6 Ups And 7 Downs From WWE Raw (July 6)

3. Bringing Real Life Into The Show

WWE faced some criticism when they turned Drake Maverick’s tearful video after his April release into an angle for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship tournament, then negated the release by re-signing him to a contract.

But that didn’t stop the company from taking another released talent Monday night and turning his misfortune into an angle. This isn’t a knock against WWE for putting a released wrestler who is still under their control on TV – they are technically still their employee and it’s their right to do so. But to turn the very real situation in which the company fired them into part of a storyline? That’s distasteful.

However, there was Heath Slater, delivering a heartfelt promo to Drew McIntyre about wanting what he deserves: a match on Raw. He talked about Drew not calling him after his release, how he really does “got kids” that he needs to feed… and then he got wiped out with a Claymore in 30 seconds and battered by Dolph Ziggler afterward.

If this really is Slater’s farewell to WWE, it was kinda crappy to turn his real-life release into part of an angle like this.

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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.