Welcome back to my weekly WWE coverage. We have show reviews, wrestlers of the week and of course, what is Tozawa up to? In fact, let’s kick off the article talking about our favourite wrestler.
What is Tozawa Up To?
I don’t want to take credit, but merely a week after I started doing a weekly segment about him, Akira Tozawa gets the biggest showing on Raw in his entire career. Akira Tozawa and the rest of Alpha Academy are seen in the opening minute of the show, doing TikTok dances in the background whilst Gunther is walking. He laughs at them, but he is far from amused.
Later in the show, Gunther would come out and introduce Tozawa as his opponent for tonight. He claims Tozawa and him share some similarities. However, the major difference is that Akira is willing to make a fool out of himself like Jey Uso to appease the fans. He challenges Tozawa to earn his respect.
What is expected to be a quick squash goes a little longer than expected, Tozawa proved to us and Gunther that he has the ability to fight from underneath. He gets some shots in and a couple of near falls, but unfortunately Tozawa falls victim to the rear naked choke. Gunther chokes out Tozawa, Otis too until Jey Uso comes and runs him off. An unsuccessful night for Akira Tozawa, but a significant spot on the card for him. Hopefully he recovers and comes back for some more next week!
WWE Raw – 24th Feb. from Cincinnati, OH
Highlights
Kaiser Suprise
In a match between Penta, Pete Dunne and Ludwig Kaiser, it is the Imperium representative who walks out with a shock victory. Penta has Pete Dunne finished after hitting the Sacrifice. However, Ludwig pushes Penta out of the ring. He hits Dunne with his rolling DDT finisher and picks up a victory. Penta suffers his first loss, however he was not involved in the decision. This was a very good match and a good way for Penta to lose without losing momentum. I imagine a rematch between Kaiser and Penta is upcoming.
It’s a New Drip, Yes it is!
The New Day got new gear and it looks awesome. Sometimes it is the little things that matter most. It suits their new heel personas plus it is visually stunning.
The Power of Tozawa
I covered it already, but yeah the Gunther segment with Alpha Academy was awesome. Tozawa is beaten in a couple of minutes but he hangs on longer than we all expected. He even managed to survive the Boston Crab! Gunther looked vicious, whilst Jey was able to come out and make the save.
The Dangerous Sami Zayn
We got another brilliant sit down interview with Sami Zayn. He talks about how he returned the favour and visited Owens’ house, but no one was home. Sami feels ashamed that he is stooping to these levels, but it seems that they’re bringing out the worst in each other. He promises that this weekend their fight will be unlike anything they have done before. It will be painful, violent and a very bad night for them both. I am absolutely hyped for this match, yet equally concerned at what they might do to each other.
Rollins Scolds Cody
The Rock’s promo last week sucked, but this week Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes tried their best to make sense of what was said and turn it around into an interesting story. Guess what? It worked! They told a compelling story of how Seth once sold his soul betraying the Shield. Seth is pissed Cody would throw away everything he has built for an easy ride. Cody is focused on doing what is best for him and his family, he doesn’t want to be blading on the indies at 60 years old like his dad. They actually made this all make some sense.
Not fully, it still absolutely goes against everything we know of Cody Rhodes as a character to even consider this as an option, but hey ho The Rock has to have something to do I guess.
That’s a Theory, a Yeet Theory
Another case of the little things counting. Jey Uso had a backstage confrontation with Grayson Waller and Austin Theory. Waller says no one believes Jey can beat Gunther. Jey cuts a passionate promo that not even Theory can resist and he “yeets” alongside Jey. They’re continuing the slow face turn for Austin Theory and I think if they keep doing little bits like this, he could explode as a top face if booked correctly.
New Champions
The show closed with a blockbuster main event match for the Women’s Tag Team Championships. Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan’s scheme has worked. They clearly did not attack Jade Cargill. However, they have successfully used their heat with the champions to get themselves a championship match and they walked out victorious. Liv and Raquel winning is good all around. The Judgement Day have taken a lot of L’s recently and a win felt much needed for them. Bianca has held the tag titles for quiet some time and I have gotten bored of her reign.
