3 Ups & 10 Downs From WWE Raw (Aug 3)

1. RAW Underground: The Execution

Again, "gritty" doesn't work in WWE. Creating lo-fi grime is impossible when you've got a production budget bigger than most other wrestling companies' entire balance sheets, no matter how deep the sepia filter gets. The Underground was a plastic, ugly mess, and not in the way the producers had intended.

Shane McMahon's constant commentary was annoying as hell. As if this potato puncher is fit to give anyone advice on how to correctly apply a rear naked choke.

And shoot-style wrestling is incredible when performed by capable MMA-influenced wrestlers who know what they're doing. Unfortunately, its successful execution requires a level of snugness rendered impossible by WWE's stylistic limitations. It's a different style of fighting and one that could perhaps have a place on WWE programming under the right circumstances, but these bouts stunk, with the likes of Dolph Ziggler, Erik, and newcomer and Dabba-Kato trading holds and strikes without ever convincing. It looked like they were cosplaying MMA fighters, not paying tribute to Volk Han and Minoru Suzuki.

These segments were straight-up disasters. There is much work to do before they are anything close to watchable.