I've had a day to basically collect my thoughts about what was a CHORE of a show to sit through last night. Now that I've had some time between that bad show and writing a review, here are the 3 major wrongs that the show had AND the 1 good decision I felt WWE made for the Raw Brand.
The One Right
- Alexa Bliss as a Women's Division GM- I know that the last thing that Raw needs is another heel authority figure. That seems to be such an overdone trope for WWE to use on its flagship show. But given the real-life concerns regarding Alexa Bliss's health with a string of concussions, this is the best role for her at this point. She can take an extended period of time outside of the ring and still contribute to the TV show for however long she needs to heal up. (Insert joke about the heel needing to "heal" up.) Alexa is one of the top attractions for the women's division. So, keeping her on TV should be a priority. I'm not asking for 25 minute promos or anything from her, but she should be on TV a few moments at a time. And that's more than I can say for ....
3 Top Problems with Raw
1) Baron Corbin OVEREXPOSURE- I wrote last week about how much I hated that WWE went to the heel stable well once again. And Good God Almighty did this company triple down on this tired freaking storyline. Having him on TV at the beginning of the show for 25 minutes to again continue this tired "heel authority figure" abuses their power storyline was bad enough. But again, we have to sit through another 20 minutes of this lame storyline in the main event. To make matters worse, we had to watch Baron Corbin actually wrestle in the main event of Raw. Overexposure is a dangerous thing for the most over act. But for the charismatic black hole that is Baron Corbin, that's just asking for problems. Cut the last match off (and repeating what you already did at the beginning of the show), and you have a bit less overexposure. Plus, did we really NEED to see Corbin wrestle Balor and beat him down again? I feel bad for Finn. I mean, Finn Jobber might as well be Finn's name at this point. And that was without even having Lashley and Drew backing up Corbin on TV. And all this bleeds into #2
2) REPEAT, RINSE, REPEAT, RINSE, AND REPEAT- Was I watching Raw's lamest hits last night? Michael Cole might as well just opened the show with a warning: "Do you like seeing Elias vs. Bobby Lashley? Do you like seeing heel authority figures abuse their power and bemean their roster? Well, Stephanie won't be here. But we've got "The Man That Charisma Forgot" Baron Corbin! Do you like seeing Lucha House Party continue the Lucha Dragons Mexican stereotypes? (I half expected WWE to bring out WCW's Oklahoma to yell "Piñata! Piñata! Piñata!" just to drive it home and got that extra step of insensitivity.) Do you like seeing Finn Balor face Baron Corbin for the 45th time in the last 5 months? If you do, well, I've got a gift for you: The 1,456th match between Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler!!!! You will chant "This is Awesome!" as they do the same moves you've seen the last 7 months! We have 3 hours to fill, and Ziggler and Rollins are going to help take us to the promised land!!!!!!!"
Raw was just everything that is wrong about... Oh. I forgot the last wrong thing.
3) Toilet Humor- Yeah. They are beating a dead horse with Drake Maverick peeing on himself and now on Bobby Roode's robe in the toilet. The only thing that got flushed down the toilet in this match was AOP's credibility as they are now managed by a guy who pees on things, including himself. I was about to make a joke about Bobby Roode's career being flushed down as well, but that honestly happened the moment he got called up from NXT. And that's a shame because all 5 of these guys deserve better writing and more time to tell an actual in-ring story. Save the toilet humor for the Attitude Era. I didn't even like it when Eddie did the waste truck thing with Big Show or when DX dropped human waste on the McMahons and the Spirit Squad. It's an audience of one 70-some year old man who decides what we see. And I know we have to live with it. But it doesn't mean that we as viewing (and paying) audience members shouldn't speak out about what we don't like.
Overall, Monday Night Raw was so terrible and horrible that I ended up trying to find other things to do/watch while it was on. I can't enjoy Raws like this. Thumbs down and shame on whomever wrote this stuff.
And as much as this might sound self-promoting, I have to speak the facts: Yes. I could have written better than this garbage.
Until next time, take care of yourselves. Spread some awesomeness.
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