WWE Raw: Bait and switch tactics are insulting to the WWE Universe

The June 3 edition of WWE Raw was billed as the night that Brock Lesnar, Mr. Money in the Bank, would cash in his opportunity to become the Universal Champion, but that wouldn’t come to fruition.

Last night’s WWE Raw was supposed to feature a Money in the Bank cash-in courtesy of Brock Lesnar on Universal Champion Seth Rollins, but by the time the night was over, fans quickly came to realize there was no intention of Lesnar actually cashing in at all.

This situation started when Stephanie McMahon said in the days leading up to last night’s show that Lesnar has disrespected the Money in the Bank briefcase.  It was then announced that he would be cashing in last night, so needless to say, The Architect was on edge awaiting the arrival of The Beast Incarnate.  It started on Miz TV when Rollins was The Miz’s special guest.

During the Miz TV segment, Lesnar arrived at the arena with his advocate Paul Heyman with briefcase in hand.  He teased as if he would come out as soon as he got there, but he decided to wait.  Later in the night, Rollins called out Lesnar and said if there’s any part of The Beast Incarnate left, he should come out and cash in his Money in the Bank opportunity.

Lesnar’s music hit multiple times just to tease Rollins, but Rollins’ Super ShowDown opponent Baron Corbin came out instead.  Rollins and Corbin went back and forth verbally until Corbin eventually laid out Rollins with a cheap, sneak attack.  That is when Lesnar came out and absolutely decimated the Universal Champion.  He laid him out to the point where he had to be taken out on a stretcher with part of his back bleeding and everything.

However, throughout all of that, Lesnar never cashed in and said to Heyman that he would be cashing in on Friday at Super ShowDown.  Simply put, this was a waste of time and effort from all parties involved.  This was yet another example of bait and switch tactics that the WWE has been using more and more of recently.  In fact, since WrestleMania 35, there have been two major examples of this method.

The night after WrestleMania 35 was supposed to see a title unification match between Universal Champion Seth Rollins and WWE Champion Kofi Kingston, but as we found out, the WWE never had any intentions of doing that and the match didn’t go down like anyone thought initially.  This was simply a move to create hype and ratings for a show with no real intention of going through with what was being advertised.

Then, there was last night, which was dubbed as being the night that Lesnar would cash in.  That was even said days in advance, which makes it even more of a waste.  These bait and switch tactics are insulting to the fans, there’s no other way around it.  The ratings have hit all-time lows several times over the past year or two on Raw, so this just feels like a desperate ploy to gain ratings.

Maybe that’s not the case, but if you’re going to advertise something you say will happen and it doesn’t happen, that’s wasting everyone’s time.  The fans eventually know not to buy into the hype, which doesn’t help WWE’s perception in the slightest and probably turns some fans off in the process.  The card is always subject to change, but there’s a difference between a wrestler getting hurt unexpectedly and missing a show and WWE flat out lying to the fans.

Vince and company try to build intrigue for the WWE universe, but with how they try to do it under this platform, it does more harm than good.  When fans think they’re going to see something big, only for it to never be intended to happen, that will cause certain fans to stop watching all together rather than ratings being higher.  Not to mention, Lesnar was booked to look like a fool last night, in all honesty.

He literally had Rollins stretchered out, but still didn’t cash in.  The idea is that he’s so powerful and dominant that he can cash in and take the title whenever he wants, but this completely threw the Money in the Bank precedent out the window, which could end up looking very foolish if he doesn’t successfully capture the Universal Championship.

Bait and switch might work in other businesses, but in the pro wrestling business, it’s a slap in the face to fans that are already irritated enough with the current state of the WWE.