As Is Customary, RAW Will Have MITB Fallout...

How’s It Going, Enthusiasts?

 

Well, Money in the Bank came and went and you know what…it was a solid show. I would say all the matches worked except for the Women’s MITB match, which is a little disappointing because they tend to be the least wrong with WWE generally speaking.

 

I would say there’s a lot to contribute to this. The Women are subject to a lot more social scrutiny whether anyone likes it or not. Did you hear how the crowd soured any time Natalya or Tamina had a shot? Oi, that’s what I’m talking about. The crowd definitely wanted someone “cute” and “fresh” to win which are standards women are always subjected to. These have a basis in grander social issues that we can’t expect WWE to remedy. Besides that, what may be the problem is that the Ladies may be friendly in real time so it’s hard for them to cut loose come show time. This is where a Vision becomes necessary. I don’t doubt the talent but everyone needs to work on their motivations as characters. There was no story told. A catfight for the MITB briefcase ensued and that’s why it defaulted to a fan favorite.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy Nikki Cross won it. She hasn’t been given a fair shake due to all sorts of things outside of her control. This is a start but take note of what didn’t work with that match. Alexa Bliss continues to prove her gimmick asks too much in terms of suspending disbelief as no one was buying hypnosis. I couldn’t believe Zelina Vega agreed to play along. I’m glad she’s a team player but this is more a matter of taste. The angle just doesn’t fly in real time. There’s no reason for Bliss to have “special powers”. She’s delusional and playing around with Witchcraft at best. We’ll say “Witchcraft” because the practice of Wicca does not necessarily mean that there’s dabbling in dark arts. Bliss is definitely messing with something nefarious. That’s about as far as we can go. If anything “spooky” happens it’s because she messed around and let something in. If anyone thought this through, that could have allowed for Finn Balor to re-debut on RAW as being the solution to messing with things that go bump in the night but we can see no one’s head is there on the Creative side. Not to say that’s the only option. That’s just an option that could have worked and they can’t even get that far. That’s what I’m really getting at. The WWE Creative Department is not creative. Fails in execution like this prove it. If there are to be any more releases, that’s the department that should get thoroughly gutted. They need to find people who are funny and people who get story structure and then have them just watch all the PPVs from 2020 and 2021 to get up to speed. If they have any talent, they’ll string something together.

 

Yet, that doesn’t mean WWE can’t put on a good show. We all know that they can. They have and they will it’s just consistency that they lack but always remember it’s not due to a lack of talent. Let’s be glad that there was only really one low point last night. As for the high points, I would have to say that the Men’s MITB match was a lot of fun but I have to give match of the night to Charlotte and Rhea Ripley.

 

What surprises me is how many people legit can’t stand Charlotte. I never hated her. I get what she’s doing and I think she has fun and does it well. I appreciated how she handled last night’s crowd the “Flair Way” by giving them the finger. Oftentimes, WWE fans aren’t the greatest. That’s kinda the caveat of fans returning. As much as they’re necessary, WWE does have a large amount of shitty ones. I find the “We Want Becky” chants quite rude because there are people out there trying to entertain and the crowd’s basically giving them the hook. Might as well start throwing old vegetables. Completely unnecessary. Take a bathroom break or hit up concessions if you’re gonna be an ass. Let them do their jobs! You know they’re all talented.

 

Circling back to the Men’s MITB, I’m glad that Big E won it. Gives him the chance everyone has been pushing for. Why not? What really surprised me was how much the crowd embraced Riddle. I didn’t see that coming. I don’t know if people just don’t know or what. I do know that he and Samantha Tavel have chosen to settle the matter of sexual assault and move on but it’s still hard to just let go. It’s real hard to implicitly condone what transpired, whatever it was. Yet, the majority appears to not care. They can have him. I’ll use his time for my bathroom breaks. He has yet to impress enough for me to overlook the skeletons in his closet. I’m all for repenting and forgiveness but I’m not sure this guy actually learned his lesson outside of make sure it all stays quiet. Just my opinion.

 

As for the Main Event, some people weren’t pleased but I appreciate it for what it was. Was it a satisfying conclusion? Yes, given that it was all set-up for John Cena’s return. What the Bloodline has to do in general is find ways to make being a heel faction interesting. They have to have more fun with being bad or rather, have more fun being delusional about being good. I’m fine with them sipping on their own Kool-Aid, they just have to ramp up the fact. The more out in space they are, the less we have to criticize their behavior and the more we can critique their performance. You see, these are the little things WWE tends not to get. The little nuances of keeping an audience’s attention. Wrestlers can do just about anything if it’s entertaining. If they can get you to laugh or keep you coming back for more, they’ve done their job. Let’s see if they can keep it simple so they can elaborate later.

 

That brings us to tonight’s RAW. John Cena is making it clear that he’s back…for the time being and he doesn’t like how Roman Reigns is strutting around, demanding people to acknowledge him. Word is that Cena lets Reigns know where he can put it this evening. We also have at the rest of the fallout as Nikki Cross enjoys her MITB win. Bobby Lashley will keep the title scene moving by issuing an open challenge and we may get an update on Drew McIntyre. Last we saw him, Jinder Mahal had taken him hostage. That was actually more creativity than I anticipated. I get the feeling Creative didn’t come up with that one. I wouldn’t get too comfortable if I were them. Not until solid shows become the norm. So, there you have it. Funny tweets and Likes get retweeted. Let’s see if RAW keeps missing the point.

  

See You in a Bit,

-Nicole Alexis (^_~)