by KaiserGlider » Jan 23, '18, 9:52 pm
There was some good stuff on the show. Jericho had the best promo out of all the returning legends, and I liked the Elias/Cena segment. Basically I dug everything Elias was involved with - haven't seen too much of this guy before but he's got a good gimmick and laying out Cena was a good way to make a statement. Miz vs Roman was good match with a hot crowd and a hot finish. That being said, it felt like a convenient way to get the midcard belt off Roman before the Wrestlemania build starts, and I'm not blown away by Miz winning the IC title for the 1,456th time.
But this show should have been a hell of an opportunity to bring in lots of casual viewers and hook them in for the Rumble and Wrestlemania. And as someone who last made an effort to watch an episode of Raw the night after Wrestlemania last year, I consider myself a casual viewer. And this show did nothing to make me want to watch Raw again. I wasn't the only one expecting something like Raw 1000. That was a pretty damn good episode of Raw - yes, it had the nostalgia moments and the returns and the legends, but it also had a big angle that hooked people in for the future: CM Punk turning heel on The Rock.
The biggest disappointment for me was the Undertaker's return, and after that point it was gonna take some work to turn the show around for me. How do you do a huge angle at the end of Wrestlemania to make everyone question whether or not Taker is done, have Roman spend 6+ months talking about how he took over Taker's yard, and then follow it up with THAT? So... is Taker retired? Is he not? Is he gonna get even with Roman? Nothing. No answers. Just some random shit about taking souls on Raw and paying respect to his victims or whatever the fuck. If they want it to be all cryptic and not reveal anything, why bring him back like this at all? Why not save his return until he's actually gonna be in a segment that matters? Missed opportunity right there.
The hordes of returning stars was basically one big missed opportunity too. Here's the thing: WWE knows the fans want to see these stars again, but they don't understand WHY we want to see them. We want to see them interact with past and present superstars, say their catchphrases, hit their finisher, etc. We want to see them actually DO something, at least. If I wanted to know what Eric Bischoff looks like in 2018, I'd just type his name into fucking Google. I don't care about him standing on the stage for 5 seconds and then going home. That is not why I tuned in.
I thought the APA segments were fun throughout the night, but MVP randomly being there after a commercial break and saying maybe one word the entire time was stupid. Total waste of a guy who was one of the best heels created by Smackdown in the original brand split, and had a great run as an authority figure in TNA a few years back. You can have some of the lower-tier legends have these kinds of appearances, but when over half the roster is just doing cameos, it's like... would it have been any different if they didn't show up at all?
The current roster stuff was underwhelming too. I don't know why Woken Matt Hardy lost to Bray Wyatt in a 5 minute match. The main event segment was treated like a huge deal to the point where Angle brought almost all the legends back out to... do nothing, once again. Braun is the best thing to come out of wrestling in 2017 and it never gets old seeing him demolish shit, but does anyone think Brock isn't retaining on Sunday? He dispatched Braun easily when they had their one-on-one match, and Kane has been in too many silly storylines to be taken seriously anymore. Overall, this whole show felt like a retread of stuff I've seen already.