5 Ups & 7 Downs From WWE Raw (July 5)
1. Goading And Building Momentum
One of WWE’s most overused and mis-used phrases is easily “building momentum,” mainly because the announcers love to talk about it constantly when it comes to someone winning one match the week before a bigger bout.
The truth is, building momentum means a process of stringing together a series of moral and physical victories over time to achieve success. Witness Kofi Kingston, who has been getting the better of Bobby Lashley and MVP in the lead-up to his WWE Championship match at Money in the Bank in a couple of weeks.
On Monday night, the New Day defeated Lashley and MVP when Kingston hit Trouble in Paradise on both opponents in short succession, pinning Porter. The match was supposed to be a singles bout between Lashley and Xavier Woods, but the heels were incensed by Kofi’s attack on MVP last week, so they demanded a tag match instead, putting things right in New Day’s wheelhouse. And it paid off.
That’s called smart booking, and it gave Kofi a big moral and physical victory at the same time, as now Lashley is even more ticked that his challenger once again got the better of him… but at the same time, the All Mighty Champion wasn’t made to look weak in the process.
That’s what we call a win-win. Still looking forward to this title match.