I’d previously written about how much WWE programming has improved over the past month, but after attending Raw in my hometown of Chicago (well, just outside of it) I’d say a bit of the momentum was lost. I’m not a prisoner of the moment, so I’m not going to overreact like some members of the WWE Universe and toss out the quality content of the past month.
However, it’s safe to say the WWE doesn’t need to deliver any more shows like this anytime soon, especially on the Road to WrestleMania 35–and especially in a hardcore wrestling city like Chicago. With that said, there were some silver linings to this cloudy three hours, but let’s start with the slip-ups.
All Wrong
- Sleepy Matches
I’ve never been to a pay-per-view, Raw or Smackdown show at the Allstate Arena and felt myself getting sleepy during multiple matches. That happened on at least two occasions Monday.
The Kurt Angle-Chad Gable match was so slow that it was difficult to watch. The crowd was awkwardly quiet through most of it, and dare I say, less-than entertained. Another particularly dead spot was the Ricochet-Jinder Mahal match. I understand booking Ricochet in a singles match, but this one felt odd and misplaced.
- The Return of Meaningless Angles
What is the deal with wasting Elias in a meaningless feud with No Way Jose, and using an episode of A Moment of Bliss to continue the non-sensical angle is even more perplexing? Over the past month, we’d seen much less of this kind of filler.
- Ill-Advised Booking
I mentioned the Angle-Gable match, but not the result. I know Angle is on his farewell tour, and there is a certain amount of respect being shown to the Hall-of-Famer leading up to WrestleMania 35. However, it makes no sense to have Angle go over against young, talented and underutilized guys like Apollo Crews and Gable. I don’t want to see Angle clash with Baron Corbin at WrestleMania any more than anyone else, but I’d rather see that before I watched old-man Kurt bury another young gun.
Silver Linings
- McIntyre Is a Stud
In case you didn’t know before the last two episodes of Raw, Drew McIntyre is an absolute monster. He decimated Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns last week, and on Monday, he delivered two killer promos, had a solid main-event match with Seth Rollins–that the Scottish Psychopath won with the help of a distraction from Brock Lesnar.
McIntyre challenged Roman Reigns to a match at WrestleMania 35 that could be an epic precursor to a run at the Universal Championship. Finally, McIntyre is being booked properly.
- Rousey’s Heel Turn and Character Evolution is Excellent
The WWE did what I said it needed to do by turning Rousey heel, and boy they haven’t held back. Rousey is in her element as a nasty character who could care less about what fans think, and she’s ruthless when she delivers punishment to foes. On Monday, Dana Brooke was again sacrificed on her mission to find legitimacy.
I literally counted down from 20 seconds to zero because I knew the squash match was on the way. It was still a satisfying rout and it got even better when Rousey’s real-life husband and UFC veteran Travis Browne got into the act. He and Rousey both punched “security” guards before the 6’7″ Browne lifted his wife over the guard rail and the couple left the arena. Their defiance fits and it’s much easier with the current fan dynamic.
