9 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Aug 19)

by Scott Carlson

1. Pomp And Circumstance

samoa joe cesaro
WWE.com

Let’s heap some kudos onto WWE for its presentation of the King of the Ring tournament Monday night.

Unlike previous years where it just felt like something to do, Monday’s first night of the tourney felt a little special because the company took a couple minutes to call attention to it. Jerry “The King” Lawler noted that several WWE Hall-of-Famers have won the tournament, which can help launch careers – which is true. Michael Cole interviewed former KOTR winner Booker T about how it helped his career.

And the first two matches included inset promos of all four men talking about what winning the crown would mean to them. All of that lends to the tournament feeling more important. And that’s the sort of thing that in turn makes winning it all – and the event itself – more special and meaningful.

Whether WWE actually delivers is a crapshoot, but this was a good first night for the 2019 King of the Ring.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.