4 Ups & 9 Downs From WWE Raw (Nov 2)
Survivor Series saps storylines; Tucker doomed; World Title picture livens up.
Let’s dive right into the topline for this WWE Raw column: Monday’s episode was certainly watchable, but the forced conflict, drama and stymying of storylines due to Survivor Series really hurt things.
You actually have an interesting angle going surrounding the WWE Championship, but Randy Orton is facing Roman Reigns in three weeks, not any of the three men chasing after the title. The Hurt Business is making a play for gold, but they won’t have a chance to capture any more titles under after the November PPV. And because you have to spend time building these teams, there wasn’t room on a three-hour program to fit the Raw Women’s Champion Asuka.
Raw had some good action, but it continues to be hampered by poor storytelling and inconsistencies. While the developing story around the world title is interesting, it’s still a far cry from SmackDown’s title program, both for the men’s and women’s titles.
Monday’s show did finally clear up where Tucker landed in the aftermath of turning on Otis… and it wasn’t a good result for him. Thankfully, the world title scenery isn’t bad, and the Hurt Business seems to have turned a corner now that they aren’t fighting with Apollo Crews and company every week.
With that said, let’s get to it…