the “contract signing” goes, if you’ve seen one contract signing you’ve seen them all. The only thing different about this was the guy who demanded a contract signing refused to sign himself! When the segment ended, only Reigns had signed the contract. That contract is null and void, good sirs!

When the requisite brawl broke out, Roman seemed to take the advantage for the majority of the scrum. Some Superman punches, a spear through the barricade that took out an independent security guard, broken furniture – typical Super Roman. But Braun can’t be kept down, so he kept coming, tossing Roman into the ring and exploding it until he ended the show standing tall. Roman signed the contract in the end, but he looked a little worse for wear, and Strowman looked fine.

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What did you think of this week’s episode of WWE Raw?