7 mistakes WWE made on Raw this week (4 March 2019)

The go home show of Raw before Fastlane was a broadcast gave us a lot of information on the road to Wrestlemania, and it also showed us that WWE is almost halfway to booking a truly captivating episode of Raw. Now, this week's edition of the flagship show was not terrible by any standard, as the show did have a few moments that truly helped its quality pick up, and it was those moments that probably made the three-hour broadcast better for some viewers.

But in terms of getting fans hyped for Fastlane, the go home edition of Raw was not fully successful in that manner, as WWE once again focused on building short term narratives that only exist to fill the card on the pay-per-view. As the lack of story building over the last few weeks gave this edition of Raw a rushed feeling, and that probably won't get fans excited for the event. So let us go through what mistakes WWE made on this edition of Raw, and how they could have avoided making them.

#1 After Thoughts In The Bigger Picture

There was a goal here, but it meant sacrificing your key players.

The opening match on Monday Night Raw this week saw the trio of Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre, and Baron Corbin take on Kurt Angle, Finn Balor and Braun Strowman in a six-man tag team match. And it was evident from the timing and booking of this match that it was just a way to build up the heels for their inevitable battle with The Shield, as the heel trio managed to take out Braun Strowman, destroy Kurt Angle and annihilate Finn Balor all at once.

It is odd for WWE to give that much crediblity to their heels, but on a night when they had to build to The Shield vs. Team Baron Corbin, things had to be rushed. The issue with that type of booking was the fact that superstars momentum had to be halted, and that was a mistake made the creative team. As Finn Balor and Braun Strowman getting destroyed by a heel faction that only formed as a foil for The Shield was bad booking from WWE.

We are now on the road to Wrestlemania, and when you hear that phrase you usually think Wrestlemania is months away, but in reality, the biggest event is only a few weeks away. And by WWE making their most popular big guy, IC Champion, and veteran Hall of Famer 'job' to an unconvincing faction for the sake of cheap heat is a mistake, as to how will they manage to regain whatever momentum these stars accumulated over months had in a short space of weeks for the event?

#2 Wasting Talent

Ruby Riott is one of the more underrated superstars in the WWE, as just before Ruby developed into a superstar that could be worthy of being called champion, WWE plucked her from her training ground of NXT and stuck her on the main roster with little fanfare. But Ruby made things work, as her Riott Squad members in Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan provided Ruby with some much-needed credibility along the way.

But it's clearly not enough as The Riott Squad is still an aimless group that has no real purpose on Raw, and that is a shame, as the women's division needs a faction like them, but WWE has no real intention of making them a threat to anyone. And on Raw this week that was never more evident, as Natalya faced off against Ruby Riott in a disappointing match, which saw Riott get pinned by the Hart Family member.

This was a waste of two talented stars that really should be involved in more important things in the women's division, and the inclusion of Lacey Evans in this segment was even more pointless. As when will WWE start making The Riott Squad look strong, when will Natalya have a story thread to get involved in and when will Evans stop making her brief cameos?

#3 The Tag Team Division Is Not In A Great Place

The Raw Tag Team division is one of the areas fans hoped WWE would improve in this new era, but after weeks of waiting for that change it seems like we are not anywhere near getting that, as WWE is still dishing out mediocre narratives and matches that only further sink the ship that is the Raw tag team division.

And while newer teams like Heavy Machinery and the NXT call ups of Alister Black and Ricochet are exciting in some shape or form, those teams don't solve the problems as they are not being booked correctly. And this week on Raw we witnessed first hand the uninspiring booking of the entire division, as Heavy Machinery, The Revival, Bobby Roode, and Chad Gable and the team of Black and Ricochet were being made the focal points of the show, but with very little fanfare.

On this week's episode of Raw WWE showed us that no matter how hard they try and book most of those teams as potential champions, some of them will never succeed in a WWE's tag team landscape. And you could say that mostly applies to Heavy Machinery who look like world beaters now, but in a few months when WWE lose interest in them they will be comedic jobbers.

While it's clear that Black and Ricochet's time in the division is just WWE keeping them busy until they have a plan in place for them higher on the card. Furthermore, The Revival being booked as incompetent Tag Team Champions, and the sudden turn of Bobby Roode and Chad Gable shows WWE don't really know what to do with the division anymore. But here's to hoping that things get better for the division after Wrestlemania.

#4 Universal Title Forgotten

The Universal Title is already the most hated World Title in WWE history, as not many fans still care for the red title anymore, and that is no one's fault, as WWE has cared more for unnecessary things during the last two years than making Raw's World Title an actual symbol of excellence.

