12 WWE Raw 25 Impulse Reactions
11. Secondary School
Potentially six days away from winning his second Royal Rumble and assuring his place atop the WrestleMania 34 card, Roman Reigns lost his Intercontinental Title in the best match of Raw 25 against The Miz. They were circumstances almost identical to Stone Cold Steve Austin's two decades earlier, in which Austin elected not to do a similar favour for The Rock lest it dent his momentum ahead of Rumble glory. 'The Big Dog' obviously doesn't have 'The Rattlesnake's bite.
Perhaps SmackDown Live! backstage gaffer Road Dogg was accurate when he suggested that wins and losses really don't matter, but it's WWE that made it so. That's not to speak ill of his opponent and the deserving new Champion. The Miz remains of limitless value to an organisation that will perhaps never reward him above his current station, but his victory spoke volumes about how Monday Night Raw's top players have substantially less control than their counterparts 25 years ago.
That overriding dread (on a night paying too much tribute to better days) took the shine away from an otherwise superb match between two of the hottest characters on the show. Much was made of the barren experience the Manhattan Center fans were served (more on that later), but the Brooklyn crowd weren't given an awful lot either. This was at least a saving grace.