10 Biggest Questions Coming Out Of WWE Raw 25

Well, Raw 25 certainly didn't disappoint in terms of generating debate.

After much fallout online - mainly revolving around the fury of those at the Manhattan Center, where minimal action was held - it's time to look at the actual events of the show.

We saw Vince, we saw Austin; we saw Undertaker and DX. But some segments clearly meant more than others, prompting a lot of speculation with regards to the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 34.

There were a hell of a lot of returns, but with only three hours to work with, many took less prominent roles than others. The wrestling itself seemed something of an afterthought - which we admittedly knew would happen, but perhaps not to such an extent. With the exception of Roman Reigns vs. The Miz, no matches were given enough time to fully develop - and while that may be forgivable on such a unique celebration of a show, it's interesting to analyse what we learned from WWE's priorities here.

Let's take a look at the biggest questions we've been left with following the 25th anniversary of Monday Night Raw - from potential winners at the Royal Rumble pay per view to questions regarding the structure of the show.

10. Why Didn't Austin Get Any Mic Time!?

The opening segment, although clunky and McMahon-heavy, felt largely appropriate. We had Vince heeling out on the Barclays Center crowd, which was a wonderful throwback - and, of course, we heard the famous glass shatter.

Unfortunately, despite Austin rolling back the years with a trio of stunners to Vince and Shane (Stephanie made a sneaky exit), the Texas Rattlesnake didn't utter a single word into a live mic.

Stone Cold is one of the most electrifying promo men in the history of wrestling. Although that particular adjective is often attributed to The Rock, it's also appropriate when describing Austin's mic skills. Few can get the adrenaline pumping through words alone like Stone Cold, and it was a huge shame not to hear him cut even a small promo.

9. What Did The Undertaker's Promo Mean?

The biggest question heading into Raw 25 was whether The Undertaker would call out an opponent for WrestleMania 34 - or even possibly confirm his own retirement.

Ultimately, neither happened. The Deadman came out in the Manhattan Center to cut a promo, in which he highlighted the intertwining nature of his own legacy and Monday Night Raw's. He told all the souls that had fallen by his hand to rest in peace - which is nice and all, but it didn't really let us know about his future plans.

A couple of weeks ago, Dave Meltzer reported that WWE are planning to have 'Taker face John Cena in New Orleans - but his appearance here didn't reveal much along those lines. The pair weren't even in the same venue.

8. Has Asuka Scuppered Her Royal Rumble Chances?

Oh dear, Asuka. Everybody knows that you should 

never 

be the last person standing in the ring on the go-home show before a Royal Rumble. Asuka has been a frontrunner for the inaugural women's edition of the match since it was announced, but this development may cast some doubt on that prediction.

The visual of Asuka tossing her rivals to the outside may be a little too obvious, and will surely lead to speculation that the Rumble will instead be won by a different member of the women's division - or perhaps a newcomer...

Ronda Rousey has been heavily rumoured to be joining WWE soon, especially after footage emerged of her training with Natalya. Not only that, but TMZ reported on the former UFC Champion meeting with Triple H in Los Angeles. Should she, as a wrestling novice, win on Sunday, expect a

very

mixed reaction indeed.

7. Is The Miz The Greatest IC Champion Of All Time?

It's probably time to give some serious thought to the idea that The Miz is the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time.

The current champ prized the title from the hands of Roman Reigns last night (with the help of a distraction from his Miztourage buddies, and a missing turnbuckle pad) - thereby making himself an eight-time holder of the belt.

Chris Jericho is the only man to hold the IC title on more occasions, but Miz's cumulative time with the belt eclipses Y2J by over 200 days. Few are as closely tied to the championship, and few have done as much to transform themselves into a genuine, heat-drawing heel while in its possession.

6. Is Jason Jordan's Heel Turn Imminent?

Before last night's Raw, I thought Jordan might turn heel on Seth Rollins sometime between the Rumble and WrestleMania. Now I'm more convinced that he'll jump his tag partner on Sunday's show itself.

