7 Ups And 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw Superstar Shakeup

by Scott Carlson

1. An EPIC Beatdown

roman reigns
WWE.com

Ho. Lee. Sh**.

We’ve seen heels beat up a wrestler backstage before. It’s happened hundreds – if not, thousands – of times on Raw through the years. Typically, it involves being thrown into/through the staging cabinets or tables and maybe hit with an object.

But Monday, Braun Strowman interrupted Michael Cole’s interview with Roman Reigns to bring the Big Dog the most epic beatdown Raw has probably seen in a decade – or two. Strowman jumped Reigns and promptly tossed him through a couple tables. He then threw him into the arena’s pulldown door, powerslammed him onto a staging case, and rammed a case into his body.

Braun walked off as Roman was loaded onto a stretcher, but he quickly returned, and (with the help of a great edit) hijacked the stretcher, rushing to and pushing it off the edge of the loading dock. That alone got a huge reaction from the crowd. Finally, Strowman jumped into the ambulance as Reigns was being loaded up, pummeled him, and then tipped over the ambulance.

It was a beating that should – repeat should – knock Reigns out of action for weeks. It successfully turned Strowman into an other-worldly badass. And it was a truly memorable moment in Raw’s 24-year history.

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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.