The first Monday Night Raw of 2017 has been gifted to us and it was a decent way to start the new year. Braun Strowman competed and showed Sami Zayn that he is the last man standing while Roman Reigns and Bill Goldberg introduced the former Wyatt member to an epic double spear. It was an eventful night for big Braun.
It was also an eventful night for a certain WWE fan who dressed up like one of the biggest WWE stars of all time. He even got his own chant when WWE decided that he didn’t need to be visible on screen anymore.
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In addition to him, Mick Foley got slightly confused during the opening promo, Cedric Alexander had a momentary scare with the bottom rope, and Kevin Owens gave the world our new favorite prop.
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The following 5 entries are some of the more notable botches, slip ups, and outrageous moments from Monday Night Raw. First up is the Raw GM, so let’s get to it...
#5 Hogan got moved
Earlier in this episode of Raw, there was likely one fan in the front row who caught your eye. This individual was dressed up to look just like WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan, which was worth a chuckle.
Considering there was a new show debuting on the Network immediately after Raw that used Hogan’s name in the promo video Raw kept airing, it didn’t seem like a big deal that a fan visible on screen could be seen donning his attire. Apparently, it was.
Briefly during the Titus O’Neil and Xavier Woods matchup, a strange chant for Hogan could be heard among the audience. The ridiculousness of this chant for an expat Superstar over comments tinged with racism while the only match of the entire night that featured two men of colour was underway was at least a tad ironic.
But it was also at that moment that the faux Hulkster was realised to be missing, moved off camera during a commercial break. He was later seen on the opposite side of the ring, still front row but out of view of the home audience. The guy standing in the blue shirt in the above .gif was originally seated next to the fake Hulkster.
This likely had little to do with Hulk Hogan’s recent controversies and simply WWE not wanting anything visible that might distract from the in-ring action, but the guy wasn’t being a nuisance. It seemed silly that they felt the need to move him and only caused a disruption because they took action.
#4 The shakier the better!
WWE has a very specific camera style and any fan of the product knows their tricks. They love quick zooming in on every single point of impact, they love multiple angles that are constantly switching back and forth, and they love speeding up a slow motion replay just at the moment that the good stuff happens.
When Sami Zayn and Braun Strowman took their Last Man Standing Match backstage, they must’ve gotten the cameraman of the year to film that portion of their brawl. This is Blair Witch levels of shakiness, so the production crew were probably high-fiving themselves over this segment. It’s like there was an earthquake going on at this moment.
#3 Mick forgot who’s in the match
Mick Foley recently had trouble remembering what town he was in, which is a crucial detail for nailing his signature cheap pops correctly. He remedied that problem in Tampa Bay by jotting a note on the palm of his hand. It turns out Mick’s going to need a bigger hand.
After Kevin Owens proposed banning Seth Rollins from the Roman Reigns vs. Chris Jericho match, later in the show, Mick interjected to suggest the opposite. What he meant to say was that Owens should be banned from ringside but instead said Jericho’s name.
Every other person in the ring with him immediately spoke over the other, attempting to correct his mistake.
#2 Cedric’s head into the rope
After Enzo Amore’s concussion last year, when his head ungracefully met the bottom rope, WWE officials are likely hyper-aware of any time a wrestler connects with them. A moment like this happened on this episode of Raw after Drew Gulak bodyslammed Cedric Alexander into the ropes.
For the most part, Cedric took the move and landed pretty smoothly. However, he raised his head up after he landed and bonked himself off the bottom rope. There wasn’t a huge alarm over the spot but you do see Alexander clutch the back of his head and the referee immediately moved toward him to check to see if he’s okay.
#1 The new Sign Guy
This isn’t a botch or a mistake but it was outrageously funny, so it’s getting featured. Kevin Owens got the opportunity to host his first ever in-ring interview segment, a sign that he’s truly tenured into the WWE system.
Just like the Jeri-tron and Mitch the Plant, host K.O. got his own props. One of his props just happened to be of the same species as the WWE Universal Champion.
That’s definitely a creative prop but unlike SmackDown Live’s La Luchadora, it doesn’t seem likely that there will be a big buzz going around to speculate about who might be behind the sign. However, if we are guessing, my pick is Bo Dallas.
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