Apart from last week’s RAW REVIEW, the past seven episodes of WWE’s flagship series have all inspired the following question in me, “How am I going to write about this?”
The thought doesn’t come about due to tiredness or hesitation from the work required. I look forward to writing this column immensely. Along with The Work of Wrestling podcast, it gets me through the week, serving as a pleasant beacon in the nine-to-five fog.
Read MoreThis week’s RAW, right from the start, demonstrated the value of deviation.
One of the most consistent and entirely accurate constructive criticisms leveled at WWE’s three-hour broadcast is that the show adheres to its formula at the expense of offering unpredictable, exciting content for its regular viewers. This is a good constructive criticism that comes from respectable minds and respectful fans - not just from an angry internet contingent who behaves like an unruly, spoiled child. The people who offer this criticism are sympathetic to the difficulties of creating a massive “Sports Entertainment” spectacle like Monday Night Raw; they simply want the show to be as watchable as possible.
Read MoreThe only thing anyone will remember about this episode of Monday Night Raw is that Triple H danced with New Day. And while a small smile might have cracked on my face when Triple H started dad-dancing, the fact that this is the only moment to really entertain people and get people excited is something we should all be ashamed of - WWE and fan alike.
Ten seconds of dancing, on a three hour "Sports Entertainment" show is shameful.
Read MoreThe best critique I can offer this week is that Sting should have been the guy to physically push the button on the trash compacter that destroyed Seth Rollins’ chocolate statue.
That's how horribly innocuous this RAW was (save the quality match between Sasha Banks & Paige).
The fact that Sting wasn’t the guy to push the button to destroy Seth’s statue snatches the power of that moment away from Sting. He had a nameless trash-henchman put the final exclamation point on the sentence he’d been writing all night. Any satisfaction the audience might experience at this climax is inevitably less than if Sting had jumped down and punched the button himself.
Read MoreFor the first time in quite some time, I watched RAW in the way the WWE wants me to watch it.
After a weekend dedicated to recording and editing two podcasts, a prototypical 9-5 American Office Monday, and an accumulation of sleep debt that’s in default, a cartoonish, insane, comical, absurd, and completely illogical athletic extravaganza was exactly what I needed.
One follower Tweeted me in agreement that they’d “had about enough reality for today”.
Read MoreAt the end of this week's RAW, I found myself delightfully intrigued.
But, at the time of this writing, I’m really not sure if that feeling is because I like The Undertaker’s story or because I like The Undertaker’s lighting.
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