PWP Nation Editor, Zack Heydorn, analyzes five topics from this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw.
5. Bayley shines when telling her story to the WWE Universe
Tonight, Bayley and Charlotte both had sit down interviews with Corey Graves to further their story before their match Sunday at the Royal Rumble. Bayley shined. Bayley is as over as she is because she is able to tap into her passion for wrestling and relate that back to the WWE Universe that cheers her. When she is able to detail that passion, she really provides the perfect base for her character. More of this, WWE. It’s working.
4. Give WWE credit with the Rollins/HHH story progression
I don’t care what you say. You didn’t see that coming tonight. We all figured Seth Rollins would get screwed by HHH at the Royal Rumble to setup their match for WrestleMania 33. Not so. Rollins lost his match to Sami Zayn due to a distraction from HHH’s entrance music tonight and now Seth is on the outside looking in come Sunday. It remains to be seen whether it was a smart booking decision or not. Too early to tell. But, the swerve was a breath of fresh air. Props to WWE. It will be fun to see where they go with this story this weekend.
3. Braun Strowman needs a big showing against major main event legends at the Royal Rumble
Tonight after he won the match for his 4-man team, Braun Strowman went face to face with the Big Show. After an intense one minute stare down, Strowman backed away from Show and made his cowardly walk to the back. Last week he did the same thing when confronted by Brock Lesnar. The thing is, Braun Strowman isn’t a coward. That isn’t the character the WWE has been building for months. He’s a monster. A monster afraid of nobody. Now, I get the need to promote the Rumble match and save big moments like Strowman/Big Show for the match itself. Strowman’s character was sacrificed a little to make that happen. It’s imperative that the WWE give Strowman this moment against a Lesnar, Show, or even Undertaker to insure the sacrifice was worth it.
2. Sasha Banks and Nia Jax have built themselves a nice feud
The feud between Sasha Banks and Nia Jax has heat. When the two got put together after Sasha’s run with Charlotte it appeared that it was simply filler material for Banks. Now, its one of the most over feuds on Raw. Nia Jax is clicking on all cylinders as the Braun Strowman of the women’s division and Sasha Banks is playing the babyface role perfectly. It’s clicking. The success starts with Sasha. She is so over that anything she touches turns to gold. Props to Nia too as she is keeping up and looking like a viable monster. They work well together and need a big setting for a match as soon as possible.
1. Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, and The Undertaker – that’s how you promote a match
When the Royal Rumble poster was released over a week ago, WWE caught a lot of resentment for featuring their part-time stars on the front of it. Fast-forward to tonight and we now all know why. The main event segment of the night featuring Goldberg was interrupted by surprise appearances by Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker with the show ending as the three of them had a stare down in the ring. The reaction all three guys got was the biggest of the night and you couldn’t help but want them to start brawling. It’ll cost you $9.99 to see. These guys are on the front of posters for a reason: they sell.
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#4. Don’t care what I say, just read it. I tweeted before the match that tonight was the night Trips screwed Seth, not the Rumble.
It was a fantastic swerve though!