5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (21 Oct - Results & Review)

1. Overbooked

Sometimes, this column will present both sides of a segment or match because there are two distinct ways to view it. Monday’s Intercontinental Championship main event certainly fits the bill.

Bron Breakker/Jey Uso II was nowhere near as good as the original, but that’s completely understandable: they captured lightning in a bottle with the first match last month, a pure over-delivery at the best possible moment. Monday’s title rematch wasn’t bad, but it lacked the suspense and magic of the first bout, which took the excitement level down a couple of pegs.

Throw in all the Bloodline shenanigans and you have an overbooked mess that took away from the closing moments. When you’re actively shouting at the television for the referee to stop looking the other way a good 45 seconds longer than he has any reason to stare at the entrance, something is wrong.

Much like the women’s tag match, the moment the Bloodline showed up, it telegraphed the finish. The only mystery would be how they got to the moment that Jacob Fatu cost Jey the IC title. Another problem with all the Bloodline drama: Breakker had to lay on the mat and sell a lot longer than he normally would have in a normal match.

There are plenty of positives to share later, but it’s completely understandable if fans were groaning at parts of this main event.