"FOLLOW THE BUZZARDS": Monday Night RAW (1/18/16)

The go-home show of RAW was, as expected, terrible. There was very little story progression, title matches are just now being added to the Royal Rumble card, and worst of all, it was all centered on Roman Reigns again. Even a last minute surprise with the Wyatt Family standing tall as the show ended doesn't help.

As usual, I'm just going to pull some choice quotes from other websites that reviewed RAW as well.

From AV Club: 

It’s hard to even know where to start with this week’s Raw because it’s abysmal. There’s almost nothing of value or interest across three hours of programming, and that’s not an exaggeration. 

From F4W:  

The entire show was built around the main event. Certainly it was strange to see the Wyatt Family, who have been on the backburner ever since the Undertaker/Kane feud at the Survivor Series, finish off the go-home show to the Royal Rumble standing over the company's top babyface. But beggers can't be choosy at this point.  

From Prowrestling:  

Overall, Raw delivered good final hype for the Rumble match, but it failed to make good use of the time allotted to promoting the other matches on Sunday’s show. 

There are a few highlights here:

• Becky and Charlotte's storyline, where Becky insulted Ric Flair and got him to accept Becky's challenge on Charlotte's behalf and putting the Divas Championship title match on the card. Becky is quickly gaining momentum as the true babyface Diva and she's so freaking adorable.
• The New Day holding a funeral for Francesca, Woods' trombone. I honestly didn't watch this segment but somehow, the Usos got a title shot.
• Not really a highlight but a representation how Tyler Breeze has been handled since joining the main roster
• Also not a highlight but seeing Big Show (as a face) taking out Social Outcasts (as heels) was infuriating
• Ambrose and Kalisto vs Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio as a live 50/50 booking. Rusev lost to Reigns earlier while Sheamus and Del Rio (with Barrett at ringside) won against a current IC champ and former US champ. Reigns AND League of Nations need to look strong for their match on Smack Down. Also, Owens was on commentary and didn't do anything to Ambrose after the match. Both of them will be on Miz TV on Smack Down.

Everything else was about Reigns. From the opening monologue with Jericho, to the commentary talking about the odds that Reigns has to overcome during other matches, to a silly segment with Vince McMahon and Stephanie announcing that Reigns is the #1 entrant to the Royal Rumble, to the ending segment with Jericho, which was originally only going to have Heyman and Lesnar on his Highlight Reel show until Reigns was added at the last minute.

There are only 2 possible outcome for Royal Rumble this Sunday: Reigns retains or Reigns loses and uses his rematch clause, regardless of who the new WWE Champ is. It seems like WWE is focusing on Fastlane to be the definitive PPV that sets the road to Wrestlemania, so let's see how that goes.

LUCHA! LUCHA! LUCHA! LUCHA!