4 Ups & 7 Downs From WWE Raw (Nov 16)

3. Good Story, Bad Players

Drew McIntyre the Miz John Morrison
WWE.com

It’s really a shame that the recent brouhaha surrounding the WWE Championship has involved the people it has

The concept itself – villain eggs champ into repeated title matches and finally succeeds, hero flips switch and torments new champ, challenger with magic title shot snipes from the sides – it good on paper, but then when you look at who’s involved, you just groan.

Randy Orton is just flaming hot death in this story. It’s been 18 years and it’s impossible to care about him these days. Miz has been around 15 years and has become little more than a mid-card staple, whether it’s as a joke or a serious villain. Drew McIntyre has potential, but keeps getting bogged down with reminding us of how he was a failure 10 years ago in his initial WWE run and was fired.

When WWE is selling the idea that Miz could cash in on Orton in Orlando, Fla., just like he did 10 years ago, that’s a sign of a problem. We’re literally harking back to a decade ago while Randy Orton regales us with tales of his 14(!) world title reigns. It’s just not compelling. It’s the same faces occupying what should be a really good story.

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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.