WWE Raw – January 28, 2019 (Review)

Published: Jan 29, 2019 by Nicholas Holicki | Last Updated: Jan 29, 2019 by Nicholas Holicki

So I guess Triple H is a face now. Go figure. New Era, am I right?

That was my first – but certainly not most important – takeaway from a generally enjoyable episode of Raw. In hindsight, kicking off the show with three of the best beards in the company was a dead giveaway that this would be a great show. I mean, honestly, we were one Tomasso Ciampa appearance away from me finally getting to experience the same kind of arousal that Vince feels whenever he locks eyes with Lars Sullivan.

And so last night got underway with Seth Rollins, Triple H and Dean Ambrose. The three “muske-beards”, if you will. (You don’t have to.)

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Seth, of course, as the winner of Sunday’s Royal Rumble, had a choice to make. Would he challenge Brock Lesnar for the Universal Title? Or would he set his sights on SmackDown and the man who runs that environmentally-friendly, emissions-neutral operation, Daniel Bryan? Triple H, as any decent office manager, was there to smile and ensure that the show kept motoring along efficiently. As such, he gave Seth until the end of Raw to inform the respective champions and the larger WWE audience of his election.

This set up the narrative thread which ran through the night. With both Bryan and Lesnar in the building to hear Seth’s decision first-hand, the tension was slowly ratcheted up as we all eagerly awaited to hear the news.

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Thankfully, a string of tag team qualifiers, surprise appearances, heel turns and two giant men trying to shatter one another’s skeletons kept things interesting while we waited. It was a night of intrigue, singalongs and Ronda Rousey getting mercilessly booed into oblivion.

So with so much to choose from, what did our WrestleTalk writers enjoy and which guitar-strumming character did they hate most? As usual we’ve compiled the best and worst moments from last night’s Raw. Read on to find out what we thought.