The whole format of Monday Night Raw between 8:30 and 10:30 the past number of weeks has felt messy and disorganized to say the least. It feels like the show has been thrown together without proper planning, and this is apparently true from what I have read. Even last week, the show was still having the script written as the show went on the air. It is chaotic primarily because it’s jumping around to many different storylines with many different superstars at a rapid pace. Even so, there has to be a way to make it feel more cohesive.
It’s a little unfortunate to see the storylines surrounding the WWE Championship and the Universal Championship taking up such a significant amount of time in the show. This is nothing against Kofi Kingston or Seth Rollins, or Brock Lesnar for that matter, it’s just that if they take up this much time in the show every week, it takes away time that could be given to up-and-comers like Mojo Rawley for example.
With that being said, Dolph Ziggler is doing a fantastic job with the limited material he was given for what appears to be a very short-term storyline between he and Kofi Kingston seemingly until right after Super Showdown, since he was merely a replacement for Kevin Owens to challenge Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship. How great of an idea was Brock Lesnar’s Beast Box? This is exactly what I’m talking about in that the WWE creative team seems to be putting all their creative energy into the primary title feuds as opposed to spreading it out and sprinkling some of their creative juice onto each storyline.
Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn put together a great match, one in which I thought it may be very possible for Brock Lesnar to cash in his Money in the Bank contract with Seth Rollins injuring his knee. The electric chair segment with Corey Graves and Sami Zayn couldn’t have been more brilliantly executed with Zayn acting irritated by every question from each member of the WWE universe and Corey Graves trying to maintain some sort of remote level of professionalism.
The history of Evolution at this point is simply tiring. I’m talking of course about the buildup to the Triple H vs. Randy Orton match at Super Showdown. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia habitually asks for matches at their events that attend to rekindle old flames from the past. Most younger fans don’t even remember Evolution. Drew McIntyre has also replaced Elias as Shane McMahon’ and enforcer, as if it really matters.
Ricochet and Cesaro were simply unreal again. We all need to keep our fingers crossed that Cesaro’s neck is all right because he is a special talent. While he is not especially athletic, he does all the little things exceptionally well. It is extremely unfortunate that Rey Mysterio will be forced to relinquish his United States Championship, and it looks like Samoa Joe will look to regain it ASAP.
As of right this moment, Baron Corbin will be getting a Universal Championship match at Super Showdown. I imagine WWE will go through with this and after the Rollins-Corbin match, Lesnar could cash in and become Universal Champion, because he is advertised to make an appearance at the event as he did last year. Corbin also helped Lesnar win the Universal Title in November at Crown Jewel by hitting Braun Strowman with the belt, so there is history between the two.
Side Note: It’s also encouraging to see Sami Zayn and WWE publicly acknowledge competition in the form of AEW, because their Double or Nothing event from this past weekend was wildly successful. Dean Ambrose, or Jon Moxley, has officially signed up with AEW, along with many other former WWE talents like Chris Jericho. AEW may prove to be a strong competitor to WWE once their TV deal with TNT begins in October of this year. It’s also very encouraging to see Lance Anoa’i, Roman Reigns’ cousin, making his television debut and carrying on the family legacy. Hopefully, we will all see Lance at some point in the future.