5 Ups & 5 Downs For WWE Raw (11 Aug - Results & Review)

1. So. Much. Talking.

Maybe it’s a function of just tiring of the WWE formula, but their 15-minute, show-opening promo trains have become insufferable, even when the content isn’t that bad. Basically, it has to be excellent to outshine the automatic revulsion.

Monday night, it was CM Punk coming out to wax about his “Seth Rollins problem,” a feud that has now been ongoing for more than eight months (longer if you count the bickering while both were babyfaces). He was interrupted by LA Knight, who went to great lengths to reiterate for fans multiple times that Punk was robbed at SummerSlam and that he and Punk did not have a problem with each other (READ: “We are both babyfaces still! Do not boo either of us!”).

After they started squabbling about who deserved the first rematch against Rollins (hey, maybe they can both have a rematch at the same time!), Paul Heyman came out to chatter some more before ultimately setting up the impromptu main event of the evening, since clearly Raw GM Adam Pearce hadn’t booked the show yet. (Sorry, but this is another trope that has come back in full force.)

All of this led to a main event that ended in a disqualification – the fourth Raw main event in a row – and a four-way world title match, thus meaning all the chatter to open the show simply set the table for the authority figure to make no decision at all and give all three World Heavyweight Championship suiters the same thing at the same time.

At least Rollins wasn’t there to prattle on and add another five minutes to this.

It’s a shame, because Punk and Knight are known to be good talkers, and their back-and-forth had its moments, but so much of this was cliché WWE (each man said they were next in line, and the other needed to get to the back of the line) that it’s hard to get excited.