8 Ups & 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Nov 5)

5. Rematch City

Bobby Lashley Finn Balor
WWE.com

Prior to last night:-

Finn Balor and Bobby Lashley had wrestled on the past two episodes of Raw.

The Bayley/Banks/Natalya alliance and The Riott Squad had competed against each other in some shape or form on the previous three shows and at Evolution.

Nia Jax had fought Ember Moon twice in the last month (thrice if you include the Evolution battle royal).

... yet they all wrestled again on Raw, making for one of the least enticing lineups in weeks, with the match-making team seemingly content to mail it in on British soil.

Were these rematches the products of sharp, compelling storylines, they'd be acceptable. But they weren't. None of these programmes are in the least bit compelling, and there's no real excuse for this lack of variety (three-hour runtime be damned), or the creative team's lack of effort when putting the episode together.

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Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.