7 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (Aug 22)

Ups…

7. Raw Is Chaos

While constant action and disarray don’t necessarily make for great programming on their own, WWE deserves a bit of credit for trying to shake things up recently.

Raw opened up with abbreviated pyro as a cameraman sprinted to the back to catch Seth Rollins and Riddle battling in the gorilla position. That fight quickly spilt out into the arena as they fought into the stands before making their way back to ringside, where officials broke things up and dragged both men off.

Later on, we saw the now-common scenes of disruption backstage, giving way to a “fan” grabbing AJ Styles during his tag match. Moments later, a man in riot gear took off his helmet to reveal Dexter Lumis, who then dragged Miz off into the bowels of the arena.

The Lumis stuff on its own is perplexing, but also intriguing. But it’s also not must-see TV. However, there’s just enough of a curiosity factor that it works. And the disruption and chaos aren’t hurting the product.