I am hoping that the Jade Cargill whodunnit wraps up sooner than later with an actual verdict of who was responsible. What I mean is, Bianca or Naomi should just confess already.
Lowlights
Safety First
Did Carlito see how Bron Breakker speared iShowSpeed at the Royal Rumble and tell him “don’t you dare”? Possibly. That is the only explanation I have for the weak ass spear we saw Bron give the notorious apple spitter. It was hug take down. It lacked any impact.
Can Logan Paul hang?
So Logan Paul is now a full time member of WWE. In the past he would appear to wrestle occasionally and he would drop some good promos and some great matches. They’re all clearly well rehearsed. It feels like now though, he is getting into wrestling without all of the rehearsal and it is exposing his weaknesses. We saw the botches in his match with Rey. Now we’re seeing flaws in his promo game.
It wasn’t bad, it just felt like someone playing wrestler rather than being a wrestler. It sounded like the promos I would write down when playing WWE 2K Universe Mode. I’m sure that Logan will do a crazy stunt at Elimination Chamber and I’ll forget all about these flaws, but there is a chance that Paul might not be as natural to this as we thought.
No AJ?
Where was AJ Styles? No match, no promo, no interview. Not even a video package? It’s a shame. He only recently came back I feel like they should keep the momentum rolling with at least SOMETHING.
Results & Grades
Logan Paul & CM Punk exchange words ahead of Elimination Chamber (B Grade)
Ludwig Kaiser defeats Penta and Pete Dunne (B+ Grade)
The New Day defeat LWO (B- Grade)
Gunther defeats Akira Tozawa, bullies Alpha Academy before Jey Uso arrives (B+ Grade)
Lyra Valkyria (c) defeats Dakota Kai to retain her Intercontinental Championship (B Grade)
Sami Zayn promises pain for Kevin Owens this weekend (A Grade)
Bron Breakker defeats Dominik Mysterio w/Finn Balor & Carlito by DQ (C Grade)
Seth Rollins confronts Cody Rhodes over his meeting with The Rock (A Grade)
Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez w/Dominik Mysterio defeat Bianca Belair & Naomi (c) for the Women’s Tag Team Championships (A- Grade)
Overall, I would gave WWE Raw a B+ Grade.
News Bits
Welcome to the news! Here are this weeks headlines.
- The brother of multi-time world champion Nic Nemeth (FKA Dolph Ziggler) is suing AEW and CM Punk. I’m not saying his name, because all he wants is attention. The same guy who called CM Punk “literally the softest man alive” is also suing him for “verbal assault”. This screams of clout chasing. His acting career is dead. His wrestling career is dead. He is trying to avoid his inevitable future of stocking shelves in a Target somewhere.
- WWE long-term star Carmella was quietly released over the weekend, which is significant considering her husband Corey Graves is still employed with WWE.
- A WWE shareholder lawsuit claims that Vince McMahon’s investigation after the initial Janel Grant allegations was “a sham and a cover-up”. Vinnie Mac doing something illegal? Couldn’t be…
- WWE dropped brand new Hardy Boyz merch ahead of their appearance on NXT, which is mad considering they’re TNA contracted. Could WWE be planning more appearances for them in 2025?
- Karrion Kross will appear on the wrestling charity event Beynefit for Bey, in honour of Chris Bey who suffered a serious life-threatening injury some time ago. WWE, TNA and AEW talent will all feature at this event which is ground-breaking.
- It has been revealed that WWE makes approximately 55 million dollars from a Saudi Arabian show. Blood money comes in droves I guess.
- Jade Cargill and Randy Orton both made blockbuster returns at Elimination Chamber. However, those moments may have slipped under the radar after the industry shifting conclusion of the show between The Rock and Cody Rhodes.
WWE NXT – 25th Feb. from Cincinnati, OH
Highlights
Successful Defense
Stephanie Vaquer defeated Karmen Petrovic in a great opener. Although the result was predictable, they wrestled well and this was the best I have seen Karmen perform. it does help she is in there with one of the best women’s wrestlers in WWE. Vaquer’s celebration would be interrupted by NXT champion Giulia, more on that a little later.
