6 Ups & 7 Downs From WWE Raw (May 9)

5. They’re Not That Dumb, Are They?

Lacey Evans
WWE.com

For some odd reason, WWE ran a Lacey Evans vignette Monday night, despite her being a SmackDown superstar.

The promo focused on her father’s addiction and family troubles, tying together that and her own family life with her rise as a Marine and becoming a mother. It was a pretty heavy video, but it also brought to mind SmackDown on Friday, where it seemed like they were attempting to portray Lacey as disingenuous, with the ring announcer saying Evans had asked fans to get up and show her the proper respect when she was introduced for a brief appearance.

That was a pure heel move, asking fans to show her the proper respect, so either that was accidental, or they’re trying to have Evans be inspirational to the point of obnoxious. If that’s the case, it could be an epic misfire for WWE. Only this company would potentially take a series of promos about addiction and mental health and used them as a vehicle to turn the wrestler heel.

But again, this is WWE, so we have to go with what we’ve seen and what history informs.

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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.