10 Things We Learned From WWE Raw (May 22)
Kendo Sticks and Booking Tricks.
Jinder Mahal is the WWE Champion, and whilst this shouldn't have anything to do with Monday Night Raw, it's indicative of the company's current attitude towards pushing performers across both brands.
Mahal's sudden rise may have profiteering ramifications as WWE prepares to tackle the lucrative Indian market, but his push also reflects a move away from traditional metrics in star selection and superstar ascension.
Time and dedication had been placed into elevating Braun Strowman to a similar level, but injury has briefly halted his momentum. Short of the new top guy, the best of the rest were thrown into the next pay-per-view main event, ensuring hokey tag matches and forced grief between all the combatants ahead of Extreme Rules.
However, the thinking behind Mahal's push cuts both ways. If he can do it, anybody can. But if anybody can, is the prize one really worth fighting for? Roman Reigns retired The Undertaker. Seth Rollins was the 'Architect' of The Shield. Finn Balor was the first ever Universal Champion. Samoa Joe was the first ever two-time NXT Champion. Bray Wyatt can make maggots appear on the ring and that.
The point is, in WWE's latest brave new world, they've all done things beyond the summit they're supposedly looking towards. None of them have beaten 'The Beast', but they could probably just switch to Tuesdays and fight Jinder Mahal instead. In the meantime, just like the rest of us, they're left to endure this nonsense until Brock Lesnar fancies turning up for work.
10. Sasha Fierce
Sasha Banks comfortably despatched Alicia Fox this week, because frankly, of course she did.
Despite the hilarious chemistry between Fox and Noam Dar threatening to overwhelm 'The Boss' in the storyline and the match, the women's division's token 'crazy chick' is simply not in Banks' league and shouldn't be presented as such.
That the pair have traded victories in recent weeks shows how little thought the creative team have put into this latest attempt to push the listless Fox, with her post-match beatdown of Sasha ensuring to audience dread that the feud, regrettably, must continue.
Commentators were keen to put over her scissors kick this week, which she exhibited after Banks slapped the wonderfully obnoxious Dar following the fall.
This sort of gubbins is all well and good for Monday Night filler, but WWE must not make the mistake with Sasha that they have with Becky Lynch on SmackDown Live!
As the original benchmark of the division, Lynch slipped quickly following a run of successive storyline failures. No 'Four Horsewomen' reputation was stronger than the pile of losses she endured, and she rapidly became the blue brand's well-received whipping girl. Sasha needs to ultimately breeze past these distractions so not to fall into the same trap.