Pre- Show stuffs
- I thought the graphic for Jimmy Snuka was appropriate and about as far as WWE needed to take it. I'll end that there.
- WWE's MLK day tributes have always been awesome. Nobody does production like them.
Opening segment
- Roman Reigns reminds us he was in the Shield like "Remember!!? You used to like me!"
- Stop saying "you see" in wrestling promos. It's a weak transition.
- Heyman, JeriKO, Rollins, Lesnar, Strowman came out. It really put over how loaded the match is.
- Zayn attacks Strowman, and everyone gets suplexed. Except Strowman, who backs away from Lesnar.
- I would NEVER have Strowman back down from anyone. Ever.
- Regardless, this put over the Royal Rumble pretty well.
Enzo and Cass defeated Rusev & Jinder Mahal
- I suspect this is the start of a proper Enzo & Cass push.
- Not a lot to the match, but why are Rusev & Lana heels again? Because they're a couple? Okay.
Ariya Daivari defeated Lince Dorado
- Another match I could have missed.
- Why even have these guys if you're going to throttle them!?
Raw Tag Team Championships
Guns N' Gallows defeated Sheasaro (c) via DQ
- THIS is why you bring in a Gallows and Anderson. Let them do what they do.
- I'll never not be impressed by Cesaro's strength.
- This was just phenomenal stuff...until the end.
- The ref gets hit, and Gallows and Anderson get the pin. The original ref changes the decision to a DQ.
- So Anderson and Gallows are babyfaces, yeah? They got fucked Ron Jeremy style.
- That finish was flat out insulting.
Other stuffs
- We see Nia Jax attack Sasha Banks before the show. I loved it. More stuff like this! They used hard camera footage. Great! Nia cut a decent backstage promo later, too.
- Jimmy Snuka video. Ok.
- Neville attacks Rich Swann in the middle of a video package. That doesn't happen a lot, and it was a nice twist. Michael Cole really sold it.
Big E (w/New Day) defeated Titus O'Neil to retain his Rumble spot.
- Titus challenged New Day for one of their spots in the Rumble match. This was hilariously awkward.
- This may have been the best Titus match I've ever seen.
- Titus landed a really awesome Dominator on Big E. That was cool to see.
- Not a bad match at all.
Charlotte takes a doody on Bayley's dreams
- I saw a lot of people crap on this segment, but I thought it did a lot to humanize Bayley. Most people have been in the position Bayley was in when Charlotte showed pictures of her idolizing WWE Superstars.
- Charlotte was pretty terrible at at-libbing during this, though.
- This was a lot of corny, turdy, crap, but to little kids, I'm sure it was cool.
Cedric Alexander defeats Brian Kendrick
- This is the type of action I want to see from the cruiserweights.
- Alexander almost killed Kendrick with an Arabian press, but it was pretty awesome.
- The ref was just cool with Alicia Fox helping Alexander cheat? HE WATCHED IT HAPPEN.
- Brian Kendrick with an unbelievable sell of the Lumbar Check! Wow!
- Austin Aries is excellent on commentary now.
- Alexander not falling for Alicia's shit was good. Nobody wants to cheer for a dumbass.
- Alicia was PHENOMENALLY crazy in her backstage interview. I don't really care what you all say about the character being overdone, nobody has played crazy better than Alicia Fox
KIRK ANGEL!
- I'm so thrilled Kurt Angle is back working with WWE and in the Hall of Fame. It feels right.
Sami Zayn, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins vs. Braun Strowman & JeriKO
- This was a lot slower than I thought.
- Rollins may have to stop doing the slingblade after Balor comes back. It's Balor's only move that isn't a kick.
- Match picked up at the end, but was a far cry from the great six-man tags of the Shield era.
- The Rollins/Reigns laying out Strowman, I'm cool with. After a match, a chair, a spear. Not bad.
- The lack of commentary is making this kind of cool. Reigns speared the shit out of Strowman. Stiff one.
- The wrestlers and the crowd are telling this story and it's really cool.
Overall Thoughts
- A strong start and finish to the show fell victims to three hours and a dusty finish.
- There was a lot of promise on this show, but 6+ hours a week is a lot to ask.
- If you toss out the Enzo/Cass and Daivari match, I'd say it was a pretty good Raw.
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