Moose topples the King
TNA X-Division champion Moose retained his championship against the NXT Heritage Cup champion Lexis King. Lexis put up a good fight in his home state, but Moose could not be stopped here, impressing the NXT fans who haven’t seen how talented he is.
Fighting Words
After weeks of animosity, Jaida Parker has had enough of Kelani Jordan and sets up a match next week on NXT. I was well impressed here. Parker cut a fantastic, intense promo, one of the best I’ve seen from her. I look forward to seeing Jaida and Kelani lock horns next week.
Nostalgia is a Hell of a Drug
So yes, the TNA tag champions Hardy Boyz are of course far from the in ring talents they used to be. They are several steps slower and far from fluid as they once were. However, I still had a lot of fun seeing them return to a WWE ring together. They ran through all of their hits and got a solid victory over No Quarter Catch Crew. We got a confrontation between the TNA champions and the NXT champions afterwards. Speaking of…
A Stacked Card
We have NXT Roadblock in 2 weeks time and boy is it going to be a stacked one. At the start of the programme. Giulia and Stephanie Vaquer decided to go head to head to prove who is the superior woman in NXT, with both of their championships on the line. Then, Oba Femi came face to face with Moose once again and demanded they have their match set up. It is confirmed, with Oba’s NXT championship being on the line. Finally, TNA Director of Authority Santino Marella confirmed that the Hardy’s would defend their TNA tag championships against Nathan Frazer and Axiom. Roadblock is looking to be another banger show in NXT.
A Saintly Debut
Ricky Saints defeated Wes Lee and Ethan Page in the main event, alongside Je’Von Evans. Not only was this a really fun main event match, but Saints appears to be having a lot of fun out there. I had never seen him be so animated and fired up, not even in AEW. He looked happy to be out there and more than anything, that is most important.
Lowlights
Retribution 2.0 Strikes Again
NXT Vengeance Day, 4 “mysterious” attackers assaulted the Tag Team champions as well as the NXT champion. The following NXT, the show ended with absolute destruction to the backstage area and many NXT talent, presumably by this new faction.
So how did they follow up this week? Well first we saw a tweet from the 4 men being at the arena, claiming no one is safe. Then we get a short video from their perspective in the crowd watching the show. Finally, a camera goes backstage later on and sees a bunch of NXT nobodies laid out and attacked. The shot lasted about 30 seconds and that was it.
10 minutes later, General Manager Ava was interviewed. She announced the matches for Roadblock and did not even acknowledge the attack even happening. Neither did the interviewer! I’m sorry but they’re fumbling this. It started out like a Shield clone, now it is a Retribution clone. I am trying to be patient before burying this angle, but so far it is not good.
Results & Grades
Stephanie Vaquer (c) defeats Karmen Petrovic w/Ashantee Thee Adonis to retain her North American Championship (B+ Grade)
Moose (c) defeats Lexis King to retain the TNA X-Division Championship (B+ Grade)
Jordynne Grace strikes Roxanne Perez for interrupting her promo (B Grade)
The Hardy Boyz (c) defeat No Quarter Catch Crew to retain their TNA Tag Championships (B- Grade)
Lola Vice defeats Arianna Grace (C Grade)
Je’Von Evans & Ricky Saints defeat Ethan Page & Wes Lee (B Grade)
Overall I would give WWE NXT a B Grade.
Recommendation of the week
One of the most anticipated matches from Elimination Chamber is the unsanctioned match between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. They have wrestled 1v1 30 times prior to Elimination Chamber. 12 wins for Sami, 15 for Kevin and 3 went to a no contest. You may be aware of their many clashes in WWE and NXT, but what about elsewhere?
Linked below is Kevin Steen vs El Generico in a Fight Without Honor at Ring of Honor’s Final Battle in 2010. This was brutal and violent in all of the best ways. I won’t get into all of the grisly details. However, if their match at Elimination Chamber is even half of what we got here, then we will have been treated well.
Here is the full video via ROH’s YouTube.
