5 Ups & 5 Downs For WWE Raw (29 Sept - Results & Review)

1. The Return Of The Main-Eventers

Just when you thought it was safe to declare that WWE had gone cold turkey in stopping its “lather, rinse, repeat” main event scene on Raw, they went right back to the well Monday night.

That’s right, Raw closed out with a match featuring the Vision facing the Usos, making it the 12th time in 14 weeks that the red brand wrapped up with that heel stable battling some combination of the Usos, LA Knight, CM Punk, and Penta.

Technically, the Tornado Tag match had a clean finish despite Roman Reigns’ run-in because of the stipulation, but in reality, this means that more than half of these 12 main events have either ended in a DQ or some shenanigans, or were booked as no-DQ matches.

This has become comically predictable with Raw’s closing acts. The matches are rarely standout contests, and even if you want to praise the match, the bout and result are immediately brushed aside in favor of the aftermath of a heel beatdown, and occasionally a surprise save.

Monday night, Reigns made the save during the match, but the effect was the same. Sure, fans lost their minds at the Tribal Chief returning, but watching WWE throw every cheat code they can find (tornado rules, exploding announce desk, surprise return) to keep crowd energy up should be a sign that Raw’s main event scene is being propped up and eventually will topple if things don’t change.