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WWE seemed to have a lot of problems this week and while it will probably just be a one-time deal, the company still needs to make sure none of this week's disasters bleeds through to the next couple months of programming. Furthermore, they need to be more sensible with the risks they take, which will also be discussed as well.
Of course, the company took a lot of risks on Raw and Smackdown Live this week, especially with the NXT talents getting called up, but not all of them worked out as they should have. In fact, most, if not all of WWE's ideas seemed to either blow up in their face, didn't make any sense or barely got a reaction.
With that being said and yet another week of Raw and Smackdown Live behind us, here are the five biggest problems with WWE this week. As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments below and also be sure to let us know what you think WWE's biggest problem was this week.
#5. Use of Asuka
Seriously WWE?
You keep Asuka off of television, which effectively killed any sense of momentum she had coming out of her title match at The Royal Rumble and then have her lose to Mandy Rose? Not only did it completely kill any faith that the WWE Universe had in Asuka as a legitimate champion, but also showed that the company doesn't really care themselves.
Either that or they must be so high on Mandy Rose right now that they are willing to sacrifice Asuka to make her champion. Who knows, maybe Rose winning on Smackdown Live was just a way to help gain her some credibility, but it honestly came at the expense of someone who could not afford to lose any of hers.
In the end, hopefully, WWE makes better decisions than this in the future, or at least, finds a way to make it sensible in the end.
#4. Not knowing what to do with other NXT talent
WWE did a huge experiment this Monday night and featured a barrage of new NXT call ups throughout the broadcast. While it was cool to see some of these talents debut on Raw and Smackdown Live for the first time, it seemed ridiculous when you remembered the NXT superstars they had already called up.
Why in the world would WWE get more guys up when they already don't know what to do with the people they already have at their disposal? Seriously though, Lacey Evans, a legitimate badass was booked in a comedy segment with Heavy Machinery. Nikki Cross wasn't heard from and neither was EC3!
Beyond that, Lars Sullivan is still not on the main roster yet and while that has to do with his panic attack incident, one can only imagine what he will be straddled with once he gets on Raw or Smackdown Live. If nothing else, WWE experimenting with this kind of stuff is a good idea in theory, but was completely destroyed in practice when you consider the people they already don't know what to do with!
#3. Call ups were relatively meaningless
Let's be honest here.
Although seeing DIY team up against The Revival, Ricochet team up with Finn Balor and Aleister Black take on Elias, were all great matchups, they didn't have any story built around them at all. WWE was also vague on whether any of these call ups will be permanent, which also diminishes the value of what WWE did.
Again, the idea wasn't bad in theory, in fact, WWE could have centered an overarching narrative around the debuts for good measure, but they decided not to and it really took away from what these debuts could have been. Think about it! Who had the more effective debut? The Shield at Survivor Series or Aleister Black, DIY, and Ricochet on Raw and Smackdown Live.
In the end, The Shield's debut had more of an impact. It protected CM Punk's title reign, it protected Ryback in defeat and it established The Shield as badasses right off the bat. As for the NXT call ups, WWE putting Ricochet and Finn Balor together was interesting, but they didn't capitalize in the same ways with DIY and Aleister Black.
#2. Lackluster Raw main event
Another thing that the WWE Universe needs to be honest about is the fact that the Raw main event this week meant absolutely nothing and did nothing to further the storyline between Rousey, Lynch, and Charlotte. Beyond that, it was a rematch of the Raw Women's title match at Elimination Chamber, which didn't really help things either.
With that being said, WWE did try to throw an extra layer by having The Riott squad at ringside, but even that wasn't enough to make the match feel fresh. In fact, it seemed more like the piss break matches before the Women's revolution with no story behind it and a predictable outcome.
It wasn't the bang that WWE needed to go out with on Raw and really just made fans even more sour about the overall broadcast. In the end, hopefully, WWE does something different next week or at least tries to get Becky Lynch involved somehow. Either that or risk all the momentum that WWE has built up with the storyline in the last couple of weeks.
#1. Minimal build to Rollins versus Lesnar
Look, WWE has their backs against the wall here with Seth Rollins's injury and Fastlane right around the corner, but that doesn't excuse the bare minimum WWE did to build up Lesnar versus Rollins on Raw Monday Night. In fact, fans didn't get much beyond a hype package for Lesnar and a short backstage promo for Rollins.
Can WWE seriously not script some kind of face to face interaction where Rollins gets a cheap shot in on the beast and then runs away? Maybe WWE could have even had Rollins hit Lesnar with the Curbstomp, but they choose to do absolutely nothing instead. Unfortunately for WWE, that did a lot to cool off the momentum that the feud was building, which isn't going to help them moving forward.
In the end, WWE seems to be trying to book this as a UFC fight right now. They aren't letting the two really get their hands on each other and are relying on promos or segments to tell the story. If nothing else, WWE needs to flip that script immediately and let the two get their hands on each other again, or at the very least, let Rollins get some kind of an upper hand and then run off.
Just give us something!
