Tonight, on the With Spandex WWE Raw open discussion thread:
As Shawn Michaels heads to New Orleans for Raw, it’s rumored that The Undertaker will also make his presence felt in The Big Easy. How will HBK and The Deadman affect the Team Red landscape, three weeks before the Royal Rumble event? Also on Raw, Roman Reigns defends the United States Championship against WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match! (via WWE.com)
Our five-point preview:
1. The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels are both back on Raw for the first time in a long time, in large part to drum up interest in the Royal Rumble. No, Shawn isn’t going to come out of retirement to wrestle in San Antonio. Yes, I’ll change this bullet point under cover of night if he does, because I’m an expert in gaslighting.
2. Expect a whole lot more names to be made official for the Royal Rumble match, likely including the Dead Man. Will Curtis Axel and Darren Young be allowed to appear on a PPV this month? Or will they be shunted to the side for surprise entrants like Harvey Wippleman or the Gobbledygooker? Spoiler: I’m so sorry, Curtis Axel.
3. Roman Reigns will be defending his United States Championship against both Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho in a handicap match. I’m anticipating a Deadpool-like scenario where he just lines them up and Superman punches his way through both of them, then stacks them up and pins them with one foot while smirking handsomely.
4. Expect more cruiserweight division intrigue, such as Neville angrily watching on more backstage monitors, Cedric Alexander losing a match because of his girlfriend, and Gran Metalik still being lost at sea.
5. There are actually a lot of storylines going on these days than I really realized. There’s the Cass and Enzo vs. Rusev and Jinder whatever, two different feuds in the women’s division. Braun Strowman continuing his assault on everybody, Seth Rollins calling out Triple H in weekly increments … just all sorts of stuff. So take your pick as to what Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley will spend the first 20 minutes of the episode discussing. Probably how strong Triple H is. Strong and handsome.
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!
