4 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (29 Jun - Results & Review)
2. What’s The Point Of Stipulations?
For more than a month, WWE has been promising fans that the winner of the King of the Ring tournament would face a champion of his choosing at SummerSlam.
Fans held their collective breath as the company navigated the temptation to do something incredibly dumb in the booking of the tournament, and when they resisted that temptation on Saturday, they exhaled.
Monday night on Raw, WWE bludgeoned them on the head and just brushed off their own stipulation and the anticipation they had built for Oba Femi’s crowning achievement, just so they could book the rematch that didn’t need to be.
Femi got baited by Brock Lesnar and challenged him to a match at SummerSlam, forgoing the world title match in favor of a rubber match against a man he obliterated at WrestleMania 42 and who has only gotten the upper hand through underhanded tactics.
Instead, we get more Shield lore for SummerSlam and a Hell in a Cell match that should be really good on the night, but could have been the night one main event while Oba battles Roman Reigns on the second night for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Oba brushing off a world title match with a callous “the title is always going to be there” wasn’t the flex WWE thought it was. Femi has been incredible in nearly everything he’s done, and this SummerSlam match likely will be another test for him to crush, but this was disappointing.
On the positive front, Oba won KOTR and has a world title shot. At least they didn’t book Brock to cost him the tournament to set this up.