Celebrations; Monday Night RAW’s highs and lows (and bad, bad writing)

There’s no better wrestling episode to start off my blog in 2019 than this past Monday Night RAW. What an episode it was hyped to be. WWE is well underway toward their biggest pay per view of the year; Wrestlemania, except there has been very little build. Two matches have been the mainstay for Wrestlemania so far; Rhonda versus Becky Lynch Charlotte Flair and Seth Rollins versus Brock Lesnar. That’s it. The Show of Shows is under six weeks away. A show that lasts for hours and hours and hours.

I’m not sure if I have to explain how this is suppose to work. I guess if there’s a “casual fan” that’s never watched before…see, wrestling revolves around story lines. The typical idea is to have intricate built story lines for the bigger matches. Others could be smaller continuations of story lines with a gimmick match send off. There’s usually an element of celebrity to Wrestlemania as well. Nothing has been announced or set up so far.

Usually “the Road to Wrestlemania” starts at the Royal Rumble, the winners get a shot at a champion. That was Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch. The only two matches set thus far. The problem has been Seth Rollins has been suffering from a back injury and kept out of the ring, barring a promo. Becky has been “suspended”. One of the only story lines going so far. And the champs? Brock is hardly seen and Ronda, well, she’s just not that…entertaining.

So with under six weeks Monday Night’s hyped Ric Flair birthday celebration was sure to be used to build up to the pay per view. Recent NXT call ups Ricochet, Aleister Black, Ciampa, and Gargano have been a major addition the last two weeks. Unfortunately at a cost to recent crowned tag champs the Revival who, even after winning the straps, are back to a losing streak. Are we going to see a Revival versus DIY match at Mania? Or Ricochet & Black versus Revival? Or a triple threat? Who knows where this is going.

The Ric Flair bash ended up as a build for a Triple H feud. A continued feud from YEARS ago. Batista showed up and attacked the Nature Boy in his dressing room. Or so we’re meant to believe. In actuality he just dragged him out from behind a closed door and then yelled at the camera. “Do I have your attention now?” No, not really. Before I dive into other events of RAW, and despite all the hype and attempt to advance stories, this show came off mediocre at best. I was left questioning “why”. Why are your tag champs being jobbed two weeks in a row? Why do they continue to highlight a very bad in ring performance/on the mic performance from Rousey? Why, story wise, did she insult and toss the women’s championship? And she’s a face supposedly?! Why is your most hated women’s wrestler not put over every week? Where’s the threat to the women’s tag champs for Wrestlemania? Why is Braun so cooled off despite being one of the most over guys on the roster? Why is Elias (heel again) interrupted by other heels? This list could go on and on and on.

Let me just say this, for a show that uses the excuse of booking for casual fans, they sure book shit out of the box. The so called casual fan that tunes in sporadically and accidentally needs a foundation. They need to see something that’s regular and stationary. They need story aspects grounded in facts when they tune in. In just so many months we’ve had Ambrose go heel and back to face, Elias go face and back to heel. Last year the Big Show returned, went heel to join the Bar, and just a few weeks later turned on the Bar and disappeared. WTF? Don’t even get me started on Alexa Bliss; face-ish talk segments and heel matches. And it goes back further and further of off the wall matches and booking that’s just bad writing that doesn’t need to happen.

When we last saw Batista it was the reintroduction of Evolution, a heel stable, then against a reformed SHIELD. Batista ultimately left Triple H high and dry to the delight of fans. Did I mentioned that Dave Bautista is a full fledged Hollywood star now? The obvious choice was to turn him heel, right? Once again we’ll get Triple H versus Batista in the ring. I’m not certain this match is particularly that exciting or different. I’m positive Batista mentioned, yet again, his desire to work with his buddy Titus O’Neil in some fashion, as he always states when he speaks openly about his dealings in wrestling. A request always ignored by Vince McMahon. I mean, who needs to throw Titus a bone? Why get your talent over in some fashion?