WWE Smackdown – 28th Feb. From Toronto, Ontario, CA
Highlights
The REAL Canadian Hero
Chelsea Green is an international treasure and I want her to be world champion. Trish Stratus opens the show with a good promo and she introduces her tag partner for this weekend, Tiffany Stratton. They have a fun segment and they have a lot of chemistry together. However, as soon as Chelsea enters she completely upstages them both. Green is such a natural on the mic, she roasts Trish and Tiffy and sets up a match between her and Stratton. A great way to open the show.
Making the Best of It
So the advertised Shinsuke Nakamura vs LA Knight championship match is cancelled because Shinsuke’s brother died. My condolences go out to him. It is always hard to book around real life situations like these and I think WWE tried their best here. They set up a 1 night tournament to confirm the US championship contender. It gave us a bunch of great matches.
LA Knight defeated Santos Escobar by catching him in mid-air with a BFT. That was awesome. Carmelo Hayes channels Eddie Guerrero to cheat and get a DQ win against Braun Strowman. Jacob Fatu defeated Andrade in the best match of the night, they had an absolute barn burner. The final match of the night saw LA Knight defeat Melo and Fatu to cement his status as the challenger for the US championship.
Best WWE Tag Division Ever?
The current tag team scene on Smackdown might genuinely be the best the tag division has looked in WWE ever, not including peak black and gold NXT. DIY, Motor City Machine Guns, Street Profits, Pretty Deadly and Los Garza have all been built incredibly well for the past few months. They have been crossing paths and rivalries for a long time now. It has finally exploded with all of the teams getting into a pull apart brawl on Smackdown. With tensions boiling, I imagine we are set to have a huge multi-man match at Wrestlemania for the titles.
“You Stink Mate”
Drew McIntyre was once again in savage mode. For the past few weeks on every Raw and Smackdown we have seen the John Cena promo package about him declaring for Elimination Chamber and setting his sights on a 17th championship. This week though, Drew has had enough. He interrupts the pre-recorded video package, something I don’t think I have seen before. Drew tells a fan in the crowd he stinks before running down John Cena for being a hypocrite.
We got one of those promos where all of the Chamber competitors come out and say their piece. Drew’s promo was probably the best. If not Drew, it was CM Punk who tells Drew, Priest and Rollins exactly what he will do to main event Wrestlemania. Seth Rollins and Damian Priest were good too. It was a great promo segment.
Then, we heard John Cena’s music! But out comes Logan Paul. Great heel move by Logan, but I will talk about his promo a bit later.
Final Words
The promo between Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn was chilling. It felt so personal, almost too personal. The audience was dead silent as these long life friends and enemies threaten the livelihood of each other’s families. It was uncomfortable in all of the best ways. The bar is high for their match this weekend.
Lowlights
Looking Weak
Nia Jax and Candice LeRae showed up to attack Trish Stratus and Tiffany Stratton, ending the Green vs Stratton match in a DQ. Their beat down doesn’t last long before Trish and Tiffy overcome them and send them packing. This feels counter productive. They have zero momentum or heat heading into the PLE and I don’t see a scenario where they walk out victorious. I would have had Nia and Candice prevail in a dominant beat down, giving them plenty of heat for Tiffy and Trish to get revenge this weekend. Simply wrestling booking 101.
Don’t Let Another Wrestler Call You Boring
Logan Paul is confusing me. The first part of his promo here, was brilliant. Coming out to John Cena’s music, being an obnoxious dick, insulting the crowd. He was doing everything right, until he turned his attention to his opponents. This was rough and cringe to watch. He takes shots at Punk, Priest, McIntyre and Rollins. None of them landed. They all sounded like pre-school insults you would here in a school. He said Seth Rollins looked like a curtain. He said he didn’t know anything about Priest and called him irrelevant. Is that the best this guy has? Is this what unscripted Logan Paul is like? Because I don’t want it.
Usually a heel can get away with being lame, but it is clear that Logan is supposed to be a young and cool “badass” who is also a chicken shit. His promo sucked and it was made worse when CM Punk publicly called him boring, which is the worst you can be in wrestling.
