WWE RAW, 27th May: Flops of the show

This week’s RAW opened with a promo from the WWE champion, John Cena, as he made his way to the ring, and cut a promo about his match with Ryback at WWE Payback for the WWE championship. Cena proposed a Three Stages of Hell match, and Ryback agreed to the stipulations. Ryback had very little to say, and that was the best way to go. Ryback needs a mouth piece as he is very green on the mic, and WWE has to do something about it sooner rather than later.

5. Wade Barrett loses yet another TV match

When you’re the WWE Intercontinental Champion, you expect to win at least a few matches to hold up some credibility as the champion. The complete opposite happens in the WWE as champions always lose televised matches. Barrett has been on a losing streak, and this week was no different, as he lost to Fandango. Barrett will likely face Fandango and The Miz at WWE Payback for the WWE Intercontinental title, and one has to wonder if Barrett would retain the title, given his recent losing streak on Monday Night RAW.

4. Natalya loses in Calgary on her birthday

When you’re one of the best female wrestlers in the world working for the biggest promotion in the world, you’d expect to be on the show as the champion of the division, and get the chance to put on classics and prove your worth. In Natalya’s case, that hasn’t happened, and likely never will. Natalya celebrated her birthday this week, and was in Canada, but had to go through the similar process of being in a side-show tag team action and an in-ring debacle, as she faced the Bella twins, who clumsily botched their way to victory. I feel sad for Natalya, and hope things will change for her soon.

3. WWE Universe gets into a fight

One of the biggest talking points coming out of the show this week wasn’t something the WWE would have expected when the show started. During the main event show down between the WWE champion John Cena and Curtis Axel, a scuffle broke out in the fans section, as it was reported that some drunk fan started a fight, and a few others got involved. Before you knew it, all the fans turned their attention away from the match, and towards the fighting fans, and a loud ‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’ chant broke out. The WWE security and personnel had to get involved to stop the raunchy fans, and were then escorted out of the building in handcuffs. The WWE might not be thrilled by this, as there were a lot of younger fans in the audience, who had to witness the fight. This is the first time such an instance happened in the WWE in a long time, and one hopes such a thing doesn’t happen again anytime soon.

2. No World heavyweight champion on RAW

Although this is unavoidable, it’s pretty lousy if your champion isn’t present on the show. Not so long ago, the WWE champion, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson wasn’t present on many episodes of Monday Night RAW due to his Hollywood obligations, and now, the World Heavyweight champion, Dolph Ziggler hasn’t been medically cleared yet to participate on the show. Although Ziggler isn’t cleared to compete, one would expect him to be present, and cut a promo at least, so that the whole Ziggler-ADR-Swagger feud doesn’t get forgotten. Also, there are rumours about a Big E face turn, and if that happens, then the whole reason for bringing Big E on to the main roster wouldn’t make much sense.

1. Ending to Monday Night RAW

This week’s episode of RAW had its highs and lows, and when you’re closing a show, you’d want to end it on a strong note. This week’s episode had a decent script, and the ending to the show would have been Ryback attacking Cena and possibly ending the show standing tall once again over the fallen WWE champion. But in the end, it was a weak ending to an otherwise strong show, as the show faded away with Axel celebrating inside the ring, while Cena no-sold an attack by Ryback. The Cena-Ryback feud has turned off some fans already, so it will be interesting to see which route the WWE takes from now.