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  • 10 Mistakes WWE Made On Raw This Week (6 May 2019)
What a showing from WWE, and when people thought things couldn't get any worse.

10 Mistakes WWE Made On Raw This Week (6 May 2019)

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect Sportskeeda's views

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When you go on WWE's social media you will find a pattern, and it does not matter whether it's Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram, almost every single one of those platform's comment section is crying for the same thing. Every single fan just wants one thing from the WWE, and that is an episode of Raw that doesn't urge you to change the channel. Now, with that being said, was this week's broadcast of Monday Night Raw an unwatchable experience?

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By all means it truly was not as bad as you might perceive it, but it was a show with too many mistakes to ignore, and while others may not truly care for most of the lousy booking decisions WWE made on the flagship show this week, on the other hand, the majority of the WWE Universe has seen enough of WWE having no idea what to do with the product anymore.

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Therefore, let us go through each one of WWE's most surprising decisions they made on Raw, and how they could have easily avoided doing so.

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#1 Wild Card Rule

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Does anyone remember the superstar shakeup?
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What is the point of the brand split? Is it to balance out WWE's star-studded roster? Is its purpose to give underused wrestlers an opportunity to succeed, or is it too separate WWE's biggest main eventers on each show which will let these megastars become legends in their own right?

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Whatever is your answer for the brand split, there is one core idea in all of those answers, and that is the notion of the separation the rosters is there for a reason. This week on Raw, Roman Reigns forced his way on Raw even though the WWE officials told 'the big dog' he cannot appear on the red brand, but Roman does what he wants, even if what he wants makes zero sense.

Reigns confronted Vince McMahon at the start of the show, which saw Reigns declare that he will be appearing on Raw as long as the WWE Universe cheers him on to do so (let's see how long that lasts), and this led to more of Smackdown's elite making the jump on McMahon, as we saw Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan on the show.

Now, McMahon apparently had a brilliant idea from all this chaos, as he created the Wild Card Rule on the spot, and for those who don't know what this means, here's the simple explanation; this rule basically means four superstars from Raw or Smackdown Live can appear on either show without any restrictions.

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This is a rule that has to divide the fanbase, as no one can tell if this is the right decision by WWE or just a cop out due to their ratings being at an all-time low, and if you want the short answer just refer to the latter of those options. As the 'Wild Card Rule' is everything wrong with WWE's problem handling system.

When WWE is under crisis, they panic, and in that state of panic, terrible ideas like this one are born, as this rule is completely breaking WWE's already established set of rules, and by going back to the first line of this point you will understand why.

Right now there is no point in the Superstar Shakeup, there is no reason for the brand split to exist, and there is no reason why pay-per-views like Survivor Series need to have a brand warfare theme attached to it. WWE has once again shot themselves in the foot here, and only time will tell if the risk of doing so pays off.

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#2 Follow The Tropes

Another tag team match between rivals, great.
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Vince McMahon's night was not done when he was bombarded by Smackdown's elite, as the number one contender to the Universal Title came out to the ring to ask the boss a question every fan was asking themselves throughout the entirety of that confusing opening segment; 'What in the blue hell is going on here?'

Styles basically had grievances with the fact that McMahon was bringing all of Smackdown's top stars to Raw in a decision that made as much sense as christening the WWE Universe the new authority, but what Styles really had a problem with was the fact that Roman Reigns, who is Seth Rollins best friend was now on the red brand which meant Styles could see himself in a two on one situation.

This good point was interrupted by the Universal Champion himself who wanted to 'break' Styles' face for last week's brawl that saw Rollins get his ass kicked in the centre of the ring. This saw Rollins go on to belittle Styles by rebutting the Phenomenal One's earlier point of being Smackdown's saviour during its rebirth in 2016.

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Rollins said the blue brand was perfectly fine before Styles was on it and it is performing on the same level when he left (this is kind of ironic when considering Smackdown hit record low ratings last week). So what did McMahon do with all the heat these two generated in this segment? Well, of course, he booked a tag team match which saw Styles and Rollins take on everyone's favourite random team of Bobby Lashley and Baron Corbin.

