7 Ups And 9 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Oct 17)

WWE clearly has put all its eggs into one basket right now, and that basket is a rematch 12 years in the making that everyone wants to see – but not for the reasons WWE thinks.

With Paul Heyman laying down the gauntlet last week, it fell to Goldberg to show up Monday night to answer the challenge, making his first return to a WWE ring since WrestleMania XX in 2004, when he defeated Brock Lesnar. Goldberg has informed Brock that he’s next – and last – so Lesnar has been announced for next week’s Raw as the hit parade of part-timers trying to pop a rating will continue.

All that aside, Raw continued its build to Hell in a Cell with two benign sit-down interviews by Lita with Sasha Banks and Charlotte. Spoiler alert: The word “history” was used a lot. Roman Reigns and Rusev had a confrontation to remind fans of their HIAC bout. And Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens will be fighting for KO’s Universal Championship, so of course that feud opened Raw.

This week’s episode had some good moments, but there were plenty of little nagging moments to drag it down. It still was watchable, but Raw is far from firing on all cylinders and has lost a step from the summer when things were clicking better.

So what jackhammered the competition and what got speared out of its boots? Let’s get to it…