It’s Tuesday once again, which means that we’re all officially in a Raw-induced hangover. We’re also still trying to recover from the TLC Pay-Per-View the day before and then there’s SmackDown Live to look forward to tonight; so wrestling fatigue is likely abounding. Thankfully, Monday night was refreshing.
Raw featured two great singles matches, which consisted of Kevin Owens taking on Sami Zayn and Roman Reigns facing Chris Jericho. Jack Gallagher also made his Raw in-ring debut, which can only be a good thing.
As far as the negative goes, that’s where this article comes in. There weren’t any manoeuvres botched on this particular Raw but there were plenty of outrageous moments and head-scratching storyline developments to go around.
Many of the entries in this article focus on Enzo Amore and his pursuit of Rusev’s bride, Lana. The storyline was a little hard to believe at times, so it warranted multiple breakdowns of things that didn’t make much sense.
In addition to that, I’ve also included remarks on WWE’s affinity with fan close-ups, as well as Titus O’Neil’s extremely hard-fought match; so I’m not solely picking on Enzo.
Without further delay, here are 5 of the more outrageous moments from this episode of WWE Raw...
#5 Poor, poor Titus
Pretty much everything about the state of Titus O’Neil in WWE can be labelled as one gigantic slip-up, right? Ever since grabbing Vince McMahon a tad too playfully on the arm and getting suspended, he’s been in a perpetual doghouse.
The above GIF was his entire match against Mark Henry on this episode of Raw. I believe there was a storyline about Mark getting a WWE Films role that Titus wanted or something, but who really cares enough to invest much thought into stuff like this, when the actual match lasted less than 30 seconds?
O’Neil didn’t even get any offence in; he just ate Henry’s finisher, and that was it. If anyone ever invents a time machine, have some compassion on Titus and send him back to the day he pulled Vince’s arm, so he can try to stop himself. This could be a signal of the end of his WWE career.
#4 Apathetic close-up
WWE has become insistent, as of late, to get super close-up shots of fans reacting to various moments throughout the show. One standout moment from this Monday night, in which this tactic backfired, was during Sami Zayn’s entrance. His music is fun and can usually initiate at least a pleasant head nod – but not for this guy!
The fellow in the Seth Freakin’ Rollins shirt wasn’t having any of Zayn’s cheery tunes, and it made for an awkward cutaway. There was also a kid in a John Cena shirt behind him that was probably who the cameraman intended to frame in the picture, but he was hard to see due to the overwhelming non-reaction directly in front of him.
#3 Enzo’s sudden morals
At the beginning of the “Enzo wants to get laid” storyline that ran all throughout Raw, Lana and Rusev were first seen arguing backstage. When the camera panned back to Enzo & Cass, Enzo especially was outraged. Where did this outrage come from?
It wasn’t that long ago that Enzo approached Lana completely naked, exposing every bit of himself to her. Peering a handful of segments later into the show, he had very little reservations walking into the hotel of a married woman with lustful intentions.
If Enzo’s going to be a sex-crazed wild man, so be it. If he’s going to be the knight in shining armour, that’s fine too. As is, there’s quite the character continuity botch going on during this incredibly brief moment of moral clarity.
#2 Do not disturb
Rusev and Lana set up the slightly naive, yet incredibly horny Enzo Amore, into thinking that he was going to have relations with another man’s wife. Enzo loved this idea! They had a hotel ready and everything, because they knew he couldn’t pass up this opportunity.
However, it was all a ruse, and Enzo got beaten within an inch of his life. It was quite a brutal skirmish as well, with Enzo even getting a glass vase smashed onto the back side of his head.
The Bulgarian Brute dragged Enzo’s lifeless body outside of the hotel room and left him for dead, then went back into his now-trashed room. Lana followed her husband back inside, but not before placing a “Do Not Disturb” hanger on the door, because they apparently got aroused by the attack.
Here I am commenting about Enzo’s depravity when this turn of events was sprung on us. The fact that Rusev and Lana were ready to make love, immediately after almost murdering this leopard-printed Italian with strange hair, can definitely be filed in the “Outrageous” column.
#1 Lana’s “sexy” photo
Before the beatdown in the hotel room, there was the seduction that lead Enzo into the arms of another man’s wife. The decision to visit Lana alone was partly aided because of a sexy photo. It’s the age of cell phones, so sexting is a thing, but there are a couple of things wrong with what Lana sent.
First of all, this was simply a photo of her face. She has an attractive face, yes, but it’s not like that alone should send the libido into overdrive. I guess the implication is that, since she doesn’t have anything on the part of her shoulders that we can see then she must be naked below, but there’s nowhere near enough evidence to make that conclusion.
She simply took a selfie with her shoulder showing; that’s it.
The other issue with this that needs to be pointed out is that Enzo shared this ‘sext’ not only with his buddy Cass but was also careless enough to aim it toward the camera. Watch out ladies; your risque images are not safe with The Smacktalker Skywalker.
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