RAW kicked off again with Roman Reigns, but this time he wanted to let everyone know what his intentions were after announcing his comeback last week. He called Seth Rollins out to the ring to tell him that he isn’t looking for an immediate Universal Championship shot and is hoping that he takes down Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. He wanted to reunite The Shield one last time. Rollins was skeptical at first, but ultimately gave in. They asked Dean Ambrose to come out to the ring, his music hit and just as he was getting ready to speak, he was attacked by Elias. The group of Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre, and Bobby Lashley then took on the team of Finn Bálor, Braun Strowman, and Kurt Angle, but more on that later. There was another match between Natalya and Ruby Riott and after that, Triple H came out to address the situation with Batista last week. Heavy Machinery looked strong in a gauntlet tag team match After this, Dean Ambrose and Elias had a match and Elias took the win, after the match was over, Rollins and Reigns tried to convince Ambrose to get on board for a reunion. As Ambrose was walking out, the team of McIntyre, Corbin, and Lashley met Rollins and Reigns in the ring and started attacking them. Ambrose came to their aid and agreed to join Rollins and Reigns for a reunion. There was a RAW Tag Team Championship match with the team of Aleister Black and Ricochet and The Revival. The show ended with a segment dealing with Becky Lynch’s reinstatement and her signing a hold-harmless agreement. This was announced by Stephanie McMahon earlier in the show and originally the match between Lynch and Charlotte at Fastlane was supposed to be for the RAW Women’s Championship, but things changed when Ronda Rousey interrupted the segment and the show ended with Rousey mercilessly attacking Becky Lynch.

Daniel Bryan started SmackDown off by putting down Kofi Kingston and then Kevin Owens. The New Day is on a promotional tour in India, so none of them appeared on the show, but Kevin Owens did and made his presence felt. After Owens finished speaking, he attacked Rowan and the two had a match later in the show. The next segment was with The Usos and the team of The Miz and Shane McMahon. The Miz and Jey Uso had a singles match with The Miz taking the win. Yet again, R-Truth issued another open challenge for his United States Championship, but this time, he defended it in a Fatal 4-Way, more on that later on. Ricochet and Aleister Black were featured again in a tag team match against The Bar and after the match was over, Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura attacked Ricochet and Black, but The Hardy Boyz bailed them out. Naomi and Mandy Rose had another match with Rose pulling out another win, which gave her more momentum heading into her title match at Fastlane. A brief segment with AJ Styles took place after the women’s match and they’re hinting at a potential match between Styles and Orton at WrestleMania. Next was the match between Owens and Rowan, but the match only lasted about a minute and the result was a no contest. Owens was attacked by Bryan and Rowan, but Mustafa Ali made his comeback after a brief injury stint to help Owens. It will be interesting to see how he is used in the next few weeks. The show closed with Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch and ultimately led to Lynch getting the better of Charlotte. Now to dive into the WWE Power Rankings for the week.

- 10: Drew McIntyre, Baron Corbin, and Bobby Lashley (NR)

The trio had a big win against Finn Bálor, Braun Strowman, and Kurt Angle early in the show and they were featured again in a segment with The Shield. They attacked Rollins and Reigns, but Ambrose came to their aid and sent them out of the ring. The two teams will now face off with one another at Fastlane. This rivalry didn’t have much time to build, but it is the perfect scenario for Roman Reigns at the moment. I can’t say that I think that The Shield will lose on Sunday, but I think they’ll try to salvage something from the match to get Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose involved at WrestleMania somehow.

- 9: Ricochet and Aleister Black (8)

This duo was featured on both shows for another week, but only one of their matches ended in a win. On RAW, they faced the Tag Team Champs and the match ended in a DQ. Chad Gable and Bobby Roode attacked the champs and now Fastlane will be a Triple Threat tag team match for the RAW Tag Team Championships. They emerged victorious against The Bar on Tuesday night, but were attacked by The Bar and the team of Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura after the match. I don’t know what will happen at Fastlane, but I think they have a decent shot to win the titles. If the rumors about The Revival leaving are true, I think this would be the time to drop their titles.

- 8: Daniel Bryan (9)

The WWE Champion moved up a spot this week, but this is only because of storyline advancement. This is one of the biggest matches heading into Sunday and he is simply benefitting from being the champion. He kicked off the show on Tuesday night to express his opinions about Kofi Kingston losing his title opportunity and his match against Kevin Owens at Fastlane. Even though it is still quite surprising to see Kevin Owens back in the ring, they aren’t going to put the title on him just yet, at least I don’t think they will. With that being said, I fully expect Daniel Bryan to head into WrestleMania as the champion.

- 7: Triple H (NR)

The Game returned to RAW Monday night to address his displeasure with Batista after his attack on Ric Flair last week. This was a promo with raw emotion and I think it is clear that Triple H is attentive, despite what Batista may think. Although he didn’t compete this week, I think he deserves a spot in the Top 10 based on the story progression alone. Triple H has the unique ability to grab your attention when he speaks and it is a treat to hear when he is deep into a storyline. He broke the fourth wall, but it added to the intensity of the rivalry. I firmly believe Triple H could be a weekly superstar, but obviously at his age, I can see why he isn’t. I don’t expect him to be in the Top 10 often, but a match like this doesn’t happen too often, so here he is.

