6 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (Oct 2 - Results & Review)

DOWNS…

5. Great Build, Climaxing Too Early

Gunther Tommaso Ciampa
WWE.com

The contract signing between Tomasso Ciampa and Gunther was pitch-perfect, a fantastic segment to get over an under-utilized superstar who just needed a chance to prove himself in the ring and on the mic.

In fewer than 10 minutes, Ciampa had rallied the fans behind him and had them read to watch him try to pry the Intercontinental Championship away from Gunther at Fastlane. Or maybe it would be next week’s Raw.

But then, the banter continued and they bumped the title match up to later Monday night. Everyone knew the match was going to be hot, and it was wonderful (see more on that later). However, why the rush to burn through the contract signing and match in the same night? If there wasn’t room on Fastlane, bump it to Raw the following Monday as the announced main event, and then build more interest in it during the PLE if possible.

This was one of a couple of examples of WWE burning through an angle as if they lost a week of programming and needed to combine two weeks of storylines into one episode.

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.