6 Ups And 7 Downs From WWE Raw (July 6)
Asuka, Bayley shine; WWE digs up Heath Slater; Rey adds weird stipulation.
Watching Raw some weeks is like watching someone play solitaire with a deck of 47 cards. You know they don’t have all the pieces to finish the game successfully, but can come tantalizingly close sometimes, and be maddeningly hopeless other times.
Between the mass releases back in April, the absences due to injuries (or pregnancy), the change in the Raw creative team, and either opt-outs or forced-outs due to the virus, WWE has not been playing with its full complement of superstars since WrestleMania. That has resulted in a show that has struggled to gain traction and maintain any momentum. We’re left with an uneven show that sometimes feels like it’s cobbled together with whatever parts are available at the taping that week.
Raw Monday night wasn’t bad at all – it kept moving and had enough entertaining moments to make it enjoyable. But aside from the main event and Sasha Banks/Kairi Sane, the wrestling wasn’t memorable. The storylines aren’t all that great overall – we’re heading into a PPV where the top match from Raw is Dolph Ziggler walking into a world title match and barely keeping this writer’s interest. And the Rey Mysterio/Seth Rollins feud might have jumped the shark this week.
But still, we keep watching. And we keep hoping they’ll get everything to click. But until then, let’s get to it…