6 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (4 Sept - Results & Review)
Solid main event offset by haphazard booking, impromptu matches and Miz yelling at an empty chair.
Can one good main event save an otherwise dismal episode of Monday Night Raw?
In a word: No.
Raw was sold an Intercontinental Championship match that carried huge implications: If Gunther won, he would be assured of capturing the record for the longest IC title reign. But if Chad Gable upset him, he would be the biggest spoiler in modern WWE history. Their previous encounters had been excellent, so there was no reason to think they couldn’t deliver a classic.
But WWE managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory Monday night, compressing the match and doing very little to build a compelling show leading up to the main event. Impromptu matches dominated the show, and the first major misstep in the Seth Rollins/Shinsuke Nakamura feud really dragged the episode down. Miz interrogating an empty chair that he said was John Cena wasn’t the medicine to cure the program’s woes.
As usual, Raw wasn’t entirely bad. The Judgment Day and Jey Uso had strong showings, both independently and in their interaction backstage. Both stories are intriguing and could produce some interesting results.
Those positives and a good main event weren’t enough to make this must-see television though. Watching the IC title match and then catching the YouTube clips for the rest probably is more than sufficient.
Let’s get to it…