8 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (28 Nov - Review)

7. Wounds Of War

One of the more legit – yet easy to fix – criticisms about WWE in recent years has been how they have gimmick matches designed to shorten careers, and the participants walk out on Raw the next night and are just fine. It cheapens the gimmick match and shows the writers have the attention span of goldfish.

But on Raw Monday night, two nights removed from WarGames at Survivor Series, several participants were bandaged up, and some weren’t even medically cleared to wrestle.

Bayley and Iyo Sky weren’t allowed to compete, with Sky wearing a neck brace (though she and Bayley still brawled with Becky Lynch). Dakota Kai was taped up. Sami Zayn wore a brace on his wrist. Jey Uso said his hand might be broken. Bianca Belair and Asuka were seen backstage with elbow sleeves on.

Of the 20 wrestlers who were in WarGames, only five competed in matches Monday night, which is a better batting average than we’ve gotten in the past. That, and the visible injuries, were a nice, semi-subtle way of making WarGames seem more dangerous.

Now, a couple of storyline injuries to write someone off for a week or two… would have really sold it. But we’ll take this.