6 Ups & 7 Downs From WWE Raw (Feb 8)

Edge & Bianca Belair play close to vest, RETRIBUTION stumbles, tag champs clowned.

Drew McIntyre Sheamus
WWE

Now it feels like we’re actually moving into WrestleMania season. It’s way too early to suggest that WWE has turned a corner, but Monday night’s episode of Raw was the first in aeons to actually lay some stuff out decently and avoid huge pitfalls.

The wrestling, while not spectacular, was better overall. Stupid tropes were mostly absent. Idiotic storylines were sidelined. Superstars like Damian Priest, Bianca Belair and Keith Lee all got chances to shine. Those are notable and commendable.

However, it’s worth noting that WrestleMania is still nine weeks away, and there are two PPVs between now and then, so there is a lot of build to go here, and a lot that can get twisted around before we get to Mania.

RETRIBUTION is right back to being hapless. The writers are trying to reverse engineer this Lacey Evans/Ric Flair storyline. The WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions looked absolutely incompetent. But Priest is certainly getting the rockstar treatment. And Lee got a moment and now has a PPV title match on the horizon.

So yes, there is some positive direction here. But we’ll need to see some consistent effort the next couple of weeks before we start suggesting that Raw is on the right path.

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 fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.