WWE has been in Philadelphia for the last few days, and things have been generally well-received. The card on Saturday included what some people are calling two of the best NXT matches ever. The Royal Rumble on Sunday included a men’s Rumble that people generally loved, and a first-ever women’s Rumble that was similarly great and featured a Ronda Rousey cameo at the end.
But Monday night, the WWE returned to my favorite storyline over the past month: Braun Strowman destroying things. Earlier this month, he pulled over a lighting rig. Then he flipped over a semi-truck. Last night, he had a last-man standing match with Kane. And to win it, he flipped over the table the announce table was on, crushing Kane. Ding ding ding!
This led to several hilarious outcomes: One, the announcers had to sit in chairs at ringside while the crew seemingly struggled with building a new announce table. (Perhaps they’d quickly purchased it from the IKEA nearby?) Two, Braun ran into Raw GM Kurt Angle backstage, who had maybe his funniest segment since becoming GM: “Braun! How many times do we have to have this conversation?” Three, WWE later released an amazing injury update on Kane:
Imagine if NFL injury reports were like this. “INJURY UPDATE: Rob Gronkowski crawled his way out of Mass General before he could be examined and has not been heard from since.” Then Gronk can make a surprise return at the Super Bowl! Then again, since he skipped media day, maybe he is doing that.
Braun wreaked more havoc in a recent video WWE released on YouTube. Strowman is Alexa Bliss’s partner in the Mixed Match Challenge, and he tried to show her how to flip over a car.
“You want to make sure you get the fulcrum effect for the car, otherwise it’s impossible to flip.” Wise words from a wise, strong man.