Welcome to Bleacher Report's coverage and recap of WWE Raw on February 14.
It may have been Valentine's Day, but that doesn't mean the men and women of WWE weren't beating each other up like it was any other day.
Brock Lesnar and Lita both returned to Raw to discuss their upcoming matches at the Elimination Chamber event that takes place Saturday.
Riddle threw himself and Randy Orton and toga party to celebrate winning last week's quiz bowl, and AJ Styles challenged Damian Priest for the United States Championship.
Let's take a look at everything that happened on WWE Raw.
Bobby Lashley and MVP opened the show with a promo talking about the upcoming Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship.
As expected, they were soon joined by one of the challengers to give his retort. Seth Rollins came out and complimented Lashley's outfit before putting over his own shiny suit.
Riddle came out on his scooter wearing a toga to claim he would win the Chamber match. Austin Theory joined them to talk about the lessons he has learned from Vince McMahon.
AJ Styles came out next and said his piece before Lashley verbally trashed everybody in the ring. That is when Lesnar finally made his presence felt.
Theory tried to jump on Lesnar's back and overshot him, so The Beast sent him flying with a German suplex before finishing him off with the F-5.
Grade: C
Analysis
Whenever WWE has a big match with multiple participants at a pay-per-view, we always get at least one segment with all of the Superstars talking in the ring, and it usually happens during the go-home show before the event.
They trot people out at regular intervals to speak a few sentences. It's supposed to hype up the crowd for the upcoming match, and sometimes it works, but this segment was as bland as it gets.
Nothing that happened here was terrible. It just didn't do anything to make the match more interesting. Lesnar taking out Theory was fun, but that was about it.
Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins hyped up tonight's lineup before they went to the ring to battle Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode in tag team action.
Tommaso Ciampa was on commentary to check this out after what happened between him and Ziggler last Tuesday. Ford almost scored the win right away, but Roode broke up the pin and helped his partner take control.
The Showoff had the upper hand until Ford hit a kick to the head. Both men made the tag, and Dawkins began taking it to Roode with a series of high-impact moves.
Roode planted him with a nice spinebuster for a two-count. Ziggler was distracted by Ciampa while the Profits finished off his partner for the win.
Grade: C+
Analysis
This was a short match that seemed designed to push Ziggler's feud with Ciampa more than anything else. Thankfully, the few minutes of action we got had some fun moments.
The Profits winning while Roode took the loss for his team all made sense, especially if WWE wants Ford and Dawkins to be in the tag title scene after RK-Bro and Alpha Academy finish their feud.
After squaring off last week, Priest and Styles met for a rematch with the U.S. title on the line on Monday's show.
They started off trading some stiff strikes that led to Priest taking control for a few moments. Styles dished out a little punishment before The Archer of Infamy hit him with a backbreaker.
The Phenomenal One started to pick up some steam and hit a running forearm. Priest countered the Styles Clash and slammed Styles on his chest for a near-fall.
Styles hit the Pele Kick out of nowhere before sending Priest over the top rope with a clothesline. Priest yanked him to the floor and kicked his legs out from beneath him.
Priest was smart enough to avoid the Phenomenal Forearm before he rolled Styles up for the win.
Grade: B-
Analysis
Everything we saw in this match looked good. There just wasn't enough of it. These two proved they had great chemistry last week, so a lot of people were expecting something a little more competitive this week.
Styles shaking Priest's hand after it was over was a nice touch, but having Styles lose this quickly just days before he steps inside the Elimination Chamber seemed like a weird call.
If Priest had won a long, grueling match, it would have given Styles an excuse for why he would be off his game in the Chamber. Instead, Styles will likely lose that match even though he will be relatively fresh when it happens.
Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin took on the giant Omos in a handicap match that still seemed unfair to the duo despite them having the numbers advantage.
Omos easily pushed Alexander away at first, but Benjamin and Alexander tried to use some double-team tactics to take over.
Omos caught Alexander by the throat during a springboard and hit the two-handed chokeslam for the win.
Grade: C
Analysis
It is never going to be fun to see two talented guys like Alexander and Benjamin getting jobbed out like this, but you have to admit that it worked to make Omos look like a monster.
WWE management clearly sees something in Omos, so we can expect to see him steamroll over more competitors before he likely wins the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 38.
Rhea Ripley and Nikki A.S.H. made their entrances right before a commercial break, so the first couple of minutes took place in the picture-in-picture window.
Ripley seemed to control the pace through most of the break while Nikki just tried to keep her distance and use her wits to outsmart the powerhouse.
