WWE Raw Match Ratings For 3/19/18, Podcast Notes From Sean Ross Sapp

Opening segment. 

• Kurt Angle is interrupted by a suspended Roman Reigns, who says he's not leaving until he faces Brock Lesnar (who is late) tonight.
• U.S. Marshals are sent out, and a handcuffed Reigns beats them up. Lesnar conveniently shows up and attacks Reigns with a chair. An F5 follows. Lesnar comes back for more a couple of times. 
• Outside of the dumbass US Marshals thing, I thought this opening segment was great. It was Strowman-Reigns lite, but that's not terrible.

Asuka defeated Alexa Bliss (w/ Mickie James)
5.25/10

• There was a pretty good video recap of the Nia Jax- Alexa Bliss & Mickie James beef.
• Alexa Bliss comes out and cuts a fairly predictable promo about how she wished she had done it sooner, and says she feels a 300 pound weight lifted off of her. 
• Kind of funny that Corey Graves makes Mean Girls references on the show all the time, since Anna said for a year that was exactly how the women were booked.
• Some pretty basic, expected work from Bliss and Asuka until after the second commercial. Bliss counters a superplex with a nice Infrared.
• After an Ankle Lock, Alexa Bliss takes a loss via countout. This wasn't anything special, but it was a match between an undefeated Mania main eventer and the Raw Women's Champion that went 10-14 minutes (depending on when they started during the first commercial).
• Nia Jax runs out and gives chase, catching and attacking Mickie James. She chases Alexa Bliss from ringside.
• Alexa Bliss complains to Kurt Angle, but he's not having any of it and says Alexa should be a role model. He books Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss for the title at WrestleMania.

Braun Strowman defeated Cesaro (w/ Sheamus)
5.5/10

• Braun Strowman comes out and says that he wants to compete for the tag team titles all by himself.
• Cesaro & Sheamus follow and say that a great team lives together, trains together, eats together, sleeps together, which gets a big reaction. Strowman gives it a hearty laugh. Is this dumb shit more on the crowd that reacts or the talent that know the crowd will react?
• Strowman runs Cesaro into the rails, and ends up getting posted HARD. 
• We see the corkscrew uppercut for the first time in a while. It's good for a one count.
• Strowman runs over Sheamus outside the ring and powerslams Cesaro inside the ring. That's all, folks. 

The Revival defeated Titus Worldwide (w/ Dana Brooke)
4.5/10

• We get a really cold intro to Revival vs. Titus Worldwide. Within a minute Michael Cole is  saying that Titus "desperately" needs to make a tag to Crews.
• Apollo gets that tag and gets a nice standing moonsault. He flips off of Dash and rolls up Dawson for a two. 
• Dash takes out Titus, then Apollo takes down Wilder. These two teams are not on the same page. Just not good.
• Eventually a blind tag out of Apollo's finish leads to the Shatter Machine. Revival win. Not anyone's best work tonight.
• The Revival officially enters the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal
• Mark Henry goes into the Hall of Fame! A very underrated WWE Superstar.

Absolution (w/ Paige) defeated Bayley & Sasha Banks
4/10

• Sasha Banks says she doesn't want to run away from her problems with Bayley. Bayley says she can't stop thinking about WWE Elimination Chamber and how easy it was for Sasha to attack her in the way she did. They get interrupted by Absolution.
• Fuck right off putting these two in the battle royal. That's gross and stupid and lame.
• When you see mounted punches like Mandy Rose's, you learn why WWE does dumb zoom trickery. Then you see Mandy's modified abdominal stretch and dropkick and wonder why she doesn't stick to her strong areas. 
• Breaking up pins isn't one of those strong areas, as she takes the long route to do so. Sasha causes Bayley's pin of Sonya to get missed and Sonya KILLS Bayley with a kick for the win.

John Cena

• John Cena says that The Undertaker hasn't answered his challenge, and if he's retired he should just say so and stay retired. Cena encourages a "do something" chant.
• 2018: The Year Of Bad Flame Wrestling Gear as Kane comes out to confront Cena. He chokeslams Johnny boy. 

Balor Club defeated Miztourage
5.5/10

• The Miz cuts his typical "I should be the poster boy" promo.
• He's interrupted by Balor and the Good Brothers, who have separate entrances for some reason.
• Seth Rollins also comes out and joins commentary. He notes that a win at WrestleMania would make him a grand slam champion. 
• This match is pretty basic, but flying babyface Karl Anderson is a lot of fun. Balor also hits a dive on several stars, which I always like better than hitting it on one person. 
• Balor rolls up Miz for the win, but The Miztourage attack Balor after the match.
• Seth Rollins make the save, which is somewhat heelish — I mean it was 3 on 3, Balor Club just got beat down. Sure, Miztrourage are dicks, though. Either way, we got a Stomp from Seth Rollins on Miz and he faces off with Balor.

Ronda Rousey 

• WWE should really devote these type of storytelling packages to people that everyone in the country doesn't know about already, too. Tell me why Becky Lynch took years off in her mid-20's. Let me know how the fuck Sheamus wrestles with spinal stenosis. Tell me about Sonya Deville coming out. I want to hear why Baron Corbin and Mojo got cut from the NFL. When Sami gave up his mask. Tell. 
• Also, that Rousey video ruled. There should be one like that a week on a different Superstar. You can do that for heels, too. Make being cut from the NFL Baron Corbin's motivation to be such an asshole.

Ultimate Deletion
Matt Hardy defeated Bray Wyatt

• This is shot better than regular WWE matches as it relates to in-ring work. 
• The wrestling leaves plenty to be desired. 
• Vanguard 1 creates a distraction and Hardy attacks with a chair. He then causes Wyatt to have flashbacks of his home. 
• The land of obsolete men is the corniest shit I've ever seen and fits here. If WWE wanted to debut the Sister Abigail alter-ego, this is the type of environment for it.
• They wrestle into Hardy's warehouse, where there is a white piano. Hardy attacks Wyatt with a ladder and tries to run him over with a lawn mower.
• "Skarsgard! My dilapidated friend! It can’t…end this way!” Vanguard 1 distracts Bray, and Senor Benjamin and Jeff Hardy appear. Matt wins with a Twist of Fate. 
• Matt pushes Bray Wyatt into the Lake of Reincarnation, and Senor Benjamin can't find him. Wow.