3 Ups And 8 Downs From WWE Raw (Dec 21)

6. Contrived Promo Opens Raw

Asuka Charlotte
WWE.com

So after a PPV that saw Drew McIntyre defend his WWE Championship against AJ Styles and The Miz, who cashed in his Money in the Bank Briefcase, the Hurt Business capture more gold, and Randy Orton burn his opponent to death… we opened Raw with… Charlotte Flair.

Considering Charlotte is one of the brand’s biggest stars and just returned from a six-month layoff, we can give that a pass. But what we can’t excuse is the awful promo segment that ensued. Flair & Asuka barely got warmed up when Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler came out and mocked Charlotte’s “robotic” voice, then talked about their “naughty and nice list.”

Then Mandy Rose & Dana Brooke came out and tried to poke fun at the former champs losing their titles, but it included a godawful line about Baszler looking like “Rudolph with a nose job” and Jax just needing a set of antlers.

Whoever writes this stuff should be send to remedial writing school. Seriously. It’s just awful writing that isn’t believable and makes the wrestlers look stupid. This was a waste of an opening segment that did nothing to make you want to watch more.

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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.