Instant Reaction - WWE Raw 11/10
By Ben Tucker, PWTorch TV specialist

Overall Score - 6.5

It's the little things that count. A few weeks ago, upon his return to WWE as a powerhouse babyface, Ryback cut a promo explaining to Renee Young his change in attitude. He apologized for his heelish tactics over the prior year and vowed to serve as a hero for the WWE Universe.

A mere two weeks later, The Big Guy is showing shades of gray. It's a trend that has been far too frequently spotted in the wrestling business, acting like certain storylines and angles never happened. But, this is one of the biggest small problems that WWE faces today. If the company that produces this content isn't keen on protecting the Ryback character, why should we care about him, either? When certain feuds are seemingly erased from the history books, their impact is minimized. History is a powerful tool that must be used wisely. WWE has become way too erratic when dealing with their history, and it is continually degrading the quality of the product, enriching shows with a feeling of lifelessness and a lack of importance. If WWE wants to be treated like a "sports entertainment" drama, then it needs to man up and act like one.

Instead, WWE served up an okay Monday Night Raw that had moments of brilliance overshadowed by lame undercard development and a semi-main event that is hanging on by a thread. After being relegated to parlor tricks and minimal attention on Raw the past two weeks, the Dean Ambrose-Bray Wyatt rivalry officially hit a standstill tonight as the two were working a house show at the same time as the broadcast. Which begs the question: if WWE knew they would not be on the show, why wouldn't they do more pre-taped vignettes? Or something other than two 30 second promos and a recap of Smackdown? Once again, WWE's lack of long-term planning and writing shoots themselves in the foot, leading to the patriarch of the Wyatt Family in yet another rivalry lacking juice, spitting out inanities towards Dean Ambrose that don't resemble coherent thoughts at all. I get that Wyatt is a mysterious figure, but even these figures need to have some sort of point to what they're saying. At this point, we understand that Wyatt wants to destroy Dean Ambrose because he is like him. I think. Maybe.

Meanwhile, the Divas division is on life support, with the same five Divas exchanging wins week after week. It's times like this when I ask myself what the purpose of the Divas division is. In PG WWE, it certainly isn't sex appeal. And considering Divas shirts in WWE were nearly nonexistent until A.J. released her first product last year, it can't be merchandise sales, either. Is the division yet another vestige of yesteryear, only existing to pay lip service to the "glory" years of weekly bra and panties matches?

The main thing that WWE did right on Raw (generally speaking) was develop the Survivor Series main event tag match. Team Authority was presented tremendously as a group of thugs who have ultimate power. Team Cena, on the other hand, were presented as the chipper underdogs in the best way, with guys such as Dolph Ziggler fighting his hardest against the odds before finally getting knocked down. Ryback possibly joining the team sets up a great way to even the odds as well, giving the down-on-their-luck heroes a fighting chance. Triple H and Stephanie have proven to be effective in their sarcastic heel character roles and came across appropriately evil throughout the show, particularly in the opening segment.

In speaking of that, the U.K. crowd was all kinds of fantastic tonight, even with crowd sweetening during the program. Audiences can make or break an event, and Monday's atmosphere was positively wonderful.

And despite a solid story arc to Raw, the show fell somewhat flat because the same problems persist. Stale characters, matches that have no purpose (especially since WWE acts like none of these ever happen; see how I cycled back over?!), wins mean nothing, etc. Monday nights can be a fantastic time for wrestling if only the writing team can be given space and a healthy environment. Instead, characters like Damien Mizdow aren't getting over because of the writing team; they're getting over in spite of it. It's alarming, in fact, that wrestlers get over more as of late by breaking the mold (see: Bryan, Daniel). WWE's writing is its own disease, and without some serious internal healing, Raw will never consistently be above average.

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

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