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Last night's episode of RAW was, to put it kindly, a dumpster fire. Bad booking was rife throughout a poorly-constructed episode and it should be embarrassing for a supposedly premier organization to put on a show like this. WWE wasn't even trying. The relatively dead crowd didn't help matters.
Seth Rollins and Sheamus had a great match, but it's hard to see how it was anything more than a 50/50 holding pattern. The same holding pattern applies to the relatively disappointing encounters between Roman Reigns and Cesaro and then Samoa Joe and Dean Ambrose. Braun Strowman and Kane fell into much the same pattern, and though they'll both likely advance to face Brock Lesnar, it's hard to be enthusiastic about such a match.
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Not many people walked away looking good from last night's butchery, which harmed many other superstars.
Gained momentum: Cedric Alexander
After Rich Swann's personal problems, I had a feeling that Cedric Alexander would be his replacement. Lazy booking of yet another fatal 4 way aside, the match was one of the better things on RAW and after a long bout, Cedric Alexander walked away with the victory.
Because of his babyface alignment, he'll likely be the favourite to beat Drew Gulak next week and go up against the heel champion, Enzo Amore.
Gained momentum: Asuka
This is only relatively speaking, as Asuka came out with the best night compared to her peers. After her scheduled match with Alicia Fox was interrupted by Absolution, Paige tried to dominate the space, which the Empress of Tomorrow refused to yield.
More than any other woman before her, Asuka fought Absolution off, downing Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville and threatening to break Paige's arm in her flying armbar. The numbers game would eventually catch up to her, but reinforcements from the women's division arrived in the nick of time.
It's too soon for Asuka and Absolution to begin a proper rivalry (it still seems to be the endgame), so WWE got out of the booking mess as best they could. Honestly, nothing should have happened between the two at all this week.
Asuka was also very over with the dead crowd, which was cool to see.
Lost momentum: The RAW women's division
Sure, they teamed up against Absolution last night, but didn't acquit themselves well in an earlier match. The haphazard booking last night made them all feel like an afterthought, including the champion, Alexa Bliss. It was a deus ex machina to save Asuka from a beating in a spot she should never have been in, to begin with.
One wonders what exactly is happening with Alexa Bliss and her championship. Is Paige challenging soon or not? This hasn't been good for the prestige of the RAW Women's Championship.
Lost momentum: Absolution
Sure, they won the tag team match and threatened Asuka, but last night didn't go swimmingly for Absolution either.
They retreated later that night, but far more importantly, the internal weakness of the stable was badly exposed when Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville both bombed on the mic in a pre-match promo. Mandy Rose further exposed her weaknesses in the ring when she teamed with Paige. While Sonya Deville (who wasn't competing) is passable in the ring, it was very obvious that Mandy Rose isn't ready for the main roster. Perhaps it could come down to being a bad night, but that's unlikely.
Paige has been great, but when Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville are anything other than her lackeys, they are exposed. Last night only served to dent the enthusiasm behind the Absolution story.
If WWE knows what's good for them, they'll keep Sonya Deville and especially Mandy Rose as sheltered behind Paige as possible, otherwise, the Absolution angle could well suffocate.
Lost momentum: Matt Hardy
WWE had a hot as hell angle last week when Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt took each other on in duelling promos. It trended on YouTube for days afterwards. People were excited.
So what did WWE do? It squandered all that momentum by doing exactly the same thing this week, only more ridiculous. The constant glass shattering "WOKEN" graphics only made it worse.
The proof is in the pudding. Last week at this time (roughly 12 hours after the show), the Woken Matt segment had the greater part of a million views on YouTube. This week, it's at less than 400,000 (as of the time of this writing).
The Woken Matt stuff always bordered on the line between inexplicably awesome and unbelievably stupid, and while Bray Wyatt was the natural first feud for the gimmick, I warned last week that it could easily drag it down into the latter, especially given Wyatt's history.
This week we saw unbelievably stupid. Here's hoping WWE actually starts to put effort in next week.
Lost momentum: Finn Balor
The conscious downgrading of Finn Balor continues.
In a go-nowhere mini-feud with The Miztourage, Finn Balor had a competitive match with the lowly Curtis Axel, which was notable only for the shenanigans with the foam neck brace Axel's been wearing since Braun Strowman powerslammed him through the announce table on Halloween Eve.
At this rate, Finn Balor might win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal in New Orleans. Maybe.
Lost momentum: Nia Jax
Though she emerged from obscurity to assist in repelling Absolution, Nia Jax's highlight last night was the continuance of her budding romance with Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore.
We all know the history of monsters turning into comedy characters. It's all downhill for them after that. Nia Jax looks well on her way to going down that road.
Lost momentum: Jason Jordan
Jason Jordan's slow-burn heel turn looks to be continuing, but what exactly was he doing last night?
Obsessed with Samoa Joe, he stalked the ringside area as the match went on with Dean Ambrose. His presence was an unwelcome element that ruined a first-time ever encounter between the Destroyer and the Lunatic Fringe.
He got into it with Dean, which furthered the descent into the dark side, but there was really no reason for him to be out there. It was more confusing than helpful.
Lost momentum: Braun Strowman
Leave it to WWE to throw a stupid, unwanted swerve by first making a match that few were excited about a #1 contender's match, and then end that match in a count out.
This likely means that both men will face Brock Lesnar in a triple threat match neither has a chance of winning. The destructive holding pattern between Braun Strowman and Kane, one of this year's worst feuds, will continue, with the added ceiling that Brock Lesnar represents to the mix. We all know what happened the last time Braun Strowman encountered Brock Lesnar. Add the ice-cold Kane to the mix and the angle gets that much more "meh."
Though this multi-man match has shades of the great SummerSlam clash that the two of them starred in, the angle just isn't the hot act that the SummerSlam build was. Kane will likely eat the pin, but as Braun won't win the title, he could be doing more productive things.
Here's hoping the car crash is good enough to paper over the internal weaknesses.
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