6 Ups And Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Dec 29)
Did 2014 manage to end on a high note?
Almost. We almost ended 2014 on a high note with Monday nights Raw. The final Raw of the year featured a lot of positives decent matches, meaningful storyline developments, a return, a huge surprise and a title change that you normally dont get during the holidays in WWE. The negatives werent fatal, insulting problems that would leave a fan embarrassed. It looked like WWE was going to head into 2015 with some positive momentum, a feeling that things were looking up, at least a little bit. And then the last 15 minutes of Raw happened. In a flash, things went back to normal, as yet another forever stipulation was flushed down the toilet in a matter of weeks. A wrestling cliché already deemed well past its sell-by date is now being revisited. And a Hall of Famer was emasculated and used as a plot point to accomplish this. Its like watching Shawshank Redemption and Andy Dufresne gets captured trying to escape. Youre enjoying yourself and suddenly the movie smacks you in the face and the end ruins your experience. Raws ending felt tacked on, as if WWE writers suddenly discovered that the stipulation from Survivor Series expired on December 31 and had to use it quickly. Still, this weeks Raw was a marked improvement from previous weeks. (It also included a nice, quiet endorsement of NXT Champion Sami Zayn, with Edge wearing an InZayn T-Shirt.) Lets see what worked and what didnt. (Apologies for being a day late in posting this. The holidays finally caught up to the author.)