6 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Monday Night Raw (10 November - Results & Review)
1. Makeshift Men’s WarGames
WarGames has long since outlived its usefulness as a successful plot device at the main roster level. For a few years, it served as a playground for the Bloodline and whatever group of babyfaces assembled to try to take them down.
However, it always feels forced, as WWE has to try to “heat up” a feud or series of feuds to reach the incendiary level of being worthy of a weapons-filled double steel cage. The problem is, without a large, dominant faction like the Bloodline, any kind of rivalry is bound to feel artificial by comparison.
Just look at the sides as currently constructed. There’s The Vision, the heel “faction” that has been reduced to a tag team due to injury. They sat on the sidelines after a hot relaunch last month, only to very recently reassert themselves. They have been joined by Logan Paul, who just returned last week from a two-month break to set up his participation in his 10th match of the year. Despite having an actual beef with CM Punk (Paul eliminated the World Heavyweight Champion from the Royal Rumble this year), that was ignored and they’ve decided to lean on Logan knocking Punk out with brass knuckles last week.
Then on the face side, there’s Punk, who has feuded with The Vision (mainly former leader Seth Rollins) for a good chunk of this year. Jey Uso also has feuded with The Vision and had his one successful world title defense against Paul. They’re backed up by WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, who has had passing confrontations with the heels, but mainly is just a stand-up guy being there for Jey and Punk.
It’s not exactly giving “blood feud” vibes, even if Roman Reigns returns to fill out the babyface side and (God forbid) Paul Heyman calls a favor to Brock Lesnar. This feels more like “bring the stars together for a big signature match… the story is just that everyone is fighting with each other” than heated rivalries. It probably doesn’t help that The Vision, Punk and Jey have been circling each other for months, either.
This is far from a significant negative, but it’s also hard to get jazzed about this match at this moment.