5 Ups & 4 Downs from WWE Raw (12 May - Results & Review)

3. What Was The Point?

During WWE’s nadir before Triple H took over, the company used stupid, noncommittal jargon to describe matches that ostensibly were number one contender’s matches, saying that the winner could possibly envision themselves maybe being positioned for a potential title opportunity at an unspecified time down the line.

That sloppy language was heard less and less these past couple of years, but it has found its way back into WWE’s regular lexicon, and it was not only used, it was upended by more stupidity.

The Creed Brothers battled the War Raiders in a match to potentially earn a future World Tag Team Championship match. The New Day was at ringside repeatedly declaring that they didn’t think either team deserved a title match until they had won a bunch of matches. Fair, they’re heel champs and should say outlandish stuff. Then they interfered to help the Creeds pick up the win.

But backstage, the War Raiders complained to Raw GM Adam Pearce about New Day cheating. When the tag champs entered the room, Pearce announced that the Creeds had earned a tag title match because “the referee’s decision is final.” And then in the next breath, he said that he was inserting the Raiders into the tag title match because of New Day’s interference.

Which is it? Is the ref’s decision final, or does it just not matter? Also, why fall back into the “possible future title opportunity” crap if you’re going to treat it as a contender’s match two segments later?