5 Ups & 5 Downs For WWE Raw (15 Sept - Results & Review)

1. Selling Ice To An Eskimo

John Cena’s appearances are dwindling, and one would think that, knowing there are only about a half-dozen episodes left featuring him as an active performer, there would be more emotion and heft at this late stage.

But Cena’s show-opening promo on Raw Monday night was the typical John Cena go-home promo to sell a PPV/PLE match. He spoke about his opponent, tried to frame the match as a huge mountain to climb, refused to back down from a challenge, did a hard sell for Saturday's match at WWE Wrestlepalooza, and left after a 10-to-15-minute monologue.

Perhaps the problem is that it’s hard to be invested in this match for multiple reasons. Brock Lesnar has no place on WWE programming in 2025, even absent of the Janel Grant sex trafficking lawsuit against Vince McMahon that names Lesnar 44 times. Simply put, wrestling has passed Brock’s brand of sports entertainment by. His return has seen the Beast “play the hits,” crystalizing how outdated the mid-match “Brock ruins everything” trope really is. His segment with R-Truth on SmackDown was abysmal.

Cena’s promo on Raw wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything different than what we’ve heard 100 times during the past 20 years. And when you’ve got two part-timers who are giving about 50%-75% effort in the ring while playing the hits, it’s just hard to warm up to this stuff. Maybe the match will deliver on the night, but it won’t live up to their 2012 and 2014 matches, so lower your expectations.

This entire feud is a waste of Cena’s limited dates. WWE could have gone with a fun, new matchup, like Cena versus Bron Breakker, Montez Ford, Rey Fenix, Penta, Carmelo Hayes, or some other out-of-the-box opponent, but instead, it’s Cena/Brock. Again.

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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.