Instant Reaction - WWE Raw 6/2
By Benjamin Tucker, PWTorch TV specialist

Live Raw Score - 4.0

It's truly incredible how little happened on Raw this week. After what I thought was a great pay-per-view that ended with tons of questions begging to be answered, WWE delivered a lackadaisical follow-up with the only noteworthy happening taking place during the final five minutes of the show. I'm going to be honest; without the Stephanie-Cena confrontation and Seth Rollins's heel turn, there was nothing to watch on Raw this week. The Usos took part in yet another match against the Wyatt Family that had a few more rough spots than any of their other 12 encounters over the last month. Every single other character was kept in a holding pattern this week, with 3MB continuing their feud against Los Matadores, Adam Rose defeating Jack Swagger yet again, and Rusev... doing nothing. Here, you want a full rundown of the show?

- The opening segment was fine for what it was. Batista leaving Evolution was an effective way to set up the repercussions at the end of the show. Is it something worth watching after the fact? Nope.

- The opening tag team match was more of the same from four wrestlers who were obviously put in a holding pattern this week.

- Damien Sandow continues to make the most out of his fall from grace as he got knocked out by the Big Show, who last had the spotlight in early April and has hardly been seen since then.

- Bo Dallas wrestled a fine squash the came at the wrong time. Repetitive matches can only be digested on a show that's doing something different elsewhere on the card.

- The Cena-McMahon segment, as stated above, was the first strong moment of the show. Cena didn't get too cutesy and Stephanie continued her string of amazing performances on the mic. She easily got across the status of the WWE Championship, and Cena looked good for actually standing up for one of his "friends" on the roster.

- Of course, the promo segment had to lead to a Cena vs. Kane match, which lacked energy in the way that Cena-Kane matches normally do. What did the match accomplish other than kill five minutes of time? Why does Kane need to be wrestling on a consistent basis when WWE's roster has never been better in the ring?

- 3MB vs. Los Matadores filler followed...

- ... As did a mediocre Divas match...

- ... another Adam Rose squash against Jack Swagger...

- ... and an Usos-Wyatt Family re-match from Main Event/Smackdown/every other show WWE has on their weekly schedule. Look at this. Five consecutive segments that did absolutely nothing. At most these served as supplementary story pieces for the main feuds in the company, but a three-hour show cannot rest on telling side stories. The pacing of this show was all wrong and seemed indicative of WWE stumbling their way through what to do next.

- Once there was finally some sort of story progression in the form of the Money in the Bank qualifying match, WWE decided to have the over-rated Alberto Del Rio enter the ladder match, as opposed to the bumping machine known as Dolph Ziggler in a forgettable five-minute affair. Yes, I'm splitting hairs at this point. Raw this week did not provide much to for me to work with.

- The Goldust/new partner story got off to an unspectacular but fine start...

- ... while Rusev received an award for no real reason and nothing came of it.

- The final segment delivered the real goods and set in motion potentially the feuds that will carry the WWE through the summer. Seth Rollins has adequately developed his verbal game lately and could prove to be a solid heel, even though his flashy offense is highlight reel face material. The swerve tonight was expertly done, and it opens up a bevy of possibilities for the former members of the now-defunct Shield.

Too bad the rest of Raw lacked the direction found in the final five minutes of the 190-minute program. Tonight was filled with some of the laziest writing I've seen since May 2011 (ya know, Raw with the Miz being destroyed by John Cena every week before C.M. Punk delivered his pipe bomb promo). WWE is booking themselves into increasingly dire situations, trying to meander along with their existing mid-card feuds for as long as possible to avoid changing the status quo. The main event talent pool is still shrinking and WWE isn't doing enough to slow it down. Tonight's program of mainly nothingness showed the laziness that WWE displays from time to time that they can't get by with any longer.

Any questions or comments? Message me on Twitter @BTuckertorch!

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