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This week's episode of RAW saw many draggy matches and abysmal promos. There was nothing much in the show to keep the WWE Universe invested or excited. Stephanie McMahon's appearance since WrestleMania definitely generated some enthusiasm among the fans but overall there was nothing much that one could have missed out on had one not watched this show.
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The RAW Women's Title picture did get a little interesting but all credit for that goes to none other than Stephanie McMahon who single-handedly drove the segment with her impeccable mic skills. Many matches as well as seemed pointless and left a lot to be desired. That being said, let's take a look at five things that could have been avoided or could have happened differently in this episode.
#5 Roman Reigns still complaining
This week's RAW opened like every other RAW since the Greatest Royal Rumble, with a Roman Reigns segment. Reigns again made a hue and cry about how he is supposed to be the Universal Champion, how Brock Lesnar is Vince McMahon's boy and how he is not getting a decent shot at the Money In The Bank Ladder Match.
It seems like WWE is adamant on pushing Reigns as the top guy of the company which is entirely well and good if that is what they want, but they should, at the very least, try to do so in more creative ways.
Every week Reigns comes out, repeats the same lines and gets booed. This direction needs to change. The man isn't really bad in the ring and his mic skills have improved drastically but the creative team is killing Reigns every week by this repetitive act.
Last week, Reigns came off the bad guy who nobody should mess with when he went backstage and mauled Jinder Mahal. That was exciting to watch. But this week getting back to the same routine just killed his momentum. Hopefully, WWE aren't trying to set up a Reigns vs Authority like storyline again.
#4 Sami Zayn, Bobby Lashley and the Lashley sisters debacle
The fact that the storyline of Bobby Lashley's sisters has been dragged on for two weeks since Lashley's interview is amusing. The interview segment wasn't one that was worth remembering, let alone an angle being formed from it. We can all agree that Lashley was lost in the crowded and star-studded RAW roster but this angle will surely make sure that he is forgotten.
Zayn promised us last week that we would get to see the Lashley sisters this week. That promise didn't really excite many of us. When Zayn finally introduced the sisters and while they made their way down to the ring, the WWE Universe was so disappointed that if there were crickets present in the arena, the crickets could have been heard.
The "sisters" that Zayn welcomed into the ring were three men with wigs on and in dresses. If that's not cringe-worthy, how would it feel when you saw one of them with a mustache. Zayn tried hard to sell the segment but it came as no shock when nobody from the crowd present was buying into this.
To make things worse, Lashley came out smiling and high fiving the fans present in the first row. Lashley beating down his "sisters" and Zayn couldn't really save this segment.
Lashley is really losing relevance on the show by being part of such dreadful storylines. WWE need to really check on what people find funny. This segment just blew and hopefully WWE retire the sisters' angle next week.
#3 Feuds/matches with no direction
Corbin vs Jose and Roode vs Elias, these matches have become quite the mainstay matches on episodes of RAW. If these matches had a direction they were going into, then the crowd could have been more vested in them. But these matches seem like a drag with no reason for them wrestling each other.
Corbin is a force to be reckoned with and it looked like things were going to take a turn for the good after he made his move to RAW. But that hope was nipped in the bud when he was made to wrestle No Way Jose every week since his arrival.
The sole reason for fans to be overjoyed when they watch Elias in the ring is that they can scream "Walk With Elias" at the top of their voice. Other than that, Elias hasn't been of much use of late. His constant matches against Roode were nothing interesting.
Bobby Roode, on the other hand, has qualified for the MITB Ladder Match and should be looking to prove his mettle in a stacked up match card. He was left in a losing effort against Elias and that couldn't have come across well.
Stephanie McMahon saved us from another pointless match by not allowing Balor and Strowman team up against McIntyre and Ziggler. While some may say that Gable vs McIntyre was pointless as well but this match must have sown the seeds for an American Alpha reunion.
#2 Tag teams losing relevance
While the Tag Team Champions have no relevance at all on WWE's flagship show, WWE aren't even setting up another tag team to look strong enough to challenge the champions for the titles. The only tag team match we witnessed this week was the one between the B-Team and Breezango.
Where are Authors of Pain, The Revival and the Ascension. The RAW tag team division is sadly going nowhere and the WWE need to pull up their socks with these teams and make them look dominating if they need to be taken seriously.
Breezango coming of as jobbers make them as well as the B-Team look like jokers. T B-Team should be booked with more aggression instead of them being so surprised that they actually won a match. There's nothing wrong with Breezango losing to the B-Team but they should be putting on matches worth watching instead of trying to amuse the crowd with their gimmick.
#1 No Intercontinental Title open challenge
Possibly the most disappointing part of RAW was to not see Seth Rollins defend his IC Title against a worthy opponent in his open challenge. This week, we saw Rollins tag with Reigns to take on Mahal and Owens.
After last week's performance by both Rollins and Owens, we would love to see these two go at it once more in singles competition. But WWE had other plans for Rollins. In what was a pretty decent match, we saw Rollins pinning Owens after a second attempt of The Stomp.
Watching Rollins or like Michael Cole said "Red Hot Rollins" wrestle is an amazing sight. This man can pull off anything. After such a hectic schedule and traveling all over the world, Rollins never disappoints us. He is easily the hardest worker right now.
WWE seem to be going to leaps and bounds to avoid Reigns getting booed and that has resulted in a week without the IC title being defended. Next week Rollins is set to take on Jinder Mahal and if Kevin Owens doesn't make his presence felt during the match, we are in for another spectacular performance by The Architect.
What's your take on this? Any additions you would like to make to this list? Any omissions? Have your say! Let us know in the comments below.
