WWE Raw: 10 Things You Might Have Missed (Mar 7th)
6. Where's Poochie?
Shane McMahon is one of the toughest, most talented stars in WWE history... and if you don't agree, you must have missed Raw. The company's decision-makers know that they have an uphill battle when it comes to making Shane look like a credible threat to The Undertaker, so they've decided to try and offset that by having announcers and superstars talk - ad nauseum - about how great he is. During the Neville-Owens opener, Michael Cole and JBL ignored the fact that two of the best wrestlers in the world were in the ring simply so Cole could goad JBL into talking about how Shane was able to take his most powerful clotheslines. Later in the show, the company aired a video retrospective of Shane's career, complete with cut-ins from superstars like The Big Show and Seth Rollins that served to put the Boy Wonder over. Shane's appearances always undermined active talent, but the level they went to on Raw was absolutely ridiculous. If WWE put this level of hype behind Dean Ambrose, the company might actually have a top babyface people cared about.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013