7 Ups & 10 Downs From WWE Raw (Sep 27)
Big E shines, Doudrop gets distracted, Goldberg threatens murder, Baszler's back.
It’s literally impossible to continue grading Monday Night Raw on a curve when you remind yourself that this is a billion-dollar sports entertainment juggernaut that employs dozens of writers, numerous talented agents and some of the best wrestlers in the world.
Once you realize that, glaring mistakes, oversights, shoddy writing, poor booking and just generally dismal television rightly gets slagged here. Oh sure, we’ll get some good or even great matches, and truly captivating characters like Big E, Riddle and Damian Priest can overcome poor writing. But it’s not fair to grade stuff as, “This isn’t bad for WWE.” We’re not watching some backyard wrestling promotion here.
So when the writers leave open plot holes like a cage suspended above the ring before there was a need for it, that should be called out. Or when they reunite the Hurt Business after having Cedric Alexander chase the 24/7 Championship a week ago, that’s shortsighted booking. Or a babyface is distracted for the 800th time by entrance music… or you introduce a wrestler’s new nickname with no explanation… or your babyface threatens to murder a heel… all of it adds up.
Don’t get it wrong: Raw is still very watchable, but if you are looking at it critically, it’ll drive you batty. And it can annoy you even as a casual observer.
With that said, let’s get to it…