Why WWE RAW 25 Was A Complete Disaster
Uncooked.
Vince McMahon unwittingly foreshadowed the turgid quality of WWE RAW25 in the opening segment.
As he made his appearance to much fanfare, he scowled. The Barclays Center were not having designated fun, at least to his ears - even though, in reality, they showered Vince McMahon with affectionate chants. This to Vince was not part of the micromanaged script. McMahon made sure to scream them onto the same page, having apparently mistook hoarse cries of “Thank you, Vince!” for “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
Reminded of his fading tyrannical grip, Vince spat his dummy out. “Don’t start that!” he raged. Stephanie had to correct her father live on air. It was pure poetry.
The remainder of the segment unfurled as planned - but the plan was deeply, deeply underwhelming. Stone Cold Steve Austin arrived to deliver a pair of Stunners to Vince and son Shane, and promptly left without uttering a word. This, the man whose brutal economy of language thrust the company into an unprecedented and unrepeated realm of popularity. This was a rote, wasteful segment - really, the bare minimum creative could have managed with the players involved. It was a silent echo of the brilliance that inspired it. Even Austin, in a WWE.com exclusive, seemed miffed - and kicked the cat that is C-level backstage interviewer Mike Rowe. “You flew me all the way out of here, now you gonna bring me backstage, and treat me like a jabroni? I’m Stone Cold Steve Austin. I actually drew money,” he ranted, slowly and involuntarily letting the mask slip. The subtext became abundantly clear.
“‘Cause next time, when Stone Cold Steve Austin shows up, I want a proper interview, proper camera time, proper mic time, proper interview, uh, personnel.” Austin fumed so much that he grew uncharacteristically flustered. The red mist had descended over the happy family reunion.
We cut back to the ring for an inoffensive 8-woman tag team match, at the climax of which Asuka established her Royal Rumble credentials in a neat spot of hype for Sunday. It was by-the-numbers stuff - but also a highlight of the most heavily-hyped episode of RAW in aeons. CONT'D...