This week’s episode of RAW was centred almost entirely on the fallout from what very well might have been the worst PPV since WrestleMania 32, Fastlane 2017. WWE tried its best to make this show a must-see, but when it came to the actual writing, they failed horribly.
The matches this week were forgettable and the promos were average at best. The only thing that saved this show from being completely irrelevant was the closing segment involving, you guessed it, the Undertaker.
Because the Undertaker is the only WWE gimmick that people still respect. Undertaker could do the most despicable thing possible and the audience would still cheer him. That’s why he closed this show, and why he’s still wrestling despite his body being held together by dark magic and the dreams of wrestling fans everywhere.
This episode of RAW was further proof that WWE is putting the focus of this year’s WrestleMania onto part-timers and 50-year-olds (worse, Goldberg fits into both of those categories, while also holding RAW’s most important title). But that isn’t the only reason this episode of RAW was average.
So without further ado, let the rant begin.
The opening segment between Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho was okay, but still incredibly unrealistic. WWE was trying to make Goldberg’s title win the night before seem like something incredible and unprecedented. It didn’t help that Kevin Owens came out acting like his normal self as if he had only lost an insignificant singles match.
If I were Kevin Owens, a hard-working world Champion who had to carry RAW on my shoulders every week, and I just got punked by a 50-year-old man who hadn’t wrestled a full match in over a decade due to outside shenanigans, I’d be fuming. I’d want immediate vengeance against the man that screwed me over and embarrassed me.
If I saw that man in front of me, as a wrestler I’d take him out and try and beat him to a pulp. At least that way it would make my feud with this man believable and realistic.
But no, Owens not only walked out as calm as ever, but he cut an articulate promo as if the loss had no meaning to him. Stuff like this is why fans don’t care about WWE’s storylines, or at the very least, are so detached from them.
The wrestlers don’t care about their own rivalries. If Owens truly cared about what had happened, he’d have skipped the promo and tried to end Chris Jericho’s career (he had, after all, done far worse to Sami Zayn who had done far less to Kevin Owens). But since Owens doesn’t care enough to sell this loss as something major, why should the fans care at all?
WWE’s writers need to re-evaluate how they present wrestlers. I get that they’re supposed to be ‘Superstars’ with an emphasis on the ‘super’ part, but that does not mean they should be presented as though they lack genuine human emotions in certain circumstances.
Wrestlers are essentially high-risk actors, but they still have a story to tell, and doing so requires emotions to be conveyed. That cannot be done when Kevin Owens doesn’t go absolutely bonkers over a monumental humiliation.
When the confrontation did reach some level of physicality, it led to interference from Samoa Joe and then Sami Zayn. This was one of those opportunities where a Teddy Long would’ve been perfect.
A tag team main event with Sami Zayn & Chris Jericho challenging Samoa Joe & Kevin Owens would’ve been a money match. Instead, there were two otherwise average singles match on a show that centred heavily on short, insignificant matches, and too much talking.
I won’t say anything about Sami Zayn that hasn’t already been said.
Either give the man a worthwhile storyline or send him to SmackDown. He’s becoming a mid card jobber in the same vein as Dolph Ziggler was. Worse, there isn’t even much of a story there, where Zayn might want to try and get just a little bit closer to winning with every loss so that fans have something to hold on to.
Instead, Zayn loses for several weeks in a row and then gets one ‘high-profile win’, to keep himself on the treadmill. The poor guy has earned a better spot than this.
The next match we got was the Cruiserweight Championship match. If this match proved anything, it’s that the Great Muta was right: American fans are indeed ‘match-producers’, and not just idle viewers.
They were far louder for this match than arguably any TV Cruiserweight division match on RAW before it. That built upon the in-ring action that was taking place, making this a much better match.
The audience showed their approval of what they were seeing, which led to the TV audience interpreting this as a better match. Thank you, Chicago, for once again being such a great wrestling crowd.
I’m also glad Austin Aries now has a major feud going forward against Neville. These are two men that, if given enough time, could pull off a great Cruiserweight match and possibly steal the show. Hopefully, they’ll be given such an opportunity at WrestleMania.
Goldberg, Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman did what they could to sell the upcoming Universal Championship match at WrestleMania. It was nice to see Lesnar finally get some comeuppance against Goldberg, but it’s going to be difficult for these men to really have a good showing at ‘Mania.
WrestleMania is the show that attracts the largest and most diverse audience of the year.
Many of these people will have spent countless thousands of dollars on flights, hotels and tickets, and will want to see a competitive match. If Fastlane’s match or tonight’s promo were indications of what’ll happen at WrestleMania, WWE risks annoying the audience just as much or worse than at last year’s event.
