7 Ups And 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Jan 25)

By Scott Carlson /

2. Creative Team, Take Notes

Seriously, WWE€™s writers would do well to watch every aspect of the Rock€™s return to Raw Monday night. You know damn well that they didn€™t script out what the Great One was going to say, that he was just going to freestyle much of it, from his interactions with Big Show and Lana to his rapport with the fans and New Day in the ring. Did some of what Rock said miss the mark? Of course, no one can strike gold with every line. But the point is that Rock fired off tons of material €“ and not just the old standbys €“ in his conversations with Show, Lana and New Day. Compare €œrooty, tooty, booty€ with €œllama penises.€ Which phrase do you think fans were more apt to chant at the tag champs?All of this should serve as a reminder to the writing team that their own performers are capable of coming up with and delivering more convincing material than what creative crafts for them. The ultra-scripted stuff is rarely remembered beyond a week, unless it€™s for the wrong reason. Scripts would not have yielded, €œIf you smell what the Rock is cookin€™.€