WWE Raw: Monday Nights Suffering From Lack Of Star Power

WWE Raw has been the flagship show of the WWE since its inception back in 1993 and has provided the WWE universe with some of the greatest moments in company history.

It might be the flagship show, but WWE Raw hasn’t been anything close to that in terms of its product as of late with fans growing restless of its often times boring and stale state of affairs.

The booking is probably the single biggest factor of this downfall, but another factor has been rearing its ugly head lately as well.  Maybe the booking is the sole blame, but what doesn’t help matters is the lack of star power the red brand has had lately.

Just think about it, when you watch Raw, would you rather see The Revival lose in ridiculous fashion to The Lucha House Party, or would you rather see top stars?  It’s common sense, but unfortunately, the stars just aren’t aligning for the red brand these days, literally and figuratively.

The first major blow came when Roman Reigns was forced to relinquish the Universal Championship due to a battle with Leukemia.   For as many fans that claim they hate The Big Dog, his presence on Raw helps the show out immensely.

Not having Reigns on TV for the foreseeable future is a big blow to Monday nights, there’s no denying it.  Whether you boo or cheer him, Reigns helps make things interesting on a weekly basis.  Not only that, but he was drastically helping the nearly dilapidated Universal Championship at the same time.

However, now the title is back in the hands of the part-timing Brock Lesnar, who is rarely ever on TV.  Which brings us to another example of star power lacking on Monday nights.  Lesnar not being on TV more than once every couple of months hurts Raw as well, but unlike other times he has been off of TV for extended periods of time, this time there aren’t as many other stars to help carry the load.

Another major blow to Raw’s recent star power quantity is Braun Strowman.  The Monster Among Men was riding high in position to potentially capture the Universal Championship, but he has since fallen victim to the injury bug and will be out of action for the foreseeable future.  He was scheduled to compete at the upcoming TLC pay-per-view, but that is all but certainly off the table at this point.

Strowman is already missed given the recent trend of boring Raw’s and it’s affecting the red brand already.  There are several other key talents missing from the Raw roster at the moment as well, such as Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Bray Wyatt, and Jason Jordan.  Injuries and time away from the company are nothing new, but given the current state of the Raw roster, it feels like every absence gets bigger.

John Cena has also been away for quite some time now and even though his days as a full-time workhorse are over with, having him on Raw makes things much more interesting.  There is still quality talent on Monday nights, and the feud between Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose is holding its own, but outside of that, there’s really nothing that stands out in the grand scheme of things.

Ronda Rousey and the rest of the women’s division is going smoothly, but there’s only so much the WWE is willing to do in terms of getting every woman quality TV time.

You would think this lack of star power would make the WWE try harder to hide it in terms of how the show is booked, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth as of late.

It almost feels like a chore to watch WWE Raw these days and it’s hard to differentiate the show on a week to week basis.  The booking has to get better and it has to start making fans want to tune in, or else those record-low TV ratings could get even worse.

But to help things out even more, the red brand needs more star power and key injuries to heal, and it needs it as soon as possible before things take an even bigger turn for the worse.