WWE Raw: Results, Highlights, Analysis, and Grades for March 12

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Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor

Result: Finn Balor defeated Seth Rollins via pinfall

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

We’re an hour and a half into this show – halfway – and this is only the second match to actually start. That’s absurd. Is WWE Raw a talk show or a wrestling show? (Okay, don’t answer that…)

The good news is that this one was pretty dang good, and it was given enough time to really shine. It was a perfect way to sell both guys as a legitimate threat to The Miz and the Intercontinental Championship.

There’s not a whole lot to actually say about the match, though, which troubles me. Like, it was a really good match, well fought by both superstars, and it showed how well each man is prepared for the other. The closing sequence is the perfect evidence of this – Balor knows Rollins is apt to follow the superplex by rolling into a Falcon Arrow. So he counters the roll into an inside cradle to “steal” the pin.

It’s a great ending, because it’s – *gasp* – perfectly logical. It didn’t require much suspension of disbelief after a superplex, because Balor just used momentum. But, like I said, not having much to add about the match is disconcerting. Why does it feel like things won’t build up from here like they could and should?

At least there was no interference from The Miz, and it was a squeaky clean victory.

WWE Honors An Objectively Terrible Person

The Fabulous Moolah was not only a trailblazer in women’s wrestling, she was also almost certainly a sexual predator and pimp. She’s one of the most troubling members of WWE’s past history – which is saying a lot. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why she’s honored as much as she is when Hulk Hogan – who, terrible person, but of a very different degree – is persona non grata.

So let’s name a battle royal after someone who literally held back other talented women wrestlers and pushed them into glorified prostitution!