Instant Reaction - WWE Raw 12/15
By Benjamin Tucker, PWTorch TV specialist

Overall Score - 3.5

Dolph Ziggler, one of WWE's fastest rising faces, has his IC Title ladder match victory briefly mentioned on Raw before losing a throwaway tag team match. Wrestlers with one-dimensional gimmicks that have not connected to the crowd were forced to carry nearly two hours of a three-hour program, developing no stories and losing the crowd in the process. TLC's main-eventers were nowhere to be found, and half of the card's matches will be repeated on WWE TV some time this week. Monday Night Raw was an absolute train wreck of pacing, storytelling, and enjoyment., a creative black hole where the only things that escape are bad dialogue and incessant re-matches.

With the Diesel-esque Roman Reigns quickly approaching main event status in WWE, Monday's Raw showed more signs that the company is reaching a Creative low point not seen since 1995. With start-and-stop pushes, throwaway matches, and lines that wouldn't make a hyena cry, Monday Night Raw was an insufferable program that did exactly nothing.

The main event segment between Seth Rollins and John Cena was the sole highlight of the show. Both men worked hard to deliver memorable spots, using J&J Security effectively to build the drama of the match. Brock Lesnar's interruption was appropriately exciting, and Rollins's win fell right in line with his smarmy character. The final half-hour of Raw was a cohesive piece of work that served as a beacon of light on this otherwise sad show.

Compliments over. Time for the problems.

For one, Chris Jericho was extremely off his game, being forced to regurgitate lines that sounded as though they were composed by a five-year-old. He was quickly overexposed on the program as he both called Lana a streetwalker and threatened to assault a middle-aged father of two. Jericho felt extremely out of place tonight, feeling like a relic of the Attitude Era that needs to be removed faster than three-month-old milk inside a fridge. Chris Jericho is entertaining; Chris Jericho being forced to repeat lines about "Fanbunghole" is not.

The next problem came in terms of pacing. Chris Jericho was in the ring three separate times on the broadcast. Rising stars Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan, and Ryback were out one time apiece with their brief segments never being referred to after taking place. If the WWE Universe is supposed to be this sort of... well, universe, then the commentators and producers need to present the show in a manner so that all segments feel as if they are important and have lasting effects.

Speaking of commentary, there's Michael Cole, who incessantly spews out lines about Damien Mizdow needing to "take bumps" and how much "fun" the WWE is. He's being produced to repeat these lines in most instances, but there is a severe absence of genuinity. Because when I watch Top Chef, Grimm, Breaking Bad, or any other show on television geared towards humans above the age of three, I need to be constantly reminded how fun the product is. It sounds like Vince McMahon is reminding Cole to throw this out every other segment, just in-case the audience forgot they were supposed to be "having fun." Stories cannot be told when the "Voice of the WWE" acts as if he is a part of a bad Rifftrax commentary.

Back to pacing, the show grinded to a halt when viewers were expected to sit through a throwaway Divas match, a 15-minute tag re-match from the previous night's pre-show, and an Adam Rose squash. All of these matches are comprised of characters that are either inconsistent (Bellas), non-existent (Natalya, Alicia Fox, New Day) or portrayed as losers (Adam Rose, Kane). If the viewer is not told to care, the viewer will not care. That is why I did not care about anything on this broadcast tonight outside of Brock Lesnar, the WWE Champion who neglected to even bring his title out with him on his first entrance of the night.

Monday Night Raw was insulting to watch, a slap in the face of wrestling fans and those who work in the television industry. As 2014 leads into 2015, it seems that the cries for a rejuvenated product will continue to go ignored.

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

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