6 Ups & 2 Downs For WWE Raw (20 Oct - Results & Review)

5. Pearce Grows A Spine

One of the more annoying tropes in WWE has to be the ineffective, capitulating authority figure, forever bowing to the whims of whichever heel gets in his face. Yes, they are allowed to be intimidated, but if a GM is constantly shown as a whimpering, timid fool, it renders his/her “authority” moot.

Raw GM Adam Pearce got bullied into saying “please” when requesting that Bron Breakker return the World Heavyweight Championship he was carrying around, with Breakker glaring at him, then handing the title to Paul Heyman rather than giving it back to Pearce himself. The GM seethed as he left the ring.

This would be followed up when Heyman chatted with Pearce, who informed him that he had pulled Breakker and Bronson Reed from the battle royal to name a second challenger for the vacant world title. He said he might reinsert them into the match if Heyman said “please.” However, Pearce refused even after a saccharine request, standing up to The Vision and making them pay a price.

There was the obvious downside of removing the biggest heels on Raw from the critical match, but if the plans didn’t call for them to win, sticking them in what essentially was a midcard-filled battle royal to lose would have been worse than the Raw GM displacing them.