5 things that should have happened on Raw this week
Many wrestling aficionados and critics believe there are many fan chants that are overdone in WWE and the “this is awesome” chant is the probable list topper.
However, when explaining the unpredictably of the opening match on Monday Night Raw this week, words such as electric, thrilling and captivating are all perfect adjectives to describe the seven-man gauntlet match that stole the entire show, and that can all be summarised into one phrase, “that was awesome”.
The rare 2-hour classic WWE presented was much more than a breath of fresh air. By deviating from their standardised norm, WWE managed to accomplish a feat of tasks heading into the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view this Sunday. From giving once white-hot superstars boatloads of momentum to creating actual suspense in the Universal Title picture, Raw succeeded in making a majority of its runtime worthwhile.
However, while the company got most of the writing spot on this week's Raw, there were certain aspects that left viewers disappointed, uninterested, and far from hyped for the upcoming PPV. Therefore, WWE could’ve avoided these discrepancies by tweaking the tried and tested formulae a bit more and delivered a solid show from start to end.
#1 Rollins takes an electric bow
Even though Seth Rollins performance in the 7-man gauntlet match was highlighted by the fact that he delivered a record-breaking performance against two of the most protected superstars in the last ten years, “The Architect's” electric showing reminded fans how excellently he can craft a match if given the chance.
When Roman Reigns and Rollins were the first two competitors to start the match, most fans concluded that “the Big Dog” would reign supreme. However, WWE shattered that notion by having Rollins outlast Reigns in a thrilling match.
When John Cena was the next competitor in the match, fans knew that they were going to witness a mini classic, as Cena and Rollins' previous encounters at Summerslam 2015 and Night of Champions 2015 were some of the best in-ring matches of Cena’s career. Rollins and Cena delivered a similar scene.
However, this time around Rollins defeated Cena clean in the centre of the ring. At that point, there was no hotter superstar on Raw than Rollins, he had defeated Cena and Reigns back to back and to continue that hot streak WWE needed to send out another superstar that could give Seth a trilogy of hot matches.
But the next competitor was “the drifter” Elias, and while having Elias eliminate an exhausted Rollins is a perfect heel move, Rollins was on such a hot streak he needed to exit the match in spectacular fashion, and who better to provide that stunning blow than Finn Balor.
Balor vs Rollins for even five minutes should’ve been an electric encounter and it would’ve given Balor added momentum heading into the chamber by knocking off a competitor that gave 65 minutes of his energy in a 5-star performance. Instead, WWE had Rollins exit become a mediocre affair while that last five minutes of Rollins in the gauntlet could’ve been pure gold.