- 6: Samoa Joe (NR)

Samoa Joe is the new United States Champion and it is about time. This is Joe’s first main roster title since his call up in January of 2017 and in my opinion, it is long overdue. I personally think that he is the most underrated superstar on the roster and I’m glad that he is finally getting this chance. He won the match in a Fatal 4-Way with R-Truth, Andrade, and Rey Mysterio. There is a rumor going around that he may be defending his title against John Cena at WrestleMania, but obviously, nothing is confirmed yet. This would be an amazing matchup and would bolster an already stacked card. However, if this isn’t the route that they go, there are many other possibilities for the United States Championship.

- 5: Kevin Owens (6)

KO moved up one spot in this week’s rankings and looks to become the new WWE Champion on Sunday. He made an appearance in the opening segment of SmackDown and told everyone why he deserved to be in the match. He and Rowan had a match towards the end of the show, but Daniel Bryan interfered. Mustafa Ali came to the aid of Owens and now the match has a sufficient buildup going into Sunday. I don’t expect Owens to win at Fastlane, but if they wanted to shake things up, it would certainly be cool to see. Owens deserves to always be in consideration for a title shot, but I hope they don’t waste his opportunity here. With Ali returning, I have to assume that he and Daniel Bryan will have match in the near future, but with all of the build for the matchup between Bryan and Kofi Kingston, it would be a failure of epic proportions if we don’t see that match.

- 4: The Shield (5, NR, NR)

The Shield is officially back and they will face the team of Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, and Baron Corbin on Sunday at Fastlane. Throughout Monday’s episode of RAW this was a big storyline during the show. Now with Roman Reigns returning to the ring on Sunday, there had to be a way to fit him into the schedule. This is something that I’m looking forward to on Sunday and I’m sure many of you are as well. Over the last 5 years or so, The Shield has been the most dominant stable in the WWE and they will look to reflect that at Fastlane. I’m not sure what will take place after the match on Sunday, but I think it is safe to say that these guys, excluding Rollins, will not be left out at WrestleMania.

- 3: Charlotte Flair (3)

I think many people would disagree with me putting The Queen back at number 3 in back-to-back weeks, but I don’t think I really had another choice. Again, she is benefitting from being in the biggest storyline in the WWE, although many people don’t think she earned her place in this storyline. I personally don’t think any female competitor in WWE could take on the role that she has over the last couple months and do a better job. The one exception may be Alexa Bliss, but that’s a maybe. Charlotte’s character is naturally dislikeable and she knows just how to play it off. If this were a Power Ranking list that started over week-to-week, she wouldn’t be this high on the list, but here she is and honestly, she shouldn’t get out of the Top 5 for the next 4 weeks.

- 2: Becky Lynch (2)

Again, at the number 2 spot we have Becky Lynch. Lynch had a big week, but just missed out on number 1. On RAW, it was announced that she would be reinstated, but under the condition that she would not sue the WWE if she would get further injured in her match with Charlotte at Fastlane. She signed the agreement and we were told about an hour into the show that the winner of the match would be the new RAW Women’s Champion, but we found out that wasn’t the case in the aftermath of RAW. If Becky wins on Sunday, she will be inserted into the main event at WrestleMania, but if she loses she is “done”, in the words of Stephanie McMahon. I think she meant that she wouldn’t be in the WrestleMania match, but nonetheless, a vague word choice. Lynch took a beating on RAW, but the next night, she got her groove back and attacked Charlotte. They are on the verge of overdoing this feud and I personally think that they made this rivalry more confusing than it had to be, but in the end, it works. I say there is literally no chance that Becky Lynch is excluded from the RAW Women’s title match, but it will be interesting to see the story that is told on Sunday.

- 1: Ronda Rousey (1)

Heel Ronda is here! The Top 3 remain unchanged and that means that Ronda Rousey is number one for another week. She simply looked like the strongest superstar in the WWE this week and it is apparent that she will be the heel going into WrestleMania. Fans were waiting for this moment ever since she announced that she was coming to the WWE and we finally got a taste of that on Monday night. The direction that they decided to go in for WrestleMania seems a little jumbled up, but we are here and we have a firm grasp of what is going on. They never should’ve had her place her title in the ring last week, because I’ve never seen someone lay the title down and demand it 7 days later. If they never wanted her to drop the title, it simply shouldn’t have happened. For a couple of hours, we were led to believe that the match at Fastlane between Flair and Lynch was going to be for the “vacated” title and the person that “dropped” the title was automatically given the title back to her? It made no sense, but it did make her look very strong in her promo. I think it is a good possibility that she will get involved with Flair and Lynch’s match, but on the other hand, she may not. I really think they need another angle to keep the feud fresh for another four weeks, but we will see how it all unfolds moving forward.

Yacs

WWE Power Rankings: Week of March 7th - 12th