5 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (22 July - Results & Review)

1. More Wyatt Nonsense

There are plenty of readers who will judge this “down” as being nonsense itself, that the Wyatt Sick6 material is a high point on Raw each week - and that’s perfectly fine - but it’s not a clear winner for everyone.

Unlike last week’s excellent video with Rowan, Monday’s VHS clip with Nikki Cross was just damn odd. Where Rowan’s video was emotional and revealed a lot about the character, Cross’ video offered far less context. There was a bit of insight from Uncle Howdy’s disembodied voice, noting that Nikki had been lied to, ignored, and left to suffer, leading Cross to cry and scream. But it was played for weirdness by the announcers rather than a revelation about the character.

Later, the Wyatts made their presence felt with Chad Gable, this time with Bo Dallas showing up in the ring and delivering a Sister Abigail on him, spiking Gable into the mat. As mentioned last week, this new heel stable of Gable and the Creed Brothers has serious potential as an act, but having them play buffoonish goons getting bested by a smoke and lights show is pretty dire stuff.

The new Alpha Academy feels like a third-rate heel act already, not a hot new group. They should have come in, destroyed Otis and Akira Tozawa, and feuded for the tag titles rather than being spooked by Dallas’ band of misfits and dry ice.