The heat on Jordan during Christian's Peep Show segment was unbelievable, showing that it was a masterstroke for WWE to tweak him from grinning try-hard into deliberate annoyance.

This is one of those occasions where I think a quickfire turn would be the best course of action, capitalising on Jordan's heat while it's at its peak. Rollins accidentally blasting him with a knee has provided a motive; now WWE just need to pull the trigger.

5. Where Does Matt Hardy Go From Here?

The most baffling result of last night's few matches saw Bray Wyatt dispatch Matt Hardy in a matter of minutes. Although it probably did make sense to have this match in the Manhattan Center - providing the venue with a couple of the current roster's more outlandish, throwback gimmicks - it was baffling in its brevity and straightforwardness.

Hardy seemed to have the upper hand in this feud, and certainly the momentum and support of the crowd - and while yes, ultimately its purpose was probably to spark some life into Bray Wyatt, it was shocking to see Matt go down so easily.

So what's next for the Woken one? Rumours of upcoming vignettes being filmed at the Hardy compound in North Carolina seem to suggest that the gimmick is returning to its more outlandish roots. But now that he's been plainly shown to be no match for Bray, will a new target be acquired instead?

4. What's Going To Happen Between Cena And Elias?

I, like many, assumed that John Cena and Elias' interaction a few weeks ago was a one-off segment - but the Drifter shockingly got revenge in one of last night's more unpredictable moments. He even smashed a guitar over Cena's back, an assault which will surely be avenged at the Royal Rumble.

My prediction here is that Cena will be eliminated from the Rumble by Elias, giving him something to do until a WrestleMania opponent emerges in February or March - I'm not confident in this by any stretch of the imagination.

Another possibility could see Cena eliminate Elias, only to be thrown out by his eventual 'Mania opponent thanks to the distraction. Or hell, maybe Elias 

is 

Cena's man for New Orleans although that seems a tad unlikely.

3. Will WWE Realise The Revival's Potential?

In my opinion, the most frustrating result of last night's Raw saw The Revival treated as an utter punchline, while a herd of beloved Attitude Era legends laughed at them.

Dash and Dawson crashed the feel-good meeting between DX and The Club, injecting a real sense of conflict into proceedings. Unfortunately, despite perhaps being the main roster tag team with the most unrealised potential, they were easily bested.

Hopefully WWE realise what they have on their hands with The Revival. The pair were utterly excellent in NXT, and will likely go down as one of the best tag teams the developmental brand has ever seen. Unfortunately, until an opportunity is given to them, they'll continue to struggle on the main roster.

2. Lesnar's Winning, Right?

Just as Asuka's early dominance seemed to suggest that she won't be winning the Royal Rumble, Braun Strowman's latest attack on Brock Lesnar only makes it seem more likely that the Beast will retain his Universal Championship on Sunday.

The triple threat match is one of those where a certain outcome looks incredibly predictable - although sometimes these matches are used by WWE to deliver the bigger shocks of the year.

As foolish as this may seem in hindsight, though, I can't see any last minute changes to the expected script here. Lesnar will surely win, pinning Kane in order to protect Strowman's push. Right?

Right!?

1. Was It A Good Idea?

Arguably the biggest story coming out of Raw 25 revolves around no in-ring action at all, but rather a lack of wrestling.

Numerous fans who attended the Manhattan Center portion of the show complained about having to watch most of the broadcast on a screen, with minimal live action dedicated to their venue. Add in the fact that many paid around $400 for tickets, and it's easy to see why there was a lot of discontent.

WWE obviously had to do something special for Raw's 25th anniversary - but lingering questions will remain over whether they went about it in the right way.

10. Bret Hart Bashes Modern WWE Title Design

WWE.com

I love Bret Hart.

He was one of my first favourite wrestlers and has continued to be so over the years. The more you watch his work, the more you appreciate just how good The Hitman was.

Best there is, best there was and best there ever will be? There's certainly a case to be made there.

Post-retirement Bret is also one of my favourite wrestlers, but not because he's putting on any technical classics or anything.

