The much-hyped Superstar Shakeup kicked off on Monday Night Raw, bringing surprise appearances from former SmackDown stars. While there were many Raw newcomers that weren’t all that groundbreaking, several bigger stars like Dean Ambrose, The Miz, and Alexa Bliss did make an impact.
Dean had the best night of them all, defeating Kevin Owens in the main event. These roster flips are fresh opportunities for entertaining new feuds in the coming year and so far, it seems off to a good start. However, this episode also saw old feuds continue as one crushing behemoth, who is a former member of the Wyatt Family might be off to too good of a start if that’s possible.
In one of the most outrageous backstage attacks ever, Braun Strowman interrupted an interview to assault Roman Reigns repeatedly. The attacks just increased in intensity, with the grand finale being one of the featured moments in this edition of this article.
Other moments on this list include a rough landing for a Charlotte Moonsault, an Elias Samson main roster debut that was simply odd, and one of the funniest crowd chants towards Roman Reigns ever.
So strap on in, especially if you’re in a motor vehicle near Roman Reigns, and prepare for the 5 most outrageous and botchiest moments from this night of Raw in New York.
#6 Face to shoulder
Charlotte might’ve seen her life pass before her life on Monday Night Raw, and it was all because of a very awkward looking shoulder-breaker by Nia Jax. Instead of dropping her on her knee shoulder-first, the girl who’s not like most girls instead performed a face to knee variation. Yikes, this looked awful.
Thankfully, no serious injuries occurred as a result of this move. Still, Charlotte might be crossing her fingers for a brand switch to SmackDown after this.
#5 Xavier didn’t get all of that elbow
If Michael Cole remarks that your elbow drop didn’t quite get the clearance you had hoped for, then it’s fair game for this article.
After Xavier tried his best to nail this coast to coast elbow drop, a move he’s had no trouble with countless times in the past, the Raw lead announcer said, “I don’t think Xavier got all of the elbow, Corey.” He didn’t, as he clearly landed feet-first well before impact well before apppearing to hit his opponent.
Woods & Big E would go on to lose to Dawson & Wilder in this one. This is the second week in a row that New Day have tasted defeat at the hands of Revival. Perhaps back to back jobs to put over the new team means that WWE’s longest reigning tag champs are jumping over to the blue brand?
#4 The debut of Elias Samson, sort of
Despite the singles match between Charlotte and Nia Jax happening in the foreground, the real action here is in the stands.
NXT’s Elias Samson carried his guitar casually through the audience while the match was going on, an appearance that wasn’t addressed by the commentary team and wasn’t even noticed by the crowd until he was completely out of the view of the hard camera.
At first, this was quite a perplexing moment. Was this a brilliant cosplayer who strangely wanted to dress like The Drifter and not his way more over alter-ego, El Vagabundo? Or was it actually Samson, completely distracting from the action in the ring with no payoff whatsoever in the immediate moment?
The answers to those questions came later when Elias drifted out onto the entrance ramp prior to the 8-man tag match. Even so, he didn’t really do anything other than walking around for a moment. Did The Drifter truly debut on Raw or was he just lost and confused?
#3 Nia Jax ate a foot
Charlotte typically only pulls out the moonsault for the big matches, so kudos to her for doing all that she could to put Nia Jax over in what was likely her last Raw match before switching brands. Nia can be thankful for the clean win, but it’s likely that she wasn’t too happy about the landing of this high-risk manoeuvre.
Michael Cole was quick to remark that the Queen’s boot hit her opponent right in the face. During the replay, Corey Graves said that the impact was on her neck and shoulders. From what can be seen in the highlight above, it appears that they're both right. Charlotte’s left leg invaded Nia’s entire head and upper torso area. SmackDown beware.
#2 Roman deserves it
Roman is still the babyface here, yet this Long Island crowd went for the jugular when they chanted, “You Deserve It” to Roman as he was being strapped to a gurney. That’s more savage than the time the SmackDown audience offered the same phrase to Dolph Ziggler after he received his Miz Participation Award.
No matter how bad Triple H might spin that Roman is actually the bad guy because 70 percent of the audience already boos him, WWE doesn’t book him as a heel and that’s what matters. This is without a doubt one of the most brutal fan reactions he’s gotten till date. And that speaks volumes given that last week he was chewed alive by the crowd.
That’s why the fans are so rowdy towards him and why Braun was able to have his own Austin 3:16-level of a moment after savagely beating Roman over and over again on Raw. The WWE Universe will treat anyone like a hero if they’re attacking someone they despise.
#1 Braun flipped an ambulance
Outrageous might be too tame of a word to describe this once-in-a-lifetime Raw moment. Braun kept attacking Roman Reigns, leaving, then returning to amp up his attack to a whole new level.
This kept happening over and over until the glorious climax was finally upon us: Braun Strowman flipped over an ambulance with his bare hands that had Roman Reigns inside of it.
This was legendary - a defining moment that proves WWE is actually capable of booking a rising star correctly. Braun is a beast and WWE should give him all the belts, even though the man holding the Universal Championship isn’t showing up again for a long time.
If this is merely the beginning of a build to the next PPV, then I for one look forward to the even larger machine with a combustion engine that Strowman will be flinging next.
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