6 Ups And 8 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Jan 14)

Ups...

6. The Best They Could Do

braun strowman car
WWE.com

Braun Strowman being unable to compete at Royal Rumble stinks and is a definite “down,” but given the medical circumstances, it was necessary to devise a way to write him out of the title match.

What they came up with was about as good as you could have hoped for.

Strowman chased Baron Corbin backstage to Vince McMahon’s limo, and proceeded to do what Braun normally does. When Vince discovered the carnage, he fined Strowman, then stripped him of his Universal Championship match for mouthing off.

Is it petty and stupid? Sure, but it gave fans a clear bad guy (whom they later cheered when he walked out to the ring) responsible for Strowman losing his title shot. It was the best cover they could offer given the circumstances.

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Contributor
Contributor

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.