Why does WWE always use this booking trope? The trope where we see the fierce rivals reluctantly team up only for one of them to turn on each other in the match and walk away thus leaving the other in a two on one situation.

It's like the creative team thought to themselves it's just two weeks before the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, so it's time to strike another overused booking method off the trope list, and in all honesty, if that is WWE's mentality when booking programmes, then it's a shame. As with the amount of talent on display, it is just shocking to see the creativity missing.

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This is a World Title programme, just let that sink in, it's a World Title programme relying on tired booking methods that have been overdone to the point where no good can come from it. Moreover, so many had hopes that this would be the World Title programme that would get the disrespected Universal Title programme off to a better path, but that doesn't seem like the case.

#3 Get Over And Get Buried

Braun Can't Handle The Truth
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Sami Zayn has been speaking nothing but the truth for over three weeks now, as his assessment of how far the WWE Universe has fallen has been so accurate that even the fans themselves are agreeing with the former NXT Champion.

However, in WWE, original and fresh gimmicks like Sami's can't last more than a month without being completely mishandled, as on Raw this week Zayn came down to the ring to lay down another reality check on the WWE Universe, but before Zayn could get to the meat of his content he was interrupted by an old foe in Braun Strowman.

You might be asking yourself right now what was the reasoning behind Strowman's desire to confront Zayn with no real prior motivation? Well, to put it quite simply it was to throw the man in the trash, and yeah you heard that Strowman came down the ring to shut Zayn, which meant something crazy was going to happen.

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Everyone was apparently fed up with Zayn's gratifying gimmick, including Braun which meant it was another segment of The Benny Hill Show featuring Braun Strowman chasing Zayn around town, as all WWE had to do was cue the music because this wrestling show is about to get silly, and silly it was.

How does WWE expect fans to believe, in 2019, that Sami Zayn was put inside a dumpster truck and squashed like a paper plate? The logic just doesn't add up. Furthermore, this entire angle was probably done so Strowman can build up some credibility when he faces Samoa Joe sometime down the line, but where does that leave Zayn?

Just like Kevin Owens in 2018, it seems that Sami is Strowman's new whipping boy in 2019, and we all know how that turned out for KO. This was a mistake, as Zayn was one of the only enjoyable aspects of Raw every week, and now that he has been fed to Strowman, a huge chunk of his credibility has been deleted.

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#4 "Fantastic" Filler

Just isn't enough to excite fans.
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Three hours is a lot of time in someone's day, as just think about all the things you wanted to do in a day, and then when the day is finally over, you kind of regret not making time for that specific thing. So imagine watching Raw for three hours hoping and praying that WWE gives you something worth your time only to witness professional wrestlers roll around on the floor, repetitive tag team matches, monotonous promos that don't accomplish anything, and people being thrown into the garbage.

This type of blatant filler makes you question why do you even put up with this type of content every single week, and there are a lot of people out there who will tell you if you don't like it then stop watching. But this one quote from a wrestling fan sums up why that isn't possible, as this fan said "people watch Raw at this point because it's a habit and not for the content", and if there was ever a sentence to explain why it's hard for certain fans to just give up on the WWE, then it's that line.

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However, with ratings going lower each week, it seems like some fans may have checked out, and with filler like what we saw on Raw this week, it's starting to create a reason for that phenomenon. Who wants to see The Lucha House Party (an excellent group of wrestlers that are unfortunately jobbers) beat another group of jobbers in a two-minute squash match?

This is the problem with Raw's three-hour runtime, as WWE just does not have three hours worth of good stories to tell within that time frame. Most would say they don't have an hour of good storytelling offer, but mistakes are made when fans don't care about what they are seeing in the ring, and on Raw this week, the filler was just not worth the concern.

#5 The Next Braun Strowman

The nearly man.
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The next Braun Strowman, what does that even mean? Well, if you look back at Strowman's career from 2016 till now you would have noticed a bizarre pattern, as this is a sequence that has seen the former Raw Tag Team Champion soar in the highest of highs in the WWE, and at the very same time drop to the lowest of lows.

