7 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (Mar 22)

Ripley makes her mark; Fiend/Orton, Braun/Shane sadly moving forward.

by Scott Carlson
Drew McIntyre WrestleMania sign
WWE.com

After the first hour of Monday Night Raw wrapped, it looked like WWE finally was firing on all cylinders, and this was going to be a really good episode, and this column was going to be a glowing one praising the company for finally moving things in the right direction.

Then the third hour just decided to ruin everything and nearly sink the whole show.

It really is incredible how Shane McMahon, Randy Orton, and stupid storytelling can grind things down and just kill your enthusiasm before it has a chance to grow. But that was Monday night.

We started off strongly enough, with Bobby Lashley getting some choice material, both in the ring and backstage, which is always a good thing. And Drew McIntyre had a couple of nice beats. Even Peyton Royce got a moment to shine a bit after being ignored during and after Lacey Evans’ little mini-feud with Charlotte Flair.

We got Rhea Ripley’s much-anticipated debut, and she didn’t waste any time getting down to business – always a plus. And the Raw Tag Team Championship match could be a hidden gem if Monday is any indication of the antics surrounding it.

But we still have to suffer through Shane tormenting Braun Strowman, and Orton suffering at the hands of The Fiend.

Still, this overall was the first good effort from Raw in quite a while. Let’s get to it…

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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.