Raw 25 Fell Flat

Last night the WWE celebrated a huge milestone of 25 years of Monday Night Raw. This had the potential to be one of the best Raw’s in history, with weeks of advertisement, and rumors of legends returning going wild, everyone was so excited for Monday Night Raw. But, it sadly fell extremely flat and was a MASSIVE disappointment. The show got off to a hot start with Vince cutting a classic heel promo, just to have Stone Cold Steve Austin come out to a massive ovation to give him a stunner just for old times sake. At this point, it looked like we were in for an epic night. After that segment, it then transitioned to the women’s tag match which was a fine every week Monday Night Raw match so no problems with that match. After that match finished they transitioned into a backstage segment where Kurt Angle, Brother Love, Teddy Long, the Brooklyn Brawler, and Jonathan Coachman all shared an odd encounter with the Boogieman. It was a fine segment, it just seemed like a weird group to have together and the only former manage I was excited to see in that segment was Coach, but I see him on every day on ESPN, so it was a fine segment, but nothing great. Then came the biggest disappointment of the night, The Undertaker segment. This was Taker’s first appearance since he seemingly retired at this past WrestleMania, so we were all thinking, is he entering the rumble? Is he officially announcing his retirement? Is he announcing that he will face Cena at WrestleMania? Well, we got none of that. Instead, he cuts a weird promo directed at no one, and JR and Jerry Lawler acted as if he had handed out a threat of some sort, but that’s not the feel I got. That whole thing was just weird, and we honestly got left with nothing from that. After that came the only notable thing to happen in the next two hours as the Miz battled Roman Reigns for the Intercontinental Championship, in which he would end up winning. It was probably the right move to have the Miz win because he is now one of the most over superstars in the company, but this just means the inevitable Roman Reigns winning the rumble is going to play out and it’s just going to be so brutal. Now I did say that was the only notable thing to happen, but of course, they honored some GM’s and some former female talent, but outside of that, there was a Peep Show segment in which Christin wasn’t even the focal point as Jason Jordan just defined that he is now a modern-day heel. Then there was that backstage APA poker segment with Ted Dibiase, MVP, and some modern-day talent which resulted in a throwaway match when the Dudley Boys interfered. John Cena had a segment with Elias that will probably lead to a match at Fastlane, as well. Like I said, nothing too notable I just wanted to mention it. Oh, and Bray Wyatt beat Matt Hardy in a payoff match, which was unexpected, but that match featured two of WWE’s most underappreciated talent so who knows what’s going to happen with either of them going forward. The Main event in the Manhattan center may have been the best part of the night. DX had another reunion moment as them and Scott hall linked up for a special Kliq moment and just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, The Club, who uses the signature too sweet motion that the Kliq made famous, all embraced in the ring as a special moment. The Club would then go onto have a match with the Revival as the Revival would end up getting buried. Most people were upset about the Revival’s burial, but on the positive side Finn Balor may have just gotten really over, and could just be a sleeper to win this Sunday’s, Royal Rumble. Raw 25 was better than your average Raw, but they could’ve done more with it. The Manhattan Center wasn’t pleased, they could’ve used more significant former talent, and set up more stuff for the Rumble and Mania, but they didn’t. It was a fine show but not as good as it could’ve been, it was kind of disorganized and it was clear it was difficult to put together. Overall, it was decent with a few nostalgia trips, but I’ll give it a 4/10 because it could’ve been so much better.