WWE Raw Results: Biggest Winners, Losers and Moments from February 23

On the heels of the Fastlane pay-per-view, World Wrestling Entertainment rolled into Nashville, Tennessee, for the February 23 episode of Monday Night Raw and wasted little time laying the groundwork for WrestleMania 31.

Just 24 hours after earning the right to challenge Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the biggest match on the grandest stage known to sports-entertainment, Roman Reigns earned the respect of rival Daniel Bryan and issued a warning to Lesnar via the champ's advocate, Paul Heyman.

To cap off the momentous evening, he teamed with Bryan to pick up a huge win over The Authority's Seth Rollins and Randy Orton.

Speaking of The Viper, he returned to Raw for the first time since November and inexplicably opted to rejoin the faction that was responsible for beating him down and leaving him sidelined for three months. Why he made such a curious decision, and when he reveals his master plan, remains to be seen, but what is certain is that there is an RKO in Rollins' future. 

Bray Wyatt again targeted The Undertaker in his promo, continuing the build to what should be a psychological war by the time March 29 arrives.

Ryback, Curtis Axel and The Miz all announced their entries into the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, Tyson Kidd and Cesaro again got the last laugh over The Usos thanks to the innocent-no-more Natalya, Dolph Ziggler defeated WWE intercontinental champion Bad News Barrett in a non-title match, and The Prime Time Players upset The Ascension just one week after their unexpected reunion.

With Fastlane in the rearview mirror and WrestleMania on the horizon, WWE produced a show that addressed the majority of the programs it seems intent on presenting at The Showcase of the Immortals.

Which Superstars emerged from Monday's broadcast on the right track? Which are in desperate need of some momentum as the biggest show of the year approaches?

Find out now with the winners and losers from the February 23 episode of Raw.

Winner: John Cena

The face of WWE has earned the reputation of a Superstar who straddles the line of intensely serious and laughably over-the-top when he attempts to be angry in his promos. Monday night, he was phenomenal as he addressed United States champion Rusev just 24 hours after losing to the Super-Athlete at Fastlane.

It was alright that Rusev ran down Cena, calling him a broken old man who went against his credo and gave up. What was not okay was when The Bulgarian Brute and his Ravishing Russian manager, Lana, turned their attention to the United States.

Cena was passionate as he responded to Rusev's threats, finishing by threatening to kick his ass at WrestleMania.

There was no hint of a smile, no misguided bravado. Instead, it was a man standing up for himself, standing up for his country and doing so in the face of a competitor whose dominance and destruction are well documented. The lack of jokes, smirking and pandering to the crowd helped with the overall quality of the segment.

As the program with Rusev continues on, similar performances from Cena will do as much for the young Russian defector than any win ever could.

Loser: Bad News Barrett

It is almost depressing to watch WWE's use of Bad News Barrett at this point.

The intercontinental champion continues to lose non-title matches against everyone from proverbial jobbers such as R-Truth and Sin Cara to Dolph Ziggler, who again defeated the Brit on Raw.

If that was not bad enough, Truth sat in on commentary, and Dean Ambrose appeared after the match, reminding fans that the current champion has lost to them all at one point or another over the last month.

Superstars such as Ziggler and Luke Harper worked hard to bring credibility back to the IC title late in 2014. To see the title taken off The Showoff and put on Barrett, only for all of the legitimacy to be wiped away by repeated losses, is disappointing.

Even worse is to realize just how badly WWE Creative has taken a character like Bad News Barrett, who was so incredibly over last spring, and torn him down to the point that he is a shell of the persona that captivated fans prior to his latest injury.

For now, both Barrett and his championship may be attracting attention on the midcard, but it is almost exclusively because of the challengers, not the champion.

Winner: Bray Wyatt

After months of cutting pretaped promos and picking up wins over the likes of Dolph Ziggler in matches that really had no meaning, Bray Wyatt once again appears motivated thanks to a meaty role as the latest challenger to The Undertaker.

At Fastlane, The Reaper of Souls mentioned the fact that The Deadman was a broken man, a shell of himself. It was a great way to follow up on The Phenom's loss to Lesnar at last year's WrestleMania. Now, without the crutch of The Streak storyline for WWE Creative to lean on, they actually have to work to come up with something fresh, original and worthwhile to convince Undertaker to step back inside the squared circle.

It appears that they have.

The "new face of fear" nickname that Wyatt has given himself is apropos. He has picked up where The Deadman left off, implementing mind games and using darker images and tactics to manipulate and intimidate his opponents. 

Wyatt is the one man who will not be affected by Undertaker's use of parlor tricks and theatricality, meaning the legendary star will have to find a new way to approach to the rivalry.

How he does that and if it succeeds remains to be seen, but over the past 48 hours, Wyatt has done a magnificent job of laying the groundwork for a program that will undoubtedly be one of the highest profile on this year's WrestleMania card.

Losers: The WWE Divas

Never before has WWE Creative and management's disrespect for its female workers been more evident than Monday night's Raw.

After under 30 seconds of action, Brie Bella pinned Emma to pick up a big tag team victory for The Bella Twins over Paige and her Australian partner.

How is anyone expected to care about the performers, or the story they tell, when they have less than one minute to have a match? It is not only incredibly disrespectful to put the women in that role but disrespectful to the audience as well.

For WWE to suggest to the fans that something is important enough to make it onto television, then treat it and the performers the way it did Monday night, is ridiculous.

Paige and Emma are world-class professional wrestlers, and The Bella Twins have made tremendous strides as workers over the last year. To be allowed so little time to have a match, a match that is conceivably meant to be the latest chapter in a story that will culminate at WrestleMania, is detrimental to all involved.

Perhaps Vince McMahon needs to take a look at the product his son-in-law produces every Wednesday night if he wants an idea of what women are capable of in 21st century sports-entertainment.