6 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Raw (28 April - Results & Review)
Downs…
3. DQ Finishes To Advance Stories
During the waning days of Vince McMahon’s reign of terror, WWE became a haven for screwy finishes of all kinds. Pick any episode of Raw or SmackDown, and there was a decent chance that half of the matches would end in a disqualification, count-out, or some other shenanigans.
WWE under Triple H largely broke this habit, but it has been creeping back into the booking with more regularity. Last week, the dream match between Iyo Sky and Stephanie Vaquer ended with a DQ. Then on Monday night, Rhea Ripley versus Roxanne Perez also ended in a DQ when Giulia interfered, interrupting a fun, spirited David-versus-Goliath match. Iyo ran down for the save, returning the favor from last week.
Obviously, this is setting up a tag match between the four women, but building a feud around singles matches that don’t have outcomes is lazy booking. You can just make matches, not worry about consequences, and end in a schmozz to advance some tangentially related storyline. It requires less thought and creativity, and when it happens with more regularity, it means fans will be more conditioned to see this happen, and that’s never a good sign.
It didn’t help that another match, Judgment Day versus War Raiders, ended after some shenanigans involving Penta, meaning that half of the matches on the night lacked a truly clean finish.