WWE Raw: Results, Highlights, Analysis, and Grades for Feb. 19
Credit: WWE.com
Gauntlet Match Part Deaux
Grade: C+
Elias immediately goes for the cover to take advantage of Rollins’s fatigue after getting Cena out of the way, but, naturally, Seth kicks out. But he’s clearly fatigued, and that knee. That damn knee injury that keeps bothering him!
Ultimately, Seth’s fatigue is too much, and Elias hits #TheMan with a “Drift Away” to eliminate Rollins. But Rollins was put over in a huge way. During his match with Elias, John Cena basically confirmed to Renee Young in an interview that Rollins is “Mr. Monday Night”.
As Seth walked to the back, he received “Thank you, Seth!” ovations after one of the gutsiest performances in Raw history. This man is truly one of the best wrestlers and best babyfaces in WWE today, and defeating Reigns and Cena after an hour of fighting is certainly a strong way to put over a talented wrestler.
Rollins is eliminated, Finn Balor enters
There really isn’t much to say about Elias vs. Balor, because it’s kind of hard to get into the match now that Rollins is gone after his gutsy performance. His elimination really took the wind out of my sails, so to speak. Even so, Elias and Balor traded some solid moves, but, again, it felt more like they were going through the motions than trying to tell some sort of story in preparation for the EC.
Cena was desperate, Reigns was vicious, Seth was determined, but Elias and Balor are just kind of, well, “there”. And that’s not good enough, especially if you want to follow what Seth did with both Cena and Reigns.
Elias countered a roll-up beautifully into an armbar on the arm injury that Balor has been selling throughout the match. But Balor got out of it, countering with a stomp to Elias’s injured ribs. It’s never good to face Balor with injured ribs. Just saying.
Speaking of the ribs, Balor hit Elias with a Coup de Grace for the win.
Elias is eliminated, The Miz enters
The Miz attacks Balor from behind after Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas pretend to rush the ring, and we’ll be on the lookout for a potential rivalry between these two brewing.
Well, The Miz is no fool, and he noticed that Balor is dealing with an arm injury. He put Finn in a submission on the ropes, yelling “Does this hurt?” at him. And Finn defiantly yelled, “No!” right back at Miz each time the A-Lister asked.
Balor started to get into a groove. First, he hit a Tope Con Hilo out of nowhere onto Dallas and Axel before hitting his comeback sequence. But Dallas and Axel saw what was happening, interfering to give Miz a chance to squash Balor’s momentum.
One Skull Crushing Finale later, and it was over.
Balor is eliminated, Braun Strowman Enters