5 mistakes WWE made on RAW this week(21 January 2019)
The go home show of Monday Night Raw before the Royal Rumble was another mixed bag of some truly memorable moments and bad booking decisions, all which could have been avoided if WWE just thought things through. And the truth is that this was a very important episode for the superstars of Raw as some of them are going to have the biggest night of their lives at the Royal Rumble, as they are involved in big money programmes.
But WWE did not deliver as expected, as other from a fairly well-constructed opening segment, a top-notch promo from Seth Rollins and a serviceable main event, this episode of Raw was not that unmissable in the grander scheme of things. Therefore, WWE could have crafted a more engaging episode if they just avoided the following mistakes.
#1 Matches that have no consequence
When you think about go-home episodes you feel there has to be a need of urgency, a feeling of anticipation and the attempt by the WWE to sell you the biggest matches they have on the pay-per-view match card. But who thought that matches like The Lucha House Party vs Jinder Mahal / The Singh Brothers and Elias vs Baron Corbin are going to get fans amped for the Royal Rumble?
While other matches such as The Revival getting another chance at the Raw Tag Team Championships and Apollo Crews trying to beat Bobby Lashley just days after winning the IC Championship were important, but it was done poorly.
WWE should have used their time this week to either hype up these superstars for the Royal Rumble by making things more entertaining or actually booking serious matches that gave these superstars more momentum heading into the Royal Rumble match, which would have made things a lot of interesting.
#2 A few moments spared for the Raw tag team division
The Raw Tag Team Division is a hot mess, as we have the most underutilized Raw Tag Team Champions in Bobby Roode and Chad Gable taking on the poorly booked team of Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder every single week. After news broke that Akam of The Authors of Pain is suffering from an injury, fans knew that the Raw tag team division would slowly sink, as the division is lacking depth.
But at least two of the best tag teams on Raw which is the Revival and the team of Roode and Gable could put on barn burners that would set the brand alight? Yeah, well that did not happen this week on Raw, and it seems it won't be happening again, as The Revival wrestled a considerably weak match with the tag champions.
And of course, this match obviously ended via another screwy finish that saw Gable and Roode retain. The only positive thing going forward for the Raw tag team division is that Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder seem to be a team again, and that should have an impact on the division, even if it is a small one.