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OWENS DESERVES BETTER, MALAKAI EDGE, WHERE WWE SHOULD GO WITH SETH FOR MANIA AND MORE RAW THOUGHTS

Five random Raw thoughts:

WHAT DOES KEVIN OWENS GET OUT OF WRESTLEMANIA?

Kevin Owens signed a new WWE deal and has consistently been one of the company's best performers in terms of good matches, good interviews and being a strong utility player who takes whatever the company hands him and does his best to make it work, but what does Kevin Owens get out of this Wrestlemania segment with Steve Austin?

We've seen this song and dance before, literally, at Wrestlemania.  Austin was on Piper's Pit with the late, great Roddy Piper at Wrestlemania 21 in Los Angeles.  We literally know the broad brush strokes of what's going to happen here.  Austin will accept, come to the ring, go back and forth with Owens, there will be a lot of "What?" chants, and eventually, Owens eats a stunner or seven and gets beer poured on him.

It'll be fun, but we've seen it before, lots of times, and then, Austin disappears again and Owens has to go forward and be an important piece of a WWE roster that has never felt thinner.  Let's hope WWE gives Owens a hell of a payday for the segment, because unless there's going to be a shocking moment where Owens is the one who stuns Austin and walks out having shocked Texas (and I don't believe anyone expects such a thing), we've seen this, done that, much like a lot of the main events for Wrestlemania 38, and that just leaves Owens in a vortex, yet again, waiting for a new direction, as he now has to be built back up after being knocked down a peg, yet again.

Yes, it's a segment with Steve Austin.  Everyone loves Austin, but Austin wasn't getting laid out to put over Hulk Hogan so Hogan could make a nostalgia appearance - and then expected to get back to work and make money for the company.

Austin's awesome, but Owens deserves better.

SHALL WE CALL HIM MALAKAI EDGE?

Edge's appearance last night on Raw seemed really, really familiar.

Black on Black.

Dark, foreboding lights.

A vacant yet intense stare.

Is WWE really, without any irony, lifting the look and style of AEW's Malakai Black for Edge's new direction?

In the words of The Miz, "Really?"

WWE started and stopped the former Aleister Black umpteenth times before unceremoniously dropping him and now that he's started to build some AEW moment, Edge's look lifts liberally from The House of Black?

What's next?  Damian Priest becomes Edge's Brody King?

All of this is pretty silly and dumb, especially since the audience just wants to see Edge, not a new version of him they have no interest in booing.  Despite the reaction of the audience in Cleveland, the lion's share of the audience doesn't want to boo Edge at this point in his career.  They just want to enjoy watching him wrestle AJ Styles.

They certainly don't want to see him cosplaying Malakai Black, either.

I think all involved overthought this situation. 

Edge vs. AJ Styles sells itself. 

Forcing anything additional into the story just dilutes the cool factor of that first-time encounter.

Rated R-Superstar vs. The Phenomenal One.

That's all that is needed.

Not Malakai Edge.

That just comes off as if the company is mad that Black made something for himself post-WWE in All Elite Wrestling...and if they are, that's stupid because they were the ones who had him and discarded him to begin with!

WHAT NEXT FOR SETH ROLLINS? 

Over the last year, Seth Rollins has done a pretty damn great job reinventing himself as WWE's incarnation of The Joker with his outlandish fashion, over the top maniacal laughing and generally fun in-ring exploits, but man, where is he heading for Wrestlemania?

This past weekend, he lost to Roman Reigns at Madison Square Garden in just about five minutes.  On Raw, he and Kevin Owens seemingly went in different directions without so much as a climactic ending.  Like Owens, Rollins has been a reliable hand for the company and yet, with just a few weeks to go, he has no discernable Wrestlemania direction.

So, what do they do with him?

If it's me, I'd have Rollins once again "push the envelope" and go out and make a challenge for someone to come fight him from outside the company at Wrestlemania.

Everyone's been buzzing about what's going on with him anyway, so I say have Rollins "break the fourth wall" and dare Cody Rhodes to show up at Wrestlemania and fight him.

Why?  He wants a fight and he wants to prove he's the best, he's the elite, he's the man everyone pays attention to at Wrestlemania.

Yeah, it's simple, but the buzz would pay for itself just in online chatter...

JOB WELL DONE WITH RAW TAG TITLES

For all the flack WWE gets for how they treat talents and even championships (a lot of which is rightfully earned), they spent several weeks building to the Raw Tag Team Championship bout (quiz bowls, can we forget you?) and pretty much spent the first hour of Raw last night setting up a pretty damn enjoyable Triple Threat Match between RK-Bro, American Alpha and Kevin Owens & Seth Rollins.

Then, bell to bell, the match went for about 30 minutes, allowing for a pretty damn fun segment and easily the best in-ring material on last night's Raw.  The follow-up promo with Street Profits wanting the next shot added to that, putting the focus on the Raw Tag Team titles in a way that traditionally does not happen on a consistent basis.

Whether it's because Randy Orton is the nucleus of the division or not, WWE should be praised for actually putting some time into the Raw Tag Team division last night, because we can never have enough good tag team wrestling.  I doubt we'll ever get things to the level they were in the mid-1980s with The Hart Foundation, Strike Force, British Bulldogs, etc., but this was a nice throwback to those days, even if it just ends up being for a short period of time.

Thumbs up.

THE WOMEN'S TAG TITLES, HOWEVER...

For all the work put into evolving the women's division in WWE, lots of the newer elements sure do get shafted regularly.  They spent time creating the Women's Tag Team titles and then the Queen's Crown and they are sort of after-thoughts to everything else going on.  Surely, the Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair and Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair storylines should get a lot of care and attention as they are being tasked with drawing money for the company at Wrestlemania 38, but that doesn't mean the rest of the women's roster should get literally nothing.

The Women's Tag Team title bout at Wrestlemania was set up, out of nowhere, with Sasha Banks and Naomi deciding they want a title bout.  Then, they are granted one in a 45-60 second backstage promo from Carmella and Zelina Vega.  That...was...it? 

Now, we've had a third team tossed in as the champs lost to Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley, who have never teamed before, because suddenly Carmella is too busy flirting with real life love Corey Graves.

Yeah, we are a long way from that Evolution PPV, folks.

Zelina Vega is supposed to be The Queen, but since she earned that crown, all of that's been forgotten.

Rhea Ripley's feud with Nikki A.S.H has...been forgotten.

Liv Morgan as the sympathetic, every-woman trying to fight her way to her first big title against big stars like Becky Lynch, all of that's been forgotten.

Why does Sasha Banks want to win a Tag Team title, anyway, after all her singles success?  That explanation never came, because that's been forgotten too.

This all feels like a bunch of talents being tossed into a match because well, why not, and that doesn't do anything for anyone, not the fans, not the talents, not the titles, not Wrestlemania.

This match could easily just be about having a fun match underneath and with everyone involved, can still can be fun, but you can't tell me WWE couldn't give everyone involved more time to explain themselves, to set things up and to get fans interested, or that they WILL do that in the next few weeks.

The worst part about all this is that I fear we'll get to Wrestlemania and they'll have three minutes with entrances on a Kickoff Show, with the excuse being it's a minor match the fans don't care about.

Well, if they don't, that's not on the talents, but those producing the show.  

Everyone involved deserves better than that.

Mike Johnson can reached at MikeJohnsonPWInsider@gmail.com.

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