Monday Night RAW Updates/Discussion/Spoilers

[Cory]

Reigns did not turn? So what was him coming out at #30 for? Im actually starting to feel bad for the guy. Now he's gonna work a program with Strowman where he's the assumed face but the fans shit on even more cause of the RR shenanigans.

[Kieran King]

I feel like Reigns coming out at 30 was just so the crowd wouldn't shit all over Orton winning, which they definitely would have had it been anyone else in the final 2 with him.

[Duckman]

Joe, Joe, Joe!!  Great to see him on RAW and into a main event feud right away.  More of this please WWE.

[Jon]

I much prefer Joe debuting on Raw, doing what he did, then come in at #30 in the Rumble.

I feel like Reigns coming out at 30 was just so the crowd wouldn't shit all over Orton winning, which they definitely would have had it been anyone else in the final 2 with him.

Bingo.

[Mike Powers]

But Orton is being praised more so than anytime in the last several years since this Wyatt angle started?

[T-Bonizzle]

Balor was slated for #30, but had to get cleared by the medical staff. I guess he wasn't cleared.

[¿PapaPancho?]

Balor was slated for #30, but had to get cleared by the medical staff. I guess he wasn't cleared.

Source?

[Kieran King]

But Orton is being praised more so than anytime in the last several years since this Wyatt angle started?

True. His in-ring work is superb (I can't wait for him and AJ to finally work together) and his character is more interesting than it has been in years. But people still have a mindset that the Rumble should be making a new star, or at the very least not being given as often to people who have already won it. The only person in the last 5 years to win the Rumble for the first time was freaking Roman Reigns himself. Otherwise it's been Cena, Batista, Triple H and now Orton. Plus, the Rumble crowd is fairly smarkish. You could feel them deflate when guys like Jericho and Zayn were eliminated. For a moment I allowed myself to think that Wyatt was going to win, and I would rather see the Orton vs. Wyatt storyline play out at WrestleMania that way. But alas, it was not to be.

Don't get me wrong, I don't actually hate that Orton won. Out of the last 5 winners, his was the most surprising, and he's great at what he does. But the only other way aside from Reigns I can think of to not have had the crowd groan that it wasn't one of the smark-favourites would be to have had someone like Lesnar or Goldberg the last eliminated.

[Cory]

Here's my thing now being about to look at what they did on Raw with Joe.

Firstly the overwhelming point isn't who won, or even Reigns coming in at 30....it was more so with this being branded as the most unpredictable rumble of the decade and literally outside of a gimmicky Ty Dillinger #10 entry which everyone knew was gonna happen there was zero surprises and thats why the Reigns at 30 sucked because that final spot SURELY was going to be the big surprise and it ended up being the troll of all trolls...even more than when Rey came out a few years ago when everyone thought Daniel Bryan was coming out.....also cant make light of Enzo Amore coming out at 27 being bullshit too.

I get why put Joe/Finn in the rumble if you're not going to have them win....but in regards to Joe if Finn WAS injured as Bone said why not let the HHH/Rollins storyline filter into the rumble and have Rollins in the rumble (LOL love the Seth is banned from the arena storyline at the beginning of the PPV and he actually did not show....the first time in 40 years the event security prevent someone from entering the building) and have Joe debut....get a crazy pop and just take out Rollins, self eliminate himself and just kill rollins on the outside as HHH watches. Woulda have been 10000x better than Joe debuting in front of a horrific crowd last night that was asleep the whole show and didnt give Joe that big of a pop....the crowd was silent when Joe was choking out Rollins.

We knew at 25 that we had no surprises or unpredictable moments and there still was going to be Taker, Brock, Goldberg so 2 picks that we were hoping we're going to make this rumble memorable and they were Enzo and Roman, while everyone wanted to have a reason to pop like we got to last year when AJ Styles debuted.

The storytelling from the Reigns also continues to be a weakness after he went though hell in a very good match with Owens and then came to the ring with no selling and eliminates Undertaker, Jericho, Wyatt. Post rumble, surely the troll at 30 was going to be the beginning of the heel turn and now after Raw he's still the face as he enters a program with Braun Strowman, so let's get ready for another road to mania with Reigns getting shit on. (Sidenote: Man, Braun is being booked how Reigns should have been)

As for the winner, if the plan is going to be Orton vs Wyatt why in the hell don't you have Wyatt win the rumble? Orton is already one of the most over guys on Smackdown, he's a future hall of famer, he's won the rumble before and doesnt need a rumble victory to draw. Wyatt has been booked like shit since day 1 and the rumble win would have been EXACTLY the kinda thing he needed. Have Randy/Bray be the final 2 and Randy to self eliminate himself for Bray....that's more storyline filling, equally bullshit finish as having Orton eliminate Reigns because Vince knew that was a way to get the fans to cheer Orton.

Without going into the fact that other than the finish the main objective of the rumble outside of that was filling the ring with the full time upper mid-carders/main event bodies for Taker/Goldberg/Brock to eliminate unimpressively the rumble was a colossal failure on what was a very good PPV. Poor storytelling, poor booking, unpredictably predictable.

[T-Bonizzle]

Source?

