7 Ups And 5 Downs For Last Night's WWE Raw (New Year's Eve)

3. Triple H Fires Up Rollins

triple h seth rollins
WWE.com

After his poor showing at TLC, Seth Rollins could have found himself completely on the outs with the higher-ups. But instead, he apparently got a huge on-air endorsement from one of the big bosses.

Triple H showed up to get in Rollins’ face and tell him that his “automatic rematch” with Dean Ambrose for the Intercontinental Championship was off, and instead he’d have to earn anything by tangling with Bobby Lashley first.

But Hunter did more than that. He told Seth he believed in the Architect, referencing their WrestleMania 33 match and telling him that he wanted a “ruthless bastard” (Rollins’ words) who would do whatever it takes to win big.

That sort of thing, with Rollins name-dropping Brock Lesnar multiple times, could be seen as a kickstart to Seth refocusing on the top prize on Raw, which would mean winning the Royal Rumble. If so, this was a pretty decent little segment to set Rollins up for 2019.

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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.