What’s the story?
The Undertaker returned to Monday Night Raw during the match between Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns. The Undertaker would then choke slam Strowman, turn around, and eat a spear from Reigns. After Reigns left the ring, The Undertaker would do his trademark sit-up and stare Reigns down.
The events from RAW mean The Monster Among Men could interfere in the Taker-Reigns match and play a big role in the eventual outcome.
This confirms speculation from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the WWE was reportedly looking to do something special for this week’s episode of Raw.
In case you didn’t know...
This match was set up at the Royal Rumble when Reigns eliminated The Undertaker and the two had a long stare down. The two would not interact until the night after Fastlane when The Undertaker hit Reigns with a choke slam to signify their match at WrestleMania 33.
Many fans predicted that The Undertaker would interfere in the Fastlane match between Reigns and Strowman to prevent either man from looking weak and keep both men looking strong heading into WrestleMania, but that did not occur and Reigns beat Strowman clean in the ring.
The heart of the matter
This is the finish that everyone was hoping for in the Fastlane match between Reigns and Strowman, but the WWE decided to hold it for some reason. To do this now, after Strowman’s undefeated streak is gone seems like nothing more than a reminder of what should’ve happened weeks ago.
Despite looking weak in the build up, Strowman could make a big statement at WrestleMania 33 by influencing the outcome.
What’s next?
The match between Reigns and The Undertaker is already a lock for WrestleMania 33 and the two will likely have one more segment on next week’s Raw. Strowman will likely announce his entry into the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on next week’s episode as well.
Tune into Monday Night Raw next week to see how the WWE hypes the matches of their biggest pay-per-view of the year.
Author’s take
This move may not have been the smartest thing in the world for WWE to do. Fans got behind Strowman slowly but surely, as the brand split progressed and he was, in many people’s opinion, one of the highlights of the show.
Then, the WWE decided to have Reigns and Strowman feud at the C-Level pay-per-view Fastlane, instead of making it a WrestleMania match and giving fans the match they wanted to see between The Undertaker and John Cena.
After ignoring the fans and sticking to their agenda, the WWE decided to do the Reigns-Taker match instead, while leaving Strowman and Reigns to use up a potentially interesting matchup at an irrelevant show.
Everyone predicted the outcome that would make everybody look good and set the Reigns-Taker feud in motion, but the WWE decided to have Reigns beat Strowman there and then have The Undertaker interfere weeks later.
If the ideology behind delaying was that it wouldn’t be predictable, then that also failed because fans were expecting it to happen for the rematch as soon as it was announced.
This was a stupid booking decision that benefitted no one and only reminds the fans of how frustrating the WWE can be. Unless Strowman interferes in The Undertaker match, then this was a dumb decision that made no sense and will have no payoff.
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