3 Things to look out for on Monday Night RAW
The WWE is extremely fond of telling us that Monday Night RAW is the longest running weekly episodic television show in history. Michael Cole mentions it every week.
Monday Night RAW has been on the air for almost 26 years now. In that time, Superstars and commentators have come and gone, but we have had wrestling on screens every Monday night. Long may that continue.
The WWE is also extremely fond of telling us that absolutely anything can happen at any time. They are right. Theoretically, anything can happen on Monday Night RAW at any given time.
Some of it is memorable. Remember Dolph Ziggler's Money in the Bank cash in? How about the Shield reforming? Or the Shield imploding the first time? Monday Night RAW is where Shawn Michaels announced that he was coming out of retirement after more than eight long years. Who can forget Becky Lynch invading RAW last year?
However, not all of it is entertaining. Monday Night RAW was the scene of the dreadful 'This Is Your Life' segment with Bayley and Alexa Bliss. It was also the scene of the extremely awkward 'Old Day' segment with Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, and The New Day.
Anything can happen on Monday Night RAW. But just because it can happen, it doesn't mean it should happen.
This is a particularly important episode of Monday Night RAW; the last before the upcoming Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
What stories will be advanced? What explanations will be offered? Which superstars will be featured?
Let's find out.
What Will The NXT Call-Ups Do?
WWE recently called up six superstars from its developmental brand; NXT. They are Nikki Cross, Lacey Evans, Lars Sullivan, EC3, and the tag-team of Otis Dozovic and Tucker Knight, collectively known as Heavy Machinery.
Five of these superstars were introduced to the WWE Universe on last week's episode of RAW. Lars Sullivan did not appear. To say that some of the debuts were underwhelming is an understatement.
Nikki Cross had a very good debut, teaming up with Bayley and Natalya to vanquish the Riott Squad. She got a good reaction from the crowd, and a chance to shine. The others, however? Lacey Evans was shown in a blink-and-you-miss-it background shot as Finn Balor walked to the ring. Otis Dozovic interrupted Alexa Bliss and Paul Heyman, proceeded to act very very weirdly, and was dragged away by an embarrassed Tucker Knight. EC3 was shown outside Vince McMahon's office as one of many superstars hoping for a Universal Championship match but didn't think it important to come out to the ring and make his claim.
How the WWE presents these superstars this Monday Night RAW could tell us a lot about how they are viewed.