Everyone knows the wasted opportunity that is Braun Strowman's push, as this was a man that many thought would be main eventing WrestleMania, and winning countless World Titles, but in reality, Strowman has only managed to team with a child at WrestleMania, and feud with SNL's hosts.

Another superstar that seems primed to meet this fate is Drew McIntyre, as there is something about McIntyre's push that seems like he will never reach the heights many fans expect him too. As this week on Raw, we saw a WrestleMania rematch between Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre (thanks to the Wild Card Rule) which was set up as McIntyre's revenge, but when it concerns Roman Reigns, his opponent will never get any benefit from the match.

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The match was cut short by Shane McMahon with Elias, a duo that has problems with Reigns over on the blue brand, as that interference led to this match ending in a DQ, and we all this only happened so that neither of these stars loses any credibility. But let's be honest, the only person to lose nothing here was Reigns, as McIntyre leaning on a 50-year-old non-wrestler to help him get things done in the ring is just pathetic booking.

Why can't WWE just let Drew dominate each week on Raw? And when was the last time Drew actually got a chance to win a huge match by himself? At least when Strowman was being built up as a monster in 2017 he was beating the likes of John Cena and Roman Reigns, while Drew can't even get the job done once without getting help from another heel.

If McIntyre does go the way of Strowman, then WWE should look back on moments like this as they only have themselves to blame for not giving the former NXT Champion the momentum he needed to become the next top star.

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#6 What's The Point Of Being Champions?

Why can't WWE get properly booked champions?
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What is truly the point of being a champion? The answer everyone will commonly use is the honour of being known as the champion in any sport is something special, it means that you are above everyone else in that specific division, and for that period of time you are the best of the best.

But in WWE, the honour of being champion is non-existent, as we witness the likes of Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins somehow win the Raw Tag Team Titles for the sake of a 'WrestleMania moment', but instead of WWE building on that shocking (it's not really shocking anymore as we see it every year) decision by making the former Edgeheads a force to be reckoned with in the tag team division, we witness the burial of this team.

This week on Raw, The Viking Raiders took on Hawkins and Ryder in a non-title match, as everyone knows that directly translates into the champions are going to get squashed, and they did. Why can't the creative team just choose one set of wrestlers to hold the Raw Tag Team Titles and book them as a proper tag team?

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We have seen AOP, The Revival, The Deleter of Worlds, The B Team and now The Edgeheads all get the same booking decisions, as they are starting off white hot in the grander scheme of things, but as time goes along they have their credibility destroyed. So what will be different when The Viking Raiders eventually win the Raw Tag Team Titles?

#7 The Comedy Continues

Isn't that great?
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The Raw Tag Team Division is a mess, and the last point sums it up pretty adequately, but if you thought the less than stellar booking decisions would stop there, WWE was set on dragging another set of teams into the mud while they were at it, and no one could have predicted how bad it would actually get.

The Revival and The Usos are currently in a feud that is taking Raw by storm, and for those who didn't realise that back shaving was the reason for their war, well, now you know. But this week it's like WWE almost said to themselves what can be more ridiculous than starting a feud over two men shaving each other's back? And, to the amazement of everyone, we found out. It was The Usos pulling their best pranks from fifth grade.

This segment can't even be explained, as it was that poor. This is the lowest the creative team can go this year. Moreover, nothing can be done to change that, as the crowd didn't find it funny, the acting from both teams was that of a low budget comedy, and the entire segment just couldn't end any quicker, but if there was one thing WWE told us in this entire travesty, it is that they will continue to bury The Revival until their contract runs out.

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Humour is subjective, and the one guy that laughed in the audience proves this notion to be true, but when humour is used in wrestling as a tool to destroy a wrestler's credibility, what more can be said than just asking why? For an episode of Raw that's supposed to be a game changer in the rating slump WWE is on, it seems like the company couldn't care less.

#8 Big, Strong, Underwhelming

Seen this before.
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Lars Sullivan. This man is a 300-pound wrecking ball, as he destroys everything and everyone in his path. No one is really safe when the freak accident is looming but does anyone really care about who Lars is fed to every week?

