5 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (Oct 3)

1. Distraction Finishes Ahoy!

WWE used to rely on the distraction via entrance music trope for so many finishes that it became a running gag. Well, they’ve thankfully abandoned that one for the most part, but there’s a new trope: the “distract the referee and attack the opponent from behind” method.

Raw featured seven matches Monday night, and four of those matches had distraction or interference finishes. Dakota Kai won when Iyo Sky distracted the ref and Bayley tripped Candice LeRae. Otis won when Chad Gable took the ref and Austin Theory attacked Johnny Gargano. Solo Sikoa won when Angelo Dawkins stopped to beat up the Bloodline. And Iyo Sky won after Bayley occupied the ref and Alexa Bliss took her and Dakota Kai out, but got topped by Sky.

That’s a huge number of finishes that are just shades different. In fact, Otis and Kai’s wins were virtually identical. Who books like that?

Yes, you need to protect people sometimes, but just don’t book the match if more than half your card is going to end with a distraction finish or interference.