WWE Raw: Results, Highlights, Analysis, and Grades for January 29

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Intercontinental Championship Match

The Miz (c) (w/ Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas) vs. Roman Reigns

Result: The Miz defeated Roman Reigns via pinfall

Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

I’ve been trying to figure out just how Roman gets to his presumed match against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. If the Elimination Chamber match is going to determine Lesnar’s opponent, Reigns needs to be in one of the qualifiers, right? This ain’t one of those matches. Is he going to pull double duty later in the show? Possibly. Is he just going to say, “THIS IS MY YARD, SO I’M ENTERING THE MATCH”? Also possible.

The bigger question, though, became just how Reigns would leave this match without the Intercontinental Championship once he chased the Miztourage away. Yes, “Make Roman look strong” is a meme at this point, but there is some validity to it. A numbers advantage is an easy way to give him a loss without making him look weak – but that disappeared early via steel chair threat.

The chop block to the knee was probably the best way to make things more even. Would anyone fault Reigns if he couldn’t pull out a victory on one leg? Plus a one-legged loss would have raised some doubts for Reigns as he worked his way towards WrestleMania. Is my leg healthy? Can I do this?

The Miz deserves so much credit for this one – the leg work was beautiful. I always get a tear in my eye when a superstar uses the Figure Four Leg Lock and actually focuses it on the correct leg. Remember, kids – it’s the straight leg in a Figure Four that gets the damage, because the bent leg is causing the straight one to be hyperextended the wrong way (that’s why turning over “reverses the pressure”). The Miz nailed it, and I cheered like crazy from my couch.

Of course, the Miztourage returned, nullifying all the good stuff from earlier in the match. It all came down to a numbers game after all, bad leg notwithstanding, and the rollup with a handful of tights ended it. It was a pretty solid match – maybe not at the same level as last week – but the finish left a little to be desired.