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What's wrong with Monday Night Raw? While WWE has done a fantastic job of booking WWE Raw over the last couple of months, there are still a few things they need to work on before the new era is considered an absolute success. Unfortunately for WWE, there are still a few big problems standing in their way of doing that and its ultimately going to force them to make some difficult decisions.
In all honesty, no one should doubt WWE's ability right or their ability to make fans genuinely interested in the product again. Not only is that evident with the plethora of fixes the company has already made on both Raw and Smackdown Live, but also by how they continue to push the envelope in the process.
If nothing else, the sky is the limit and Raw is a shining example of that. With that being said and the new era still finding its footing, here are the six biggest problems with Raw right now.
As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments below and what you think could make Raw better.
#6 Use of NXT talent
Another huge problem with WWE right now is their lacklustre booking decisions when it comes to former NXT talent. Finn Balor, Baron Corbin, Braun Strowman, and Bayley are all perfect examples of this and their respective careers haven't been the same since they came onto the main roster.
In fact, Braun Strowman has fallen out of the title picture after countless unsuccessful attempts at winning The Universal title and Bayley continues to live on in mid-card obscurity. M
aybe there is some hope for the NXT alumni after the recent pushes of Sasha Banks and Finn Balor, but it's still not certain how those two title matches will play out.
#5 Renee Young on commentary
WWE made history last year by bringing Renee Young onto the Monday Night Raw commentary team, but it honestly hurt the product more than its helped. In fact, with Renee's sometimes stilted personality, inexperience in pro wrestling and how she is painted storyline wise, it's pretty hard to get behind it.
Unfortunately for the WWE Universe, the company seems to be sticking by Renee Young and aren't considering moving her from the commentary team. Of course, a lot of that has to do with her being the first women to commentate full time on Raw, but the history its making isn't worth how its negatively affecting the product.
In the end, this doesn't mean that Young can't become better at her role, especially since this is only her first year on full-time commentary, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it is sometimes distracting and can take you out of the experience. Again, hopefully, things will get better, but if not, they need to consider making a change.
#4 A moment of Bliss segment
It's no secret that Vince McMahon loves everything about Alexa Bliss and while that has resulted in The Goddess receiving multiple title runs, a dream match with Ronda Rousey and a constant spot on television, it has also resulted in some of the worst segments on television. In fact, her new segment, A Moment of Bliss, seems to serve little to no purpose.
Not only was that extremely evident by the disjointed feel every single one of her segments seems to have, but also by the fact that WWE seems to be using it for sex appeal and joke fodder at this point. If nothing else, this is a huge step down for Bliss and what she is capable of, but her string of injuries has left WWE with little to do with her.
Interestingly enough, there are rumors that Alexa Bliss will be returning to in-ring action soon, which could bring a whole new element to her segments and allow her to be physical again. It will also allow her to finally re-enter the title picture or even compete for the newly minted tag team titles as well.
The sky's the limit, but WWE needs to reformat this talk show segment a bit.
#3 Dean Ambrose's heel turn
Sometimes WWE is able to hit a heel turn right out the park and make fans forget why they ever loved a particular superstar. Other times, however, WWE messes up a heel turn to such an epic degree that everything about the superstar is not only unlikable but also incredibly hokey.
That's the category that Dean Ambrose falls into right now and while not everything about his new character is awful, his modified entrance, cheap heat insults to the crowd and the things he said about Roman Reigns were all awful. In fact, all these things could be bad enough to guarantee that fans never get behind Ambrose again after what he did.
In the end, WWE just got too personal too fast with this storyline and didn't give it time to flesh out properly. Beyond that, the changes to Ambrose's character are minimalistic at best and come across as more annoying than anything else.
Keep in mind that none of this is to say that WWE can't create a successful Ambrose heel character, they just haven't succeeded yet.
#2 Brock Lesnar constantly in the title picture
One of the biggest problems in WWE right now is the fact that Brock Lesnar is either in the hunt for The Universal title or already champion. WWE even put the title back on Lesnar at the crown jewel pay per view after Roman Reigns' leukaemia announcement, which was a huge shock for fans at the time.
In the end, it honestly feels like WWE is afraid to put the title on someone less established than Brock Lesnar. It also seems like they are going to continue to use Lesnar as their top draw and hold back several promising stars in the meantime. If nothing else, another superstar deserves this role more than ever now and WWE needs to do something about it!
Furthermore, with promises of a new era and fresh new matchups, WWE needs to put its money where its mouth is and deliver. They also need to make sure that Brock Lesnar doesn't get his rematch clause when he finally does lose the title, which hopefully WWE will enforce.
#1 Overuse of Ronda Rousey
Ronda Rousey single-handedly upped the intensity level of the Raw Women's division and is responsible for some of the greatest moments in Raw history. With that being said, however, the company has seemingly decided to give Rousey their sole focus, making the rest of the women's division uninteresting in comparison
Think about it! What does Monday night Raw have going for it besides whoever Rousey is facing at the moment? The mid-card feud between Bayley and The Riott Squad is ok, but it's nothing compared to the stories they could be telling. Unfortunately for the WWE Universe, WWE doesn't seem interested in making these stories more entertaining right now.
With that being said, the Women's division on both Raw and Smackdown Live do deserve to shine more than what they are already. They deserve complex and intriguing storylines that will build them up to their own title runs one day. While that day may be a long way off for some of these women, someone needs to be prepared when the time comes to step up!
