Live Instant Reaction - WWE Raw 9/22
By Ben Tucker, PWTorch TV specialist

Overall Score - 5.5

Another week, another diatribe on the terrible state of WWE programming. Another pay-per-view goes by and the same feuds are being rehashed again and again for no discernible reason outside of lazy writing. Sheamus and Cesaro were on the opposite sides of a match tonight. This fact didn't develop any story or further the hatred the two feel for each other; no, they were placed on the show to fill time.

On the other end of the spectrum were Dolph Ziggler and The Miz, who continue to trade the Intercontinental Championship like they're playing a game. Ziggler regaining his championship tonight didn't feel like a moment. Dolph didn't change after losing the title; he wasn't given a chance to. Switching the championship off and back onto him did nothing but sully the recognition that multi-time Intercontinental Champions should receive. WWE, for yet another month, remains static.

The sole redeeming aspect of the program was Dean Ambrose. He injected an incredible amount of life into the program and made viewers rally behind him. Seth Rollins was perfect on the show as well, easily getting across his slimy heel persona and narrowly dodging Ambrose and John Cena at every turn. Booking like this is good. After months of evading his enemies, Seth will eventually have to answer them and the crowd will pay to see it. The Rollins-Ambrose rivalry is one of the only pieces of WWE television that has grown and developed since Summerslam, and it's coincidentally the best part of the program.

Just like Night of Champions the night before, Raw featured plenty of solid wrestling hampered by incredibly terrible writing. Also noteworthy on the broadcast was the absence of Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar, the company's star heel who was barely mentioned the night after nearly losing to John Cena. The rest of Raw consisted of re-matches, filler matches meant to lead to more re-matches, Total Divas tie-ins, and Nikki Bella with a microphone.

2009 was a terrible year for Raw, but at least Smackdown and ECW provided excellent wrestling every week. Raw in 2014 is a jumbled mess that leaves the viewer with very little to look forward to. It's the same story every week anymore.

Eat.
Sleep.
Rehash.
Repeat.

Eat.
Sleep.
Rehash.
Repeat.

Eat.
Sleep.
Rehash.
Repeat.

Eat.
Sleep.
Rehash.
Repeat.

Wow, no wonder WWE likes to use the same segments over and over again; it looks like with that I can get out of this review early, too! I guess wrestling does teach you something after all...

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

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