"This makes no sense": Monday Night RAW (1/26/16)

I STILL CAN'T PROCESS THIS.

It's been 24 hours since the Royal Rumble, the PPV that had entertaining title defense matches and where the main event didn't end up with poster boy Roman Reigns retaining his title. It got everybody pumped for the fallout on RAW.

RAW opened up with a typical Authority promo but this time it came from "The Game" HHH wearing his suit and the title. He cut a long promo where he praised Reigns but also talked him down, saying he doesn't deserve the title because of his lack of respect. Stephanie then announced that tonight, they'll be evaluating all the superstar matches and announce the main event for Fastlane on 2/21. The winner for that main event will face against HHH at Wrestlemania. Sounds like this will be a great follow-up show right? Sadly, it wasn't. The results can be found here.

The few highlights for me were:

• Kevin Owens, still selling his injuries from his Last Man Standing match, defeated Ziggler. This match is no different from their previous matches but it was still great to see Owens get a win. As for Ziggler, I really don't know what they're doing with him. Even with updated his look, he's still pretty much directionless.
• AJ Styles defeated Jericho! This was a good match, mostly because Styles is learning to adapt to the WWE style on the fly with fellow veteran Jericho helping him along. Interesting enough, Styles keeps teasing the Styles Clash but has not actually pulled it off yet. And Jericho didn't seem happy with losing to him either.
• Sasha and Becky had a short match due to Charlotte interrupting. I'm incredibly happy that the Divas storyline is focusing on the the NXT Horsewomen, while the Total Divas Brie, Alicia, Paige, and Natalya, have their own pointless match.
• The special guest for tonight was The Rock, who went on a super long and hyped up promo about coming home, making fun of Miz, Big Show, Lana and Rusev, and calling The New Day's unicorn horns "Llama penises." He got the Usos to come out and take out New Day. I didn't like this segment with The Rock but god damn can he get your attention.

The main event match was Reigns and Ambrose vs Sheamus and Rusev. As usual, Ambrose takes the brunt of the offenses from League of Nations while Reigns only gets in for the hot tag. Reigns wins with a spear to Sheamus. After the match ended, Ambrose started angrily clearing the announcer's table while Reigns throws Rusev to the stairs. The "Brothers-in-Arms" got Rusev up to set up for a powerbomb through the table. This was retaliation for what happened with Reigns at the Royal Rumble. Stephanie suddenly comes out and announces that after much evaluation the main event for Fastlane will be Dean Ambrose vs Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar.

And this is where RAW leading up to this announcement made the last 3 hours frustrating to process. Why did they announce that they were evaluating ALL the superstars when it came down to the last 2 faces from the Royal Rumble and a guy who didn't even appear on the show? Why did the Authority give Reigns another title shot after making a big deal about taking the title away from him? And why are they throwing IC Champ Ambrose into the title picture? It makes no sense at all.

The 3 possible outcomes don't scream Wrestlemania main event either. Lesnar vs HHH would be a repeat, considering that HHH defeated Lesnar a few years ago. Reigns vs HHH won't be as exciting because Reigns will obviously get his title back and become a 3-time WWE Champ. And Ambrose vs HHH wouldn't work at all because of the current booking, where Ambrose always comes close but never wins the big title. A part of me is holding out hope that, judging from the audience reaction to Ambrose being in the final two against HHH, he might just win Fastlane, which is taking place in his home state of Ohio. Then again, he didn't even win in his hometown on an episode of Smackdown last year. Realistically, he's probably there to take the pin to advance the storyline of Reigns vs The Authority, even though the real story of an organic fan movement like Daniel Bryan is happening with Ambrose.