6 Ups And 9 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (March 18)

More matches announced, but WWE not putting best effort forward.

Ronda Rousey Dana Brooke
WWE.com

Just a reminder as you settle in to read this column: WrestleMania is less than three weeks away.

For different people, this might mean different things. For some, that means that Raw simply has to be in “hard sell” mode, trying to make sure you sign up for the WWE Network to watch the show by constantly plugging the matches on the card – while adding new ones every hour it seems.

For others, WrestleMania season means that Raw should be producing compelling television to pull in new viewers as it heads into its biggest event of the season. Storylines should be exciting and well thought-out.

If you fall into the latter category, then Monday was a dismal failure. Sure, there were a couple nice moments, but there were plenty of gaps and detriments to this program, whether it was Braun Strowman more worried about SNL cast members, or lazy distraction finishes, or a title contender being made irrelevant during a match.

Raw as usual was watchable, but “watchable” is not what we should be aspiring to at the busiest time of the wrestling season. As fans, we should be demanding excellence rather than competence, hence the poor marks this week. It’s a shame to see this.

With that said, let’s get to it…

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.