5 Ups And 8 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (September 10)

7. Foley’s Role

Unless Mick Foley suddenly can take bumps in the ring, why was he named the special guest referee for Sunday’s Hell in a Cell match between Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman?

It’s safe to say that Foley is not going to generate sudden interest in the match, and being named referee isn’t going to lead to more people buying the WWE Network to see what he does. Mick also isn’t going to get a Mandible Claw on Strowman to aid Reigns, so that isn’t going to factor in (compared to Shawn Michaels superkicking Undertaker during his HIAC match against Triple H at WrestleMania 28).

So it’s an utterly pointless (as far as we can tell six days out) role for Foley, more of a way to just get him involved. Maybe WWE has something clever up their sleeve, but the way this was done suggests otherwise. Stephanie McMahon has said she wants Braun to win and get the Universal Championship off Roman, so why would she tap someone who would favor Reigns to ref the match?

It just seems like it was riveted onto the existing match.