The road to Wrestlemania continued on Monday night WWE Raw took place from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.
The show did feature a match between Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman. Brock Lesnar was advertised for the show but only appeared in a segment after the show. Undertaker did appear on the show and will get into that topic in a few moments.
We are 12 days away from the biggest event of the year for WWE. There were plenty of questions heading into the second-to-last Raw before Wrestlemana. Let’s see if they were answered.
1) What can we expect out of the Reigns vs. Strowman match? While it wasn’t the match that occurred in their match at Fastlane a few weeks ago, but it was still a good match. Reigns and Strowman bring the best out of each other which is a surprise considering the former member of the Wyatt Family hasn’t been in the ring too long and Reigns has good matches with the top guys. The ending was perfect as you didn’t want either guy taking a loss here on an episode. Save the finish for a pay-per-view affair.
Undertaker was good in his role here. He gave Strowman a chokeslam which could lead to a match down the line. The look on his face after the chokeslam knowing the spear was coming was priceless. It built more anticipation for a match going in people are still leery about it.
2) Is this Mick Foley's last show as General Manager? WWE didn’t wait too long to give us an answer. Foley was great here reading the index saying he was humbled by the fans, thanking Stephanie McMahon and Triple H for the opportunity the last nine months, didn’t want to be a distraction heading into Wrestlemania, he would be taking a leave of absence and then tearing the cards up into shreds.
The last two weeks were Foley’s best work since he returned. Too bad WWE didn’t let Foley just be himself. Could have made for better TV. Foley is heading off for his long awaited hip surgery hence why the story line took place. We hope for a speedy recovery and we see “The Hardcore Legend” back on our television sets real soon.
3. Does Chris Jericho reveal the 'real' Kevin Owens? Jericho promised he would expose the 'real' Owens on the latest edition of "The Highlight Reel". And he delivered on the promise starting with showing a 16-year Owens in a Y2J shirt surrounded by wrestling posters. The U.S. champion went on to show an exchange between the two on Direct Message on Twitter asking for tips on how to not “pissing people off”.
Samoa Joe then came out and Owens attacked him from behind and beat him to a pulp. A well done segment. It was funny seeing Owens in the Jericho shirt and showing the messages. Showed that Owens looked up to Jericho and wanted to build a friendship with him. The heat for this match has been built really well as Wrestlemania inches closer.
4) Do we get clarity in the women's title match for Wrestlemania? Early in the show, Stephanie McMahon told Bayley since she stood up for Foley she would be facing Nia Jax later in the show and if the latter wins, she would be inserted into the triple threat match for the women’s title at Wrestlemania.
Jax did win the match and it is now a fatal-four way for the belt. Dana Brooke didn’t end up so lucky as she had a match and lost to Charlotte. The match made no sense. It should have been built up for after Wrestlemania and build the feud.
