Is it just me or has Raw improved of late?

[tommo1898]

I'm not saying it has been phenomenal by any means but for the first time in a long time I have been somewhat invested in storylines. what with the enzo and cass stuff plus Corey graves being part of it and his situation with angle and maybe having something on him. Also strowman is starting to become a big deal. The pop his return got was out of this world and I marked out watching it.

There are a few interesting, on-going stories that I have actually been intrigued by and invested in as opposed to watching the show quite passively as I normally do. It feels like more effort has gone into writing and I hope they keep it up

 

[Wildcat66]

I'm not saying it has been phenomenal by any means but for the first time in a long time I have been somewhat invested in storylines. what with the enzo and cass stuff plus Corey graves being part of it and his situation with angle and maybe having something on him. Also strowman is starting to become a big deal. The pop his return got was out of this world and I marked out watching it.

There are a few interesting, on-going stories that I have actually been intrigued by and invested in as opposed to watching the show quite passively as I normally do. It feels like more effort has gone into writing and I hope they keep it up

RAW's been really good as of late. Especially with the Enzo and Cass storyline, the Braun and Roman storyline and the Joe and Lesnar storyline, they've been running on all fours with those storylines and it has paid dividends for all those involved.

It hasn't all been perfect, the women's division seems stuck on 'three, fini', the cruiserweights continue to just stick around and the Rollins/Wyatt storyline feels like something they come up with last second to give them something to do until SummerSlam.

But overall, RAW's been a lot more interesting that it was before Extreme Rules.

 

[ianrapleyuk]

I think raw has been a lot more bareable as of late and the reason is the multi running storylines.

People say "i loved the attitude era because it wasn't PG" but what i beleive is back then it was more storyline driven where nearly every aspect had a storyline so leading up to a PPV you had a storyline for IC title, world title, tag titles and storylines for mid card guys and semi main events.

Then it started being throw away matches that made no sense in terms of a storyline and 1-2 matches for a PPV and the rest were added a week to go without any means nor storylines. but lately wwe have been doing good with having weekly story's (although some are super predictable i.e big cass being the one attacking enzo) they still starting to build storylines which make people want to watch more than before

 

[Navi]

To be honest it's way better than it should be with the crappy writing still happening. The Joe/Lesnar build is one of the best builds to a Lesnar feud I've seen in a long time. I'm really hoping that Lesnar drops the title to him tomorrow night, but sadly don't think it's going to happen.

Glad to see Strewman back and this thing with Enzo and Cass has some legs to it. I really do like Sheamus and Cesaro as a tag team, just wish they would include more than just the Hardy's though.

Rollins and Wyatt, I have no idea why this feud happened and where it's going, but it's boring. Miz is still gold on the mic but he has to get away from Ambrose. Seems this feud has been going on forever now. Give Slater another go at least that was interesting for the 10 minutes it took up.

Overall it's been good, still too much talking and time wasting that don't seem to really make much sense and you can tell they are just filler. The cruiserweights how were so heralded by Stephanie are kind of bombing, but the division has a whole is really going nowhere. They have time on RAW but just put on matches, no one gets invested enough to watch them on 205 Live so it ends up being a huge waste of time.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

I think if you compare Raw and Smackdown, which has been done a million times since the brand split, Smackdown is probably the better show most weeks. They have their own issues, but the majority of the stories are engaging, and I think part of that comes from having a roster of fresher, less established talent.

That said, Raw in recent weeks has gained some ground. Great Ball when announced just felt like it was going to be a filler PPV on the round to SummerSlam. They have managed to stack the card though. I've praised the booking of Joe each chance I've gotten. While there is little chance he beats Brock, he feels like he has the greatest chance to do so since Brock came back four years ago. Has Brock even laid a hand on Joe? It's been refreshing to see Brock appear human and to see a non WWE built guy get this kind of treatment.

Speaking of WWE built guys, how good has Roman/Braun been? I like Roman, he is very good in the ring and makes all his matches feel big, and his mic work the past few weeks as a quasi heel has been solid. Go back and watch the post Mania Raw, he said only five words but had a strong contender for promo of the year. Braun has been improving in the ring since he broke away from Wyatt, and his mic work is exactly what is needed out of a monster. Above all, it's been great that Braun has more often than not been able to get the best of Roman. While the ambulance stipulation is a bit meh, watching two powerhouses will be a treat.

When the Enzo/Cass story first started, I don't think many people truly cared. It wasn't that good and it felt obvious it was going to be Cass. Credit to WWE, they used Big Show and Revival as red herrings to try to keep it interesting, but the raw emotional promos from both men have made this feel personal. It's no Michaels throwing Jannety through a window, but it feels real.

Say what you will about the Bray/Rollins feud, and it's made almost no sense, but these two are good in the ring. If they allow Bray to beat up on Seth for most of the match and let Seth use his speed and agility to pull it out, we could have a damn good match.

Sure the IC title feud has been odd and drawn out and the women's division is basically just Alexa and whoever is next in line to challenge and the tag title feud should have been over by now, but all three of those matches should at least be watchable. Alexa is still a bit green, and Ambrose tends to be inconsistent due to his style, but they both have good dance partners.

Even if they sneak in a Goldust/R-Truth match on us and it bombs, the rest of the card, including the CW Title match on the preshow should be good.

So while Raw is being anchored by a few good stories, even the bad ones have decent enough in ring performers to keep me watching.

