6 Ups And 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Jan 7)

1. A ‘Riveting’ Face-To-Face

Brock Lesnar Braun Strowman
WWE.com

Someone sent Braun Strowman out to die in the ring Monday night.

An announced face-to-face between Braun and WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar somehow turned into a painful split-screen segment, with Strowman trying to lure the champ out from backstage using lame insults and catchphrases. Brock and Paul Heyman refused to come out, so Braun started tossing out that Lesnar was afraid of him, which was fine, but the delivery of the lines were terrible.

Then, Brock actually decided to go out to the ring, walked around it once, and left. Strowman simply stood in the ring and watched everything unfold, then merely told Brock that he was going to become the next Universal Champion. LAME.

Where was the Braun who tipped over an ambulance while Roman Reigns was inside? Or the Monster who used a grappling hook to pull down a scaffolding on Brock and Kane? This segment did nothing to make anyone want to see this match. It just made Braun look like an impotent everyman, not a Monster Among Men.

Someone should get fired over this segment.

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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.