Raw is, very simply, bad television.

How can I write a good review of the show when it all boils down to that? I don't want to depress my readers, but I will if I maintain my current course. The reviews have gotten shorter and angrier, a bleak reflection of the show itself. There isn't a single wrestler who really excites me. Not even Heel Cena is all that interesting. I can't believe WWE didn't explore the fact that Michael Cole called Cena a prick last week. Watching Cena beat the shit out of Cole would have been visceral and unsettling. Cody could have made the save and Cena would have further cemented himself as a heel. I liked that he said he was going to "ruin wrestling" for everybody, but I don't think he explored that concept enough.

I'm disappointed with Paul Levesque's booking. His main roster has none of the excitement and purpose that his NXT roster had in 2014/2015. A lot of wrestlers are missing in action, and those who are staples of the show feel adrift, aimless.

Tim Kail's Raw Review, 3/24/25

Paul Lavesque's playbook seems to be playing it incredibly safe while attempting to ingratiate new stars like Penta and Lyra Valkyria into the pro-wrestling consciousness. The results are decidedly mixed. Some weeks the midcard is represented as nothing more than backstage geeks, and other weeks they're the main event. The problem with this approach is that the midcard isn't bursting with an assortment of fascinating characters. It's just a bunch of nobodies and Penta and The Judgment Day. Instead of imploding (as I'd hoped last week), The Judgment Day has apparently grown stronger, ending the show with a post-match beatdown of Penta and Bron Breakker. It wasn't terrible, but it didn't feel earned given the state they were in last week (and every week before that). The main event Intercontinental Championship match, which was quite good, between Penta and Bron ended with Dominik Mysterio interfering. This is a clever way to continue to maintain Penta's aura while asserting The Judgment Day as a violent force, something they sorely needed.

It would be detrimental to back pedal and have them return to their clubhouse next week, but that's exactly what's going to happen. If they must have a backstage segment, show them as a united force, and then, if one of them faces Penta or Bron, have Dom interfere again. Steadily disrupting matches people actually want to see will earn them more heat than their backstage quibbling.

RAW REVIEWSTim KailMarch 28, 2025john cena, cm punk, wwe, raw, raw review, tim kail's raw review, the work of wrestling

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

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.

Tim Kail's Raw Review, 3/27/25

I'm mostly pleased with John Cena's post-heel-turn promo. The Cena character hasn't fundamentally changed, as I feared he might. Instead, he's playing a man who's had a revelation. He's fed up with the fans' response to him, and he's letting out decades-worth of pent-up frustration. He still lives "Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect" (as far as he's concerned), still wears jorts, and still comes out to the same music. There's only the slightest pivot that makes him a heel, despite starting his promo with "I'm not a babyface, I'm not a heel, I'm a human being".

That pivot comes in the form of victimizing himself. He stated that he's been the victim of a toxic, dysfunctional relationship with the fans for the past twenty years. What gives his words some weight is that they aren't exactly untrue. No matter what he did, no matter how much better he got in the ring, no matter how good he was on the mic, there were those who chanted "Cena sucks!" and actively wished him harm.

Tim Kail's Raw Review, 3/10/25

WWE has established a new motif for the opening moments of RAW, and it works. Each wrestler who is involved in one of the main stories of that episode is seen arriving at the arena, wheeling their suitcases down a corridor, entering the dressing room, or getting out of a car. It adds a touch of realism right from the start and allows Michael Cole to set the narrative table for the episode. Jey was a welcome official start to the show, making his way through the crowd, “Yeeting” in time with his music. Much to my pleasure, this RAW kicked off with a match. Much to my displeasure Jey’s opponent was Grayson Waller. While this match represents a few weeks of storytelling, it does not achieve the intended goal. Matches like this between an obscure midcarder and a main-eventer are designed entirely to make the main-eventer look strong. The problem with this specific example, Uso vs Waller, is two-fold.

One, Waller is one of a handful of backstage geeks who seldom exist in the wrestling ring. He says and does nothing of import. He’s purely an annoyance, clogging up the backstage hallways with mediocrity. So what does it mean to beat him? Not much.

Tim Kail's Wrestling Journal, 3/13/25

I'm bursting with excitement. As I write this, tomorrow I'll be a guest on NPR affiliate CT Public radio's The Colin McEnroe show. I'm nervous, psyching myself up to make the most of this opportunity. I had a pre-interview call on Tuesday to prepare me for the interview. I love talking about wrestling as an art particularly with people who don't know much about wrestling but are curious.

This interview has activated my imagination.

Maybe if I do well I'll get some new listeners and readers.

Maybe if I do really well NPR will offer me a job.

Tim Kail's Raw Review, 3/3/25

Monday Night Raw got off to a raucous start with CM Punk leaping atop the announcers table to cut a promo on The Rock and John Cena. Punk was at his belligerent best, skewering both legends for their "bullshit" - The Rock's goosebumps and Cena's unflappable twenty-plus years of Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect. It was an elegant, improvised rant that Seth Rollins interrupted. Punk quickly hopped down off the desk and charged Rollins and the two devolved into an arena-wide brawl. It was energetic and excellent, exactly the kind of beginning I've wanted from RAW these past eight weeks.

Tim Kail's Raw Review, 2/24/25

It’s been eight weeks since RAW debuted on Netflix, and I find myself flummoxed that the organization has done nothing original in all that time. There have been several welcome subtle changes (the announcement of the card at the start of the show, interviews among the crowd, non-seizure inducing camerawork), but no creative big swings. I don’t feel like we’re getting the best out of RAW when we so easily could. Instead, we get the usual fifteen to twenty minute opening promo segment, several midcard matches of varying degrees of significance and quality, an endless barrage of advertisements, backstage segments, interviews, and vignettes.

