Let’s get back on that road to WrestleMania 32.
As I wrote last week, I’ll be writing a weekly column about the road to WrestleMania 32. Big D and I are also doing a corresponding podcast which will drop the next day. You can listen to last week’s.
The Big News!
Triple H destroys souls. You know, at this point, you might as well have him demolish AJ Styles, Finn Balor, and Shinsuke Nakamura in a handicap match.
After putting Roman Reigns (who wasn’t on the show) out in a fair fight last week, he left Dean Ambrose lifeless in the middle of the ring to end the show. That’s two Raws in a row, by the way, that Ambrose has been left laying in the ring.
As the heel champion, I don’t think it’s necessarily wrong for him to look strong going into WrestleMania, especially if he’s going to drop the belt.
What I wonder is if Triple H sees how Brock is booked and decided that he wanted to be booked similarly, thinking that the stronger he is, the better it will be for Reigns come WrestleMania time. But I don’t think that’s the right move. Why? Because it’s not 2003. No one buys a strong Triple H as anything but a manipulative suit these days. And really, he hasn’t been wrestling regularly for years now. All of a sudden he’s the biggest killer in the company? Like Jay Z famously said about Nas one time; “We don’t believe you. You need more people.”
While Triple H bashed the hell out of Ambrose, it does set up a nice main event for the WWE Network special, named Roadblock. But it also sets up another Ambrose loss.
What else important happened?
We thought Vince McMahon would explain the situation with Shane a bit more, but he really didn’t. He just said Shane wasn’t going to be his son any longer and called him a son of a bitch.
The Undertaker came out to put his hand on Vince’s throat to tell him that Shane’s blood would be on Vince’s hands, not his. And then he left. Much like Brock, Taker doesn’t work by the hour.
It was a bit frustrating because we have no idea why the Undertaker is the henchman here.
Stephanie McMahon did a much better job with her promo, which may have been the best part of Raw. She explained why Shane coming back into the picture was unfair. It was actually a compelling argument and even though she’s part of the Authority, I actually had sympathy for her.
The part of Shane’s promo last week that was heelish was in making it a man vs woman situation when it came to running WWE. Stephanie ain’t having that.
Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks had a number one contender’s match with a faulty finish. Banks did a sunset flip off the top rope and rather than simply pin Lynch, she fell backward so they pinned each other. Did she hurt her tailbone? Did she slip? Was she tired? The world will never know.
Charlotte told them that they’d have a rematch on Smackdown and according to the Smackdown spoilers I’ve read, she interfered and it was a double DQ. That doesn’t sound too smart since technically, Charlotte has better odds facing one woman rather than both. So we’ll have to see how that plays out.
What’s not certain?
Chris Jericho has to be turning on AJ Styles right? They beat the New Day in a non-title match setting up a title match next week. Unless they have something creative to do at WrestleMania with the tag team division, I can’t see Y2AJ simply being in the tag division. Jericho has to turn on AJ and beat him down to create a reason for Styles to want him badly at WrestleMania.
Kevin Owens is embroiled in a feud with the Big Show for some reason right now so we don’t know what’s going on there for WrestleMania. Dolph Ziggler and the Miz look to be involved with each other in some way for WrestleMania. Kalisto and Alberto Del Rio look to still be married. And Brie Bella and Lana may be involved in some way.
I’ll be back next week as we continue on the road to WrestleMania 32.