WWE Monday Night Raw 2/20/17 Recap – Owens vs. Sami, Braun vs. Big Show

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Raw begins with a tribute graphic for George “The Animal” Steele, who may also get a video package as well. A recap of the Festival of Friendship is shown. This thing may even be better than it was live – in part because of the perfect shot used for the Kevin and Chris painting. Kevin Owens is introduced mid-ring without his intro and brags about getting the spotlight back and says that no one ever thought he would main event a PPV against Goldberg.

A Goldberg chant hits and KO talks about that chant following Goldberg everywhere and it gives him his power – but it’s hype. KO talks about the Brock loss and he blames it on Brock taking Goldberg lightly – which won’t happen to him. This is KO’s best promo yet in WWE. He says that he doesn’t have to beat Goldberg – he just has to outlast him. He buries Goldberg for just wanting to his his title as a prop in a superhero fantasy – because he’ll show his son and everyone else that superheroes aren’t real. He throws the mic down after talking about Jericho – which is good. It gets you to focus on Goldberg now and then the focus will shift to Jericho when it needs to.

Enzo and Cass walk backstage before their match with Cesaro and Sheamus to determine new contenders for The Club. We get a recap of their match two weeks ago and then Cesaro and Sheamus come down. Cass and Enzo come out, with Enzo in a dreadful shirt that Corey buries him for. Enzo is so fantastic at everything but wrestling. Love him using the kid’s sign for his promo – that will be a memory he’ll cherish forever. LOL @ the DELETE ROMAN sign making air. Cass and Sheamus start with Cass missing a Stinger splash and Sheamus then charging in but taking an out of control bump to the apron. Enzo gets tossed outside and hit with a barricade uppercut for the break.

After the break, Sheamus hits the Irish Curse and then lands a big running kneedrop. Enzo dives around ringside to avoid Sheamus, but then eats a mid-air uppercut for 2. Cass comes in and tackles Sheamus. Enzo hops on Cesaro, who dumps him before eating an East River Crossing to give them the win. Enzo brags about having the kryptonite for the Swiss Superman, so Sheamus kicks his face off. Well, he deserved that. LOL @ “THANK YOU SHEAMUS!” KO goes to leave, but Mick says he can’t leave – he has to wrestle Sami later.

Recap of Braun killing dudes! YAY! Recap of Bayley winning the Raw Women’s Title airs with some video of her NXT videos reciting her childhood poem. Wow was giving her the title this soon a mistake if they’re going with the whole “lifelong dream” vibe. Mick talks on the phone before Roman comes in and gets interrupted by The Club, who will face him in a handicap match. Okay then. Kendrick comes out to silence and we get a recap of his angle with Tozwa at 205 Live, being turned down as a protege. Tozawa’s tron is incredible.

Kendrick wants a handshake, but Tozawa avoids it – so Kendrick lariats him down. Kendrick hits his head into the exposed steel of the buckle before locking on the Hook. The match itself never got started. Backstage, Kendrick talks to Charly and says no one disrespects him. Cole goes from not mentioning this at all to bringing up Roman wrestling next. We get a WWE Shop ad showcasing Nikki’s ass and how buying WWE merchandise makes you an individual. Roman comes out to face The Club. So the flaw in the rules was that the guys had to tag out, so…we are literally getting that exact same thing again. OF COURSE!

Gallows boots Roman on the floor. Gallows locks on a chinlock. The champs clubber him on the floor and Roman knocks a chair out of Luke’s hands. Roman uses the chair, so once again, we get a DQ. Corner lariats to Karl lead to Luke hitting corner punches and then hitting the Superman punch on Luke before a spear hits Karl. Recap of KO’s promo. New Day vs. Rusev and Jinder is up. We see New Day’s bit on TMZ before Lana comes out and introduces “jacked” Jinder and HANDSOME RUSEV! This match is presented by Golden Coral.

Woods brags about his channel getting a million subs – which is pretty cool. They talk about ice cream for a bit – which is honestly better than a Jinder Mahal match. New Day brags about the ice cream blueprints going digital before Lana says she has the plans now and Kofi says it’s because she’s Russian. Awesome. Kofi hits a nice flying DDT to Rusev. Kofi sends himself over the top and goes onto Rusev. Xavier plays the trombone behind Lana and it sends the iPad flying before he smashes it. Why destroy a perfectly good iPad? Why not just use a shitting $50 Chinese tablet and do the same thing? Midnight Hour to Jinder ends it.  Gallagher vs. Neville gets a contract signing. I hope we get purple ropes for the contract signing.

Tribute video for George “The Animal” Steele airs. It’s very nice and classy and really does get across his unique character. PURPLE ROPES FOR A CONTRACT SIGNING! Aries is mid-ring with cookies and some tea  Astonished they didn’t try to put a double decker bus in the ring to British this thing up a bit more. Neville signs and then Jack mocks him for leaving and says that he wanted a spot of tea and some biscuits. Neville, the heel, mocking Gallagher for British stereotypes is amusingly meta. Jack tells him that he isn’t playing a gentleman – he is one and the mustache doesn’t come off at night. He can’t stand Neville being smug and man is it good to see a face with a moral compass. Neville tips the table over and they brawl before the headbutt sends Neville out of the ring. Nia, who rumor has it is unlike most girls, walks backstage.

Nia faces Sarah Pierce. Nia’s gear has fringe on it now for some reason. A hair mare, corner avalanche and a Samoan drop end it. Byron talks about black history month and we see Obama clips while African-American wrestlers talk about his influence. Bayley talks about her childhood friends wanting regular jobs – but she wanted to be a wrestler and to STARE AT THE WRESTLEMANIA SIGN. Poor kid must’ve had a boring childhood. Stephanie comes down while Cole reminds us that Stephanie was the reason for the women’s revolution. Stephanie buries the win for being tainted. Okay – so Steph effectively negates the importance of this win, which does kinda work if they do a take two for this and give Bayley a clean win at WM. Steph tells her to relenquish the title, bringing about a huge “no” chant.

Stephanie makes it a moral choice before Sasha comes down and says she’s her sister and she should listen to the Universe. Bayley says that Stephanie is right and the title is bigger than her, Sasha, or Charlotte. Bayley says hell no – she earned this and beat Charlotte for the third time. Charlotte comes down – because that’s what this needed, more people talking. Charlotte says she’ll get her rematch at Fastlane and Sasha wants a match tonight, which Charlotte grants her. Cole says this is a RENEWAL OF A CLASSIC RIVALRY! Going all the way back to LATE 2016 FOR THIS ONE!

Sasha is in her Latino Heat homage shorts, which look good. Bayley is on commentary. Chain of kneedrops to Sasha get 2. Bayley’s voice in this commentary makes me think she’s dropping it at Fastlane. Charlotte hits reverse DDT neckbreakers and then locks on a standing dragon sleeper. Wheelbarrow bulldog gets 2 for Sasha. Bayley and Dana brawl and Sasha wins with the backstabber and Bank Statement. DDP HOF video airs. harly talks to Sami about KO and says that both Joe and KO are being poisoned by HHH and he says that time with catch up to Joe.

Recap of the KO-Jericho beating. Owens is mid-ring and got no intro, while Sami gets one. Joe runs down in black slacks and a black shirt and kicks his ass. Sami is told to stop, but he wants the match. KO charges him with a lariat in the corner, hits the cannonball, stomps away and cannonballs him again. Pop-up powerbomb ends it and wow, they’re getting KO absolutely right before the Goldberg match. Perfect.

Mick tells Steph that she put herself in a position to be embarrassed and he liked it. She tells him to address him properly. He tells her to stop treating him like he’s stupid – he listened to her, trusted her, and believed in her and because of it, Seth is on the shelf due to Joe and that’s a man he recommended in 2004. Mick cuts a hell of a promo on her greed and him not allowing it to cloud him. This was his best work in quite some time.

Cole interviews Brock and Heyman and says a whole bunch of WWE Words in a WWE Way. Brock grabs Cole’s chair and sits in it to stare right at the camera. Paul cuts a hell of a promo hyping up KO as dangerous, but he’s not as deadly as Brock.  Braun comes down and after a break, we find out that Seth will be at Raw next week. A SHOULDERBLOCK gets a “this is awesome” chant. Braun gets a side headlock takedown. Big lariat takes Show down. Braun hits a DDT and gets 2. They go back and forth on a suplex, which Show finally hits. Braun runs into a corner boot before tackling him down. Big shokeslam hits and gets 2. Show teases a superplex and the crowd gets tense. Braun jumps into a KO punch that gets 2.5.  Show goes for the Vader bomb, but Braun clunkily avoids it, then awkwardly lifts him and sorts powerslams him for 2. Luckily, the terrible execution being due to the weight kinda protects his finish. Braun pulls the straps down and hits a powerslam to win. And then Roman just comes down to his theme, so why bother with a finish? Braun eats two Superman punches, but the spear is met with a dropkick. Powerslam to Roman closes the show.

Screenshot Gallery –

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