Some of it, like the Kevin Owens/Sami Zayn rivalry is quite good. But most of it blends into a beige, prescriptive experience. It would be nice to see and feel something largely different from the company if for no other reason than “they can”. What about an episode that consisted of just women. No explanation or pomp and circumstance, just an entire episode of women’s matches and women’s segments. People would love it. Or, the likelier of these two options, what about a roster wide brawl that overtakes the broadcast, plunging RAW into chaos?

Tim Kail's Wrestling Journal, 2/27/25

AEW Dynamite has become an afterthought in my wrestling viewership, sad to say. Wednesday rolls around and I find my wrestling appetite has already been sated by RAW. This is especially true because I review RAW and spend a lot of time thinking about it and honing my critiques throughout the week. As of now, I have no intention of purchasing AEW's next ppv. I need to save money, for one thing, and I'm not enamored with any particular story. If I find myself bored and with nothing better to watch, I'll put Dynamite on the TV when I get home from work, but there's no longer a sense of urgency. There was a time when I firmly believed AEW was producing not only the best weekly wrestling television show at present, but the best I'd ever seen at any time in my life.

JOURNAL ENTRIESTim KailFebruary 27, 2025tim kail's wrestling journal, wrestling, pro wrestling, art, wwe, aew, orange cassidy

Tim Kail's Wrestling Journal, 2/15/25

Sometimes I'll be sitting calmly at my desk at work when I'll remember something particularly embarrassing from my past. A girl I tried to flirt with who wasn't having any of it. Something deplorable I said in middle school. That time I hurt a friend's feelings.

Such memories are accompanied by the following thought, "I hate myself". Then there's a whole other category of dark thoughts related to mortality that pop up like Wack-A-Moles. I'll find myself with nothing to do after completing a task, and then the dread slips in, seducing me into a tiny spiral, "What does any of this mean?"

For the past few weeks, I've been attempting to course correct this pattern of thought by "staying in gratitude", "reality testing", and "thought stoppage". Much to my surprise, the results have been positive. When such thoughts arise I say to them something like, "No thank you" or "I know what you're doing and I choose not to accept it". I feel like I'm getting to know myself better, because I know exactly what prompts the dark thoughts and I know their goal. When you know those things, it's harder for the thoughts to take shape in reality. They're actually fake-thoughts based in fear that only become real when you accept them as fact. But if you cut them off, you start to recognize the little game your lizard brain is playing.

JOURNAL ENTRIESTim KailFebruary 15, 2025wwe, aew, captain america, the avengers, endgame, thor, podcasting, the work of wrestling

Tim Kail's Raw Review, 2/10/25

RAW kicked off once again with Royal Rumble winner Jey Uso. Only just when you thought this would be a repeat of last week's YEET-fest, Gunther appeared and wrecked the party. He pulled Jey's legs out from under him as he stood on the announce desk, eliciting boos from a raucous crowd. Gunther then beat down and power-bombed Jey, and just when you thought the segment was over, a winded and wounded Jey suddenly had a microphone. "I shouldn't say this..." Jey exhaled. "Me and you at WrestleMania". His choice solidified, the words felt appropriately epic, Jey's Cool Hand Luke like swagger adding to the strength of the phrase "Me and you...". Jey then dove over the top rope onto Gunther and a pile of security officers before the potential brawl was broken up and both men separated.

Good. Now we know one of the WWE's main title matches, which brings the rest into focus. It was wise to have Jey make his decision with weeks left until the Elimination Chamber because it raises the stakes for that match, limiting the choices of the contestants to Cody Rhodes and his WWE Undisputed Championship. CM Punk, John Cena, Logan Paul, and Drew McIntyre are all in the Chamber with two more opponents to be named in the weeks ahead. Now that the Mania main events are taking shape, it's up to WWE to keep things interesting between now and April. I recommend using the full breadth of narrative devices at the company's disposal.

RAW REVIEWSTim KailFebruary 14, 2025raw, Monday night raw, raw review, Tim kail, Tim Kail's raw review, wwe, Seth rollins, cm punk, lyra valkyria, bayley

Tim Kail's Wrestling Journal, 2/13/25

For this blog entry I simply want to reflect on the state of my wrestling fandom and The Work Of Wrestling. It's not a review or an essay - think of it as a journal entry with little structure. I wrote it because I felt like it with no immediately apparent purpose. Let’s see what shakes loose.

For the past six weeks I've watched and reviewed Monday Night Raw. During that time I've also caught up on AEW Dynamite. One show is not particularly better than the other. They share so many similarities that their differences hardly register. If I showed one show to a non-fan and then the other show a few minutes later and asked them to tell the difference, I don't think they'd be able to.

I'm particularly perturbed by AEW's backstage camerawork.

It's indistinguishable from WWE's, and they've even started doing that thing where the camera lingers on the subject or interviewer for a few seconds after the scene is over. I cannot fathom why AEW would do this. Someone in a position of power is actively making this terrible creative decision. There is no visual wrestling rule book dictating it be done this way. Also, don't they want to distinguish themselves from WWE? Why not do so in easy, simple ways like camerawork?

JOURNAL ENTRIESTim KailFebruary 13, 2025journal, raw, aew, wwe, Seth rollins, criticism, arts criticism

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