5 botches and outrageous moments from WWE Raw (February 5, 2018)

WWE Elimination Chamber is the next big shindig for the Raw brand and the show is slowly taking shape. Kurt Angle informed us on Raw about the women competing in the women's chamber match, The Miz and Roman Reigns won their way into the men's match and Elias surprisingly defeated John Cena and Braun Strowman to earn the coveted spot of the last entrant. Raw furthered the path to that big show, but also encountered a few speed bumps along the way.

This was mostly a night that focused on sketchy dialogue as John Cena was a tad too loud in the ring, Nia blatantly lied in her post-match promo and Corey Graves took a shot at his former colleague. The in-ring action mostly got a pass this week, minus one bad landing from the Cruiserweight Tag Match. That fall from Alicia Fox's former boyfriend starts off this week's list, so let's get to it.

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#5 Bad landing for Cedric

Cedric Alexander found himself crotched on the top rope while in a tag match alongside Mustafa Ali against Drew Gulak & Tony Nese. Gulak came at him from off of the ropes, hitting him with a decent clothesline.

It looked like Cedric was hoping to flip completely over and onto his belly, but that's not what happened. He instead landed awkwardly on his neck and shoulder. In the moment, the announce desk speculated that he may have suffered some serious damage. Corey Graves stated that if there wasn't any internal damage then he'd be shocked.

Alexander was thankfully fine and went on to deliver a gorgeous Lumbar Check to Gulak to close out the contest.

#4 Tongue tied Kurt

Kurt Angle, the legend that he is, hasn't been 100% smooth on the microphone in this current General Manager run. He occasionally flubs what he says, like when he recently added a random 'r' to Stephanie McMahon's last name. He's still an all-time great, even if he needs to take a moment from time to time to think about what he's about to say.

One of those moments happened on Raw as he tried to talk about the first ever Women's Elimination Chamber Match. To his credit, he didn't mispronounce anything so there was no fault in that sense. This was just an extended pause, allowing him a few precious extra seconds for those Olympic brain cells to send his script properly to his mouth.

#3 Calling spots

John Cena may be one of the best in-ring performers of this generation, but he's also one of the most notorious spot callers in the business. The man simply does not care if his directions are heard by more than the people he occupies the ring with. One of those moments came through loud and clear on this episode of Raw.

Braun Strowman laid waste to both Cena and Elias after their main event matchup had concluded, giving them a succession of running powerslams. After this specific one to John, his voice was clear to every live viewer that he wanted 'The Monster Among Men' to take his time. It was so important that he repeated the command. Braun then kindly halted in obedience.

#2 Nia spoke lies

Nia Jax has a big opportunity coming up at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. If she defeats Asuka, then she will be added as the third participant in the Raw Women's Championship Match. She took to the mic after her quick squash win to talk trash against 'The Empress of Tomorrow'.

Nia bragged about being the only woman that Asuka could not beat, which is blatantly false. First of all, Asuka is currently on an extended undefeated streak that includes her time both in NXT and on Raw. Second, Nia has faced off against Asuka. Since Asuka is still undefeated, Jax should know that the words that came out of her mouth probably did nothing to intimidate Asuka.

It would be hard to fathom that Asuka will end her undefeated streak at Elimination Chamber when WrestleMania is so close. But then again, nobody would've called Bayley winning the Raw Women's Championship last year on a random Monday night in February for the first time when they could've saved it for 'Mania, but that happened too.

#1 A jab at Booker T

The Booker T vs. Corey Graves' war of words that began on Heated Conversations and continued on Twitter made its way onto WWE's flagship program. As the announce team watched Bayley make her entrance, Corey made a remark towards The Coach that could only be interpreted as a jab at the most recent departure from the Raw table.

Threatening Johnathon Coachman that he'd be sent to afternoon radio only makes sense if it was really meant for Booker. This whole rivalry doesn't make any sense if it's a work because what's the payoff? It won't end in the ring and it's not like they're planning any sort of events outside of WWE. They must legitimately dislike each other, or they've worked us all.

Hopefully, we get more of a short explanation as to why the two want to throw real fisticuffs. It's a good thing Booker has his own radio show and has already given some insight into this matter. In the coming weeks, let's hope we hear more as to what's going on.

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