I love the modern-day Hitman because he's so happy to talk about anything and usually ends up burying someone or something, even if it has nothing to do with what he was originally commenting on.

He's a legend, but he's a bit of a curmudgeon, and it warmed my heart to see him taking a shot at the modern-day WWE Title design this week in a video of him showing off his old WWE Championship belt, which was the 'winged eagle' design.

He called his title the 'most beautiful belt ever made in wrestling' before wondering aloud 'God knows why they change it to that piece of crap they've got now'.

Never, ever change, Bret.

On the subject of the 'winged eagle' title, why do we refer to it as that anyway? Are there other, wingless eagles not flying about out there that I don't know about? I mean, what's the deal there?

Hold on, this isn't the cold open to an episode of Seinfeld is it? Moving on...

9. An APB On Double-J

WWE.com

When WKRN News 2 tweeted that a man was beaten with a guitar during a party in East Nashville, WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett was quick to jump to his own defense.

The man noted for his balsa wood specials over the years replied to the tweet by saying it wasn't him, followed by four guitar emojis.

Methinks the Chosen One doth protest too much?

Having followed Jarrett's career from WWE to WCW and then TNA, I can't imagine anyone other than him hitting someone with a six-string.

8. Vince McMahon & Big Show's Gas

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Arn Anderson's podcast The ARN Show is typically good value and finally - FINALLY - this week Double-A got onto the topic of WWE stars and their farts.

When asked about memorable backstage gas passers, The Enforcer offered up two prime suspects in Big Show and the boss himself, Vince McMahon.

According to Anderson:

"Vince used to fart up in gorilla all the time and it would fill the room. He would sit over there, you’d see him, he’s laughing his ass off because everybody was gagging. Gerry Briscoe was big time gagging who had a sense of stomach. All that protein Vince was eating, you could imagine how bad". 

Now's a good time to remind everyone of the story Jim Ross once told about Vince trying to cut the cheese near Gerry Briscoe so aggressively that he accidentally pooped himself and had to perform on live TV with a brown stain on the back of his khaki pants.

Anyway, as far Big Show's flatulence problem, Arn had this to say:

“Big Show was the worst. It had sound effects and he would walk in the room and look around and you know he had been holding it and have his bags in his hand and look around the room and it was like two big chicken breasts flapping together. The funk? Oh. People would be running for the door and getting jammed in the door two of them at a time. It was terrible".

Perhaps one of the real reasons The World's Largest Athlete was signed to WWE for over 20 years is his and the CEO's shared love of obscene smells.

7. Is Edge OK?

WWE.com

One of the programming highlights of this week was the WWE Untold episode focusing on the Edge versus Mick Foley Hardcore Match from WrestleMania 22.

The show did the whole story justice, from the beginnings of Edge and Foley's relationship, to the genesis of the match, the match itself and its aftermath.

While it was brutal to watch in parts, there was a great deal of insight and one or two laughs, too.

The biggest came courtesy of Foley, who revealed that after the graphic bout he called his wife Collette to check in and reassure he that he was fine, only for her to respond by disregarding what he had said and immediately asking 'Is Edge OK?'.

And Foley was cracking up...and he loved it...'cause it was nothing vicious!

6. Dolph Ziggler Casts His Vote

WWE.com

The WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremonies happened this week, with both the class of 2020 and 2021 being honoured.

During the initial broadcast, the WWE on Fox Twitter account asked its followers who should headline the 2022 class.

For current SmackDown Tag Team Champion Dolph Ziggler, the answer was obvious, and his gif of Scott Steiner walking to the ring before his calamitous match with Triple H at No Way Out 2003 spoke volumes.

By rights, both Rick and Scott Steiner should be in the WWE Hall of Fame, whether as a tag team or singles.

However, given Big Poppa Pump's previous comments about WWE and their Hall of Fame, as well as his outright hatred of influential backstage figures like Paul Levesque, it's hard to see it happening.

Pus, I mean he was banned from the ceremony in 2015 after an altercation between Steiner and Hulk Hogan's wife.

