7 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Raw (Oct 17)

1. Same Old Corbin

Changing a name, adding a couple of new moves and bringing along a new manager doesn’t make someone more interesting or entertaining.

But that didn’t stop WWE from trotting JBL out to re-introduce us to Baron (not Happy) Corbin, who returned to television as part of Raw now, having been traded there since Rey Mysterio left for SmackDown last week.

Corbin defeated Dolph Ziggler in a fairly plodding match that saw Baron incorporate a couple of JBL’s signature moves, including a fallaway slam and a lariat, into his repertoire. Otherwise, it was your standard Corbin match, which isn’t saying a lot.

And JBL as his manager, while it could bear fruit, came across Monday as a bitter old man who hates everything except Texas and his protégé. The only thing that seemed to be over with fans was the “Bum Ass Corbin” nickname Pat McAfee – a guy not even on WWE programming right now – gave him a couple of months ago.

This act could still work – there is potential there – but what we saw Monday night was the same Corbin with a grumpy manager in a 10-gallon hat.