4 Ups & 8 Downs From WWE Raw (13 Nov - Results & Review)
McIntyre makes a choice, JD earns a spot, impromptu matches, distraction finishes abound.
In years past, it was not uncommon for WWE to slide into the doldrums of fall and winter as they seemingly went into autopilot mode after SummerSlam, descending into a lazy, mundane booking pattern that continued in October, descended further in November and hit its nadir in December, all to pick back up in time for the Royal Rumble.
When Triple H took over last year, the hope was that this pattern finally would be broken. However, it’s starting to look like they’re sliding back into this bad habit, as WWE delivered not just a subpar Raw, but a completely skippable episode.
People who are fans of great wrestling, logical booking, the Creed Brothers, and Gunther having credible challengers were undoubtedly disappointed. But it was more than that this week.
WWE has been plagued through the years by numerous booking tropes that the writers use as constant crutches. Those had faded away, or at least came in smaller bunches, during the past year. But on Monday night, a bunch of them came screaming back at once, and the show suffered as a result.
It felt like they made their big announcement of WarGames last week, and everything was just on a hamster wheel this week. There were a couple a bright spots, but overall, this was not a good penultimate Raw before Survivor Series.
Let’s get to it…