3 Ups & 8 Downs From WWE Raw (Oct 11)

Ups…

3. Let’s Be Generous

Austin Theory Jeff Hardy
WWE.com

It’s not often this writer yells during Raw, but the words “Oh my God, they’re going to ruin another debut!” echoed out during the Austin Theory/Jeff Hardy match.

Theory (re-)debuted on Raw last week, laying out Hardy after a match, setting up this week’s singles bout. Things had barely gotten rolling when the 24/7 division ran out and into the ring, leading to Austin dropping his armbar and chasing R-Truth. Hardy took advantage and nailed a Twist of Fate, then went for a Swanton Bomb… which missed.

Austin then grabbed a roll-up with the tights for the win, relieving many who saw Karrion Kross redux here.

Overall, this was scary and poorly executed. The 24/7 wrestlers turned Theory’s debut into “comedy” rather than something meaningful, and there was very little action to the match itself. But the right man won, so we’ll give this an “up” on the basis of that alone.

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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.