One could say that Brock Lesnar's terrible title reign did not help matters, but here it is solely WWE's fault that this hate for the title has gotten to a point where WWE Universe want the company to replace the title with the old Wolrd Heavyweight Title. As no one is buying the prestige of the Universal Title anymore.

And on this week on Raw, the Universal Title, Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar were all absent, which raises a few questions, as this is potentially the biggest match at Wrestlemania, but it is the least prioritized?

How does that type of booking make any sense, as we are just a few weeks away from Wrestlemania, and instead of WWE giving us some sort of continuity in this programme, we get Seth Rollins involved in another narrative that has nothing to do with the Universal Title. WWE has really dropped the ball with this programme, as in the coming weeks we could expect a brawl, some heated promos and suplex's galore, but will it mean anything when it will clearly be rushed?

#5 Confusing Booking

The earlier point of how WWE is not doing the tag team division any favors perfectly seams itself into this one as well, as the potential era-defining Raw Tag Team Title match of Ricochet and Alister Black vs The Revival, was a match the fans were looking forward to from a long time. These four men are the greatest stars NXT has produced, so it was no shocker that this match would turn out to be a classic, so did we get a barn burner?

Well, no we didn't, and it was not the fault of competitors, but it was WWE's urgency to set up a triple threat feud for the titles, and that hurt the competitors a lot. As just as this match was getting interesting, Bobby Roode and Chad Gable came out to the ring to take out The Revival which drew a DQ and ended the match. This induced the ire of Black and Ricochet as they proceeded to make the Roode-Gable team pay for their actions.

This was such a lazy way to set up a three-way feud for the titles, as this booking sucked the life out of the match, and in turn, took some momentum away from these teams, which is never a good thing when the division is in the state it is in.

#6 Royal Rumbles Don't Matter

The Raw Women's Title feud between Charlotte Flair, Becky, and Ronda Rousey is the best-booked storyline in WWE today, as no other narrative has been given so much time and effort than in the entire WWE. But this isn't a narrative without its problems, as WWE has overbooked this storyline in some areas, but WWE did not make a bigger mistake than what they pulled on Raw this week.

Stephanie McMahon came down to the ring to address Ronda Rousey dropping her title in the middle of the ring last week and concluded that the show must go on without Ronda Rousey, which saw the boss' daughter book a Raw Women's Title match between Charlotte and Becky at Fastlane to determine the new champion.

But that didn't last as Ronda Rousey stormed to the ring and demanded her title back, and that was a decision McMahon didn't oppose, as she now changed Charlotte vs Becky from a title match to a number one contender match. But wait a minute, does something not make sense here?

Becky won the Royal Rumble which gives her the right to go to Wrestlemania, and now by WWE making her earn the same opportunity at Fastlane makes the entire Royal Rumble win redundant. It is clear that the WWE is doing this to make Becky a bigger babyface and Charlotte a bigger heel, but when it comes to the actual importance of winning a Royal Rumble, WWE has messed it up.

#7 A Weak Follow-Up

The one thing that made fans tune into Raw this week was the need to see what Batista does next, and in true WWE fashion they followed up the best ending to Raw in years with a flat reveal that Batista was not going to be on the show. Instead, we got a passionate promo from Triple H, that spoke about how the beatdown of Ric Flair affected him deeply, and that Batista is coward for hurting an old man in a fragile state.

The promo was a great showing of Triple H's ability on the mic, but this week WWE didn't give the fans what they wanted, in fact, they did more damage than actual good to this programme. At one point Triple H said that this was not a feud that will see him play a character, as he is truly out for Batista.

And to be honest that was a huge mistake from a man that is a mastermind in the industry, that one line might have just undermined everything that is wrestling. As Triple H breaking kayfabe adds nothing to this feud, we all know he is working us into believing that this is a shoot, but at the end of the day no matter how realistic WWE want to get, wrestling is scripted. And by Triple H breaking kayfabe in this manner, it is somewhat damaging to a small part of the product.

Now, this is just a minor complaint, as many wrestlers have exposed the business before on live TV, but the further we move away from breaking kayfabe or what's left of it the better. Furthermore, Batista not showing on Raw was a disappointment, as, after last week's cliff hanger, fans thought we would see a different heel driven by the need of respect, but we got the cookie cutter heel that stays at home because he doesn't like a particular city.

Batista and Triple H are two of the greatest all time, which is why fans expect a little more from them, and that could be why the follow up to that amazing angle last week was disappointing.

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Edited by Nnanna Mba