Raves, Rants and Results – Raw and SmackDown bask in Rumble aftermath

In the wake of Sunday’s epic Royal Rumble, here’s the best and not so best of Raw and SmackDown this week.

Raves

More monster mayhem

It must be a lot of fun both booking these Braun Strowman segments and then seeing the man himself pull them off. The carnage he left this week wasn’t his best work, but it still did the job in burying his feud with Kane and continuing his path of destruction. I’m intrigued to see what he does at Elimination Chamber and if we’ll see him burst out of one of the pods or even lift the whole structure, either way it’s going to be a lot of fun. Just one gripe - shouldn’t he really be the one facing Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania?

Chamber conundrum

The John Cena Finn Bálor argument is one I can see both sides of. Firstly lets not take away the highly entertaining match the pair put on to main event Raw, where both were allowed to share the spotlight. Yet, there was a real collective roll of the eyes on seeing John Cena go over one of WWE’s brightest young stars. I am one of Finn’s biggest supporters and genuinely think he’s got everything to be THE man in WWE, and while I was disappointed not to see him get the big win here, I kind of get the position WWE book themselves in with pay-per-views like Elimination Chamber. The six men who compete in the Chamber match have to be credible - the jury is out on the Elias inclusion - but at the same time the rest of the card still has to stand-up as well. If you put the actual best six stars in the main event, it means we’ll be seeing some truly lackluster matches at the other end of the card, which could come with the risk of fans not bothering with the show. Therefore by having one or two of the more popular stars in other matches, with a view of them leading to a WrestleMania story, you balance out the whole show. That’s my optimistic theory, and one that also hopes that there is a real plan for Finn in New Orleans.

Fresh for 2018

Raw looks to be kicking off their next quarter-century with a fresher feel to their graphics. The name straps on the entrances have certainly been upgraded and look cleaner, while the logo has been ever so slightly tweaked too. Some in attendance have also suggested there is a new theme tune to the show, but as there was no TV intro this week we’ll have to wait until next week to see if that’s true. We also saw a new style promo from the talent on both Raw and SmackDown this week, using a selfie style phone approach to sell their stories, much like we’ve seen from some of the Superstars on social media. SmackDown actually took it that bit further with by adding graphics akin to the filters you can add on Instagram stories and Snapchat, which I’m yet to be completely convinced by. Nevertheless you never accuse WWE of not evolving their shows when the time is right.

Down since…

The Usos are at the very top of their game right now. As I watched them deliver another excellent promo running down all the SmackDown teams they have beaten, I wondered if they wished they’d transitioned into this ‘Down Since’ gimmick years earlier, instead of slowly going stale in their previous guise. Their current incarnation is so current, feels vastly more comfortable for them and it’s brought the best out in them as performers both in and out of the ring. Here’s hoping they finally get that main card WrestleMania match they deserve.

Real Rockstar arrives

It’s rare I talk about 205 Live on here and there’s a damn good reason for that, but I applaud WWE for giving it fresh impetus. The General Manager role maybe one of wrestling’s most tired angles, but it will at least give the show some more direction especially given who they’ve put in charge. I’ve known Rockstar Spud since his British Boot Camp days and have always admired both his personality and dedication to the craft; he’ll be a welcome addition to both WWE and 205 Live. Quite why they’ve given him such a generic name is slightly baffling, especially when the commentators even referred to him as ‘formally Rockstar Spud’, but I guess that’s a classic WWE quirk. Even so, well done Spud.

Rants

Not so rowdy

WWE got their biggest mainstream rub for some time with the arrival of Ronda Rousey at the Royal Rumble, but I feel like the missed a trick by not having her appear the following night on Raw. The casual fans who would have picked-up on the story and tuned in hoping to see the former UFC Champion would have quickly turned over when only presented with a recap of her actions the night before, therefore missing the chance to hook them back into all things WWE with a Rousey appearance. She didn’t need to do much, heck she could have said exactly what she said on her interview on WWE’s YouTube chancel and that would have been enough, but oddly WWE decided not to cash-in on all the hurrah that was up and down the internet on Monday with another dose of rowdiness.

Balancing the Bar

I think we’ve all quite seen enough of Sheamus and Ceasro taking on Titus Worldwide now, but Raw has an issue right now that there aren’t any clear babyface teams for The Bar to take on. With the Rollins/Jordan feud seemingly now in the past, it only leaves Gallows and Anderson as the ‘face’ team on Raw, but they flip-flop on such a regular basis it’s hard for the crowd to know what reaction to give them - and it’s a rivalry we’ve seen previously. Do WWE switch it up by turning Sheamus and Cesaro instead and that way paving the way for a meeting with The Revival or do they go full steam ahead into that pairing and let the crowd choose who they want to cheer for? Alternatively is the right moment to dip into the NXT bucket and pull out an Authors of Pain shaped team in a build to a WrestleMania meeting?

Nope

Over on SmackDown things were slightly clearer at the top of the card this week thanks to Shinsuke Nakamura’s Royal Rumble win and the lack of any involvement from Shane McMahon. However, it can’t surely be time to call a day on the Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn partnership? Granted, it hasn’t gone as well as one hoped during the convoluted feud with AJ Styles, where the ‘Yep Movement’ angle seems to have only bobbed along, but there’s still so much gas in the tank with these two on the same page. I’d really like them to have a run with the SmackDown Tag Titles - giving Sami Zayn some much needed gold in the process - before we seen their eventual explosion. I’m holding out hope that because they were so quick to nitpick at each other this week, that it’s actually a ruse and they have a cunning plan ahead of their match against each other next week. I still want more from Sami and Kevin…and Kevin and Sami.

Results

Monday Night Raw

Braun Strowman defeated Kane in a Last Man Standing Match to qualify for the Men’s Elimination Chamber Match

Elias defeated ‘Woken’ Matt Hardy to qualify for the Men’s Elimination Match

The Miz defeated Roman Reigns to retain the Intercontinental Championship

The Revival defeated Heath Slater and Rhyno

Asuka defeated Sasha Banks

Raw Tag Team Champions Cesaro and Sheamus defeated Titus Worldwide

John Cena defeated Finn Bálor to qualify for the Men’s Elimination Chamber Match

SmackDown Live!

Rusev defeated Kofi Kingston, Zack Ryder and Jinder Mahal to earn a United States title shot

The Bludgeon Brothers defeated local competitors

Baron Corbin defeated Tye Dillinger

Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable defeated Breezango

AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn