7 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (May 16)

3. Combining Midcard Angles Smartly

Veer Mustafa Ali
WWE.com

One of the biggest criticisms fans have been able to level at WWE in recent years is their total lack of focus on a viable midcard. You’re either Roman Reigns or a select few pet projects, or you’re just churn.

But lately, they’ve been giving some midcard guys stuff to do, which has made the show more tolerable – at least, the three hours aren’t as unbearable. Monday, they took a couple of the midcard stories and intersected them.

Theory and Mustafa Ali were set to square off, but he brought Miz in to be his special guest referee. He then threw another curveball by bringing in Veer Mahaan as his replacement. With Veer, Theory and Miz all against him, Ali eventually fell to the Cervical Clutch, despite putting up a good fight.

Afterward, Mahaan was going to attack Ali again, but Rey & Dominik Mysterio saved him by taking out Veer. It was a simple way to reignite the feud, but what was really impressive (for WWE) is how they made these two stories intertwine pretty well.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.