6 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (10 June - Results & Review)
A mixed bag of wrestling and drama on go-home Raw ahead of Clash at the Castle.
Here’s a bit of a prediction that is about as safe as it can get: Clash at the Castle is going to be a noisy success no matter how fantastic or disappointing the matches are on Saturday. With Scottish wrestlers competing in three of the five announced matches (Drew McIntyre, Piper Niven, Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn), fans attending the first WWE PPV/PLE in Scotland are going to be losing their collective minds.
So, when it comes to evaluating the go-home Raw ahead of Clash, it’s tough to really get too harsh on the show. WWE has to know they’re going to have a pretty successful PLE regardless of what happened Monday night.
Overall, Raw was a decent show with some explosive wrestling, tawdry soap-opera drama, and an impending revolt against someone’s master. But Raw also included disappointing in-ring action, questionable decisions, and challenges for the show’s main champion. Throw in a subpar crowd, and you’re swimming uphill over the course of the night.
Raw currently suffers from a lack of true star power and an overreliance on gimmicks like theme matches (King and Queen of the Ring, Money in the Bank) and hot crowds for international PLEs to mask a product that has cooled considerably since WrestleMania 40. Things could heat up again quickly, but they need to put in the work.
Let’s get to it…