7 Ups & 3 Downs from WWE Raw (19 May - Results & Review)

2. Is ‘Good Enough’ Good Enough?

Week after week, Raw is littered with matches that fall into the “good, but not great” category, competently wrestled and likely delivering a couple of memorable spots that stand out for a bit before fading into the fog of mediocrity.

That’s not to say that “good” matches are on their own a bad thing, but Raw Monday night sported five matches, with only one – the opening tag match – really elevating beyond that level. The others were good, forgettable, or problematic.

It’s not fair to individually give negative marks to “good” matches, but collectively, it’s fair to call out WWE for producing an episode of Raw that doesn’t deliver any truly great wrestling or even something that will really stick with fans beyond that night. The market leader, with its talent, is more than capable of producing world-class in-ring action, but the product rarely reaches that level on television. At most, one match per week will approach that point.

Even without a great match, Raw can still be a good show overall – WWE doesn’t present itself as a wrestling-forward company, so it’s hard to grade them on that scale - but handing out tepid “ups” for decent matches without contextualizing it in some fashion isn’t a fair assessment. With their talent, WWE should look to produce at least one match each show that causes jaws to drop and reminds fans of what’s possible inside the ring.