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

DOWNS…

5. Miz Throws Cold Water On Hot Feud

And just like that, the Miz took a hot feud between himself and LA Knight and cooled it off by simply wrestling.

Let’s face facts: Neither Miz nor Knight are primarily regarded for their in-ring prowess. There’s not shame in that, and WWE leaned into their promo skills during the buildup to their Payback match, which while overall disappointing from a quality standpoint, produced the correct result.

But WWE being WWE, they had to go back to the well and continue the feud, with a SmackDown rematch on the horizon. Rather than having Miz sell it with another scathing promo to show he’s back in control and no longer wrestling invisible men, they sent Miz out to slowly squash Akira Tozawa.

One would think with someone as fast and skilled as Tozawa in the ring that Miz couldn’t possibly look sluggish and boring, but he managed to produce an absolute snoozer that felt 10 times longer than it actually was.

While it might say “wrestling” on the marquee, sometimes you have to acknowledge your strong selling points for a feud and lead with that rather than making sure Miz gets his win back.