3 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (Nov 21)
Ali buried, Gargano squashed, women's feud sputters. At least Tozawa isn't a ninja anymore.
That’s it, time to get off the train.
After four months of giving WWE the benefit of the doubt and letting the rose-colored glasses of “a new era” brighten up the outlook of Raw, it’s time to stop treating this show with kid gloves or grading it with a feeling of optimism.
Put bluntly, Raw is a bad show. Again. Even without Vince McMahon at the helm. Maybe Triple H can’t cure the terminal. Maybe he’s afflicted as well. But Raw has been trending badly for a little while now, and Monday’s show finally tipped the scales to where good wrestling could not overcome the negative vibes of the overall program.
Sure, we should give credit to some good in-ring action, but you can’t ignore the burial of two fan favorites, one of whom returned to the company just a couple of months ago, and another who returned to television after a public spat. We saw the continuation of bad habits and WWE tropes that made Raw almost unwatchable at times, a sign that new leadership does not fix problems.
The regime change might have masked the issues for a while, as a series of shock returns and debuts, combined with explosive angles and more in-ring action, gave a feeling that we’d entered a new era.
But it’s pretty clear now that Raw still has the same fundamental flaws, and they will continue to expose themselves, leading to stinkers like this episode.
Let’s get to it…