Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus – Raw, March 1
Likely for a lot of fans, Sheamus’s return to the WWE was initially quite underwhelming – feuding with Chad Gable (then Shorty G) over his height and a line-crossing rivalry with Jeff Hardy where a particular segment had ‘The Celtic Warrior’ getting urine splashed in his face. However, his work on the Raw in the recent week has gained Sheamus more credibility and believability.
The perception is that Raw has been rapidly tumbling downhill over the last year – however, Drew and Sheamus did their level-best to disprove that on Raw on the March 1st edition. Former friends in the storyline, the duo had one hell of a hoss-fest in a no-frills, hard-hitting match.
A PPV-worthy contest, it featured stolen moves, numerous kick-outs, and some nasty interactions on the outside. All strikes and power moves, it was not technical but rather intense and dominating until the end.
After 15 minutes of intense and stiff action, it ended with a nicely co-ordinated moment in which a Brogue Kick was countered into a Claymore – giving Drew the hard-fought win. Although the predictable outcome, it did not take away from the grittiness and greatness of this bout.
This is only the first of a trilogy of matches between the 2, following it up with a no DQ match the next week on Raw as well as a match at Fastlane. All of which were great, barbaric hoss matches.