5 Ups And 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (March 16th)

1. Talking Them Out Of Their Seats

In the olden days, wrestlers and managers used promos to put over their feuds as a way to €œtalk people into their seats.€ The theory was that fans weren€™t going to buy a ticket reflexively; they needed a reason to attend an event and see a particular match, and so performers often had to verbally convince fans it was worth their money to see the culmination of the feud. Physical confrontations also play a role, but promos could really drive a feud to the next level. Monday night, we saw how a promo can just throw cold water on a hot feud. Instead of coming out pissed off and swearing revenge, the Authority€™s 10-minute opening promo basically turned what was a hot little battle between Randy Orton and Seth Rollins into a whine-fest, with members bemoaning the fact that Orton turned on them, almost crying about how hurt they were about the doublecross. After Orton humiliated Rollins and beat him from pillar to post to close Raw last week (and helpfully recapped in the opening Monday night), the logical thing would have been for Rollins to stalk to the ring and call Orton out to take his lumps €œlike a man.€ Instead, we got 10 minutes of everyone apologizing for being duped and being wounded by Orton€™s actions. Can you imagine the Rock or €œStone Cold€ Steve Austin delivering these remarks if they had an ally turn on them? Therein lies the major problem and difference between eras.