6 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (6 Nov - Results & Review)

by Scott Carlson

1. Babyfaces Doing Babyface Things

Seth Rollins Sami Zayn
WWE.com

For the longest time, WWE was the promotion where babyfaces didn’t act like the virtuous characters one would expect, leaving fans confused and often unable to rally behind the supposed heroes.

That’s why the opening segment on Raw was such a refreshing one for WWE, as the company got things mostly right with World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn. Rollins came out and thanked his Crown Jewel opponent Drew McIntyre for giving him a spirited fight and for doing it the right way. He then called out Zayn.

Seth told Sami that he appreciated him chasing off Damian Priest and thwarting his attempted Money in the Bank cash-in. He rewarded that act – even though it wasn’t about protecting Rollins’ title – by offering Zayn a World Heavyweight Championship match whenever he wanted it. Sami tried to be virtuous again in demurring because Rollins is so beat up, and Seth upped the ante by noting that no one in their situation is ever 100%.

It was a game of one-upmanship between two babyfaces just being good guys, and the fans dug it. There was just one quibble: Zayn ultimately called for the match later in the night, which ran counter to his entire argument that he didn’t want to face a champ who was compromised. Considering McIntyre waited several weeks until Crown Jewel, why wouldn’t Sami give Rollins three weeks to heal up and face him at Survivor Series?

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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.