8 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Oct 26th)

2. Matches With Real Stakes

Right out of the chute Monday, Triple H made an announcement that put the rest of Raw into focus: He declared that there would be four matches between the winners from Hell in a Cell (Brock Lesnar excluded) and then the winners of those matches would compete in a fatal fourway to become number one contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. It can€™t be understated how heartwarming it was to hear that the entire episode was set up with five matches that would carry very real stakes €“ the chance to headline Survivor Series and become world champ was on the line. It made each match that much more important, and it offered an incentive to those who won at HIAC rather than just grabbing a handful of roster stalwarts to vie for the title again (sorry John Cena). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo7zHGRIEI4 This sort of thing isn€™t done all that often, but when it is, it automatically makes Raw more enjoyable because there€™s a common thread throughout the show, with a prize for the victor at the end.