7 Ups & 6 Downs For WWE Raw (21 July - Results & Review)

5. Good Thing They Hit Each Other Hard

Not all booking tropes are inherently bad. One that regularly makes an appearance is the need for wrestlers to split their initial confrontation and a rematch, necessitating a rubber match between the pair.

As tired and predictable as this might be in WWE, if the matches are mint, then no one will care about return engagements in the ring. Sheamus was bound to beat Rusev on Monday night, avenging his loss a few weeks back. The Celtic Warrior even got revenge by flipping the script on Rusev and using the exposed turnbuckle assembly – the same way Rusev won – to help pick up the victory.

The match itself was the hard-hitting slugfest one would expect, with both men just teeing off on each other and leaving welts on their opponent. Rusev lost his first match since returning to WWE, but it presumably will set up a rubber match that the Bulgarian Brute should win.

Whether that actually leads somewhere remains to be seen, but even predictable, basic WWE booking can be entertaining, so we’ll give this positive marks.