7 Ups And 5 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (August 24th)
Ups
7. The Newest Wyatt
At one point during the Wyatt Familys original run in 2013-14, one could be faulted for thinking that part of the gimmick was going to be wrestlers being converted to join the family, much like the Straight Edge Society grew in numbers. But the group only consisted of Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. The re-formed Wyatt Family is down a member with Rowan out, so speculation has been flowing as to whether the group would add someone and (if so) who that would be. Rather than turn the listless Adam Rose back into Leo Kruger as some thought, WWE went a completely different route, calling up hulking NXT wrestler Braun Strowman to don a black sheep mask and dismantle Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IaF6DBpJiU What makes this call-up unique is that Strowman, a legit professional strongman, never performed on NXT television, wrestling only at house shows and in dark matches. This meant that only those who really are in the know would realize who he was, which the Brooklyn crowd confirmed by chanting, Who are you? This obviously means that Ambrose and Reigns will have to find a new third teammate, and it could be Sting as originally rumored.
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.