6 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (11 Sept)

Jey Uso has long road ahead, a huge return, lot of flailing by big stars.

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Every once in a while, WWE Raw delivers an episode where you can point to one or two characters or segments that basically save the show from being a Dumpster fire of a program.

While Monday’s show wasn’t quite that bad, if it wasn’t for everything surrounding Jey Uso being on-point, and Imperium, Alpha Academy and Tommaso Ciampa delivering a really good six-man tag, Raw would have been just slightly better than hot garbage.

The Bloodline saga on SmackDown is floundering, but Jey’s journey on Raw is producing some compelling angles as the roster adjusts to having the former villain among their ranks. Rather than just accepting Uso, distrust abounds, leaving Jey with work to do, and fans with some interesting adventures ahead.

Meanwhile, Gunther has made history as the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion ever, but Chad Gable made his case to continue his pursuit of the title, and an oft-overlooked superstar stepped up to grab a bit of the spotlight Monday night.

Beyond that though, Miz made a squash look boring, Raquel Rodriguez made the case for a character makeover, Cody Rhodes spun his wheels, and Seth Rollins cut a meandering promo.

Then there was a legit shocking return in the main event to end the show on a high note. But overall, call this a slog with a few good moments.

Let’s get to it…

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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.