6 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (April 18)

Lie detectors, double weddings, heel turns, spooky parlor tricks... a.k.a. a typical Raw.

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Welcome to Monday Night Raw, brought to you by pyro, weddings, heel turns and teleporting wrestlers! WWE delivered a decent program Monday night, providing fans with a few good segments and developments, along with the right dose of silliness to provide a couple of genuine chuckles.

But as we always say, we grade Raw on a curve. The action is good, but never outstanding. The comedy has its moments, but is never original and laugh-out-loud hilarious. And the plots are often groan-inducing, and we really can’t say anything positive about the writing on a regular basis.

Still, Raw managed to deliver some entertaining moments. But we also saw the first negative development involving Cody Rhodes – though we wouldn’t go sounding alarms just yet. We had to endure more of Edge’s spooky parlor tricks, which was enough to make you want to scream.

We saw a new champion crowned, and we also saw another champion thrown off their game by a simple distraction tactic, making them look like a chump. So while Raw was watchable Monday night, there also is plenty left to be ironed out and improved upon. Maybe they’ll get there, but it certainly at times feels like 2-3 different shows at once rather than a cohesive storytelling effort.

With that said, let’s get to it…

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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.