They screwed up a spot but quickly recovered so Ripley could hit the Riptide for the win. Liv Morgan was the next competitor to enter the match. They waited until after another break to get started, so Ripley had some time to recover.
Morgan and Ripley had a competitive exchange, but Ripley was able to score the win with the Riptide to advance in the Gauntlet. Her next opponent was Doudrop.
They locked up and struggled for control until Doudrop applied a headlock. Ripley did not go down when she was hit with a shoulder tackle, but she was able to take Doudrop down with one. The two powerhouses each got in some good shots before Ripley hit her finisher to defeat her third opponent.
Bianca Belair was the next entrant. Ripley looked worn-out as they locked up for the first time. The EST was fresh and able to dominate through the commercial break, but Ripley was not going down without a fight. They got several minutes for their section of the match.
Ripley avoided the K.O.D. and hit a missile dropkick for a close two-count. A few moments later, Belair successfully hit the K.O.D. for the pin and the win.
Grade: A
Analysis
Having the participants compete in a Gauntlet match to see who gets to enter the Elimination Chamber last is a good idea in theory, but it still means some people have an unfair advantage by entering the Gauntlet later than others.
Considering WWE had to get through five women, it was a little surprising to see Nikki and Ripley get so much time. It was nice to see their feud highlighted even if the storyline has been a little uneven in terms of quality.
Ripley looked great during her 44 minutes in this match. She has matured into a well-rounded competitor who can think on her feet and make her opponents look good.
She and Doudrop had the best part of this whole thing. That is a pairing WWE should revisit for a title feud down the line. All in all, this was a well-booked Gauntlet match that really highlighted Ripley's talents. The grade for this is mostly for her, but everybody who competed did a good job, too.
Chad Gable gave a long promo about why the Mysterios are cheaters before he and Otis took on Rey and Dominik Mysterio in a tag team match. The Miz and Maryse joined the commentary team to check it out.
The match got started during the commercial. We returned from a break to see Otis controlling Rey with his significant size and power advantage.
Every time Rey tried to create some space, Gable or Otis would ground him with a submission or slam. Dom finally got the tag, and he hit Gable with a series of quick moves to knock him off balance.
He hit a tornado DDT for a two-count and taunted Gable a bit before hitting the Three Amigos. Gable countered the third suplex and hit his own for a near-fall. Rey tagged back in and helped his son take out Otis before he wiped out Gable with a suicide dive.
We returned from another break to see Gable hitting Dom with belly-to-belly suplexes left and right. The Olympian climbed up for a moonsault but had to land on his feet when Dom moved. Rey tagged in and took Gable down with a headscissor.
Rey and Dom drove Otis into the ring post before hitting Gable with the 619. Rey took out The Miz while Dom hit a crossbody, but Gable rolled it over into a pin.
Grade: B+
Analysis
The great thing about tag team wrestling is you can almost always rely on two solid teams to tear the house down when they are given the opportunity.
The Mysterios have developed into a fine-tuned lucha libre machine, but Gable and Otis have been the real stars of this division recently. Whenever they get in the ring, everybody looks good as a result.
The Miz's involvement was necessary for his feud with the Mysterios and did little to take away from the quality of the match, so it all worked out in the end.
The main event of the evening saw Orton take on the man he faced at WrestleMania 31, Rollins.
They were slow to get going as the match started during a commercial break. When they finally locked up, Rollins played some mind games by ducking The Viper and dancing around the ring a bit.
He did it again, but Orton nailed him with a right hand this time. The Visionary was able to get the upper hand and hit a running kick while Orton hung over the apron.
The Legend Killer regained control and suplexed Rollins onto the announce table. He set up for the rope-hung DDT, but Rollins countered and dumped him over the top rope. He hit a flying knee from the apron followed by a suicide dive that sent Orton over the table.
We returned to see Orton trip Rollins on the top turnbuckle. He climbed up with him and hit a massive superplex that put both men down hard.
The Viper went for his signature DDT, but Rollins countered it again and hit a superkick for a near-fall. Orton eventually managed to hit the DDT and an RKO, but before he made the cover, Alpha Academy started to come to the ring.
Riddle tackled them from behind and Orton joined him in the aisle to fight. When he got back in the ring, The Visionary hit a Stomp for the win.
Grade: A
Analysis
WWE put Orton and Rollins in the main event and gave them about 20 minutes to work. Of course this was going to be good. In fact, this might have been their best encounter to date.
Rollins played the perfect heel to Orton's babyface, but the crowd was cheering for both men at different times because they were doing so many cool things.
Even with the shenanigans at the end, this was a fantastic performance. It's hard to pick between this bout and Ripley's performance in the Gauntlet as the Match of the Night.
