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Last night's WWE Raw seemed like it put it in the effort, but it fell flat compared to last week. The nasty habits of returning to meaningless angles and repetitive matches returned and there wasn't a whole lot to bite this week. Crown Jewel is still scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia, despite the controversy, and we saw the build to that show continue last night, along with lesser attention paid to Evolution for October 28th.
Did the show last night do a good job of building excitement to those two pay per views, though? In my opinion, the answer was no. Raw still has a lot of work to do and its bad habits continually pull it downward. Nevertheless, here were the people that took the most and least out of last night's episode.
Winner: Seth Rollins
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Seth Rollins qualified for the World Cup at Crown Jewel last night. This came at the expense of Drew McIntyre, who was nevertheless protected in a countout loss. This was a good, if not great match, and it's difficult to argue that Seth Rollins deserves a place in the World Cup tournament after all the good work he's done this year. For much of the year, he was the sole highlight of Monday Night Raw.
On the other hand, Drew McIntyre could have used the World Cup spotlight as well, especially compared to some of the part time figures who are already scheduled to take part in the tournament. Indeed, Drew McIntyre could have used a victory in the tournament to propel his career to greater heights. There are few better positioned for a breakout moment than he is right now.
Of the figures involved in the World Cup tournament right now, Seth Rollins should be the one that wins the thing.
Losers: The Raw women's division
Tamina made her return last night. Apparently, she was traded to Raw. It's all whatever, because this was definitely just there to fill time. We heard the announcement that there would be a battle royal at Evolution, which threw speculation about women's tag team titles into a tailspin. It didn't do the already struggling pay per view any favors.
It's an uncreative way to fill time and get people on the card as opposed to doing anything important and again makes Evolution feel like an afterthought compared to Crown Jewel (where, as of now, the real money still is).
Hopefully, this is a battle royal that will have stakes, as compared to the battle royal at WrestleMania. The winner should receive the next title shot on her brand. Somehow, though, I don't think that will be the case. WWE is hardly known for putting in effort beyond a few angles.
Loser: Ronda Rousey
Why does WWE insist on having people who aren't good speakers do long promos? Ronda Rousey called the Bella twins talentless people who took advantage of John Cena and Daniel Bryan, but it just felt inauthentic, given that it parroted what many fans were already saying, and Ronda Rousey isn't a charismatic speaker.
This did zero to build interest in the prospective main event of Evolution. Indeed, all it did was act as a good side by side display to how inferior this angle is compared to its counterpart on SmackDown. Charlotte and Becky should main event the show with their last woman standing match. This should not.
Nevertheless, it probably will, and the pay per view, already on weak foundations, is going to suffer as a result. Hopefully the Bella twins will be gone very soon and the Raw women's division can begin recovering from the damage they've done.
Winners: Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler
Dean Ambrose lost to Dolph Ziggler in a World Cup qualifying match, but the way in which he lost made all the difference. His loss came because of Seth Rollins, which does a good job of elevating tension between Ambrose and his Shield brothers. The Shield now has a reason to exist beyond simply keeping the heat off Roman Reigns and that continues to be the most important aspect of Raw, even if it has made the Universal Championship still feel like an afterthought.
I look forward to seeing what Dean Ambrose does next. It's probably still too soon to break up the Shield, but it should come before the end of the year. His victory in the six man tag team match later that night showed us that WWE is still in push/pull mode with the Shield, which is a nice touch.
Meanwhile, Dolph Ziggler will get to compete in the World Cup. He won't win, but it will be a nice spotlight for him on what has been a surprising year after his dreadful Royal Rumble return in January, which seems to be an eternity ago.
Loser: Bobby Lashley
A generic squash match wasn't exactly the best way to show off Bobby Lashley after his heel turn last week. We've seen enough of Bobby Lashley to not need to see this kind of a match. Instead, Lashley should have gone after a popular star on the undercard like Finn Balor.
Roman Reigns is going to need to defend his title after Crown Jewel, and the Universal Championship picture desperately needs some new blood in it (for the past 18 months, only Reigns, Strowman, and Lesnar have been consistent presences). Lashley immediately beginning a feud with Balor would have been the best use of last night instead of giving us yet another filler match.
Raw has serious issues when it comes to making angles which aren't the top few feel like they actually matter. Hopefully Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush can start picking the act up next week.
