5 Ups & 8 Downs From WWE Raw (June 27)

John Cena's 20th anniversary saves this from being a total bomb of a show.

John Cena
WWE.com

Raw is a one-trick pony.

WWE’s go-home Raw before Money in the Bank was a case study in what happens when you build an entire show around one thing and under-deliver on everything else. The result is that you get a show that is horribly drab, full of WWE clichés and tropes.

Raw basically was WWE’s greatest hits of bad fallback ideas, tired crutches and uninspired programming. If you removed John Cena and all the hoopla surrounding his 20th anniversary, this show would have been an all-time bomb. The wrestling was passable to fine, but most of it was meaningless.

Whether it was a singles match ending in a count-out presumably to set up a rematch, tag team opponents wrestling in singles bouts repeatedly, badly scripted promos or nonsensical week-to-week booking, Raw was a mess of a show.

Oh, and Mr. McMahon showed up again! The character, not the disgraced former CEO/chairman. That guy is sitting at home.

Raw did leave us with a burning question: If there still is one spot open in the men’s Money in the Bank ladder match, then why was filling the second-to-last spot called a “last chance” battle royal? Are all the participants barred from consideration for that final spot?

Bet you they aren't. Don’t think about it too much or your head will hurt, much like trying to apply logic to this show in general.

Let’s get to it…

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Contributor
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 fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.