8 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (March 13)
Raw rebounds a little, but battling authority figures drags it down a lot.
After a bad week last week with a poor Fastlane PPV and subpart Raw, WWE needed to rebound in a big way. And while this week’s episode of Raw was a marked improvement, some of the negatives were severe and detracted from the overall show.
That’s to be expected when you have a half-dozen segments involving authority figures building tension to a confrontation that can only disappoint. How many times can you listen to Stephanie McMahon dress down Mick Foley before you change the channel? If you’re writing a column about Raw, you don’t get that liberty, but the average viewer can make that decision.
It looks like the Undertaker is next on Roman Reigns’ hit list, unless we get a last-minute swerve of the proportions of WrestleMania XXXI. We didn’t see the Deadman Monday night, but Shawn Michaels showed up to temper Reigns’ enthusiasm – to mixed results.
A cardboard cutout of Brock Lesnar showed up – oh wait, it really was him. He just didn’t do anything. But at least he showed up. WWE’s Universal Champion didn’t make the show at all. The other top singles champion, Bayley, got ragdolled a week after losing a match to another woman, putting her in Rey Mysterio territory for champs.
It’s been a bumpy Road to WrestleMania, but let’s get to it…
Downs...
6. New Day + Big Show + Titus = *Groan*
Taken individually, New Day and Big Show can be pretty entertaining and get good marks.
But when you combine New Day doing now-tired shtick with Big Show smiling as he’s rudely interrupted with Titus O’Neil being… well, Titus O’Neil, you get a groan-worthy segment. New Day debuted their New Day Talks show, and brought Show in to chat about his role in the Jetsons DVD movie. After interrupting him a bunch, Titus showed up and got in Show’s face about not being cast in the movie himself (yes, seriously). He shoved Show, setting up a match later.
This just isn’t entertaining. It’s not funny. And it’s not helping anyone involved. You might as well have had Show plug the DVD in the ring and cut to a clip and it would’ve accomplished the same thing.