Can Monday Night Raw Break The Losing Streak

So, Monday Night Raw is on a losing streak like a sports team to some extent. It has been 5 weeks in a row of pretty below average stuff. They head in to Chicago at this point, so for that crowd alone it should at least make this show interesting. Let’s state the obvious they will chant C.M Punk and he will not be there. Some odd rumors about a Punk return based on some WWE Studios film that Punk was in as the genius for this misguided rumor. Punk was also in a cartoon style move with the Flintstones in which he was pegged to be the main character. This not unlike the cartoon film John Cena was in for Scooby Doo that came out earlier in the year. That has been scraped apparently. This second film was done in 2012 apparently.

Punk and WWE have been in legal battles over his use in the WWE 2K15 video game and WWE has scrapped all C.M Punk merchandise. The one thing we can safely say is C.M Punk will not be on show tonight.This despite Stephanie McMahon's "Who knows what the future holds" in reference to a Punk return to the WWE on WGN television this morning here is a link to the video.

Need a reminder of why this is not happening:


Who will be on the show is A.J Lee the wife of the best in the world. She is involved in a very strange divas division in which she continues to feud with Paige but seems to have an angle in waiting with Stephanie. The Bella mess seems to have been separated from this feud for A.J after it was strangely inserted into her feud with Paige. None of it makes a lot of sense and you can bet all the WWE Divas are in for a long night with a vocal Chicago crowd that likely isn’t all that invested in them. Shockingly I do not think Chicago will care about twin sisters feuding over their last name.

Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman and Bray Wyatt all were noticeably absent from television last week. We have been given no explanation as to the future plans for the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. There are some balls in the air with Seth Rollins having attacked Brock and attempted to cash in only to be cut off by John Cena. This would logically seem like it would cause friction between Brock along with Heyman with the Authority. Brock is based on rumors not going to be appearing on the Hell in the Cell event.

Bray Wyatt is a different matter, as it seems he has fallen out of favor with WWE. He seems to have no one to feud with so much so that he was left off the Night of Champions show. Is it too soon to press the panic button for the Wyatt Family and Bray specifically? Perhaps it is but things are not looking good for him. Amazing how that John Cena rub of a feud and a Wrestlemania match has not gotten him over. This is said very sarcastically, as his only win in the feud came thanks to a singing child in a steel cage match. This followed by a much anticipated but falling flat feud with Chris Jericho. The only thing that they haven’t managed to screw up is his entrance.

Dean Ambrose and John Cena seem to be tied together in both wanting to get the right to beat-up Seth Rollins. It has led to a strange rumor for Hell in the Cell in which Cena will face Ambrose and the winner gets Rollins in the main event in Hell in the Cell. The loser gets Randy Orton as a consolation prize. Such a concept even being considered speaks to the lack of depth on the roster right now. Actually it speaks more to how little the WWE maximizing the talent they have as they have dropped the ball with guys like Ziggler, Cesaro, Bo Dallas and others who could be stepping up in a time such as this but have not been booked properly to be taken seriously in larger roles currently.

Speaking of Ziggler I assume his feud with The Miz will continue. Many people seem to like it; I however am not among them. The Miz gimmick that now includes Damien Sandow as his understudy or stunt double. It all is total silliness in my opinion but if people can like something on Raw hang on to it tightly. Another feud that I am actually digging is the Cesaro and Sheamus feud that has been some hard hitting snug wrestling at its finest. Yes, I am enjoying Sheamus in a feud, which is amazing. The reason why is it is not Sheamus trying to be funny. This is why I do not like the Ziggler against Miz feud. I am all for having comedy in wrestling if it is actually done well.

There will be some other stuff as well likely some re-runs from Smackdown like the Big Show and Rusev perhaps and maybe will get another Uso and Dust brothers dust up. My level of believing in Raw doing something unique and entertaining is reaching dramatically low levels. I can see myself ducking in and out of Raw to catch up on Media Day around the NBA and here in Toronto. Never fear though I am not going to jump back to my past of covering the Raptors. I have committed to wrestling and the WWE is doing their best to want me to have me commit myself to a rubber room on Monday nights of late.

At least the people of Chicago will make it interesting. Pretty sad when you go into a show expecting the audience to provide more highlights than the show itself. Oh, I almost forgot the Hulkster might be making an appearance. Yeah so, as I said the crowd will be providing most of the entertainment. Hogan will just be focused on remembering what arena and city he is in which will be his challenge brother!!!

We can always hope Raw surprises us but I wouldn’t hold my breath in anticipation of that.  How they handle the whole Punk matter will be interesting as last time they faked a Punk return only to have Paul Heyman come out and cut a fantastic promo. I highly doubt we hear any Cult of Personality on this show unless A.J decides to come out to it.

Will it be six weeks in a row of Raw just lowering the bar to levels that we actually are invested in knowing who that dame bunny is. Wait a second we already are doing that so never mind.

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