People were saying for months that Lars is the next big thing in the WWE, as he was compared to legends such as Brock Lesnar, The Big Show and Mark Henry, but just because Lars is getting booked like '2003 Brock Lesnar', it sadly does not make him Brock Lesnar.

The hype around this man is slowly fading, and that is due to one thing; his predictable booking. We all know the drill by now. Lars shows up, beats his opponent up and proceeds to leave waiting for his next victim, but here's the thing; wrestling is more about how audiences connect to characters rather than how they react to them.

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Furthermore, you can argue all day long that Lars is a fantastic athlete (which he is), a marvel to look behold, and the next big monster coming through WWE's ranks. However, if he is a monster with zero personality, WWE can just chuck him in the list with other failed monsters of the past like Vladimir Kozlov and Brodus Clay.

This week's booking of Lars was a clear indication of how far WWE is taking this man in the character department, as the freak accident came down to the ring to squash No Way Jose and his poor conga line for no reason whatsoever.

If the point of this entire beatdown was to imply what has been assumed over the last month, then this was a failure, as doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result is just insanity or it could be laziness by the writing department.

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#9 50/50 Booking Is Like Steiner Math

A wasted prospect already.
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The one thing many fans were looking forward to on Raw this week was seeing what The Glorious Robert Roode was up to, as many were disappointed with WWE last week when Roode was not even on the show, but this time things promised to be different, and Roode was in the house to make things happen.

Roode was going to take on Ricochet in a one on one match with the former NXT North American Champion's Money in the Bank opportunity on the line. If you are thinking: "Why is WWE holding a qualifying match one week after the Money in the Bank spots have been filled?" Don't worry, many others share your sentiments.

However, this was somewhat of a high stakes bout, as Roode did beat Ricochet on Raw a few weeks ago, and 'the one and only' was never going to be excluded from the Money in the Bank match due to his insane high flying abilities, so what was going to go down?

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Well, the only thing that would logically happen in a situation like this was WWE going with the 50/50 booking route, as Ricochet beat Roode to overcome his loss a few weeks ago, and this left a lot of people baffled. Why would WWE cut Roode's momentum so short after giving him wings to soar as a top heel in the company?

The answer to that question is unknown, as there is no logical reason why any booker wouldn't want to push Roode as a top heel with credibility. Moreover, when you look at the facts, Raw has just a handful of heels and considering half of them have been booked in weak fashion, Roode should be high on the creative team's list.

However, Roode became a victim of 50/50 booking, as many didn't expect him to be left out in the cold this early in his run, and that might be a new record for WWE.

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#10 Smackdown Live Main Events Raw

Does this make sense?
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Vince McMahon's brilliant idea of having Smackdown Live superstars appear on Raw and vice versa came with a lot of criticism from the corners of the internet, and while many have given McMahon's system a chance to play out, the one thing that has given fans a proper indicator of why the Wildcard Rule is a mess in storytelling was the main event of Raw.

Now, the main event of Kofi Kingston vs the returning Daniel Bryan was possibly the best thing Raw produced all night, but when you look at the implications of such a booking strategy you get a clearer picture. This indication saw Smackdown Live superstars basically take the top spot on Raw with just two weeks before the Money in the Bank pay-per-view.

Instead of building up the Money in the Bank ladder match, or having the very underbooked Universal Title programme take the limelight, we got another rematch for the WWE Championship which in all honesty belonged on Smackdown Live.

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Even though this wildcard rule is seemingly the answer to the rating mess WWE has created over the last few months, by giving the blue brand's narratives preference over the superstars on Raw, it just shows that WWE keeps on making mistakes along the way.

Therefore, here's to hoping we don't see Kevin Owens quest for the WWE Title take a backseat, Andrade sit on the bench and Ali left off the show because WWE wants the Wild Card Rule to give Raw stars airtime.


What other mistakes do you think WWE made on Raw? Let us know in the comments below!

Meet the man who called CM Punk the softest man alive HERE

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Edited by
Israel Lutete
 
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