6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (14 August - Review)

DOWNS…

4. A Minor Quibble

Otis Gunther
WWE.com

It’s fair to say that Alpha Academy is still mostly a comic relief act, though they’re starting to be taken more seriously in-between the ropes.

If the entire gimmick is Chad Gable teaching his prized pupils Otis and Maxxine Dupri to be successful, wouldn’t it be considered a colossal failure if one of them lost focus on the task at hand mid-match? Otis finally got Gunther off his feet in their match, and rather than quickly following up, he stopped and set up to do the Caterpillar, which allowed the Intercontinental Champion to recover, flatten the #1 Guy, and then powerbomb him for the win.

The lesson here should have been to stay on top of a wrestler who hasn’t been pinned or submitted during his entire main roster run, not goof around with a move that takes 15 seconds to set up.

Yes, this is obviously a very minor gripe, and you have to really think about this sort of thing, but if WWE starts taking Gable and the Alphas seriously, this is exactly the kind of thing they have to consider. It undercuts your ability – even on a subconscious level – to take an act as a serious threat if you can poke holes without much thought.

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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 fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.