Monday night, WWE Raw returned to the raucous and rowdy confines of Chicagos Allstate Arena. WWE televised events in the Windy City have become turbulent and unpredictable ever since Chicago-made CM Punk left the promotion abruptly in January. The Chicago faithful have made their voices heard loud and clear each time WWE has returned, letting everyone know who they really wanted to see. In March, a mere five weeks after Punk left, WWE entrusted Paul Heyman to diffuse a boisterous crowd, then pulled out all the stops with Brock Lesnar appearing, a tag title switch and a PPV-quality six-man between the Shield and the Wyatts (remember when the Wyatts were considered the future of WWE?). In June, WWE held Payback in Chicago and delivered a show-stealing Shield/Evolution elimination match and an emotional confrontation between Daniel Bryan, Brie Bella and Stephanie McMahon. So how did WWE tackle Monday nights return to Chicago for Raw? Would the fans hijack the program and drown out promos and frustrate wrestlers with nonsensical chants? Would WWE throw everything they have at the fans in the hopes of entertaining and distracting them to the point that they wouldnt chant all night? It turns out that what we got was a mixed bag, with some things clicking very well, and others just leaving fans shaking their heads. So lets look at what WWE got right, and what they got wrong.
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.
