Here is a fan report live from Barclays Center for WWE Monday Night Raw.
Nathan Sags attended Monday’s WWE Raw in Brooklyn, New York and sent the following report.
Fans were as one backing Paul Heyman and he is simply magnificent on the mic. The Santa isn’t real line stopped everyone in their tracks. I can’t actually believe he said it. The mocking of Undertaker begging Brock Lesnar to please stop was tremendous. The line from Bo Dallas about Brock dreaming he could beat Taker had everyone ready to see Brock smash him. Paul was brilliant in convincing Brock to go back by alternating between four and five fingers and the crowd was eating it up.
New Day was so over with the Brooklyn crowd and a brief ‘that was awesome’ chant broke out before the match. Off camera I assume, Big E hilariously swiveled about as the fans chanted New Day Rocks or sang ‘hey, we want some New Day’. Xavier got laughs with each play of the trombone.
The eruption for the Dudleys was insane. Every single person in the arena was on their feet. An awesome surprise to be there for. The crowd was white hot for everything the Dudleys did.
The Seth Rollins, Triple H, and Steph segment was so campy it had me on the watch for some kind of swerve.
The crowd were very receptive of the Make A Wish footage and the young man. It was a cool reaction from the Brooklyn crowd. Nicely done.
The question of why we were getting the Wyatts vs. Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns again was answered soon after, as it looked like Bray was about to lose again. The crowd chanted ‘Who are you?’ at Braun Stowman… Hey, at least there were no ‘how you doin’ chants tonight.
The Miz was a riot as always. Paige got a solid reaction to her line about ‘female athletes’. Hint, hint WWE. Drop the ‘Diva’. Charlotte and Miz’s interaction was fun. The audio in arena was a bit tough with the Bellas… There was the wave, numerous ‘We want Sasha’ chants and a ‘CM Punk’ chant. “We want AJ” got a run, which I enjoyed, and a massive ‘boring’ chant broke out mid match (maybe during a commercial?) I don’t think it was about the women so much as the awful storyline. Couple the match (another meaningless multi person tag) with Miz TV and it was too much.
King Barrett and Stardust? Huh?! Off camera, Barrett literally ran to the side exit of the stage as Neville made his way. From a live perspective with the almost non confrontation next, he surely could have just sold at ringside. Nothing subtle about this exit from a guy who was supposedly just turned on and beaten up.
The crowd popped for Jon Stewart’s reasoning (even though from a storyline perspective it was completely nonsensical) and then a huge pop for Ric Flair, who predictably played John Cena’s buddy. Flair’s line about ‘ruining everything’ pricked the ears of a lot of people in our area. Another little interesting line that for now led nowhere. Cena got a huge reaction, as always, and I loved how he was all business to Stewart’s gags. I guess this segment ties up Stewart’s involvement.
The eight-man tag was well received. Kevin Owens and Cesaro received much stronger reactions than the night before, which was great. For what it’s worth, there was absolutely no sympathy for show. I guess turning 58 times can do that.
Singing “happy birthday” was kind of a let down, as it made it apparent we’d get no ‘off the air’ fun after the show! The crowd chanted ‘Thank you, Vince’. Triple H rambled on back in heel mode this week after seemingly humoring Seth Rollins the past few weeks, and then Seth went on and on. I love Seth’s gloating, but it was late in the show and we all knew there was no statue under that sheet. Sting got a solid enough reaction, not on the Dudley level though. I don’t know about it from both a storyline sense or a match quality sense. I was more amped for Rollins vs. Cena to continue.
Overall an enjoyable show and weekend.
