5 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (5 Dec - Review)
Raw gets booked on the fly, two #1 contender's matches set for next week.
If you were to believe and accept that Monday Night Raw is a TV show about real competition between wrestlers, you would probably wonder how they go live every week with at least one-third of the program not even booked yet.
Once again, Raw went on the air Monday night and several matches were made during the course of the evening, including a United States Championship match and two other bouts that grew out of a backstage poker tournament. Yes, you read that right. Basically, besides the main event, the entire second half of Raw was booked during the program.
Doing that makes it difficult to care about or invest in the show long-term, because everything just happens in the moment. How do you prepare for something or build to something if you get instant gratification? You see the tension between Mustafa Ali and Austin Theory, and it’s resolved two segments later. Also, you’re told not to care about it because a new #1 contender will be named next week anyway.
There were some good moments Monday night, mostly revolving around the Bloodline and Sami Zayn, but beyond that, this was a very pedestrian Raw that hurt your head if you thought about it. If you turned that part of your brain off, the show was watchable, but that’s about the nicest way to say it.
Ugggh. Let’s get to it…