After a whirlwind two months that saw WWE trot out four special events and an abbreviated King of the Ring tournament, the company has hunkered down for the long haul of a five-week build to its next major PPV, Battleground. With four weeks to go, several marquee matches already are booked, which can be both a blessing and curse. Monday Night Raw saw back-to-back appearances from Brock Lesnar, always a welcome sight, but this time went down quite differently that prior appearances. Kevin Owens continued to show why he deserves the ball and would run far and fast with it, while John Cena showed that hes no slouch but clearly is being led by Owens during this dance. Meanwhile, the Bella Twins might have turned again, but you never can be sure. If you have doubts, just wait a week or two and theyll turn again. WWE is getting lazy with its booking again and needs to clamp down, especially with three episodes of Raw (and four Smackdown shows) remaining before Battleground. We dont want this train careening off the tracks. WWE has to be building to SummerSlam, but its got to get through Battleground first. So with that in mind, what chugged along and what derailed Monday night. Lets find out.
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.
