2 things that went right on the March 21 episode of WWE Raw

We’re just two weeks away from WWE’s biggest show of the year — WrestleMania 38 — and WWE continued the build to that show with this week’s episode of WWE Raw. This edition of the company’s flagship show featured seven matches throughout the three-hour runtime as well as a few angles designed to whip up interest in a few of the happenings scheduled for ‘Mania.

Whether these matches and segments entertained you ultimately, well, up to you. For yours truly…well, it was certainly a show that aired on television. But that doesn’t mean that this Raw was without any merit.

Yes, this episode of WWE Raw was a tough watch, but there were a couple of things that went right.

Becky Lynch’s promo

As frustrating as this latest attempt at a heel run for Becky Lynch is and as aggravating as it is to hear her pretend that the fans chose Bianca Belair over her (they didn’t), there’s no denying that she’s one of the best WWE has in terms of mic skills and that prowess was on full display this week.

A week removed from inflicting a kayfabe throat injury to WrestleMania opponent Bianca Belair, Lynch sat in the middle of the ring and discussed how much the Raw Women’s Championship is tethered to who she is — even going as far as to say she “sold her soul” for the women’s title — before suggesting that this connection is what will ensure that she retains of Belair.

Again, the premise that the fans turned on her makes most of this feel flimsier than it should, but the mix of intensity, paranoia, and bravado painted a great picture of a champion at her breaking point. It will be interesting to hear how “THE EST” responds.

“Stone Cold” Kevin Owens

Much to the Chicago crowd’s delight, Raw opened with the familiar glass shatter that’s synonymous with one man: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. However,  this music was not followed by “The Texas Rattlesnake” stomping down the ramp. Instead, they saw the man who will have Austin as his guest on “The Kevin Owens Show”, Kevin Owens, walk to the ring cosplaying as Austin, turning those cheers into boos.

If you remember the Raw segment from 2005 where Shawn Michaels heeled it up in Canada, this will feel very familiar to you right down to Austin’s music playing again and KO’s feigned shock before revealing how he fooled the fans again.

This got Owens great heat and he also gave the audience some brief moments to laugh at him when he couldn’t catch the cans of beer that were tossed to him. Of course, he took it out on a stagehand, but it shows how much Owens gets it in terms of a heel’s humiliation being cathartic for the fans.

Overall, this accomplished what it needed to in terms of making fans want to see Austin beat down Owens at WrestleMania. While it would’ve been nice if this build had more to it other than “Kevin Owens hates Texas” — especially given how Austin is Owens’ idol — but Owens deserves a great deal of credit for doing the heavy lifting for this build.