5 Unforgivable mistakes WWE made on this week's RAW (July 5th, 2021)

Nia Jax pins Nikki Cross
Nia Jax pins Nikki Cross

WWE's Monday Night RAW is one of the longest-running television shows going on right now and over the years it has certainly had its ups and downs.

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Sadly for WWE, we often remember the negatives more than the positives and this week's RAW had many missteps for the WWE Universe to remember.

We saw the RAW Men's Money in the Bank Ladder match competitors gather in the ring for a special edition of Miz TV, while the Women's MITB competitors took on RAW's female heels in a tag team match.

Ali continued to teach young Mansoor, Lucha House Party got an upset win, and we also got one of the most bizarre segments in recent memory involving Charlotte and Rhea Ripley.

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But what were the five biggest, most unforgivable mistakes that WWE made on Monday Night RAW this week?


#5 Nikki Cross' undefeated streak comes to an end on Monday Night RAW

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WWE seems to have a knack for finding a Superstar like Nikki Cross (or Nikki Ash) who is gaining momentum and then completely puts a halt on proceedings.

The decision to put RAW's four Women's Money in the Bank Ladder match entrants in a match against Eva Marie, Doudroup, Shayna Baszler, and Nia Jax was a bit surprising because no one stood to gain anything from it.

Consequently, RAW ended up having the four Superstars they'd deemed worthy enough to compete for a guaranteed world title run lose to people who they deemed unworthy.

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Even worse was the fact that, they had Nikki Cross take the pin. We understand that creative wanted to have the heels win so they could continue the Eva Marie and Doudrop storyline, but putting a dent in Cross' fine run could have been avoided.

This is particularly damaging because the RAW star's new superhero gimmick has had a mixed reaction from WWE fans, with some people finding it a little too cheesy. However, Cross has the talent to pull it off and make it endearing, but she needs the results to back it up.

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#4 Alexa Bliss' mind control powers don't make any sense on WWE RAW

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We've been willing to give Alexa Bliss and her new supernatural powers a chance in WWE because ultimately wrestling is a form of entertainment.

However, the patience towards Alexa Bliss and the constant use of her mind-control powers is starting to wear very thin because there's just a massive glaring plot-hole that no one seems to be addressing.

During her matches, which have mostly been against Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler with Reginald at ringside, Bliss has continued to use her powers to take control of whoever is not involved in the match, but she has never used it on her opponent.

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Why doesn't Bliss just take control of whoever she's wrestling with right at the start of a match, make them lie on their backs, and win every single time?

This is one of the major problems that WWE will need to address going forward in order to save themselves and Bliss' character from receiving backlash from the fans.

#3 Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin have forgotten their heated rivalry on WWE RAW

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Remember when Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin were kicked out of The Hurt Business on WWE RAW and then began a heated blood feud with each other? Don't worry if you don't because WWE has seemingly forgotten it and apparently, so have Alexander and Benjamin.

During the random tag team bout that saw Elias and Alexander take on R-Truth and Jaxson Ryker, Akira Tozawa and the rest of RAW's 24/7 title-chasing stars, including Shelton Benjamin, interrupted the match.

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As you can see from the above clip, Benjamin slides into the ring as close to Alexander as he possibly can, but there's not a single interaction between the former partners turned bitter enemies at all. Benjamin is so enthralled by the 24/7 title that he's seemingly over it.

What this tells us is that WWE and its Superstars value the 24/7 title over the big rivalries that they chose to spotlight on Monday Night RAW.

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Why would fans care about feuds if the superstars involved in it have other aspirations? This is another misstep WWE needs to avoid going forward.

#2 What is happening to Drew McIntyre on WWE Monday Night RAW?

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Drew McIntyre was an indomitable star who carried Monday Night RAW as the WWE Champion during the entirety of the ThunderDome/pandemic era. He's now out of the title picture and the company now seems hell-bent on thrusting him as far away from the main event as they can get him.

And to make things even worse, they've managed to take McIntyre's awesome sword and make it into something as worthy of ridicule as the promos they now have the Scottish Psychopath cutting every week.

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This week's "Loch Ness Monster" promo, which McIntyre delivered before his match against Jinder Mahal, was a step too far though, plunging him from a believable Highland Warrior to Scottish parody.

To make matters even worse, it threatens to completely derail what was a much-anticipated feud against Jinder Mahal.

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How WWE can think there's value in taking someone as great as Drew McIntyre and turning him into a weird folklore kook is infuriating.

There are also many, many ways you can do a Drew McIntyre vs Jinder Mahal feud in WWE with the history both superstars share, and fighting over a sword that was made from the teeth of the Loch Ness Monster is certainly not one of them.

#1 Sheamus is back and he has a new title challenger on next week's WWE Monday Night RAW ... wait, really?

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Imagine hyping a WWE United States Title match for next week's show, hoping it will get viewers excited to tune in. However, one of the superstars involved in the bout has been off injured and the other was last spotted chasing around the 24/7 title in a comedy segment.

Carrillo and Sheamus are incredible athletes and can put on a great match. But the Mexican star's presence in that 24/7 title segment couldn't have done more to make the following week's United States Championship bout meaningless.

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Surely you'd put Carillo against a tough opponent and let him pick up a win of some kind to give him some momentum going into next week's big match rather than having him chase the 24/7 title.

The above tweet sums up exactly how pointless and silly announcing Carillo as a title challenger is because WWE has done absolutely nothing to tell us he deserves a Championship shot, let alone might be competitive in one.

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Edited by Alan John
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