7 Ups And 9 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Nov 23)
3. Is It Working Already?
Every time WWE goes to Canada, Philadelphia or some other smart town, the announcers tend to declare that theyre in Bizarro World because the fans cheer who they want, not who WWE tells them to. Often, this leads to the rejection of heroes fans are force-fed. (See Reigns, Roman at Royal Rumble 2015 in Philly.) But the same principle could apply to Nashville Monday night in how perfectly fans lined up with what WWE wanted in the aftermath of Survivor Series, loudly booing WWE World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus and rallying behind underdog Roman Reigns. Its almost as if Vince McMahon promised $100 to each fan if they did what he wanted. That isnt to say that Reigns doesnt have his backers, but lets face it, its rare to find a city where he gets that solid of a reaction. For WWE, it must be a matter of perfect timing, as they were coming off a questionable decision in the main event with Sheamus cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase on new champ Reigns and desperately needed fans to react properly on Raw. (FYI, Raw next week is in Pittsburgh where fans turned viciously on the 2014 Royal Rumble and eventual winner Batista while Philly gets the Raw after the TLC PPV, on December 14, so it could be a bumpy road.)
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.
