3 Ups & 7 Downs From WWE Raw (Oct 26)

4. Lee Still Booked Like A Goof

Elias Keith Lee
WWE.com

Former NXT Champion Keith Lee survived a gruelling back-and-forth match Monday with a guy more known for how many scarves he wears, pulling out the win after his opponent was inexplicably distracted by entrance music before delivering a finishing blow.

Yep, Lee squeaked by Elias because Jeff Hardy’s music distracted the troubadour. Meanwhile, Lee is now on the Survivor Series team for Raw with AJ Styles and Sheamus.

Oh, guess who’s the WWE Champion right now: Randy Orton. And guess who Lee holds a victory over: Orton. But for the past two months, Lee has been booked with fits and starts, relegated to unimpressive matches that make him look like “just a guy” rather than a standout, athletic super-heavyweight.

But hey, WWE is turning a huge profit, so who cares if their ratings are in the toilet and possible marketable stars are cut off at the knees week after week because of the company’s geriatric, senile boss?

Sorry for the rant, but WWE’s unforgivable mishandling of Keith Lee at a time when they desperately need something to capture fans’ imaginations is a microcosm of what’s wrong with this “wrestling” company, and it’s insane to think about how many ungodly talented performers are just wasted on Raw and SmackDown.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.