5 Ups And Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Dec 15)
UPS...
5. Reigns Oer WWE
There are plenty of people who dont think Roman Reigns anointing as the heir apparent is best for business, that either of his two former Shield stablemates would be better standard-bearers. And his return has felt forced in some ways the Superstar of the Year Slammy despite missing three months of action, and the constant updates on his health whereas other injured wrestlers disappear for months. But it stands to reason that Reigns injury has put his ascension up the card behind schedule and WWE is compressing everything to make it still work for WrestleMania XXXI. The concern from some fans is that WWE is shoving Reigns down our throats, which is similar to what happened with Batista around this time last year (ironically enough, Reigns was the last man Batista eliminated from the Rumble). But Roman got a pretty solid reaction at Raw, drawing chants and a big cheer for taking out Fandango, then socking Big Show with a Superman punch. Thats an easy way to increase someones popularity immediately: Have them take out an annoying character that everyone just wants to see defeated or off their screen altogether.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
