10 Big Questions From WWE Raw (19 Oct)

This week, Vince finally got sick of Raw's poor ratings and decided to wheel out the big guns - the really big guns. Steve Austin, Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels all came to Dallas, Texas, while Undertaker and Lesnar both made their latest sporadic appearances at the same time. To top things off, the Shield decided to stage an impromptu reunion, briefly tagging together in the main event before Seth stormed off in predictable fashion. Astonishingly (and frighteningly for WWE) it didn't work. The show drew a final rating of 2.21, its lowest non-holiday rating since 1997. WWE threw absolutely everything at us, determined to make this show a spectacle; it's actually easy to forget that this was also the go-home Raw before Hell in a Cell. Unfortunately, no major developments occurred with regard to the matches already on the card (with the exception of a little kickoff-show rearrangement), and feuds simply continued to spin their wheels for the time being. Kane, the number one contender to the WWE Championship, didn't even appear. Although the lowest-rated Raw in 18 years, it was still the most positively-received episode of Raw in months, especially on social media. Nevertheless, it must be considered a statistical disaster of a show, one which left us asking a number of big questions afterwards.

10. Were All The Legends Worth It?

The appearance of Steve Austin, Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels made this week's Raw one of the most exciting in months - but to what end? I'm not suggesting that Stone Cold should have Stunned his way through every single member of the current roster (as awesome as that would be), but their roles seemed really quite limited. Austin came out to hype up the crowd and introduce Undertaker, HBK's enjoyed a showdown with Seth Rollins, and Ric Flair's job was to hype Roman Reigns. Three lengthy promo segments, each with relatively little substance - it felt more like a conveyor belt than a star-studded parade. On a positive note, the presence of three all-time greats certainly gave Raw a much-needed does of star power. You can be as cynical as you like - it's hard not to get excited when that glass shatters.