I suppose saying 'Balor was supposed to have #30' was more speculation BUT Balor did undergo evaluations to see if he could compete in the Rumble. Multiple outlets reported that including PWI.

[¿PapaPancho?]

Here's my thing now being about to look at what they did on Raw with Joe.

Firstly the overwhelming point isn't who won, or even Reigns coming in at 30....it was more so with this being branded as the most unpredictable rumble of the decade and literally outside of a gimmicky Ty Dillinger #10 entry which everyone knew was gonna happen there was zero surprises and thats why the Reigns at 30 sucked because that final spot SURELY was going to be the big surprise and it ended up being the troll of all trolls...even more than when Rey came out a few years ago when everyone thought Daniel Bryan was coming out.....also cant make light of Enzo Amore coming out at 27 being bullshit too.

I get why put Joe/Finn in the rumble if you're not going to have them win....but in regards to Joe if Finn WAS injured as Bone said why not let the HHH/Rollins storyline filter into the rumble and have Rollins in the rumble (LOL love the Seth is banned from the arena storyline at the beginning of the PPV and he actually did not show....the first time in 40 years the event security prevent someone from entering the building) and have Joe debut....get a crazy pop and just take out Rollins, self eliminate himself and just kill rollins on the outside as HHH watches. Woulda have been 10000x better than Joe debuting in front of a horrific crowd last night that was asleep the whole show and didnt give Joe that big of a pop....the crowd was silent when Joe was choking out Rollins.

We knew at 25 that we had no surprises or unpredictable moments and there still was going to be Taker, Brock, Goldberg so 2 picks that we were hoping we're going to make this rumble memorable and they were Enzo and Roman, while everyone wanted to have a reason to pop like we got to last year when AJ Styles debuted.

The storytelling from the Reigns also continues to be a weakness after he went though hell in a very good match with Owens and then came to the ring with no selling and eliminates Undertaker, Jericho, Wyatt. Post rumble, surely the troll at 30 was going to be the beginning of the heel turn and now after Raw he's still the face as he enters a program with Braun Strowman, so let's get ready for another road to mania with Reigns getting shit on. (Sidenote: Man, Braun is being booked how Reigns should have been)

As for the winner, if the plan is going to be Orton vs Wyatt why in the hell don't you have Wyatt win the rumble? Orton is already one of the most over guys on Smackdown, he's a future hall of famer, he's won the rumble before and doesnt need a rumble victory to draw. Wyatt has been booked like shit since day 1 and the rumble win would have been EXACTLY the kinda thing he needed. Have Randy/Bray be the final 2 and Randy to self eliminate himself for Bray....that's more storyline filling, equally bullshit finish as having Orton eliminate Reigns because Vince knew that was a way to get the fans to cheer Orton.

Without going into the fact that other than the finish the main objective of the rumble outside of that was filling the ring with the full time upper mid-carders/main event bodies for Taker/Goldberg/Brock to eliminate unimpressively the rumble was a colossal failure on what was a very good PPV. Poor storytelling, poor booking, unpredictably predictable.

Classic case of sucks to suck.  This is my problem with most critiques of wrestling these days.  Most revolve around what didn't happen because that's not what I wanted.  After listening to the podcast of Keller and Stone Cold I appreciate his take on Reigns being thrown in as a red herring because EVERYONE assumed he would win when in fact he actually sold it for Orton.

I won't throw out a Rumble because of a 30th entrant when I enjoyed so much of it so immensly.  Gallaghers comedy act was hilarious (something I wasn't saying before) Strowman is the best built monster in a LONG time and Corbin eliminating him and only getting eliminating by the Undertaker bookcases where he is on the echelon of big men. 

Did I want Joe in the rumble?  Hell yes I did ... but that doesn't mean I get to throw a Christian sized tantrum about it ... well it does it just doens't make me right though.

[Fnord]

News For Tonight's WWE RAW - WrestleMania 33 Fallout, Hardy Homecoming, Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns

The post-WrestleMania 33 RAW will take place from the Amway Center in Orlando with the fallout from Sunday's Ultimate Thrill Ride. The post-WrestleMania RAW is now one of the biggest WWE shows of the year and tonight's RAW should be no different.

WWE does not have The Undertaker or Bill Goldberg advertised for tonight's RAW but new WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar is scheduled. Stay tuned throughout the day as we keep you updated on potential spoilers and notes from RAW.
No matches have been announced for tonight but WWE is advertising The Hardys' first RAW appearance in almost 10 years.

WWE is focusing on the following points for tonight's show:

* "It's my yard now"

* Bow down to "the Kingslayer" Seth Rollins

* Hardy homecoming, new RAW Tag Team Champions The Hardys

* The List of Owens, new WWE United States Champion Kevin Owens

* Champion of the Universe, new WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar

[Fnord]

Tonight's WWE RAW will take place from the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island with night 1 of the two-night "Superstar Shakeup" event.

No matches have been announced for tonight but WWE is focusing on the following points:

* How will the Superstar Shake-up impact Team Red?

* Finn Bálor is back!

* Who will challenge The Beast Incarnate?

* Cesaro & Sheamus lock onto The Hardys' titles

* Will Chris Jericho get payback against Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe?