5 mistakes WWE made on Raw this week- 30 July 2018

Okay, to be honest, this week's edition of WWE Raw was not terrible by any means, but at the same time, it was not as exciting as it could have been. Therefore, with WWE doing a mediocre job on Monday night, there should not be any problems, right? Yeah for once we thought that would be the case, but the 'geniuses' behind the broadcast couldn't figure out the simple formula that makes wrestling watchable, which led to this week's episode falling flat in numerous places.

From countless missed opportunities to just plain lazy booking, WWE could have really redeemed themselves this week, but choose the same old usual booking path, which drives fans to watch Smackdown Live and NXT. And while WWE did get a few things right on Raw this week, the duration of those small victories is yet to be seen, and from what the WWE Universe can see right now, a lot was lacking from what could have been a remarkable night of action.

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#1 A throwaway night for the women's division

"Evolution is a mystery."

WWE has a problem with living in the glory days of the past, and on this week's Raw, that was clearly evident. The promo package for the All-Women's pay-per-view, Evolution, got more attention than anything the women did on the flagship show. While superstars like Sasha Banks, Bayley, Alica Fox, Natalya, Alexa Bliss and Ronda Rousey made their presences felt on the broadcast, nothing significant happened, nothing at all.

While most of you would say that Bayley putting her differences aside to team with Banks and Ronda Rousey making an appearance are all fairly important events, it actually isn't, as WWE has booked those scenarios plenty of times in the past. And that the problem here the creative team has no real interest in the progression of narratives in the women's division, as every week the same thing happens.

Either the Banks-Bayley saga sees them fight or they team up for no reason, while The Riott Squad loses more credibility than you would imagine and Ronda Rousey in the same position every week, which makes the fans question if this is evolution or stagnancy?

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And while some may salute WWE for trying, the truth is they are not trying hard enough, as they have the best women's roster they have ever had in decades, with superstars that have the charisma and the in-ring ability to steal the show every single night. However, WWE chooses to waste them by booking the same old tired ass tropes every single week.

#2 Lashley falls down the card

"I heard TNA is hiring," doesn't seem like a bad offer at this point.

It's a shame that Bobby Lashley chose to come back to WWE, as the man is being treated like a mid-card jobber that WWE can handle any way they want, and that is shocking, to say the least. Just a few weeks ago, many thought that Lashley would finally get his chance to step in the ring with the Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, that was a match that the entire WWE Universe wanted to see. But as per Vince McMahon's wishes, Roman Reigns takes that spot for the one-hundredth time, and what does Bobby Lashley do this week on Raw? He sings.

Yeah, you heard right people, WWE's amazing follow-up plan to get Lashley back into the main event scene was to have him sing, and even that, to sing his way down the card, as it feels as if at Summerslam Lashley will face the man he interrupted last night, Elias. Now Elias is a phenomenal performer that fits directly in the 'entertainment' category in WWE's policies, but pitting him against Lashley will derail his momentum along with Lashley's.

And you might be thinking, at least give this programme a chance, but the truth is, we can already see where this feud is going even before it officially kicked off, and spoiler alert, it's going nowhere. Even if WWE has no plans for Lashley, at the least book the man in a programme that would make better use of him, as the Raw Tag Team division could use his megastar presence or even the IC Title picture could be more intriguing by having him inserted into the fold. Anything would do, as WWE has essentially put the man back at square one, and that is never a good thing.

#3 AOP have officially fallen victim

Where is WWE going with this?

You may be thinking, fallen victim to what exactly? The answer is painfully simple, AOP has finally fallen victim to WWE's main roster booking, as the Authors of Pain have followed the same path as every other standout NXT performer that has 'progressed' to the main roster, they have lost their credibility too early. And while the fact of the matter is that The Authors of Pain are yet to lose in tag team action, Akam losing via roll up the worst way possible to lose your first singles match on the main roster, and that too, against Apollo Crews.

Now Apollo is a tremendous athlete, and it's nice to see WWE give a little bit of momentum to Titus Worldwide every once and a while, but sacrificing AOP's credibility in the process is a huge red flag. These men should be tearing the house down with The Revival in tag team classics, not participating in a rivalry with superstars WWE has no interest in pushing full time.

This was terrible booking from every angle, and the only thing the company can salvage from this loss is the possibility that it can fuel Akam and Razor to become more aggressive or force them to bring back Paul Ellering, as with him by their side they could once again become badass ass-kickers.

#4 Subpar booking for The Big Dog

If WWE is going to push the man, they could at least try and give a damn.

Roman Reigns opened up Raw this week to another mixed reaction, and he delivered another repetitive promo calling Brock Lesnar out, and Stephanie McMahon had cops eject him from the building by the end of the night, anything sound familiar? Yeah, you guessed it, that was the entirely same build WWE used for Reigns vs Lesnar at Wrestlemania 34, and for the love of God, why can't WWE do something different with this man?

Whether you like to admit it or not, Reigns is in a league of his own, and while WWE forced him into that area, they are really struggling to keep him standing upright in that position. Reigns is visibly trying to make this programme with Lesnar better than it has any right to be. But with WWE making him echo the same promo, relive the same suspensions and walk the same line they drew for him, it really is not doing him any favours.

And yeah, at the end of the night fans were chanting for Reigns to come out and kick Lesnar's ass, but WWE did not have that happen, as they want to build to that moment at Summerslam. Which makes sense in theory, but doesn't apply to Reigns. In reality, what WWE needed to do was make Reigns a badass world beater, and maybe that is the secret to finally getting him over as a face. His booking of a laid back anti-hero right now is not as vicious as it needs to be, and maybe WWE could have achieved that last night Raw, by having Reigns do exactly what the people wanted for once- beat the crap out of Lesnar.

#5 Strowman sits on his hands

Empty promises from "the monster among men."

This week on Raw Braun Strowman took on Jinder Mahal, and to be brutally honest with you it was an absolute train wreck of a match from a narrative standpoint. This match featured some of the worst booking decisions of the night, and while many critics out there really appreciated WWE trying to show the WWE Universe how easily Kevin Owens could win their match at Summerslam, by distracting Strowman, it was poorly executed by the company themselves.

As the core of this match revolved around KO stealing the Money in the Bank briefcase and distracting Strowman from his match, which caused Mahal to win via count out. Now from KO's perspective, what does he achieve from doing this? His conversation with Constable Corbin backstage earlier in the night echoed one statement, the Money in the Bank contract stays in Kevin's name only if Strowman loses it at Summerslam, so stealing the case from Strowman does what for KO?

And with regards to Strowman why did he even run after KO for his briefcase if the contract changed to Kevin's name only if loses it at Summerslam? As the case is just a prop, Strowman could cash in his contract even if KO stole the damn thing, nothing that makes sense, but that isn't even the worst of it. Strowman said months ago after winning the Money in the Bank contract, when Lesnar show up he is going to cash it in, so Lesnar showed up and where was Strowman? Yeah nowhere to be seen.

This was a terrible error by WWE as their focus should've been on Strowman cashing in on Lesnar this week, not on KO stealing the case. And they could have achieved that and kept the title on Lesnar at the same time, as Strowman should have run in to cash in on Lesnar, only for Owens to stop the bell from ringing. While that may sound annoying to you, it makes sense, as WWE could've made Strowman's storyline with Owens more personal and addressed his threat to Lesnar's reign at the same time. This would've made a whole lot of sense on a night where nothing really made any sense.

Did you spot any more mistakes made by WWE on Raw this week? Leave them in the comments below.