On The Other Hand…
Although I gave praise to how WWE handled Shinsuke Nakamura not being able to compete, the other side of the coin is that they achieved absolutely nothing here on this show. LA Knight already won a US Championship contender match previously. After this tournament, he is still the US champion contender. What else changed? Nothing. No angles were furthered except Braun Strowman’s issues with Solo Sikoa who tried to take him out.
The equilibrium was unchanged. I am not really interested in seeing Knight vs Nakamura again. This was WWE’s opportunity to hot shot the opportunity to someone else like Andrade or Carmelo Hayes who I would much prefer to see wrestle Nakamura. But no. We’re getting this again.
Cody Has No Words
The final segment of the show is advertised as “Cody’s final words ahead of his meeting with The Rock at Elimination Chamber.” So what happened? Well Michael Cole again recaps the severity of accepting The Rock’s offer and how it will change Cody’s life forever. Then he shows us a gift that has been left for Cody by The Rock, which is a fancy American Nightmare themed truck. After that, The Rock appears on the screen cutting a promo with the brutal noise of a jet engine in the background. Rocky continues to brown nose Cody as well as guilt trip him by mentioning Dusty Rhodes, Cody’s family and such. The Rock reveals a new weight belt reading “Cody’s Soul” as well as the date of Dusty Rhodes death. Yikes.
The promo ends. The crowd are chanting boring as Cody just stands there. Then, the show ends. Cody had no words and for the second week in a row he has been cucked by The Rock. He has never looked this week since, well, the time Rocky tried to steal his Wrestlemania match from him. Although he was being blasted by jet engines, Rock’s promo was fine. However, I felt like adding Dusty’s death date to a weight belt was cheap heat. What does that add to any of this? What does it have to do with any of this? It screams of shock value and I don’t like it.
Results & Grades
Chelsea Green interrupts Trish Stratus & Tiffany Stratton (B+ Grade)
Tiffany Stratton w/Trish Stratus defeats Chelsea Green w/Piper Niven by DQ (C Grade)
Jacob Fatu defeats Andrade (A- Grade)
Street Profits vs Los Garza is thrown out before it starts as the whole Tag Division brawls (B Grade)
Elimination Chamber participants throw verbal jabs (A- Grade)
LA Knight defeats Santos Escobar (B+ Grade)
Final Words from Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn (A+ Grade)
Carmelo Hayes defeats Braun Strowman by DQ (C Grade)
Roxanne Perez, Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez defeat Bayley, Bianca Belair & Naomi (B Grade)
LA Knight defeats Jacob Fatu & Carmelo Hayes, US Championship Contender Match (B+ Grade)
Cody Rhodes receives a gift from The Rock (C)
Overall, I would give WWE Smackdown a B+ Grade.
WWE Elimination Chamber 2025 – 1st March From Toronto, Ontario, CA
I have posted a separate article with my full coverage of the show which you can read here. Here were the results:
Bianca Belair wins the Women’s Elimination Chamber
Trish Stratus & Tiffany Stratton defeat Nia Jax & Candice LeRae
Kevin Owens defeats Sami Zayn in an Unsanctioned Match
John Cena wins the Men’s Elimination Chamber
Cody Rhodes rejects The Rock, John Cena turns heel and sells his soul to The Rock
Top 10 of the Week
1) Sami Zayn
2) Kevin Owens
3) Liv Morgan
4) Bianca Belair
5) Seth Rollins
6) John Cena
7) CM Punk
8) Drew McIntyre
9) Naomi
10) Jacob Fatu
Match of the Week
Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn, WWE Elimination Chamber
Next Week
Raw
Rhea Ripley (c) vs Iyo Sky for Women’s World Championship
War Raiders (c) vs The Creed Brothers for Tag Championships
NXT
Chelsea Green & Piper Niven vs Sol Ruca & Zaria
Jaida Parker vs Kelani Jordan
Tony D’Angelo (c) vs Shawn Spears for North American Championship
Smackdown
Chelsea Green vs Michin, Street Fight
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