As the saying goes, "funny doesn't draw money," and WWE doesn't know funny anyway ...
A running storyline on Monday Night Raw this week included segments where Enzo Amore needed to attend sensitivity training for walking around nude backstage last month.
Yup. This was happening.
This wasn’t funny. Enzo is very funny, and not even he could salvage this atrocity.
Towards the end of the skits, Jinder Mahal prevented Enzo from leaving the room and Rusev entered to beat the living snot out of Enzo and Mahal joined in as well. So, Rusev has his very odd tag-team partner for the upcoming matches with Enzo & Cass. At least something was accomplished.
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Where do we start … honestly, that was embarrassing. I can’t imagine a single human being on this planet that thought any of that segment was funny. Not even the out-of-touch egomaniac who is the micromanaging chairman of the board. Not even he could think that garbage was actually entertaining.
Along with Enzo, Mahal, Bo Dallas, Darren Young an dBob Backlund were all in need of sensitivity training as well, because why not? I guess?
WWE needs to stop with the comedy bits. McMahon fancies himself Lorne Michaels sometimes and calls WWE the ultimate reality show, but in reality, it’s a pro wrestling show. Be what you’re good at. Pro wrestling funny is often anything but funny, and this series of segments might be the all-time worst attempt at pro wrestling funny.
When all was said and done, they wasted several minutes of valuable television time on something that could have been accomplished in just a few short seconds. Rusev attacked Enzo backstage. WWE does that regularly in 30-seconds backstage pre-tapes.
This segment was a prime example of what’s wrong with Vince McMahon’s creative filter. He’s out of touch, which has become a common theme over the last several years. You can blame the writers if you want, and there is a pretty big team, but when all the ideas filter through one person, and that person has the final yay or nay, that person needs to take the brunt of the criticism.
Look at NXT and look at Raw and SmackDown. Granted there are production elements in play here (NXT is 1 hour) that make the shows fundamentally different, but one show knows that it is a pro wrestling show, it accepts it, and they are the best pro wrestling show they can be. The others have always been embarrassed to be pro wrestling, and want nothing more than to be something different. Something better.
In a quest for that, the show has low points that are more embarrassing than pro wrestling ever could be.
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1. Rusev beat Big Cass via disqualification
Strange booking lately for Rusev, where he’s essentially a singles wrestler in a feud against a tag team, by himself, but as a heel. Usually we see the numbers game played the other way.
2. Cedric Alexander beat Noam Dar
Decent match with the Cruiserweights feeling like they’re getting more play on the program. We’ll see a promo with Neville later in the night as well which was a great segment and a really good promo by Neville. He has come into own as a heel and it’s been just two nights.
3. Sheamus, Cesaro, Big E & Kofi Kingston beta Primo, Epic, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson
The live crowd is eating up Sheamus and Cesaro. The odd-couple stuff usually has a short shelf life, but the live crowd was loving the act on Monday night and Sunday night.
They need to do something in order to re-create some heat for New Day, but this match felt a lot like it was trying to just establish the new Raw Tag Champions.
4. Titus O’Neil & Sin Cara fought to a no-contest when Braun Strowman beat up both competitors
The crowd nearly popped after seeing Strowman destroy these two before the match could begin.
5. Bayley beat Raw Women’s Champion Charlotte in a non-title match
This was the match of the night, by far. WWE began the build of Charlotte-Bayley in a big way with Bayley picking up the win. I really liked the way they presented this story, with Bayley having Charlotte’s number. It’s different than the back-and-forth story they told with Sasha Banks.
My money is on this feud stretching to a blowoff match at WrestleMania. In this match, Charlotte actually got a shoulder up that the referee didn’t see, which makes it even a more intriguing story. The match felt like a different clash in styles than what we’ve seen Charlotte do with Sasha lately, and moving forward, this should establish Bayley as a top-tier woman on the roster after what I’m assuming will be a title win at WrestleMania.
6. Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins fought Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens to a no contest after Braun Strowman interfered
Strowman’s attack gave a sudden jolt to a main event that felt really bland and ho-hum.
WWE falls into the trap of booking tag-team matches far too often. This match felt like something we’ve seen a hundred times, and I’m sure after a Cruiserweight segment earlier in the show, that we’ll see Neville & Kendrick team up to face Rich Swann and TJ Perkins soon.
Strowman was on a rampage all night in a hunt for Sami Zayn, who Mick Foley said he gave the night off. Strowman attacked crew members and eventually the main-even talent.
Strowman standing tall after taking out Rollins and Reigns made him feel like a much bigger deal. WWE was smart to build him slowly, in part because of his in-ring limitations, but it has helped him establish a main-event presence and giving him a moment like this made that even more apparent.