How Braun Strowman Should Beat Roman Reigns... | WWE Raw, April 17, 2017 Review

Braun Strowman beat up Goldust and R-Truth.
Braun Strowman beat up Kalisto.
And Braun Strowman beat up a wrestling ring.
I’m Oli Davis, and this is the 17th April 2017 edition of Braun Strowman Beats Up Stuff...in
about 4 minutes.
Braun Strowman Says He’s Going To Beat People Up
Following his brutal backstage beatdown of Roman Reigns last week, WWE’s biggest babyface
Braun Strowman gloated that this was his yard now.
Strong babyface pop.
And that The Big Dawg won’t be here tonight.
Even bigger babyface pop.
Kurt Angle told Strowman he’ll face Reigns at Payback in just two weeks’ time, and
then suspended The Monster Among Men - presumably for being too awesome.
A suspension that resulted in Braun having the night’s main event match.
Samoa Joe beat Chris Jericho Chris Jericho put over Samoa Joe strong by
tapping to the Coquina Clutch clean - reminding us all Y2J is off to tour with his band Fozzy
soon, and probably spoiling the result of his US title match at Payback against Kevin
Owens.
Joe and Seth Rollins cut promos on each other afterwards, where The Kingslayer used the
word ‘bitch’.
Edgy.
Braun Strowman Beats Up Goldust & R-Truth Goldust and R-Truth were Strowman’s first
backstage victims, meaning they could no longer face Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson.
Galanderson managed to get a pretty decent match out of Enzo and Big Cass in their place.
Miz TV With Dean Ambrose Just like he did with John Cena, Miz balanced
real-life and storyline immaculately when picking apart Dean Ambrose.
The Lunatic Fringe was the WWE Champion and number one draft pick last year, but he still
hasn’t been able to break the glass ceiling.
Ambrose attacked Miz to close the segment, which felt very Smackdown-esque.
Probably because we only had this feud several months ago on Smackdown.
Also, I miss Maryse dressed as Nikki Bella.
TJ Perkins beat Jack Gallagher TJ Perkins and Jack Gallagher had a really,
really good match - not just because of the fantastic in-ring wrestling, but also because
of the extra storytelling layer of Austin Aries and Neville watching at ringside, almost
fighting each other through proxy.
Perkins won, who is getting over in the right way with his heel gimmick.
Every time he dabs, rage consumes me.
Alexa Bliss beat Nia Jax, Sasha Banks & Mickie James
Just like the Wrestlemania four-way, this match was built around three women joining
forces to take out Braun Strowoman.
It worked really well, with Jax getting a bunch of great looking power spots.
Alexa Bliss stole the pin on Sasha Banks after Jax hit her finisher, becoming the number
one contender for Bayley’s Women’s Championship.
Finn Balor beat Curt Hawkins Following his reported concussion from Jinder
Mahal last week, Finn Balor got a match where he didn’t have to take any bumps - a 30
second squash of Curt Hawkins.
Afterwards, Bray Wyatt cut his standard TitanTron promo where he doesn’t actually say anything
of substance.
Jeff Hardy beat Cesaro Matt was caught between two gimmicks in the
Hardys’ backstage interview.
He talks like your standard scripted WWE wrestler, but then puts emphasis on words like ‘Ever’
and ‘Tremendous’.
It was fascinatingly awkward.
Jeff had a cracking match with Cesaro later on, ahead of their tag team title bout at
Payback.
Big Show vs Braun Strowman Earlier in the night, the camera cut backstage
to Strowman dragging a luchador’s lifeless body along the floor (I’m pretty sure it
was Kalisto, but sometimes they all look the same to me - that’s not racist, it’s a
mask thing) and chucked him in a dumpster.
This prompted Big Show to nobly tackle Strowman from outta nowhere screaming, ‘why don’t
you pick on someone your own size?’
At the end of their solid big, sweaty man match, Strowman and Show hit the superplex
spot they teased in their last Raw main event.
The ring collapsed, giving Strowman back-to-back spectacle moments alongside last week’s
ambulance deadlift - begging the question, what large inanimate object is he going to
beat up next Monday?
There was no official winner here, but Strowman’s music hit when he was the only person to stand
up.
Logically, that would build to a Last Man Standing stipulation between the two.
This also fits into Strowman’s larger character arc, though: his top rope achilles heel.
Braun’s only loss so far was to Reigns at Fastlane, where his major mistake was attempting
a top rope splash.
To show that Strowman is fiercely intelligent as well as a powerhouse, this should be built
into how he overcomes Roman at Payback.
He’s not only an unstoppable physical force, he also learns and adapts from his mistakes.
Now he’s conquered the Big Show using a middle rope suplex, he needs to beat Roman
when mastering the top rope splash.
And then, all of a sudden, you’ve got a huge spectacle move in Strowman’s arsenal
that he can pull out in big Pay-Per-View matches.
So that was this week’s Raw in about four minutes.
Here’s the usual ratings recap, from top to bottom - In Awe, Cor, AVRAWGE, Poor and
Bore.
This week’s Raw is Cor.
This episode had four really enjoyable matches that got a decent amount of time, a fiery
Miz TV segment and Braun’s path of destruction.
The Wrestlemania momentum is still there, but it’s steadily slowing because of Raw’s
three hour runtime.
What did you all think?
Let me know in the comments down below, and make sure to vote in the poll above my head
to give it your own rating.
I’ll announce the results on tomorrow’s WrestleTalk News.
Should Matt & Jeff Hardy turn broken in WWE?
Luke Owen and I debate just that in the latest WrestleTalk Show episode.
And Mauro Ranallo has fired shots at WWE following his reported departure from the company.
Click the videos on the left to find out more, and press subscribe.
I’ve been Oli Davis and that was wrestling.

How Braun Strowman Should Beat Roman Reigns... | WWE Raw, April 17, 2017 Review

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