8 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (Jan 9 - Review)

1. Howdy! Whoops, Gotta Go

Alexa Bliss’ new direction is at least that, a direction. But something isn’t always better than nothing, especially if something is lame or just plain crap.

Little Miss Bliss hopped onto the announce desk after an update on Bianca Belair’s condition to note that while she isn’t the Raw Women’s Champion, she’s the only one standing. She called herself the face of evil and noted that she hasn’t felt this good in a long time, that she was in control of all the spooky stuff that’s been happening.

Cue Uncle Howdy (but isn’t he exclusive to SmackDown?), who came out and stood in the smoke and laughed… and then Raw cut to a commercial, with Howdy and Bliss gone when the show returned and not mentioned afterwards.

So… Howdy is controlling Bliss through a symbol flashing on the screens? Alexa thinks she’s the master of all this weird stuff? How does Bray Wyatt fit into all of this?

Here’s the thing: Does finding out the answers to any of these questions lead to compelling TV, get wrestlers over and sell tickets? It’s better in the sense that Bliss has something going on, but her two years as The Fiend’s brainwashed paramour and then a Wyatt-adjacent paranormal herself wasn’t exactly a high mark, so why are we rebooting or reimagining it?