On Monday afternoon, WWE announced that the winner of the grudge match between Kane and Braun Strowman on Raw would determine who would go on to face Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble in January.
Over the past month or so, there had been a lot of speculation and scuttlebutt about who might end up challenging for the Universal title at the Rumble, as Lesnar would definitely be expected to compete on one of the three biggest shows that WWE presents every year.
Word is that the original Rumble opponent for Lesnar was former Universal Champion Finn Bálor, but WWE reportedly lost confidence in Bálor as a challenger to Lesnar’s title. After that, rumors flew that perhaps Lesnar would face Strowman again, or maybe even that Lesnar just wouldn’t put the title on the line at all at January’s event.
Well, guess what. We still don’t know who’s going to face Lesnar at the Royal Rumble! Instead of giving us a definitive winner of the match, WWE elected to do … not that. After kicking out of multiple chokeslams, Strowman appeared to have the upper hand when the fight spilled to the outside. That’s when Strowman put himself and Kane through the barricade, and the match ended in a countout.
Strowman and Kane continued to brawl after the match was over, and the whole thing ended with a very cool dual sit-up spot, and then Braun putting Kane through a table with the running powerslam.
You can watch the vicious end of Raw right here:
No telling what this means for Brock Lesnar and the Royal Rumble. Likely, this means the match will be a Triple Threat, but really, your guess is as good as ours. WWE Week! Catch the excitement!
