7 Ups & 2 Downs From WWE Raw (1 April - Results & Review)

1. Don’t Promise Fans A Good Time

Why does WWE insist on getting fans all fired up with the notion that The Rock or maybe Roman Reigns will suit up and wrestle a match on the Raw before WrestleMania?

Seth Rollins laid down the challenge during the lengthy, show-opening promo train, saying he was tired of talking and wanted a fight. And at that moment, everyone who wasn’t enraptured in the moment knew exactly where this was going.

Rollins challenged Rock for the biggest main event in Raw’s history (doubtful), but he conceded that he didn’t think “ol’ DJ has the balls” for it. Seth then naturally transitioned to challenge Roman. Fans lost their minds at both prospects. But both men rebuffed that, allowing Solo Sikoa to step up and accept the pseudo-open challenge, and the fans went… mild.

Just like that, all the wind went out of the sails of the Barclay’s Center, with the crowd sounding like a game show contestant who had passed on a new car for “what’s in the box?” and it was revealed to be a Hot Wheel. They also seemed a bit out of it for a while after, taking a good 30-40 minutes to really get back into the show.

You can’t dangle Rock’s first Raw match in 21 years in front of fans, sub in Reigns’ first TV match in 15 months, and then saddle them with Solo and expect anything other that disappointment. It wasn’t even, “Boo! We were lied to!” It was more like, “Eh, that sucks. At least the promos ruled.”

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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.