4 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (July 19)

3. Ezekiel’s One-Note Joke Over?

Ezekiel Seth Rollins
WWE.com

Let’s just admit it right off the bat: the Ezekiel joke lasted a lot longer and got way more over with fans than it had any right to. A lot of the credit for that has to go to Kevin Owens, who really made it work.

But with the Owens angle seemingly done, Ezekiel has floundered as what is essentially a white meat babyface. Once you get past the joke being played that Ezekiel is Elias’ younger brother and not really just a cleanshaven Elias, there isn’t much there.

Case in point, his match against Seth Rollins played out largely to silence until Rollins started ramping up the offense, seemingly trying to get fans behind Ezekiel by throwing the kitchen sink at him. But fans never really fully rallied behind Zeke, which is a big problem.

Unless WWE can figure something out to give Ezekiel more of a character or a reason for fans to care – beyond “I’m Elias’ younger brother!” – this is going to fade out quickly. This didn’t bode well Monday night, and it could be a harbinger of what’s to come.

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.