8 Reasons Why Last Night's WWE Raw Failed To Live Up To The Hype
2. That Damn Crowd Again
Between the complete disregard for the prior months storylines, the timekeeper ringing the bell early on the Dudley Boyzs tables match victory over the Usos (surely it would have been better to just ignore it given they were going over anyway?), and Lillian Garcia wrongly introducing the Intercontinental Title match (even though it was supposed to be a Zack Ryder promo segment), the errors were bush league for a company that had just put on an incredible and complex production the night prior.
According to those in the arena, the Garcia snafu resulted in a heated argument between the ring announcer and production staff at the timekeepers table, debating who was at fault.
Fault for the Charlotte promo ushering in the new era of womens wrestling bombing was easier to distribute. The blame lies squarely at the feet of the disrespectful fans, who ruined the segment with their smart-ass chanting and cloying Bayley obsession, causing Charlotte to lose her way and do the worst thing possible in that situation: react.
She tried singing along with the Hey Bayley chorus, which was bad, then made a futile attempt to talk over them with assertions that what she was saying was significant. It was uncomfortable to watch her sinking like that.
At least the audience realised as much eventually, and once they were done trying to get over they redeemed themselves somewhat with a loud chant of womens wrestling. That was ruined almost immediately by the galling sight of Eva Marie vacantly gurning as if she had any right whatsoever to be stood in the ring on the receiving end of that chant.
One huge positive from the segment though, was the lack of Brie Bella. WrestleMania was her swansong, the final act of her wretched career. There was no send-off, no emotional retirement speech, she was just gone. I am of the firm belief that she is one of the worst wrestlers to ever step foot in a WWE ring. Good riddance, I say.