7 Ups And 8 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (June 17)
Raw rebounds with strong character moments, still has hurdles to overcome.
Don’t let the numbers fool you: This episode of Raw was a vast improvement from recent offerings.
WWE still has a ways to go to win back this writer’s confidence in the company, but Monday night was a positive step in terms of booking more smartly and getting right to action. The show moved crisply from one segment to another, with the first 45 minutes breezing by and delivering some solid character beats.
Seth Rollins looked like a madman running roughshod over the entire Raw roster, which is what the Universal Champion should be doing, especially when he’s got the odds stacked against him. Becky Lynch rebounded from a subpar outing to stay true to herself and remind Lacey Evans why she’s challenging for the Raw Women’s Championship and not the champ herself. Roman Reigns let his actions talk for himself.
But WWE still has work to do to dig themselves out of the hole they created for themselves. EC3 is about as buried as can be, serving as a punchline and prop these days. The Viking Raiders need to be warmed up after being off TV for six weeks for no reason. The former tag champs already have changed their focus after one week to chase after R-Truth.
And the upcoming PPV is called Stomping Grounds. Who names these things?
With that said, let’s get to it.