WWE Raw Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from March 14 | Bleacher Report

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Credit: WWE.com

Welcome to Bleacher Reports coverage and recap of WWE Raw on March 14.

We’re just under three weeks away from WrestleMania 38, but WWE isn’t rushing to fill up the card just yet. It has been slowly adding a few bouts per week as we get closer to the show.

Following the news that Steve Austin has accepted Kevin Owens’ invitation to appear on his talk show during WrestleMania, KO showed up on Monday to give his thoughts.

After winning the Raw Tag Team Championships back from Alpha Academy last week, Riddle and Randy Orton decided to throw themselves a little party to celebrate their victory.

Let’s take a look at what happened on Monday’s Raw.

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WWE showed a graphic paying tribute to Scott Hall before we got Owens coming out to start the show. He started by saying “Hey, me.” as an homage to The Bad Guy before he talked about Austin coming on his talk show at WrestleMania.

Up until the start of Raw, the closest thing we had to an update on Hall’s condition was Sean Waltman confirming a tweet from Dave Meltzer that said Hall was still alive after being taken off life support. Starting the show with a graphic that confirmed Hall’s passing made it hard to get into the stuff Owens was going.

KO did his best to get the crowd to react, but it seems like everyone in the arena might have seen the graphic at the same time as everyone watching at home, so a lot of people were probably checking their phones for updates and talking to each other instead of paying attention to what KO had to say.

Just minutes after the start of Raw, Waltman confirmed the sad news on Twitter. WWE might not have had time to put together a tribute video, but we can expect something tomorrow during NXT and every other WWE show this week.

Credit to Owens for doing his best to get a reaction from the crowd, but the news about Hall took the wind out of this segment. It feels unfair to grade this based on how things played out. Rest in peace, Bad Guy.

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Two weeks after Finn Balor defeated Damian Priest for the United States Championship, the two met for a rematch. What nobody expected was for Austin Theory to make his way down to the commentary table.

This led into WWE playing a video package to hype Theory vs. Pat McAfee at WrestleMania, which felt very oddly placed before a match between Balor and Priest.

The Prince and The Archer of Infamy wasted little time getting to work once the bell rang. They didn’t go for basic lockups and counters. They came out of the swinging gate.

While the match was fine, it never quite reached the level of their encounter from two weeks ago. The fact that Priest won in a relatively clean way was also a bit strange. This was a non-title bout, so the belt did not change hands, but WWE is obviously going to book another showdown for the title.

Their next encounter will probably take place at WrestleMania. Overall, this was a decent first match but nothing to write home about.

Grade: B-

Remarkable Moments and Observations

• The camera cut to Theory at the commentary table too many times during the first few minutes of this match. We can hear him. Keep the camera focused on the action.
• The dropkick Balor hit to Theory when he was sitting in the commentary chair looked really good.

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Following his big win over AJ Styles on January 3, WWE has been slow to follow up with his push. He has picked up a few quick wins in recent weeks, so it appears as if management is back on the Omos bandwagon.

After they had a brief confrontation last week, WWE immediately booked Omos to take on Commander Azeez. While a meeting between two monsters like this could have been saved for a pay-per-view, it’s likely this will not be a one-time deal.

Omos was the first one to take control, but Azeez didn’t go down without a fight. He grabbed Crews and chokeslammed him for good measure once the match was over.

WWE may have jumped the gun on a matchup like this, but it was kind of fun while it lasted.

Grade: C

Remarkable Moments and Observations

• Despite Azeez putting up a good fight early on, Omos was able to clothesline him out of the ring twice.
• Omos suplexing Azeez got a legit pop from the crowd.

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Liv Morgan and Carmella defeated Queen Zelina and Carmella last week to earn a spot in the women’s tag title match at WrestleMania, so Zelina was out for revenge when she took on Morgan in a singles bout this week.

The Queen took control early with a neckbreaker into a unique submission. However, Morgan was able to turn things around and get in some offense.

Once again, Carmella failed to live up to her end of the partnership and Zelina blamed her for losing to Morgan. For some reason, this is when Seth Rollins decided to come out of the ring.

Grade: C+

Remarkable Moments and Observations

• Zelina beautifully transitioned from a neckbreaker into a bridging submission.
• Morgan has improved in a lot of little ways that some people may not notice. She is not nearly as hesitant before going for risky moves as she once was.
• Rollins looking happy about Morgan’s win was kind of funny.

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Rollins went from being in a funk to his usual jovial self after one backstage conversation with Owens. He asked KO to join him in the ring for his idea to get himself on the WrestleMania card.

Rollins suggested he hosts a talk show segment with Austin at WrestleMania. Owens told him he couldn’t double book Austin, so Rollins suggested they have a match to see who gets to host their show at the PPV. Sonya Deville came out on the stage and made it official for the main event.