People don’t want to travel for WrestleMania only to get trolled. But this is what Vince McMahon is risking, so hopefully he stacks the rest of the card with matches fans want to see to counterbalance the matches he wants to take place.
The next three matches were all completely insignificant and deflated the audience.
The tag team match ended in disqualification due to outside interference (because, of course it did), Akira Tozawa was back to wrestling in two-minute nothing matches, and the New Day crushed the wrestling travel agents in the same amount of time.
If someone out there knows the logic behind booking a two minute match that cannot tell a story, or making several matches end in disqualification due to outside interference, please explain these to me.
I would very much like to know what logic (if any) goes into this 50/50 back-and-forth booking between two opposing sides.
There was yet another talking segment that involved Mick Foley as the bumbling commissioner arguing with his boss. Because this is definitely what RAW fans want to see. Honestly are the writers’ heads so thick that they really think fans care about authority figures this much?
The truth is, no, fans don’t care about who is in power. We want wrestling matches and athleticism. If I wanted to watch political intrigue and backstabbing (both metaphorical and literal), I’d go watch Game of Thrones.
Speaking of intrigue, it’s sad that out of all three women’s wrestlers in the ring, Charlotte’s promo was the most honest and believable. Yes, Charlotte was robbed of the title at Fastlane, in a match that featured a horribly messed-up ending.
Yet Foley was showing obvious favouritism towards Bayley and Sasha, and wasn’t even trying to hide it (also, when did Charlotte lose her right to a rematch? When was that ever explained?). It’s with nonsense like this that RAW’s perpetual dependence on the authority figures continues.
Foley defies logic to be the good guy, while Stephanie flip flops to stay relevant. These two are both perfect definitions of on-screen characters that have overstayed their welcome, and really need to go.
Bayley and Sasha had an average match, by their standards. For some reason, the crowd wasn’t into it like they were for the earlier matches (I blame the garbage promo that took place right before this match started), and as usual, the finish featured some tiny bit of controversy, because nobody can win clean except Roman Reigns.
I also feel sorry for Nia Jax coming out of this. There were rumours that she was supposed to be part of a Fatal-4-Way at WrestleMania for the title, but it appears those plans have changed, as she didn’t even appear on RAW.
Of course, it’s hard for anyone to take her seriously when, a) her peers are far superior wrestlers that have put on several good-to-great matches in the past, and b) she has been booked in 30-second squash matches that no one cared about but hasn’t improved much since debuting on RAW.
More to the point, shouldn’t Jax have attacked Sasha for ruining her win streak as well? What was stopping Nia Jax from attacking Sasha, if not at Fastlane than on this episode of RAW? It’s thanks to Sasha that Nia won’t be on the ‘Mania card, thus costing her a huge payday.
If I were her I’d want at least a chance at revenge or a final opportunity to prove myself worthy, but apparently, WWE can’t even follow up on simple storylines like that.
The next match was between Samoa Joe and Chris Jericho, which had an unusual ending.
Instead of letting Joe, the newcomer who needs to be booked as strongly as possible in such a short time period, win decisively and stand tall, Jericho hit his finisher out of nowhere after the match had ended, ruining some of the mystique the Coquina Clutch had following Joe’s main roster debut.
It seems like WWE’s writers panicked when they realised these two guys were fighting and decided neither would go over entirely. These sort of ‘ambiguous’ segments where one wrestler wins the match, only for the other guy to get an advantage immediately afterwards prevents either one from looking strong.
It just screams of nonsensical booking and is an example of 50/50 booking that doesn’t benefit anyone.
The show closed with Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns and the Undertaker. In a completely unsurprising turn of events, Reigns was booed monstrously when he was in the ring with ‘Taker, who answered Reigns’ disrespect with a thunderous Chokeslam that led to the audience roaring in approval.
Unless Vince’s secret plan is to finally acquiesce to the fans’ desires and turn Reigns heel, he is risking career suicide in a match against the Undertaker. ‘Taker will be cheered more loudly, and a babyface win for Reigns would possibly spell outright fan revolt.
Of course, I say ‘possibly’ because there’s a solid segment of the WWE audience that’ll always go back to WWE no matter what happens, and it appears to be that Vince is aware of this demographic. Still, that doesn’t make trolling your audience a savvy business plan.
Suffice to say, RAW this week was better than the week before and definitely better than Fastlane, but it wasn’t without its flaws. The writing is still subpar at best, with little making sense from a logical perspective.
Finally, as a closing remark, we are, going to be exposed to even more ‘return’ videos, with Emma scheduled to be ‘retuning soon’. As for when, my money’s on 2050.
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