And that brings me to the biggest hyped aspect. Roman Reigns returned to announce to the WWE Universe he is indeed in remission. The Twitter Wrestling community met this hype in a mixed review. There’s no doubt that everyone is glad that Joe Anoa’i, Roman’s real name, is in remissions from his recurring leukemia. Some fans are aggressively upset at those skeptical of the situation. I want to try to break this down. Some fans were skeptical because of the nature of the wrestling business. Spoiler: it’s a con. The wrestling business is notorious for continuing the age old carny tradition. Does anyone still know whether the Hogan/Jarrett/Russo situation was a work? What about the Montreal Screw Job? What about leases things like a wrestler with an injured arm out story wise for a broken leg? Vince has been known to notoriously use real life stories and situations in his shows as well. Remember the Edge/Matt Hardy/Lita situation? Couple that with the fact that people know very little about leukemia and the whole wrestling conspiracy begins to spiral out of control.

Add in two tablespoons of social media to the mix. Roman Reigns has been spending time in Hawaii and one trainer he worked with tweeted about Roman’s in-ring return. Mix that with a cup full of previews for Roman’s role in the Rock’s up coming movie Hobbs & Shaw and some fans wonder if this isn’t like the plethora of other injuries wrestlers go away on to film parts. To the many Reigns fans that are emotional about the situation this has been heresy back to the roots before Reigns ever announced he had leukemia. Let’s not forget wrestling is all about emotion. I can’t chastise either side too harshly. There’s nothing wrong with questioning, nor being emotional, as long as it isn’t taken to a toxic degree. But we’ve seen this toxicity on both sides sadly. Roman said it himself when fans began chanting “Wrestlemania”.

“We have to crawl before we walk, walk before we run.”

Leukemia Care on Twitter posted some great information. Fans on both sides of the aisle would do good to read it. Joe Anoa’i needs time for treatment and healing before Roman can make a full time return. And if you hate how the character Roman Reigns has been booked, like I do, hopefully it’ll be better written when he’s allowed to heal and return. I think what many fans hate to see, and drives others to speculation, is when Vince McMahon pushes out new Roman shirts at the top of the hour during Reigns big return. Emails were sent out immediately to listing pushing fans to buy Roman’s new shirt “We Believe”, a cross between cancer awareness and Roman’s logo, orange-is-the-new-pink-design. This turned off many fans, whether they were skeptics or emotional about Reigns return. Others calling for doubters to be banned from Twitter excused the WWE’s money grab moment.

I always try to recognize my biases, always try to play devil’s advocate. I get it. Capitalize on the moment. But if we can realize that the WWE roster didn’t even know what the announcement was suppose to be and yet somehow WWE has a t-shirt ready to roll out? This strikes me of sleaziness. Has the t-shirt been in the wings since October 2018 just waiting? Could it have not waited until Tuesday or Wednesday morning? So much seems to be in poor taste on the lucrative end of the business. Where does it go from here? Vince is known to push injured wrestlers to work. Whether that’s talking them into not taking time off or having them come back early. Reportedly, it was Roman’s decision to come back to RAW. Where does that go from here is hard to say. Next week they’re in Pennsylvania, a Wild Samoan strong hold. I personally feel Roman needs to be eased back into the fold as he feels fit. Hopefully Vince doesn’t strong arm him into every week to build hype for Wrestlemania. There’s already rumor of a SHIELD reunion set for Fastlane.

From a story telling perspective, WWE would do well to build the Roman return narrative carefully. With all due respect to Joe Anoa’i the man, Roman the character is a different beast. The ultimate con is not the $30 t-shirt sales but building sympathy for a character that Vince mishandled from the get-go. In the Hero’s Journey, at The Ordeal, the hero must face death and be reborn. This is the point where we are now with Roman Reigns. Now is the time to reinvent the character and make him beloved to the entire spectrum. A good businessman should realize this. A good conman should capitalize on the long pay off, not the short one.