WWE RAW Revisited: Brock Lesnar's WrestleMania 35 Match, RAW Feeling Like Three Hours Of Main Event
On this week's edition of the Wrestling Inc. Podcast, which airs live every Monday after RAW, former WWE / TNA star Matt Morgan and Wrestling Inc. President Raj Giri reviewed last night's RAW and discussed Baron Corbin getting more comfortable on the mic, rumored match of Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins and whether Braun Strowman needs to be World Champion. Below are a few of the highlights:
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Opening promo on Raw with Corbin, Lashley and Drew McIntyre:
Morgan: "Great promo work by Baron Corbin. He is getting very comfortable week by week and you continue to see him grow. He is ad libbing and the crowd gets to it very effortlessly now. I dig what he is doing finally, I do. More and more, but again, like I said earlier, I don't like the cartoon heel selling by Bobby Lashley. He is a tank and proved it even more so after the match was done when he was flexing; it's like, good Lord, this guy is jacked. That is their answer to Brock Lesnar if Brock Lesnar leaves. He is right there: Bobby Lashley, you know? You stay out of his way and let him be this natural heel that he is comfortable playing. Let him do what he did in TNA. Bobby Lashley looks like he is forcing this role. You can see it from him a mile away. He looks uncomfortable. That is not a shot on him, that is a shot on creative going, what are you guys doing? Here is this diamond, just let him be. You don't have to reinvent the wheel here. Let him be Bobby Lashley. I am also pissed off because throughout my wrestling career I am pissed because I didn't think of the term 'Bobby Trashley.'
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Rumored match between Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 35:
Raj: "As far as top babyfaces, I felt that this show doesn't really have stars yet. I mean Drew [McIntyre] is getting there, but when you have no Brock [Lesnar], and no Roman [Reigns], who obviously can't be on at the moment, or Braun Strowman. I know Ronda Rousey didn't feel like [a big star] this week even though she obviously is. This show just felt like there were no stars. It was just watching three hours of WWE Main Event back to back."
Morgan: "I thought they tried to position Seth Rollins that way, didn't you? At least I thought they tried."
Raj: "If you are going to groom him for Brock Lesnar, which is the rumor of Seth Rollins and Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 35, having him in a long, competitive match against Dolph Ziggler is not the way to do it."
Morgan: "Wait. The rumor is Seth Rollins vs Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 35?"
Raj: "Yeah. It's going to be Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman at The Royal Rumble [2019] and Brock Lesnar vs Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 35. Now, it's not clear if Brock and Rollins are going to be for the WWE Universal Championship, or the Braun Strowman match for the WWE Universal Championship, but yeah, Rollins vs Brock is the current direction."
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Braun Strowman not facing Lesnar at WrestleMania:
Raj: "Braun Strowman, with him they are blowing it off at the Royal Rumble. For some reason, we have talked about this before, it is just one of those things where they don't see him as 'The Guy.' They see him as a big star like Andre the Giant or Undertaker type, not like 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin or The Rock."
Morgan: "They call that the attraction."
Raj: "Right."
Morgan: "He is bigger than the champion, which is usually more important than being a champion if you are going to say The Undertaker & Andre the Giant attraction."
Raj: "Well, Andre was never bigger than Hulk Hogan [when Hogan was on top] unless you were talking about size wise, but Hogan was obviously the biggest star. The Rock and Steve Austin were bigger than The Undertaker."
Morgan: "Yeah, you're right. I take that back, but there were champions that were also part of the attraction show and they were bigger than the championship... That's what they say. That is exactly the words they would use when saying that about Andre the Giant. Andre the Giant is an attraction. He does not need to win the championship. Undertaker is an attraction, he doesn't need to win the World Heavyweight Title."
Raj: " I think they have the same way of thinking with Braun Strowman."
Morgan: "So, Braun Strowman is not going to win the World Heavyweight Championship?"
Raj: "Not anytime soon. I am sure he will probably be like The Undertaker where he will be in World Heavyweight Championship feuds but he is not having the lengthy title reigns."
Morgan: "He is not up for one right now?"
Raj: "No. Apparently right now it is Seth Rollins. So, again, if it is Seth Rollins do you have him going this long with freaking Dolph Ziggler?"
Morgan: "No, no, but what do you do? His strength is putting on great, entertaining matches so what do you do because he is also someone who is trying to get over as the work horse of the company—both of those guys. What do you do if his gimmick is to put on these insanely entertaining, hard-fought matches? Do you see how that can blow up in your face a little bit?"
Raj: "Yeah. I mean, he is going to have his work cut out for him but there are some guys – I know Dolph Ziggler has been pushed a little this year, but he has been the fall guy for Drew McIntyre so I think fans still see it. They know what Dolph Ziggler's role is, it is to build Drew McIntyre. John Cena is coming back next month to come back for WrestleMania season. He is done filming his movie. His Raw return is January 7th, 2019, so I wonder if that is where they slide him in with this feud with Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley?"
You can watch the full podcast in the video above, or listen to it in the audio player below.
The Wrestling Inc. Podcast airs every Monday immediately following RAW, Wednesdays at noon ET and post-WWE PPV Sundays immediately after the event with Matt Morgan, Glenn Rubenstein and Raj Giri. You can subscribe to the Wrestling Inc. Podcast on iTunes and on YouTube. Please rate us and leave a comment.