7 Ups And 5 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Feb 5)

1. Adding Stakes

This writer is a huge fan of giving matches some form of stakes or an incentive to win. Growing up, fans heard Gorilla Monsoon talk about the “winner’s purse,” the fictional acknowledgement that the winner of a match received more money.

Today, we hear more about “putting smiles on faces” rather than wins and losses. But lately, it’s been getting a little better. And Monday, WWE put together a triple threat match between the first three men who qualified for the Elimination Chamber match: Elias, Braun Strowman and John Cena. One the line: the right to enter the chamber from one of the four pods last.

That was a huge boost for the winner, and it gave us a match with very real stakes. Winning wasn’t just to “build momentum” or some fictional bragging rights. This is exactly the sort of thing that should be done more often whenever possible. Fans can easily relate to that sort of stipulation.