WWE Raw gave a glimpse into strong storytelling in professional wrestling

The December 2 episode of Monday Night Raw was certainly an event that has kept people talking. Two parts of the next major angle bookended the show, while The New Day segment in the middle was a surprising moment. Coming out of the episode, many are talking about the stories being told in WWE and this episode was a strong example that WWE can continue to tell stories well.

The show opened with an angle that involved CM Punk and Seth Rollins initially, but it would soon envelop Jey Uso and Sami Zayn before roping all the way over to SmackDown to tie into Roman Reigns. The ability to take everything that’s happened in 2024, back to Reigns’s return as the Tribal Chief, and then link it to Rollins turning on The Shield is an important moment in what comes next for all parties involved. By the end of the night, Drew McIntyre took out Zayn. That makes perfect sense because McIntyre has made it a point to target anyone who aligns themselves with Reigns.

Thrusting all these big names into the orbit of The Bloodline Angle is a smart move because it gives that story additional pathways. It also creates additional chapters to explore for these individuals, giving the WWE Creative team content to build on for months and years. This type of storytelling has been long missing in WWE, and it’s exciting to see the promotion pull this off correctly.

The New Day segment was a surprise that no one saw coming. Many were speculating that Big E would be involved, either to announce he’s medically cleared or that he’d step in as the team’s manager. But no one predicted the idea of Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston turning their back on Big E, extricating him from the group. To make the situation even more impactful, WWE did this on the same day that Big E dropped his feature piece in The Player’s Tribune, chronicling how wrestling and his relationship with Woods and Kingston may have saved his life.

The timing and delivery of this moment was successful. You can see that in the response that was happening online. Fans were taken aback at the way this was done, but they are all going to tune in next week to see how it plays out. Now, there’s no telling where this arc with The New Day is going to go, and that’s the benefit of impactful storytelling in professional wrestling.

WWE has long struggled when it comes to storytelling. The December 2 episode showed some improvements, but there’s still work to be done – particularly in the women’s division getting something this strong, but more to come there. The two big angles powering Monday Night Raw have fans invested and that’s exactly where WWE wants them as it heads into the partnership with Netflix starting in 2025.