RAW PRIMER: What to expect tonight based on what happened last week including Reigns vs. Strowman plus latest on Bayley, Jericho, The Club, Aries

By Joey Galizia, PWTorch Specialist

Bayley (photo credit Tom Gibson © PWTorch.com)

SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...

RAW PREVIEW
MARCH 20, 2017
BROOKLYN, N.Y. AT BARCLAYS CENTER
By Joey Galizia (@RamJam89), PWTorch contributor

“IT’S TIME WE END THIS”

Advertisements for tonight’s main event include the Sausage King Braun Strowman in a rematch against the Big Dawg Roman Reigns. After Roman had a promo war (I’m patting him on the back for not being totally useless) against Shawn Michaels regarding the Deadman, Big Braun blind-sided Reigns and nearly killed him in front of 18,000 people. With two weeks left until WrestleMania it is important for Roman to focus on defending his yard, and that starts tonight by slaying the monster Strowman yet again. Braun on the other hand has no current plans for the show of shows, so a victory tonight could give him some momentum, especially if he’s going to be slaying it in the Andre Battle Royal.

“SUIT… WALK… PROMO… REPEAT”

At this time it doesn’t look like Universal Champion Bill Goldberg will be making an appearance in front of the ruckus New York crowd, but Lesnar and his hype-man Paul Heyman certainly might. While I’ve gone numb to the familiar Raw segment involving the Beast, Heyman always has a way of reminding me of his worth. It wouldn’t hurt if we Brock reminded us of his, and left a reminder to Goldberg as to how dangerous he is when he really WANTS something.

“HIGHLIGHT REEL”

If there is one program that could use an extra layer of spice it is the former best mates Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho. Things seemed to have cooled down slightly since their RIDICULOUSLY AMAZING “Festival of Friendship” fiasco that ended in Y2J getting hospitalized by K.O. That extra layer is most certainly going to come tonight, as the Gift of Jericho (DRANK IT, LOVE IT, NEED MORE OF IT) will host his most famous talk-show, and possibly use his impressive journalistic skills (nothing compared to Austin Aries journalism) to reveal some TRUTH BOMBS about his Mania opponent. Owens is still seeing red from his loss to Goldberg, so odds are he’s going to do something completely unpredictable. Perhaps he’ll attack a child, or worse, Sami Zayn again. Chris Jericho is still the United States Champion in case you had forgotten.

“SEED PLANTED”

Bayley has been having a rough couple weeks. Since “defending” her newly won Women’s Championship and ending the impressive PPV streak of Queen Charlotte, she’s taken a loss to Sasha Banks and been beaten to a pulp by Nia Jax. Sasha has also begun her Mania strategy by planting a seed of doubt in the Huggers mind that she just isn’t strong enough to hold the throne. Charlotte would happily insert herself into this gameplan, but her former protégé’ Dana Brooke (KILL ME) has decided to now stand up for herself. Hopefully the Queen old yellers the situation and puts Dana out her misery for the good of ALL OF US.

“THREAD THE NEEDLE”

-While The Club hasn’t necessarily won a lot since their debut, one thing they have done extraordinarily well is lay down a beating. Last week they decimated both Enzo & Cass and Cesaro & Sheamus during their no. 1 contenders match for their tag team gold. Unfortunately for the Club, that means they now have to defend against both teams.

-Austin Aries is the next challenger to Lord Neville’s cruiserweight belt after the former won a Fatal Five-way elimination match on 205 Live. Aries has been getting cheered on a weekly basis just for his insane ring commentary, so imagine the pop he’ll get if he dethrones the King in Orlando.

-No matter how much criticism given to Mick Foley over his General Manager run, last week he won me back over. He understands that he may not have done the best job, but he does know that there is evil on the horizon if he leaves Stephanie in complete control. When Triple H showed up to add insult to injury, Foley went back to his old ways, and locked Aitch in the mandible claw. (Mr. Socko edition!) When Steph and Hunter took control, Seth Rollins came out and showed that his leg looked prime and ready. (Until Hunter regained control yet again and smashed it with a crutch.) Rollins hasn’t been given the official okay yet for a match, but hopefully his condition will once again be addressed.

Big main event. Many stories to address. Should be worth your time. Will you be watching?


NOW CHECK OUT THIS ARTICLE: RAW PRIMER: What to expect tonight based on what happened last week including The Beast, KO, Nia, Big E’s strangeness, Seth, Hugs, Joe

 

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