5 things WWE got wrong on RAW this week (30 April 2018)

The go home episode of Raw before the Backlash was everything an average WWE fan would expect from the company, as numerous tag team matches and uneventful conclusions to matches set no final hook for the poorly built pay-per-view.

This terrible booking only further proved that Backlash is an unimportant show with very few genuine narratives that have stakes attached to them. However, even with that idea in mind, WWE could’ve booked a much better episode of Raw that would’ve built some anticipation for many of the repetitive storylines WWE might conclude at the event.

However, the creative team chose the generic route, and many of their decisions only proved to derail certain stars momentum and take the spotlight of many others.

---

#1 Roman Reigns stay in the same lane

Roman Reigns argument is redundant at this point.

Roman Reigns is the most polarising figure in wrestling today, and even though WWE enjoy convincing fans that The Big Dog's love-hate relationship with them is based on their biased opinions, it is not.

WWE is ruining Reigns at the moment by refusing to evolve, adapt and progress his character, as his one dimensional John Cena like attitude is doing him no favours. Moreover, this week on Raw, the company ruined another opportunity to add depth to Reigns character, instead, WWE had him deliver a monotonous promo that only labelled him as a superstar that is more intent on complaining than kicking ass and taking names.

Roman Reigns is one of the best wrestlers on Raw right now. However, by WWE consistently forcing a character on him that feels out of place they are ruining his chances of developing into the star they so dearly crave.

#2 Megastars shoehorned into uneventful segments

Huge stars battled each other with little on the line.

Braun Strowman is currently the most protected wrestler in the entirety of WWE, the creative team has positioned Bobby Lashley as a top star alongside Raw’s main-eventers, and Ronda Rousey is the future of women’s wrestling in the company.

However, this week on RAW these highly protected athletes were booked uneventfully once again. Instead of Strowman and Lashley possibly building a feud and Rousey being the badass she usually is, WWE shoehorned them into tag team action.

This booking decision was a disappointing way to use some of the hottest stars in the company in front of the most heated non-WrestleMania crowd of the year so far, as booking new angles could've caught fire in this red-hot environment.

#3 A lack of urgency

Maybe Smackdown Live might do a better job of building towards Backlash.

Back in WWE's heyday, a pay-per-view build meant that every week leading up to the event would be used to add more dimensions to a storyline until it reached its peak. Therefore, Raw’s contribution to this year's build of Backlash was genuinely forgetful, as WWE booked no surprises, no swerves and made no attempts to garner excitement.

Other than Samoa Joe’s pre-recorded promo, Alexa Bliss’s 'moment of Bliss' segment and Seth Rollins fighting to retain his IC Title to defend it at the pay-per-view, there was no other efforts made by the WWE creative team to make Backlash 2018 feel important.

Therefore, this lack of enthusiasm from WWE themselves might affect them, as fans are not as nearly excited as they should be to witness Samoa Joe vs. Roman Reigns, Miz vs. Seth Rollins and Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss again.

#4 New debutants are wasting time

A scene that fans have viewed a thousand times.

Squash matches when done right can be extremely beneficial to superstars careers, but at some point, WWE has to realize that having different superstars across multiple brands squash multiple ‘jobbers’ in the same time frame can reduce the quality of this concept.

However, this week on Raw, The Authors of Pain continued their reign of dominance as they flattened local competitors in a predictable squash match. While WWE feels they are building AOP in the same capacity as Braun Strowman, the constant recycling of this idea is not getting them over but making them seem generic.

With the War Raiders on NXT, the Blugeon Brothers on Smackdown Live and now the Authors of Pain on Raw, it is evident WWE has applied this booking strategy with each of those teams, as they are continuously booked in unproductive squash matches. However, with the Authors of Pain being on the "A show," this creative laziness by WWE is only derailing the momentum of one of the best tag teams in the company today.

#5 Huge stars are left on the sidelines

Major stars were missing from the show this week.

Wrestling aficionados were left shell-shocked after the 2018 Superstar Shakeup had concluded, and the reason for their astonishment was the fact that WWE sent their biggest stars on the roster to the “B show,” Smackdown Live.

Therefore, Raw was now forced to start utilizing underused midcard talent correctly, and for the most part, the creative got it right. As the Mctyinre-Ziggler team has proved to be freshly entertaining, Ember Moon was a breath of fresh air in the women's division, and Chad Gable had fit the underdog role perfectly.

Therefore, it was incredibly baffling to witness these essential components of a successful episode of Monday Night Raw left on the sidelines this week, as the inclusion of many of them could've resulted in a higher quality show.

---

Send us news tips at [email protected]