7 Ups And 5 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Jan 30)
A strong first step on the Road to WrestleMania.
The Royal Rumble is over, and WrestleMania season is now upon us. WWE's flagship event is still 61 days away, but the road to Orlando is all that matters for the next two months, and last night was the first step on a journey that promises to be full of twists and turns.
This week's Raw wasn't a complete success, but it produced a number of big talking points. The ongoing Seth Rollins vs. Triple H storyline took a huge twist with a shocking debut at the show's conclusion, and the vultures are circling around Universal Champion Kevin Owens. He still has Chris Jericho to back him up, but KO had an incredibly rough night, and aggressors like Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns won't be going away any time soon.
There was no Goldberg this week, but Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman made an appearance to address the Beast's shocking Rumble elimination, and issue a huge WrestleMania challenge. Chris Jericho and Charlotte were both pinned, meanwhile, effectively setting up their next title challengers in the United States and Raw Women's Championship scenes.
Not everything delivered, and this week's Raw was dotted with repetitive booking and a handful of heat-less segments. Raw is never going to be perfect, however, and last night's offering was a fine show provided you're able to take the good with the bad.
How did it all stack up? Let's take a look...