5 Ups And Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Nov 17th)

1. The Big Sell

OK, the WWE hyperbole machine was turned up to 11 when JBL said that this was the most important Survivor Series elimination match in WWE history. In storyline terms, wouldn€™t the 2001 elimination match between Team WWF and Team Alliance be more critical? Nonetheless, WWE has gone all-in on this Team Cena versus Team Authority feud. If the Authority wins, they€™ll make life miserable for the five men who stood up to them. If Cena€™s team wins, then Triple H and Stephanie are no longer in power (but does that mean they go back to the boardroom, or are they out on the curb?) and the inmates are running the asylum. Still, give WWE credit for trying to make this match a big deal. And they found a way to add some drama to a Raw that started out with Team Cena needing just one member. Having the others systematically beaten down helped build the tension, especially when they announced that Sheamus went the way of Jack Swagger (remember how he was on Team Cena for a hot minute?). Cena talking about the order in which he was going to eliminate each member of the Authority was amusing enough, despite the usual bad jokes. But the really good part was the surprise of Erick Rowan joining Team Cena, and then having Cesaro pull off an awesome tease before Ryback did the obvious and joined Cena€™s squad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF5hdFrLHgc&list Does all of this make fans want to watch Survivor Series on Sunday? The answer is pretty easy: The price is right. Whether they are still watching the WWE Network when it€™s once again just $9.99 remains to be seen.
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.