7 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (8 Aug)

1. Uphill Battles Manifest

Amongst All Elite Wrestling's biggest challenges in establishing a footprint in the monopolised American pro wrestling market was rewiring how mainstream fans exposed to only a single organisation for the best part of 20 years think about the sport.

WWE's market dominance created biases. For younger fans who weren't there for the Monday Night Wars, have never explored Japan, and don't touch Lucha Libre, the WWE way of doing things was the way of doing things. Promo trains, disqualifications, and other tropes, to them, are normal. Being big and photogenic is a prerequisite for main event success. Smaller guys don't draw, pal.

The list of fallacies well-meaning fans with limited frames of reference have been conditioned to accept as facts goes on. AEW is still fighting these battles to date, as exemplified on Twitter whenever Tony Khan makes a big, un-WWE move, like debuting an NJPW wrestler.

Last night's Raw showed that after being soundly thrashed by Khan in the Wednesday Night Wars, during which his NXT black and gold product topped AEW Dynamite just once in 75 weeks, Triple H fights similar battles.

Many of Hunter's projects aren't yet over. Dolph Ziggler vs. Chad Gable was a wonderful, precise match (more on it later) that played out to cricket chirps. Ciampa, for all his heartstring-tugging with the Harley Race tribute, didn't feel particularly over against Bobby Lashley. The Dexter Lumis angle went over the heads of many a fan used to Vince McMahon spoonfeeding every single story beat and extreme repetition.

This audience has been conditioned to accept things a certain way. It was clear, from this episode, that Hunter has a lot of work to do if he is to rewire them. His ability to overcome this significant hurdle will ultimately be what defines his run as WWE's creative lead.