5 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Raw (11 November - Results & Review)

Downs…

3. Telling Tall Tales

It’s understandable that Damian Priest would want to paint Gunther as doubting himself in light of the Ring General suffering only his second main roster loss at Crown Jewel, but Monday’s show-opening promo segment missed the mark in one notable way.

Priest cut off Gunther’s dressing-down and swiped all of the World Heavyweight Champion’s insults before he could hurl them, then recapped their title match at SummerSlam, noting that he might have won had Finn Balor not interfered. But then Damian’s comments skewed into the fantastical, as he talked about Gunther’s vibe fading, that his confidence had waned since winning the title, and it faded even more after Crown Jewel.

While the loss to Cody Rhodes could conceivably knock him off his game, Gunther has been riding high since SummerSlam, defending his title against Randy Orton and Sami Zayn and relishing in the like of a world champion. Priest lost some credibility here because we’ve all seen Gunther exuding confidence and swagger since winning the title. Damian was trying to retcon the Ring General’s behavior of these past three months, and it just didn’t work. It then made his more valid point about Gunther possibly losing his aura since Crown Jewel feel hollower.

Maybe WWE is going to really drill down on this angle of Gunther losing his confidence and doubting himself in the aftermath of Crown Jewel, but there was none of that last week, and it feels like it was riveted onto the story Monday night rather than being a natural development.