WWE Raw: 2 things that went wrong on the Oct. 11 episode

This week’s WWE Raw broadcasted from the Chase Center in San Fransisco. But unlike the hometown Golden State Warriors, the WWE didn’t give the live audience much to cheer for.

Instead, fans watched in mostly silence as the promotion filled Raw’s three-hour runtime with almost everything except wrestling. Even when fans got a chance to see some bell-to-bell action, the promotion constructed them in a way that essentially tells the fans that there’s no reason to invest the outcomes or the workrate that preceded it.

It didn’t make for a fun viewing experience. In particular, the show featured several key missteps that made watching this show feel like a homework assignment.

These are two of the things that went wrong on the Oct. 11 episode of WWE Raw.

“Will they co-exist” tag team matches

If WWE never books another tag team match where the central theme is “Will Wrestler Y and Wrestler Z co-exist?”, it will be far too soon. Unfortunately, that day may never come anyway, as the company booked TWO such tag team matches on Monday’s Raw.

The first saw SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch teamed with Raw Women’s Champ Charlotte Flair to face Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks. A clash between two pairs of WrestleMania main eventers, WWE rightfully hyped this match up through advertising and by having each wrestler cut a promo throughout the show.

And what was the fans’ reward for their anticipation? Bickering, blind tags, partners predictably turning on each other, Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville scolding the wrestlers like disappointed parents, more infighting, and, ultimately, a no-contest, that’s what.

What was the point of this? Fans already knew that these four amazing women didn’t like each other (in-storyline), so why did they need to see a tag team match to further reinforce that point? And why were Deville and Pearce so surprised that the women who want to beat each other up started beating each other up? Them booking this match, in kayfabe, instead of separate singles matches or a Fatal 4 Way makes them look like bumbling fools.

They also didn’t seem concerned about Big E and Drew McIntyre imploding in their tag match against SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos. That contest included the same “can they get along spots” from the babyfaces — who will clash for the WWE Championship at WWE’s latest Saudi Arabian government propaganda show — while also marginalizing the tag team champions (another WWE go-to when protaginists feud with one another).

Every participant named in this section is far too talented to have their work bogged down by this much overbooking. As great as it is to see these folks in the ring, there’s only so far that enthusiasm can take a person if the promotion tells you over and over that these matches are inconsequential to those wrestlers’ respective journeys.

So many short matches (especially with the women)

When you take out the two King of the Ring quarterfinal matches and the tag team main event, no match on Monday’s Raw lasted past the five-minute mark. Once you remove the bicker-fest of a women’s tag team match, you’ll see that none of the remaining bouts lasted longer than three. Worse yet, those non-KOTR and non-“will they work together?” matches combined to take up 10 minutes and six seconds of ring time on a three-hour television show.

Now, you could argue that Shayna Baszler vs. Dana Brooke lasting less than two minutes is fine gives where both are in the pecking order (of course, not booking Baszler vs. Brooke in a tournament match was also an option). You could even argue that Omos vs. Riddle going 2:30 wasn’t terrible given Omos’ limitations as a wrestler (though I’d argue that WWE shouldn’t have booked the match in the first place).

But for Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Theory, Natalya vs. (sigh) Doudrop (by the way, having [sigh] Doudrop beat Natalya with a rollup isn’t going to convince fans that she can beat Baszler), and Mustafa Ali and Mansoor vs. The Hurt Business, there’s no excuse. It’s particularly disappointing to see the women receive so little time, as it harkens back to the darkest days of the Divas era.

No one is saying that every match needs to last for at least 10 minutes, but ona show as long as Raw is, WWE can surely find more than 2-3 minutes for these wrestlers.