Next up was a tag team match between The Hurt Business and the father-son team of Rey and Dominik Mysterio. These two teams squared off two weeks ago with Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin scoring the victory.

In another example of 50-50 booking, the Mysterios got the win after a fast-paced match that could have used a few extra minutes. This was fine, but it could have been a lot better.

Grade: B-

Remarkable Moments and Observations

• The Miz and Logan Paul joined the commentary table for this match. They tried to attack the Mysterios after it was over but the father and son sent them packing.
• Dominik continues to show improvements in the ring with each passing week. He is becoming more confident in himself and it is allowing him to hit each move with more emphasis.
• The double 619 was perfectly timed.

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Edge came out with new entrance music and delivered a promo directed at AJ Styles. He insulted the crowd and called himself the benchmark in WWE. He used the same blue lighting as his last promo from him and seemed even more comfortable playing the heel again.

Doudrop came out with Nikki ASH by her side to face Bianca Belair as The EST prepares to challenge Becky Lynch for the Raw Women’s Championship at WrestleMania.

The Scottish Superstar used her power advantage to control the early moments of the match, but Belair used her speed and agility to turn the tide in her favor.

These two always work well together, so it’s no surprise to see WWE book them in their fifth singles match over four months in addition to other triple threat and tag bouts along the way.

The EST eventually hit the KOD in another impressive show of power to get the win. It would have been nice to see the action during the break, but this was still a good performance from both competitors.

Grade: B.

Remarkable Moments and Observations

• Nikki and Doudrop doesn’t feel like a logical combination but it’s still early. They might be able to develop some chemistry if they are given the chance.
• Doudrop and Belair always bring a little something extra out of each other because they both give the other a run for their money in the strength category.
• The spinebuster Belair hit on Doudrop looked great.
• Becky Lynch attacking Belair out of nowhere was predictable and somehow still a little surprising at the same time because the crowd didn’t give her arrival away too soon.
• The way Becky whipped Biance into the ring post with a chair over her neck looked brutal.

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Randy Orton took it upon himself to throw a party to celebrate him and Riddle regaining the Raw tag titles last week, but he doesn’t know how to plan a party, so it was just a few balloons and some popcorn.

The Street Profits challenged them to a title shot, but Orton did not want to accept the challenge. He got angry and threatened to make them leave before Riddle got between them. The Bro said the Profits did beat them recently and they need a Mania match, so this makes sense.

This led to Riddle taking on Montez Ford in one on one competition. They kept things respectful early on by going for lockups and takedowns, but Ford was the first to up the aggression when he stomped on Riddle’s bare foot.

If you stick two versatile athletes in the ring together and give them enough time, they will almost always produce a positive result. This match was no exception. Both guys displayed power, agility and creativity from start to finish.

The Bro hit the RKO, but before he could capitalize. Chad Gable and Otis attacked Orton and Angelo Dawkins at ringside. They also attacked Riddle and Ford to cause a disqualification. The result was not ideal but the action leading up to it was entertaining.

Grade: B+

Remarkable Moments and Observations

• Orton not being able to plan a proper party was kind of funny but not as funny as WWE wanted it to be.
• Ford stomping on Riddle’s bare foot looked like it might have been painful because he stomped his foot hard.
• This will likely lead to Alpha Academy vs. Street Profits vs. RK-Bro at WrestleMania, and that match should be awesome.

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Rollins looked as happy as ever during his entrance for the main event, but Owens was still asking why they needed to fight at all.

KO tried to hit a Stunner right away and Rollins looked surprised. They argued about who served the spot at WrestleMania before they began brawling all over the ring.

It didn’t seem like either guy wanted to hurt the other, so they were trying to win however they could with submissions and pinning combinations. As the match progressed, both men allowed their anger to take over at times.

They told an interesting story in this match. They are two guys who don’t want to fight each other but are more than willing to fight for their spot at WrestleMania. It’s the kind of angle we don’t see too often in WWE because friends rarely face each other in pro wrestling without a title being involved.

The Visionary almost won several times before KO put him away with a Stunner to keep his spot at WrestleMania. This was definitely the Match of the Night.

Grade: TO

Remarkable Moments and Observations

• Owens continuing to question why they were doing this up until the bell rang was funnier than it should have been. He’s really great at adding little extra things to his performance to make himself stand out.
• Owens is one of the best at talking trash during his matches. You can always hear what he says and it’s almost always funny.
• KO used the fallaway slam to send Rollins into the barricade. He clearly did it as another tribute to Hall.
• Rollins has one of the best suicide dives in pro wrestling. This is not up for debate.
• For some reason, many people on Twitter thought Cody Rhodes would show up during this segment.