WrestleTalk Roundtable – WWE Raw – January 21, 2019

What was your favourite moment from Raw?

Eric Stites

My favorite part of the show last night was Alexa Bliss announcing that she’ll be competing in the Royal Rumble Match. Although I don’t like that they’re ruining the surprise of her return, I still loved this announcement because Alexa sounded so genuinely happy and that just warmed my heart a bit. I’m really happy for her and it’s gonna be nice to see her in the ring again.

Kyle Payne

Drew McIntyre vs Seth Rollins and Apollo Crews vs Bobby Lashley were two great matches that really showed how fun wrestling can be. With McIntyre and Rollins, you had two of the best professional wrestlers in the company having a competitive match with the hope of gaining momentum for the Royal Rumble.

Rollins needed this win after his rough rivalry with Ambrose and after losing title. His promo before the match really put himself over because of how raw, emotional, and passionate it was. The Crews and Lashley match was a nice showcase for Apollo, who has been criminally under-utilised for far too long. It was also a fresh match-up, and Lio Rush is so talented that it’s breathtaking at times. I’m hoping this potential feud can continue and elevate both men to be featured more.

The opening segment and the closing one were great and pushed the narrative for the upcoming Royal Rumble. The story about how weak and incompetent Finn Bálor is (because he’s small) actually elevated him instead of tearing him down, because of the display Bálor has been putting on for the past couple of weeks. Tonight was no exception as he showed just how talented he is and the company needs to make him their star. I didn’t like how it dragged at first with Strowman but them having a match, which was a nice tease for the next feud, and the small glimpses of interactions between Lesnar and Bálor really has me hyped for the Rumble.

Emma Heeley

I enjoyed the Revival vs Roode and Gable. I liked that Dash and Wilder were the main focus of the match, making it feel like they might actually win. (And at one point I fell into the idea that they might.)

While the cynic in me says the match and the pre/post-match angles were only a part of the show as a ‘please don’t leave us’ from management, I still enjoyed it all the same. And if this means we get Ryder and Hawkins vs The Revival down the road for the tag belts, I wouldn’t be disappointed.

Plus, an honourable mention goes to Otis Dozovic’s ‘Catterpillar’ move … superb!

Nicholas Holicki

It’s a fairly minor point overall but seeing Ronda behave like a caged animal, chomping at the bit to get at Sasha Banks, provided us with a glimpse of everything her character should be. She was angry, violent and barely containable. I loved it, and I hope we get to see more of that version of Ronda going forward.

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