Tonight, on the With Spandex WWE Raw open discussion thread:
Appearing on Raw for the first time since suffering defeat at the hands of Goldberg in 86 seconds, Brock Lesnar is ready to send a message to his Royal Rumble Match opponents — including the WCW icon. What havoc will The Beast Incarnate wreak? (via WWE.com)
Our five-point preview:
1. Brock Lesnar is back! Not even in POG form, or anything! The Beast Incarnate returns for the first time since losing to Goldberg at Survivor Series to hype up his Royal Rumble appearance. Don’t worry, that means what you know it means: he’s going to softly bounce up and down and grin while Paul Heyman talks about the Royal Rumble. Hey, maybe he’ll wreck shop a throw a car door into the crowd. I mean, it’s happened before.
2. The Chris and Kevin Show is going to enjoy two entire weeks as the top singles champions of Raw before the Rumble, so I’m just going to guess that they start their reign of dominance by losing a non-title handicap match to Roman Reigns. Gotta keep the Big Dog strong. It’s his yard, we just poop in it. Or whatever.
3. Bayley is the number one contender to Charlotte Flair’s Raw Women’s Championship? Question mark? But she and Sasha Banks have been getting trucked pretty well by Nia Jax and Charlotte, and Stephanie McMahon has been undermining them at every turn. Can Bayley successfully rally the Yes Movement to her side? Or will the Authority keep — oh wait, sorry, wrong chat window.
4. Neville is still on the warpath, and is coming off an impressive not-even-a-cruiserweight-match against Tommy End at this past weekend’s UK Championship Tournament. Which hapless cruiserweight will he murder this week en route to his Cruiserweight Championship match against Rich Swann at the Royal Rumble? [spins wheel] Oh, it’s Harv Sihra. Sorry, Harv. Gurv will prepare a beautiful memorial service, I’m sure.
5. Two weeks ago, Cesaro lost to Karl Anderson via distraction, and last week, Sheamus triumphed over Luke Gallows via the dreaded double distraction. How will The Club continue their path back to being relevant? Perhaps a series of distractions throughout all three hours of Raw, ending with Gallows rolling up Anderson in a match they’re not even participants in. The Aristocrats!
As always, we’re including 10 of the best comments from tonight’s open discussion thread in tomorrow’s Best and Worst of Raw report. Reply to your favorites with a +1 to nominate them for consideration, and share the open thread around so we can get some fresh voices and jokes in here. Enjoy the show!