 

[HORRORHOLIC]

Still a lot of crap but I'm really enjoying guys like The Miz and Stroman. Stroman is the real deal, I think he can become a huge star if booked right.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Raw does seem significantly better this PPV cycle and it is easily the most improvement the red brand has seen since Wrestlemania. With Brock working this PPV cycle it finally gave the main event level guys a visible goal, making them not seem lost or as if "Creative has nothing for them" like they have in recent months. I rant a lot about that but it makes sense if you think about it. When Brock was gone and held the title hostage for almost 3 months, something was missing. The most important piece of the puzzle was not there. The top prize. Something as simple as having a World Champion who is actually there made the product that much better. All the more reason for Joe to win tonight or Roman to win at Summerslam. That being said, the other current feuds are going well which really helps a lot too. Bray/Seth as random as it has been is good. Strowman/Reigns exceeded expectations and I'm sure their match tonight will too. Alexa has been amazing as Raw Women's Champion. Even the Intercontinental Championship has a great angle with Miz VS Ambrose, regardless of how long the feud has gone on. Hardys VS Sheamus & Cesaro is getting old, though the matches have been good. Now if only they would stop the idiocy in how they treat the Cruiserweights.... Other than the cruiserweights they seem to really be turning things around. I have to say Smackdown remains the superior brand however. I can watch Smackdown without really skipping much other than the commercials while I can't say the same for Raw just yet.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

They have to remove the CWs off of Raw. They are the 90's channel changing Diva's of wrestling today. Whenever the show comes back from commercial and I see the awful purple colors I'm either looking for the remote or just going to a different room to get away from them. For a high flying division that is supposed to generate excitement with fast faced matches they sure are boring. Put them all on 205 Live and leave them there.

 

[The Perfect Max]

Yes Raw has improved, but it's funny really when you think that actually having more than one storyline makes it an improvement over the prior product. The three or four storylines running Raw have been written and executed pretty well consecutively over the last few weeks which has definitely improved the ability to watch the show with enjoyment. I'm interested and invested in a variety of performers doing some really cool things right now, particularly Braun Strowman.

Having said that, some of Raw is still pretty poor. The Bray Wyatt vs. Seth Rollins feud, as with most Wyatt feuds, is just bizarre. What is going on with the cruiserweight division, I don't know. The women's division is admittedly getting better, and I really want to enjoy watching some of the women go at it, but they've been the victim of bad writing as of late. And the tag team division is also a bit of a mess, although Cesaro and Sheamus have impressed me, and The Hardy Boyz have been great as expected, and the matches have been hugely entertaining. Of course, I don't expect a three-hour show to be perfect any week of the year, but sometimes it really is a mess. Thankfully, these last few weeks, there has certainly been enough to actually enjoy the show as a whole. They are trying new and different things and I applaud the efforts.

Overall, I am enjoying Raw more often than I had been, which really is the main thing. The show is delivering some fun storylines at the moment and I'm just going to enjoy them.

 

[ISkye]

When the standard is completely negative in every regard it's not too hard to notice any form of improvement. Braun has been entertaining consistently for month on end now and so has The Miz, but for a couple of years. All of the stuff a majority of people enjoy currently isn't anything different or surprising. You can still predict the entire show from front end to back end and how every match goes sometimes the second you see or hear the announcement. Smackdown and Talking Smack is better than RAW by a long shot, but once again it's not that hard to be a complete negative. Smackdown isn't even that good itself, but it has enough people I've enjoyed prior and a few things that make at least half the show worth watching

 

[ShinChan]

Yes, it has improved a lot. Even better than Smackdown some times. Not to mention that the top champions on Smackdown are totally filler for me. And their booking is the same.

Raw has some multiple interesting angles going on and that's why the 3 hours aren't as hectic as they were. That's where Smackdown is lacking behind now.

 

[DaleBryan]

I thought last nights show was great as well. We had Hardys teasing going Broken (how exciting will it be once they finally do?), I really like the intertwining of adding Seth into the mix with Dean/Miz. Not really sure where that leaves Bray, does he move on to Finn? Although I gotta think Seth has to get his revenge on Bray yet as well. They could be teasing a Shield reunion, but I think I'm more into the idea of Ambrose turning heel on Seth, as I felt that they also teased that last night. One thing I wish they would have done last night was had Miz, Dallas, and Axel come out while Bray was still out there. Bo Dallas should be with Bray and not with Miz and it would have been interesting to see all of those men out there at the same time. Anyway, Happy to see Goldust get the win over Truth. Hopefully he continues his success into other feuds. Cass vs. Show gives both guys something solid to work with and seemingly the perfect opponents for each other right now.

The cruiserweight division is pretty bad, I usually fast forward through it. I also feel like the repetition between the same women's matches is becoming stale. I think Sasha deserves a solid run as she hasn't ever really held the belt for very long. I also still question what they're doing with Finn Balor. Unless him and Bray begin to feud I just don't know where he goes next. Again, I see no problem with him challenging Neville. But again that's just me.

Last night we saw Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, and Samoa Joe in the same right. That was really cool to see. I would be okay if they did Roman vs. Brock at Summerslam just to get it out of the way so we don't have to wait until Mania to see it. But the writing is on the wall and the pieces are in place to set up a HUGE fatal-4 way match at Summerslam. Braun interferes next week causing Angle to make the decision.

Also we have this Kurt Angle story that will be very interesting to see play out next week.

Needless to say, I am excited to see where things are going on Raw!

Smackdown has been a solid show since the brand split. But Jinder does absolutely nothing for me. Pretty much the same goes for Orton. So their main title has been the part of Smackdown that I'm fast forwarding through. And that should never be the case. Smackdown has the talent and pieces of the puzzle to be amazing, and I predict that they will get there, but for now Jinder is still the champ and he's feuding with Orton. Plus an awful Cena vs. Rusev feud that makes no sense.