After a less than stellar Fastlane event on Sunday, WWE’s Raw brand needed a big rebound to get everyone excited for the red side of the build to WrestleMania again. With the help of appearances by Brock Lesnar and The Deadman himself, it does feel like momentum is back on the flagship show once again. There was even another quality Cruiserweight Championship match by Neville, so it was a pretty decent night of wrestling.
Although some of what Raw is doing is back on track again, a few specific moments were in defiance of all of that. From a non-pin by Sasha Banks to a strange (but humorous) obsession by Austin Aries to talk about his package, there were plenty of outrageous moments from this night.
Like usual, this is the list that compiles gifs of and comments on many of the moments from WWE that were memorable for some of the wrong reasons. Let’s get to it...
5. Is this WCW?
The outrageousness started early on this episode of Raw and it was all thanks to a very clever fan sign. While Y2J was making his way to the ring in the opening moments, the cameras cut to the audience. There was one eye-catching question right in the middle of the screen: Is this WCW?
Let’s look at the facts: Bill Goldberg is carrying the top title. Chris Jericho is carrying the United States Championship and is arguably the most entertaining character in the entire company. There’s even a Cruiserweight division that’s been holding its own as of late. This does sound suspiciously like WCW in its heyday.
It would probably be silly to speculate on any theories that all of wrestling might’ve accidentally crossed over into an alternate dimension in which Ted Turner won the Monday Night Wars and the two realities are now slowly bleeding together. Yes, that would be silly, but... if La Parka shows up next Monday night, then we should be worried.
4. Austin Aries’ package
As seen with his physical altercation with Neville, Austin Aries is ready for in-ring competition again and that’s a very good thing. Immediately before his interview-turned-brawl, Austin Aries set up a video package that was first aired at Fastlane. Just like on Sunday, Aries decided to go for some non-PG humour by focusing on the alternative uses of the word ‘package.’
It’s notable that Austin didn’t have his signature banana inside of his pocket. Perhaps he was merely happy to see us? Anyways, it was hilarious watching Michael Cole try to keep it together while Austin delivered his lines.
3. CM Punk chants for Goldberg
It was expected that Chicago was going to chant for their former favourite Straight Edge Superstar, but did they have to do so at this point during Bill Goldberg’s promo? Immediately before this highlight of The Universal Champion coping with the inappropriate chants by bobbing his head in a very goofy manner, Bill told the audience that he was about to divulge some personal information. This was info of something he’d never shared before.
Also read: 5 Botches, slip-ups, and outrageous moments from WWE Fastlane 2017
WWE was prepared for the CM Punk chants and had Paul Heyman come out right after they started, but what was Goldberg going to say here? Will we ever find out or did Chicago ruin this potential bombshell for all of us?
2. Clearly not a pin
So there was confusion on Monday night over who Bayley might be facing at WrestleMania. After a long promo that featured Mick Foley, Stephanie McMahon, and an arena full of Chicagoans cheering for CM Punk, it was decided that Sasha Banks would join Bayley and Charlotte in a triple threat match if she could beat the Women’s Champ in a singles match right then and there.
This chosen moment from this contest happened when the pair were exchanging several pin attempts. During this particular attempt, Sasha’s left leg was noticeably underneath Bayley’s shoulder. The ref was even counting on that side, where he could directly see that her shoulder was not down. Luckily, this wasn’t a three count anyway but that ref really should get an eye exam.
1. Roman’s yard now
WWE has questionably chosen how they present Roman Reigns to the WWE Universe over the past couple of years. No matter what they try with The Big Dog, he just can’t win the masses over. This leaves many to ponder why WWE doesn’t just embrace a heel turn.
The Undertaker at WrestleMania will always be cheered, which makes everything about Roman right now outrageous. There are only two possibilities of what’s going on: either WWE has finally embraced the heel that the fans portray him as, or WWE has absolutely lost their minds and thinks that fans in some way cheer Roman in a feud like this.
Either way, at least it’s interesting.
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