4 Ups And 10 Downs From WWE Raw (Dec 27)
Shorthanded Raw kills loads of time, damages Damian Priest, dumps goo on Miz.
Welcome to Raw is Killing Time.
Monday night’s episode was a great example of the challenges WWE faces with having to fill three hours of a live show in an era where numerous wrestlers can be sidelined by an ongoing pandemic – and after a year in which they’ve released dozens of wrestlers, including 17 main roster superstars in the past two months.
So with a shorthanded roster, WWE trotted out numerous stalling tactics like Larry Zbyszko’s life depended on it. Time-fillers dominated this Raw, which also was a go-home show for the Day 1 PPV that didn’t have numerous top stars available. This meant at-home promos, video packages, rambling in-ring segments and other foolishness. (And we’ll give a partial pass to two advertised but cancelled matches here: Finn Balor/Austin Theory and AJ Styles/Omos.)
In addition to all the ridiculous time-fillers, WWE also managed to make Damian Priest – their one true debut success story in 2021 – look like an idiot. They self-owned by trying to make a joke about the ever-coming Veer that channeled AEW (you know, the company that’s not competition). And they raided the supply closet for 50 gallons of black goo, because nothing says blood feud between grizzled veterans like dumping viscous liquid on someone.
You’d think that AEW having a successful year would lead to an “iron sharpens iron” deal with WWE, but instead, they continue to regress.
Let’s get to it…