4 Ups & 10 Downs From WWE Raw (Dec. 13)
Lashley turns face(?), Ripley loses via rollup, Big E toppled, Doudrop can't buy win.
And thus ends the “streak” of “good” episodes of Monday Night Raw.
WWE has all the pieces to put on a good show, but they just can’t get out of their own way. If it’s not poor booking or writing, it’s poor execution and a lack of planning.
Consider the main event scene, which a month ago looked like Kevin Owens’ swansong with the company as he turned heel presumably to put over Big E big on his way out. Then Seth Rollins got involved and leapfrogged Owens. KO got re-added to the picture. And Bobby Lashley inserted himself last week.
Monday saw Lashley play tweener, wrestling three matches to earn a title shot, while pure babyface champ Big E played the role of “final boss,” sitting and doing nothing… and lost the match.
WWE is hoping you forget that they’ve booked the Raw Women’s Championship feud in reverse, just now trying to build up Liv Morgan after booking her like a geek who already lost her first title shot and cried about it.
They turned Doudrop heel, but she can’t win a single match, so she has to get her heat back by attacking Bianca Belair after losing. They want to sow dissension between Rhea Ripley and Nikki ASH, so they have Ripley lose via rollup to the smallest woman on the roster. They injected Miz using his wife as a human shield into his feud with Edge as if this made us care more.
Let’s get to it….