7 Ups And 5 Downs From WWE Raw (April 27)

3. A More Appropriate Tribute

Say what you will about the worthiness or navel-gazing of Triple H’s 25-year anniversary celebration on SmackDown that carried over to Raw, but Monday’s countdown was pretty nicely done.

Closing out SmackDown with a 20-minute, fourth-wall-breaking “comedy” segment was… interesting, to say the least, and it probably would have been better served as a WWE Network exclusive airing immediately after the blue brand went off the air. But Raw actually nailed it, counting down Triple H’s 10 defining WWE career moments, including taking over D-Generation X, winning King of the Ring 1997, forming Evolution, invading WCW Nitro, and returning from a quad tear.

The bumpers were short – about 30 seconds – and spaced out before and after commercials throughout the show, so it didn’t feel like a burden to sit through. And they avoided having Triple H in the ring patting himself (or having others pat him) on the back, which, while it might be deserved, just smacks of shamelessness to some extent.

For what it’s worth, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin will hit his quarter-century anniversary with the company later this year, so it’ll be interesting to see if he gets a similar treatment.