5 Ups & 7 Downs From WWE Raw (Aug 16)

6. Lazy Promo Writing Strikes

Randy Orton Riddle
WWE.com

What’s the laziest WWE trope? We could have a great debate on this, but one contender has to be the old “I don’t owe you people an explanation” after a wrestler does something that literally everyone wants an answer for.

The writers fell back on that trope as Randy Orton explained why he RKO’d Riddle to close Raw last week. Oh sure, they’re clearly trying to either keep it a mystery, or it’s immaterial, but it’s just the same lazy move that they trot out all the time, and it’s annoying. Throw in a ridiculous bit that followed where he rattled off his various nicknames as if that added gravity to things, and you can just see the writers scripting the promo with flashcards.

What’s really a shame is that Orton was actually on a good little beat about not needing friends and seemed to be on a path to actually give a decent half-answer before they just sidestepped it.

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Contributor

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.