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What's the story?
With less than four weeks left for WrestleMania, Monday Night RAW delivered in a big way this past week. The show included a storyline suspension, the foundation for a much-awaited dream match was laid, among other things.
Wrestling Inc. has now reported that the fans in attendance were apparently not very happy after the cameras stopped rolling.
In case you didn’t know…
Brock Lesnar was absent from the show yet again, which led to Roman Reigns confronting Vince McMahon, who ended up suspending Reigns for his actions. John Cena called out The Undertaker in an incredible promo, thus setting up their eventual confrontation at WrestleMania.
Other portions of the show saw Nia Jax finally snapping after hearing Alexa Bliss talking trash about her; and the closing segment of the show saw Braun Strowman single-handedly beating the entire Raw Tag Team division, without a tag team partner.
The heart of the matter
There is usually a dark match/segment, after the cameras stop rolling, on Monday Night Raw each week. This week too, an 8-man tag match was scheduled with The Bar, Kane and The Miz set to take on Braun Strowman, John Cena, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. However, the scheduled match never took place.
Also, Brock Lesnar was heavily advertised for the show this week and so was Ronda Rousey, but both the Superstars were absent from the show.
Understandably, the fans were upset since they didn't exactly get what they were promised. WWE might have kept Brock Lesnar off the show deliberately, in their attempt to get fans to boo Lesnar and cheer Reigns in their confrontation at 'Mania, but it is not yet clear why Ronda Rousey was not present, or why the dark match was canceled.
What's next?
With less than a month left for WrestleMania, the next three Raw shows will be of utmost importance, as they will have to build up all the WM feuds in a way that gets fans invested in the story.
Next week's Raw will emanate from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. Brock Lesnar is scheduled to show up yet again.
Author's take
It might not be a very big deal for the TV audience if a Superstar doesn't appear on a show, but the fans at the Arena pay good money to see their favourite Superstars in action and it is only natural that they will be upset, if they don't feel like they got their money's worth from the show.
