End of the Line Club – A Raw Recap for 03/20/17

Raw comes to us this week The Barclays center in Brooklyn, New York.

Let’s start off with the biggest news of the week: New episodes of Chrisley Knows Best are coming soon!

And Emma is coming soon too!!!

Now that’s out of the way, let’s get to the road to The Road to Wrestlemania.

End of the Line club

We start with the re-debut of Emma. Wait. No. That didn’t happen. Let’s try this again.

We start with Foley reading a prepared statement off of cue cards where, much to the audiences’ protest, resigns in his position as general manager.

He rips up the cue cards as soon as he’s done.  He was given those cards by Triple H.  If he’s going out, he’s going to be fired.  And Stephanie obliges with a combination of her husband’s and father’s catchphrases:  “I’ve got two words for ya.  You’re Fired!”

Sami comes out to challenge Stephanie’s decision.  I really thought he was going to get fired too and maybe end up on Smackdown.  That didn’t happen though.  He got “punished” with a match against Samoa Joe.  It was a good opening match, but we literally just saw it a couple weeks ago at Fastlane.  Is anything planned for either of these guys at the show of shows?  I think both of these guys end up in the Dre, unfortunately.

Foley suggests that Sami is the representative from the locker room against the Authority going forward.  It seems like a good idea for him.


But that’s not all.

Stephanie is all about punishing all of Mick’s pet projects?

  • Bayley faces off against Nia Jax in a No DQ match for a spot in the Triple Threat match for the Women’s Championship.  After a 20-minute match with Nia ragdolling Bayley all over the place, Jax gets the pinfall.  Looks like we now have a Fatal Four Way.  On a side note, I hope Takeover remains just Asuka Vs. Ember Moon with no gimmicks.
  • Sheamus and Cesaro are similarly punished and forced to be in a 4 on 2 handicap match to remain in the Tag Team Championship triple threat.  Thanks to the Good Brothers being idiots and attacking their partners Enzo and Cass, Sheamus and Cesaro maintain their spot on the card.
  • I’m sure they’ll be further punishment coming later for Sami.

The “Real” Kevin Owens

In hyping things up for their US Championship match, Jericho reveals the real Kevin Owens on The Highlight Reel.  Turns out, KO is a huge wrestling nerd.  Jericho revealed a picture of 16-year old KO wearing a Y2J shirt and some DMs of Kevin asking Jericho for advice back when he joined NXT.

“He’s marking out, maaaaannnnn!”

This was the most engaged the crowd was all night.  I think the Triple H/Rollins match is going to be a good one, but this could easily steal the show.

Towards the end of the segment, Samoa Joe’s music hits.  As Jericho turned towards Joe, Kevin attacks from behind.  Owens takes the list, rips up several pages, and rips a portion of it.  All to audible chants of “asshole!”

Whose Yard is it Anyway?!

I really, really hope that this Undertaker/Roman match is good, but I don’t know.

Roman and Braun had a really tough match, not nearly as good as the Fast Lane match, but it ended about how I expected the Fast Lane match would end.

As Roman was gearing up for a Superman punch to put Braun down, the gong hits and the lights go down.  Taker is in the ring between Braun and Roman.  Instead of going for the guy that he has a match against at Wrestlemania, he decides to chokeslam Strowman.  It was a beautiful choke slam but it made zero sense.  This was the same man whose presence caused Braun to leave without a word or blow exchanged between the two.  But tonight, he thought it was wise to give Braun a monster chokeslam.

Before he turns around, he realizes the huge mistake he’s made.

He know that spear is coming.  Some people are taking his look to mean “I’m an idiot” and others are taking it to mean “Why the fuck did I agree to take this bump?”  I think it was the former.  It’s a weird moment but…I kinda liked it?

Everything Else

  • Charlotte defeats Dana Brooke clean in an odd move this close to Mania.  Sure, Dana can still interfere, but it makes a lot less sense now.  Charlotte is clearly superior.
  • Austin Aries defeats Tony Neese.  Aries makes fun of Neville’s accent in a post-match promo with the King of the Cruiserweights.
  • The Brian Kendrick defeated TJ Perkins with a hair pull to Sliced Bread #2 combo.
  • I was promised Emma.  WTF?!
  • Did I mention there’s new Chrisley episodes coming soon?
  • Did you guys know that the tagline for Wrestlmania is “The Ultimate Thrill Ride”?
  • Big E and Kofi start off their WM promo with Xavier, “Anything you want to say?”  It was a nice wink to the Paige/Woods/Maddox ordeal and they quickly moved on.
  • Did you guys know that Brock Vs. Goldberg is happening again?!
  • After one of Seth’s doctors claimed that no doctor would clear Seth for Mania, Triple H agrees to draw up a “Hold Harmless” agreement for an unsanctioned match.  I’m not sure what would actually happen.  Is there even a ref in this situation?

Only one Raw until Mania!!!!