The advertisements might have said that Raw is Jericho, but Monday night belonged to one man, a long-absent conqueror who was mowing down anyone in his path before he disappeared this fall. No not Roman Reigns. Welcome to Raw is Lesnar. As much as it has been a well-deserved criticism that WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnars absence has drastically hurt the WWE product, his return from a three-month hiatus automatically strengthens the programming. Reigns return to in-ring action even if limited right now also has a similar effect of bolstering WWE. And their returns could not come at a better time. WWE continues to falter in the wake of injuries, part-time wrestlers, poor writing, pacing problems and an overall lackluster product. Monday nights Raw wasnt bad, but aside from a tremendous main event and a couple other bright spots, there wasnt much to this. There just are too many confusing decisions being made right now that run counter to what you would expect. Case in point: Why is Dolph Ziggler, who won the Survivor Series main event and then recaptured the Intercontinental Championship the night before jerking the curtain and then losing (although he thankfully wasnt pinned)? If the announcers are going to build him up on commentary, then the booking has to match that. If not, whats the point? Thats just one quick example. Lets get to the ups and downs of Monday Night Raw.
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.
