Instant Reaction - WWE Raw 5/6
By Benjamin Tucker, PWTorch TV specialist

DVR Guide - What to Watch Later

- Ziggler vs. Del Rio (Q5-6)

Overall Score - 4.0

Oh man, was Raw boring tonight. Three hours and it feels like absolutely nothing happened. Instead of highlighting the three-act structure that worked well last week, they instead chose to close each commercial break in the first half of the show with a reminder that Paul Heyman was going to show video of Brock Lesnar destroying Triple H's office. I mean, sure, it looked cool, but the segment ran five-plus-minutes too long (when including Triple H's promo) and the entire affair felt like a waste given how Triple H brushed it off like it was no big deal. If he feels that way, then why shouldn't viewers? What was the point of it all?

Raw's pacing wasn't the worst, but it did highlight the desperate situation WWE is in right now. I know, I know, you hear about this everywhere online, just as often as the qualms regarding Raw's three-hour format. But, look at tonight's show. If you take Triple H and Lesnar from the equation, who were portrayed as legitimate main event stars? Cena, Ryback, and to an extent Kane. Sure, Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio may be in the World Title scene, but they aren't being positioned as someone who you should go out of your way to see. Their segment was thrown out there just like Antonio Cesaro's. Once again, if WWE acts like the segments aren't important and the players involved aren't in the top-tier, why should viewers feel differently?

Not even Orton, Jericho, and Sheamus are being positioned as legitimate equals to Ryback and Cena at this point. Eliminate the players from the two main segments tonight and there would be nothing for the audience to invest in and connect with. Raw ratings would tank. The depth of WWE's roster isn't their main issue - it's how they portray their roster members, and tonight's Raw underlined this idea.

Outside of the Ziggler-Del Rio segment, everything just felt mediocre. As always, Ziggler and Del Rio worked well together, but what I really noticed was how good Swagger looked in his post-match attack. It could very well be the best Swagger has looked in years.

While not much of a segment, it is encouraging to see Antonio Cesaro free of his yodeling and gimmicky anti-American shtick. He looked great tonight and I'm hopeful that his momentum continues to develop.

From the open, it was apparent Raw was hitting rough territory. Ryback is no gem on the mic and Cena was at his worst with kiddy-jokes galore that only served to continue to break down Ryback's aura of invincibility. Ryback's main event match with Kane wasn't a looker either, with an ending that was about as paint-by-the-numbers as you can get anymore. The Shield attacks have to slow down, as they're beginning to get stale.

Speaking of The Shield, what purpose was their six-man tag match against Kofi and the Usos? It was completely extraneous and unnecessary. Fandango continues to be put in similar unnecessary segments, and at this point not even Jericho can make them compelling with his fading rocker gimmick. The Sheamus-Henry segment was better than their previous segments, but still lacking due to Henry seemingly getting flustered from the crowd, and the Divas did nothing for me tonight.

Um, I think that's about it. The fact of the matter was that Raw was a bore tonight and it had so little to offer that the announcers were forced to incessantly hype a seven-minute iPhone video throughout two-thirds of the program. Awesome. Raw has been lackluster lately, but it's been a while since it's felt this meaningless. The post-WrestleMania lull is in full effect, and it's not producing good results.

Any questions or comments? Feel free to message me on Twitter @BTuckertorch .

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