The Veterans Day addition of Monday Night Raw was an underwhelming show indeed. However, this needs to be put into perspective. People on the Internet are always so quick to criticize WWE for any and all bad events they put on. They forget that WWE has no off-season and shows go year-round; it’s inevitable that the quality of shows will fluctuate depending on the time of year. They cannot all be A’s; there will be a few D’s and even a couple F’s throughout the year.
My theory on the reason why this week’s episode of Raw was so underwhelming is that it was largely due to Dio Maddin being absent because of the attack from Brock Lesnar. Maddin has quietly established himself as a top-level commentator right up there with Corey Graves. In these matches, it’s not only the athletes that offer entertainment, it’s the commentators as well.
The show, which emanated from Manchester, England, started out with a pretty good promo and match afterward from Becky Lynch. Somehow the spell gradually got worse for about two hours until it was capped off with a segment from Lana which featured some terrible acting. I felt like I was watching a bad soap opera or Lifetime movie with my mom. Rusev only made the segment worse by playing dumb.
Becky Lynch is still fitting very authentically into her role as Raw Women’s Champion and it seems to be very much in the energetic state of doing whatever it takes to remain champion. It doesn’t matter much that she was unable to capture the Women’s Tag Team Championships with Charlotte Flair.
One way WWE could potentially help the underwhelming nature of shows such as this one is to establish the consistent presence of stars like Aleister Black rather than having him simply sit in the back and cut cryptic promos. He is a more than capable competitor and could provide significant aid in terms of TV ratings.
Randy Orton seems to be playing the role of a grizzled veteran, kind of like a Clint Eastwood type of character. Around the younger superstars who are trying to prove themselves, he seems to have the mentality of “you’d better not mess with me because I no longer have time for your crap.”
It can come across as being extremely insensitive in the moment, but one can sense that he really cares, kind of like Clint Eastwood’s demeanor. In the 2008 film Gran Torino.
Side Note: Humberto Carillo got the pin in the main event of Raw, which is telling. At 24 years old, he may be the best young prospect WWE has at the moment.
Speaking of Veterans Day, this is the time of year when we should most recognize people like Bobby Lashley and Lacey Evans for their service in the military. A special recognition goes from me personally to Lacey Evans – a former Marine – because I myself have a brother who is currently in the Marines.