10 Things You May Have Missed From Last Night's WWE Raw (Jun 18)
4. The Sound Of Silence
Three-hour Raws have always been a slog. The fact that they've been such a huge success in terms of generating advertiser revenue means they're never going away, but these marathon shows require a massive time investment from the viewer, and they're often crammed with filler.
The writers have as much difficulty finding content to meet the runtime as viewers do labouring through the third hour, with countless matches and segments existing only to meet the quota. Apparently, dead air is now seen as an acceptable way to wind the clock down, as evidenced by the backstage segment between Baron Corbin, Kurt Angle, Finn Bálor, Kevin Owens, and Braun Strowman.
There were multiple points throughout the angle when the performers stood around staring at each other, but saying nothing, often for 4-5 seconds a pop. This made for awkward viewing. WWE acting is always stilted, but these guys aren't even interacting like real-life human beings at the moment, and it's incredibly cringe-worthy.
This isn't necessarily anything new, but it was particularly apparent during the segment. Let's hope WWE find a more fulfilling way to meet the runtime next week.