6 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (May 2)

4. Battering The Locals

Veer Mahaan
WWE.com

Those who remember Braun Strowman’s initial run as a singles wrestler, WWE used local jobbers to great effect, doing short in-ring interviews with the victims as they sealed their fate by accepting the match.

They’re now replicating that pre-match promo from local jobbers for Veer Mahaan’s opponents, and it’s just a smart, effective move. Veer’s opponent Monday night talked about how competing on Raw in his hometown was his dream ever since working at the local BBQ joint down the street, which was just enough to get a pop from the crowd.

But it was all downhill from there, as Mahaan mauled the jobber. An errant back elbow merely pissed Veer off, and he finished the victim off with the cervical clutch, which he then reapplied to knock his opponent out.

Perfectly simple, and nicely done. Funny how when you do the simple stuff well, things actually fall into place for you.

Advertisement
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.