6 Ups And 8 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (July 1)
Raw starts with a bang, tries new things. Uneven, but better effort.
The talk of WWE during the past week has centered on a potential nuclear bomb to Raw and SmackDown, with it revealed the Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff would now helm the two main shows (respectively), reporting only to Vince McMahon.
Fans have speculated on whether this would lead to an improved product on both shows, given the two personalities’ strengths and past successes, or just be more of the same, give that Vince still has the final say in what happens on his shows.
And while it’s unclear exactly when this change is supposed to happen, Raw looked somewhat different Monday night, especially given how it opened up – literally with a bang. The show wasn’t a hit, but they definitely were trying some new things. Some things should stick around, while others – namely, the gimmicks to get away from having wrestling during commercial breaks – need to go.
But now, just 12 days out from Extreme Rules, we can say that WWE tried something somewhat different to moderating success. But we’ve got a long was to go before unfurling a “Mission Accomplished” banner across the ring.
With that said, let’s unpack this episode and find out what clicked and what clanged. Let’s get to it…