7 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Jan 23)

4. Selling The Stipulation

cesaro gallows
WWE.com

When Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows’ Raw Tag Team Championship victory ended in a Dusty Finish last week, you knew there was another chapter to the story.

We got the word Monday that their Royal Rumble match with champs Sheamus & Cesaro will include two referees, presumably to avoid the situation last week with a ref getting knocked out and a false finish happening. But instead of leaving it there, the singles match between Cesaro and Gallows really drove home the point.

Anderson interfered behind the ref’s back and attacked Cesaro, and later Sheamus repaid the debt on Gallows. Then Anderson distracted Cesaro (and the ref) by trying to get in the match, allowing Luke to score the win.

Presumably, a second ref would prevent outside shenanigans like all of that, making it (at least in theory) feel like the stipulation makes sense. Sure, there will probably be something that slips by two refs on Sunday, but at least they sold it Monday.

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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 fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.