Besides, I don't think there's a bleep machine fast enough to keep up with the Genetic Freak's acceptance speech.

5. What About Omega?

AEW

Alright, so if Scott Steiner isn't inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2022 (and he won't be), then what about Kenny Omega?

Clearly the Cleaner is feeling snubbed, tweeting out 'Wait, you mean to tell me I was snubbed again this year? Geez Louise, what’s a guy gotta do around here?' as WWE's Hall of Fame ceremony was ongoing.

He's joking, of course, unless he finally wants recognition for his legendary 2006 four-month run in WWE developmental territory Deep South Wrestling.

4. Tanahashi Talks Lesnar

WWE.com

New Japan ace Hiroshi Tanahashi spoke with NJPW1972.com this week, discussing his 2006, including a planned match with Brock Lesnar that didn't end up happening.

Brock worked for New Japan from late 2005 to mid-2006, between leaving WWE and beginning his MMA career.

The Lesnar/NJPW relationship would come to a bitter end due to money issues, as Brock flew back to America while recognised as the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion, never to return (though he did drop the belt to Kurt Angle at an IGF show promoted by New Japan legend Antonio Inoki in 2007).

When asked about how he sees a match with Lesnar playing out, Tanahashi said:

"Technical, I think. It would have to be; you certainly couldn’t match him for power. To be brutally honest, I could never get into any of what I saw of Lesnar. It was all one sided, a completely selfish way of wrestling. I saw him come up in the early 2000s, and he was just pounding people, you never got to see anything from his opponents. I just didn’t understand his deal at all".

And when asked about how he felt The Next Big Thing viewed his time spent in the company:

“Hmm. I think to be honest Lesnar didn’t really care where he was wrestling as long as he got his payoff. That wasn’t the case with Bernard and other foreign guys like that. It really took me aback that there was someone who cared absolutely nothing for the place they were working. That was part of my motivation for that match".

Brock Lesnar only caring about the money he made for a match? Well I never!

3. WALTER Gets His Belt Back

WWE.com

When NXT UK Champion WALTER had his title belt (along with other possessions) stolen in late 2019, it didn't seem likely that it would make its way back to its rightful owner.

Amazingly, the title has now been discovered and was sent back to WWE.

A TIKTOK user named VNDSChicago appears to have bought it for around $30 in March but, upon realising that it was the real thing, decided to ship it to WALTER.

In return, WWE sent the man (whose real name is David) a replica signed by Triple H, Shawn Michaels and WALTER himself.

I reckon he'd get a bit more than $30 for that if he decided to stick it on eBay.

2. Who Tapped First?

WWE.com

It might be the standard now, but 'tapping out' in wrestling wasn't a thing until the late 90s, when Ken Shamrock brought it to WWE from UFC.

Or was it when Tazz introduced it in ECW?

Well, the two surly submission specialists debated it on Twitter after the World's Most Dangerous Man tweeted out "Before I entered the WWF, Tapping out was not a thing! After I joined, Tapping out became a big thing! FACT".

The current AEW commentator and manager responded, writing "Hmmm, regarding WWF, you are correct. Not sure who started doing it in wrestling first you or I, but it was close to the same time I think. Hope you are well man!".

In response to that, Shamrock wrote "Just speaking on WWF. I know you did your thing & I loved it. Stay strong my friend!".

Damn. I was hoping the two would fight.

That would have been a hell of a deal when both were in their primes, actually.

1. Molly's Speech

WWE.com

And finally, something nice to leave you with this week, as WWE have shared the full version of Molly Holly's Hall of Fame speech (which was cut down for time during their broadcast of the ceremony).

The saintly Molly was inducted as part of the class of 2021 and spent most of her time not talking about all of her accomplishments, but thanking those that helped her along the way, from wrestlers she worked with to the unsung heroes like the WWE production crew, whom she named individually.

It was a wonderful speech from someone who is universally loved and nobody has a bad word to say about, and serves as a cheerful way to sign off for seven days.

Enjoy the speech and enjoy WrestleMania this weekend, too, you absolute maniacs.