Best and Worst of Raw: 24th Oct 2016

We had few complaints with this week’s episode of Raw. Of course, as always, the show went on far too long; but WWE tried their best to pack up the three hours with quality content. And we cannot begrudge them for trying their best, because ‘trying’ is something WWE has been scared to do in the PG era.

Coming off the mammoth return of Goldberg to Raw, this week would not feature the man known as ‘The Myth’, in the show. How would Raw fare in the absence of a man who had helped raise WWE viewership by almost 15% last week? Let’s find out in our very own ‘list of Sportskeeda’.

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#1 Best: An actual running theme

Chris Jericho would search high and low, to find the list

It’s incredible how a performer like Chris Jericho makes even the silliest stories work. A depressed looking Y2J opened today’s show and claimed that his ‘list’ was missing. In the segment that followed, it was indicated by Rollins that Kevin Owens and even Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon were part of his list.

Chris Jericho’s search would lead him backstage, into comedic segments featuring Stephanie McMahon, Braun Strowman, Jinder Mahal, Titus O’Neil and The Shining Stars. As silly as this sounds, we applaud WWE’s attempt at storytelling, because this is something they’ve been afraid to do in the recent past.

With this ‘theme’ running through the show, it actually made the show appear more cohesive. The silliest storylines make sense if done well, in our opinion. If you disagree, well then...you just made the list!

#1 Worst: Ambrose was right...Lesnar is lazy!

A man who makes millions for jumping around

Remember the last time you were actually excited about a Paul Heyman promo?

Sure, he's brilliant at what he does, but sheesh, let’s have a storyline guys. With it seeming like Goldberg and Lesnar are going to alternate appearances until their Survivor Series encounter, we hope it’s not them cutting promos week after week.

That would get tiresome in a hurry. Please, let’s have them brawl like Taker and Lesnar did during their feud!

#2 Best: The crowd was awesome

The dual chants were deafening

Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota...take a bow! It is said that the crowd can make or break a show, and this crowd certainly made the show awesome.

Be it cheering for the babyfaces or booing the heels, chanting along with Enzo and Big Cass during their segment; or even getting the Goldberg-Suplex City chants going during the Brock Lesnar promo, this crowd was loud and their voices reverberated through our TV screens.

Can we have the same crowd every week, please?

#2 Worst: Eventual match was rushed

We’d have liked to see them go much longer

While the prelude to the actual triple threat main event built up beautifully, when it was time for the actual match; it felt as if the encounter got over prematurely.

This is because the show was already running late, and this just killed any opportunity for these three performers to go in and do their best. In the words of Linkin’ Park- ‘They tried so hard, and got so far, but in the end, it didn’t even matter’, as Rollins scored a very quick roll-up pinfall.

Oh well, there’s still the pay-per-view happening, this Sunday.

#3 Best: Curtis Axel, the babyface

He’s not a Social Outcast. He's the son of Curt Hennig.

When we switched on our TV sets, we did not expect to be praising Curtis Axel in this review. But not only did he get the crowd on his side, the son of Mr. Perfect and the son of IRS- Bo Dallas, put on quite a solid match.

The mid-card on Raw is getting a chance to shine after the brand split, and we must admit that we’re beginning to Bo-lieve now. We suppose, these guys will have a match continuing their feud on the pre-show at Hell in a Cell, come Sunday night.

#3 Worst: The Golden Strongest Man

If not for this segment, the main event would have gone longer

This new found alliance between The Golden Truth and Mark Henry is simply painful to watch. As fans of these superstars, it is embarassing to see them relegated so far down the card feuding with serial hugger Titus O’Neil and The Shining Stars.

These matches are what ‘Superstars’ and ‘Main Event’ are for.

#4 Best: The tag team match was solid

Get those belts off New Day already

Cesaro and Sheamus and The New Day were always going to have a pretty good match. But this match exceeded our expectations. We suppose it was our favourite match in today’s show by far. The fact that Cesaro and Sheamus won means that they’ll probably lose at the Pay-Per-View, so we guess the Demolition records will be broken! Yawn...

#4 Undecided: The women’s contract signing

We just remember a lot of crying

Mick Foley in tears. Sasha and Charlotte repeating the same thing over and over again.

A lot of ‘sweetheart’ thrown around. Yeah, this certainly wasn't bad. But this was far from good. But yeah, we agree with Mick Foley's concerns and beg them to not do anything stupid at the PPV and harm their health. Sasha Banks won’t look quite the same with only one ear.

PS: Charlotte has improved, and how, on the microphone. Total class!

IN CONCLUSION: This wasn’t a bad show, even if it wasn’t memorable. But Emmalina certainly is memorable.

<3

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