During last summer’s major political party conventions in the United States for the Democratic and Republican parties some observers noted, that in the age of COVID where social distancing and virtual meetings are the norm, it may be high time to do away with big, rambunctious public gatherings in favor of online content more easily digestible at one’s leisure.
My view is Monday Night RAW is rapidly transitioning into a show that fits that format. But also another observation is the concept of bringing former wrestlers and personalities back on RAW.
Watching the much vaunted “Legends Night” this week, at times most of it was whitewash and throughout the long, three hour show, only some segments were worthy of attention for the average wrestling connoisseur. Here are some of my picks for what stood out positively on this past Monday’s RAW.
Randy Orton smacking down Legends
Unlike the recent re-run as the Legend Killer over the spring and summer, Orton’s assaults this time were of a more verbal nature, but just as stinging. When you can basically force down big dudes like Big Show and Mark Henry into literal submission and talk down Ric Flair, you either reinforce or establish your profile. In Orton’s case, being the vicious heel is Randy’s natural self…and sometimes that is enough.
Speaking of Ric Flair….
Is Flair now so old he can’t tell which blonde is his daughter?
The Nature Boy came out during the tag match between Charlotte Flair / Asuka and the random team of Peyton Royce and Lacey Evans. During the match, it seems Lacey, who was booked last year as a devoted mother, was hitting up Flair the way a southern debutante was going full sugar daddy on some rich property owner.
The match ended with Flair inadvertently tripping the leg of his own daughter, apparently mistaking her for Lacey, which allowed Royce of all people to roll up the Queen for a pinfall victory. I mean, this is one of the greatest to ever step foot in the squared circle. To see Flair make such a simple mistake was baffling for someone who built his reputation on being “the dirtiest player in the game”.
The only saving grace was giving us the segment of Charlotte staring down her dad like he was a small child and kicking him out (again)…at least from being at ringside with her.
Last minute changes led to confusing ending of RAW
Drew McIntrye managed to successfully defend his WWE Championship against a very game Keith Lee in the closing match on RAW, but what happened after that is the obvious setup for Drew’s next title match at the Royal Rumble.
As McIntyre celebrated in the ring, WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg emerged and lambasted the Scottish Psychopath for ‘disrespecting’ the legends and said, as a legend, he was going to defeat him for the title. McIntyre then went on to pile on insult to ‘injury’ by insinuating that to fight Goldberg would be like fighting “his own dad”. The segment ended with Goldberg shoving Drew to the mat as the show went off the air.
But according to What Culture Wrestling, that was not the original plan on how the Goldberg/McIntyre segment was supposed to unfold. Originally, Drew was to have said something in a post match promo that prompted Goldberg to come out and lay down his challenge.
However, the match lasted longer than anticipated and the champion had to cut his segment short, without saying anything that would have prompted Goldberg, or anyone, from coming out. Hence the sudden ending of the show after Goldberg made contact with Drew.
Does anyone even know why they decided to do ‘Legends Night’ on RAW, other than it being the first RAW of 2021. They seriously didn’t have enough of a current roster to do a quality show for Monday? It’s like the random ‘RAW reunion’ they had some while back; a smattering of past personalities and competitors coming back on the show…for reasons that were never clearly defined.
Perhaps it’s high time to ‘retire’ RAW episodes featuring legends, with all due respect.
An average professional doing the 9-5 grind who really loves wrestling across all platforms. Here's hoping wrestlers finally get some basic workers rights in 2021.
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