Tim Kail's Wrestling Journal, 3/21/25

Dominik Mysterio

I'm starting to feel the burn of reviewing RAW every week.

Now, when I get home from work on Tuesday I don't immediately start writing. I fire up the XBox Series S and play Starfield. And that's all I want to do - play Starfield and watch Severance with my wife. 

As I was writing this week's review I realized something fairly substantial (and worrying). I don't actually enjoy watching RAW. I find so much of it grating - the advertisements, the backstage segments, the scripted promos. There's usually one good thing each week, but that's not enough to justify giving two and a half hours of my life to something. As far as improvements to the show, I think they've gone as far as they're willing to go (better editing, interesting camera angles, a more structured start to each episode). Backstage segments clearly aren't going anywhere. No amount of criticizing them, no matter how right I am, is going to change that. The ensemble cast of characters fluctuates wildly in terms of quality. On one hand we have CM Punk and Roman Reigns and on the other we have Dominik Mysterio and The Creed Brothers. The interviews, no matter where they happen in the arena, are terribly performed and terribly written. I wince through them, wondering what in the blue hell I'm even watching.

One isn't supposed to have an existential crisis when they watch wrestling but I do...consistently. So much of it is bad television - that's me taking my more thoughtful, analytical helmet off and simply smacking my skull against the concrete wall of RAW's beige, prescriptive wrestling program. Sometimes, I even feel dumber for watching it and giving it an earnest, in-depth review. There are times I'm not sure it deserves that kind of analysis because it's just so uninspired.

It's certainly better than when Vince McMahon was in charge, but that's a ridiculously low bar to clear.

In writing this, I feel some of you pulling away. I even think there's some readers who might not even know what I'm talking about. For them RAW has been "pretty good lately". When you're indoctrinated into the cult of wrestling, when you've been groomed on WWE's patterns for decades, you lose sight of what quality actually looks and sounds like. Your mechanism for interpreting television is constructed by WWE and so if they just keep giving you the same thing, and if it's marginally better than it was in 2005, you think it's great. But it's not great, even with Paul Lavesque calling the shots. For example, let's talk about Karrion Kross.

This character is detestable - a non-factor stalking the backstage hallways waiting for his chance to interrupt Sami Zayn or AJ Styles. He's like a silent movie villain. He says nothing and does nothing so why am I being forced to watch him. He's so bad on so many levels that it rubs off on the rest of the broadcast.

Let's consider Jey Uso and Gunther's rivalry for a moment. I actually think this has been a very successful program. But when it intersects with backstage geeks like Austin Theory it gets dragged down into the mediocre muck. And let me be more specific so that I'm not misunderstood. I don't have a problem with Jey and Gunther interacting with the midcard. I understand they have to have matches on their way to WrestleMania and the midcard can fit that role. A couple weeks ago this was done to great effect when Akira Tozawa faced Gunther in a match. It was a classic heel/babyface exchange that made Gunther look great as a bully. Otis even got involved and it was a lot of fun. I take issue with midcard heels who primarily exist in backstage segments. Those are the sort of characters, Grayson Waller & Austin Theory, who drag Jey and Gunther down a peg. Otis and Tozawa are actually good at their jobs. They're likable and can elicit a sincere response from the crowd. Waller and Theory are not good at their jobs. They don't elicit real heat because they don't do anything that dastardly. They're just annoying losers who have no real prospects.

Even writing about them makes me annoyed.

In writing the RAW REVIEW for nearly three months I've noticed WWE does not follow up on things they actually get right. Why have Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez not defended the women's tag titles? They won them in an excellent main event match that demonstrated why that division should be taken more seriously. Instead, Liv and Raquel have decided to chase singles titles. What sense does this make? There either is a tag division or there isn't. Right now, there isn't despite the existence of those titles.

And then there's the insipid Judgement Day. Like a black hole, there is no escaping them. I'm convinced someone in WWE is trying to give me a heart attack with this group. I've never seen them do anything remotely interesting. They bitch and moan every week, turn against each other, accomplish nothing, and Carlito slides further into becoming Lennie from Of Mice and Men - his apple being "the rabbits". It's fucking insane. Yes, I'm surprised I just wrote "fucking" too, but it felt right and this journal is about purging.

The only creative choice that can retroactively save The Judgement Day is if Finn Balor obliterates Dom and Carlito. Balor would instantly become my hero. And then, believe it or not, I'd actually look forward to the backstage segment between Dom, Liv, Raquel, and Carlito the next week. I'd want to see how they react and I'd want to see Dom, like Michael Corleone at the end of The Godfather, be dubbed the new leader of The Judgment Day. But that won't happen because I just wrote it, and whoever works in WWE and reads my work will, with Schadenfreude glee directed specifically at me, drag this out for as long as possible. Don't worry, that last sentence was a bit of a joke - I'm not sure if any of the irony in this entry is coming through.

I'm fiddling with the idea of taking a break, but I don't even really want that. What I want is for RAW to be good television, and to then write thoughtful reviews about it!

As is, I think I'll just keep plowing through, reviewing what's worth it and ignoring the rest. I might also stop watching it live. The adverts kill me, especially the ones about taxes that show a variety of WWE superstars smashing things. I can imagine watching RAW the next day, sans commercials, and finding the experience breezy.

Alrighty, I think I've come to the end of this journal. Wish me luck as I persist in watching and reviewing RAW despite getting very little enjoyment out of it. I don't know why I don't think taking a break is the answer, but I just don't, especially now that we're in the thick of WrestleMania season. Pushing through is the only option (and perhaps not watching live will give me a second breath). Are you enjoying RAW? Am I just wrong? Let me know, I'm curious what others are experiencing with this show.

Be well, and thank you for reading.

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