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#5 (BEST): The RAW Gauntlet
Remember when Seth Rollins used to casually tear the house down whenever he used to step in the ring on TV and PPV? His matches with the likes of Cena, Lesnar, Ambrose, Neville and many more were what made him "The Man" before his knee injury.
Fast forward to the start of 2018 and Rollins was not the same "man" anymore. Lackluster matches, a mistimed babyface turn and a directionless character were just a few reasons for his mediocrity at the time 2018 rolled in.
One fateful night on RAW in February though, everything changed. What started as the opening segment to the 3-hour broadcast soon took up just under 2/3rd of the entire show's run-time and ended up becoming one of the best editions to the Monday Night show in recent memory.
Building towards the Elimination Chamber match a few days away, all the participants were involved in a tremendously put together Gauntlet match which saw Seth Rollins wrestle for over an hour alone and beating the two poster boys of WWE, Roman Reigns and John Cena clean one after the other in the process.
It was a rare star-making performance that was missing from Rollins all this time, but which came at the best time of the year heating him up in the build towards WrestleMania.
What worked for this match was also the fact that RAW almost always opens with an unnecessarily dragged promo segment from an authority figure which accomplishes nothing other than booking an uninspiring tag team match for the main event of the same show.
Seeing the best competitors on Monday nights involved in a wrestling match to open the show was a very fresh approach, driving away from the template WWE has been accustomed to using for years now.
We just hope WWE feels more comfortable trying these unique presentation techniques for its 3-hour flagship show, considering that this edition had the highest second hour ratings since the packed RAW 25 show.
