Last night’s Raw was a strange affair. It was only the second WWE show to run from a crowd-free Performance Center amid the coronavirus pandemic, and the whole format is still a work in progress. Here’s hoping they at least figure it out by WrestleMania.
In addition to a full replay of the Men’s Royal Rumble Match from two months ago, Raw featured a main event appearance by Stone Cold Steve Austin, who arrived to observe 3/16 Day, a made-up holiday in celebration of himself. When his appearance was announced, everyone assumed he’d be performing to a huge crowd, like he’s been doing for decades, but instead we witnessed the strange spectacle of Stone Cold yelling at empty chairs.
He also drank beers with Becky Lynch, and delivered a couple of Stone Cold Stunners to commentator Byron Saxton. It turns out that things kept going after Raw ended on the USA network, for one of those post-show skits that I always thought were mostly for the enjoyment of the live crowd, but I suppose last night proves that they were for YouTube all along.
But the important thing here is that we got to see the Street Profits raise a glass with Stone Cold and Becky, and then we got to see how Montez Ford sells a Stunner, which is magical.
And of course Dawkins got his as well, although it lacked that wild Looney Tunes freeze frame effect that Ford brought to the table.
Then the segment went on for several more minutes, as more beers were thrown to the ring, more stunners were given, and everybody lived it up in a big empty room.
