8 Ups And 5 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (April 30)

3. Full-Throated Confusion

bobby roode elias
WWE.com

What in the blue hell is WWE going for with Bobby Roode?

Last week, Elias defeated the new member of Raw by whipping his throat off the ropes for the surprise win. Monday, Elias targeted Roode’s throat throughout the match, which the announcers played up over and over, finally resulting in the match ending via referee stoppage after Elias shoved Bobby into the exposed turnbuckle winch, chest/throat-first.

It’s just an odd development, as it didn’t really ramp up sympathy (at least it didn’t come through the screen) for Roode, and aside from the last move, there wasn’t much more than the typical wear-down moves we see in 80% of the matches.

Perhaps Roode will come out next week and blame the fans for not getting behind him and finally turn heel (which he seems better suited for). Or maybe this is leading to a sing-off between Roode and Elias. Who knows?

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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.