6 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (June 25)
3. Credibility Issue
The Authors of Pain returned to action Monday night, and they picked right up where they left off.
Akam and Rezar demolished local talent Rich and Rex Gibson (though that surname is probably made up) in short order, but their attempt at a post-match beatdown was cut short by Titus Worldwide storming the ring.
That’s right, Titus O’Neil and Apollo Crews chased AOP off.
And this is the problem: On Raw, you have Titus Worldwide, the Ascension, Breezeango, B-Team, The Revival, Heath Slater & Rhyno, Drew McIntyre & Dolph Ziggler, and AOP (and of course, the tag champs, Deleters of Worlds). Those are your tag teams, with McIntyre & Ziggler being less of a team and more of a duo working together (with Dolph being a singles champion right now).
That might be a significant number of teams, but look at them. Which ones could credibly win the tag titles right now? Which ones would you buy stopping the Authors of Pain, or even giving them a run for their money?
So when Titus and Apollo ran out for the save, you couldn’t help but feel like they were sacrificial lambs racing out for the slaughter – if not today, then sometime soon. WWE needs to build up teams, such as AOP, because the ones listed above are not going to elevate the division – not without some serious work, anyway.