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The first Monday Night RAW of 2018 was presented live from Miami, as WWE looked to begin the year on a high note. The first-ever New Year edition of Monday Night RAW promised a lot of high-intensity action and delivered throughout the show.
A lot of excellent segments in the show resulted in a great show from top-to-bottom, with a major Bullet Club reunion being a highlight of the show. A fantastic encounter between Roman Reigns and Samoa Joe once again proved the top-notch chemistry between the two behemoths.
We look at five talking points from this week's Monday Night RAW.
#5: Historical Announcement
Kurt Angle opened the first show of 2018, announcing the rules for the upcoming first-ever Women's Royal Rumble. The anticipation for this history-making moment is rising among the WWE Universe, and the RAW GM answered a few questions about the event.
To further prove that the women wrestlers are by no means lesser than their men counterparts, WWE has made the Royal Rumble for women an over-the-top affair as opposed to the middle rope elimination scheme employed in many women battle royal matches.
The total number of wrestlers participating in this historical event will be thirty, which begs the question as to who could be the surprise entrants in the rumble. Excluding the champions, the current roster features only nineteen women eligible to participate.
A lot of surprises are guaranteed to come our way on 28th of January!
#4: Laughter is not always the best medicine.
The Broken Matt persona debuted in WWE a few weeks ago, and ever since then fans were wondering if WWE will give it the freedom Matt received in TNA. However, WWE seems to have already toned down the Broken Universe and has fixated on Matt's laughter rather than the complete character.
Riding a horse to its death is much commonly observed in WWE, and it seems that they are doing the same with Hardy's laughing schtick. The repeated use of Hardy's weird laughing is making the character lose its novelty.
Not much damage has been done to the Woken persona, but lets hope WWE doesn't make this a trend.
#3: The Balor Club is in full force!
After months of speculation, WWE finally paired up Finn Balor with his former Bullet Club mates, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows. Finn Balor has been doing nothing relevant for the past few months, while the same can be said for the Good Brothers.
The sweet reunion made the WWE Universe go wild, and it remains to be seen whether this ends up being just a one-time thing. These three together have the potential to become a major force to reckon with in WWE, especially with the rise of stables in recent times.
Gallows and Anderson found great success with AJ Styles as their leader back in 2016. Let's hope this group achieves the same fate!
#2: THIS IS AWESOME
Roman Reigns and Samoa Joe faced off yet again, this time with the added stipulation of title change occurring even in a DQ. Both these superstars have a tremendous in-ring presence and have fantastic chemistry with each other, which has resulted in three brilliant encounters in the past.
Samoa Joe is one of MVPs of 2017 in WWE, as his booking has been inch-perfect throughout his main-roster run. Joe might have lost clean against Reigns this week, but his first pinfall loss since July wouldn't harm his position a bit.
His backstage promo with Renee Young was a masterclass, with both Renee and Joe displaying their amazing prowess on the mic.
This was just the second loss in singles action for Samoa Joe since his debut last January, which speaks volumes of how the management perceives the Destroyer. Hopefully, a push to the top of the card comes soon for Joe.
#1: Not again !
Brawls between two heavyweights leading to the entire backstage personnel dropping in to save the day was once a novelty, which has become heavily overused during the past few months. Kane and Lesnar's confrontation in the main-event featured yet another needless intervention, leading to a confused reaction in the arena.
Paul Heyman gave a promo for five minutes and it was the same-old segment with Lesnar standing looking menacing. WWE wasted a Lesnar appearance with a boring and dull segment to close the first show.
What did you think of this week's RAW? Sound off in the comments section below!
