Here’s What It’s Like to Go to Monday Night Raw

My wife and I took in Monday Night Raw earlier this week at the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. Earlier this year we were at the post-Wrestlemania episode as well so it was a nice change of pace to go to a regular show instead of that madhouse all over again.

The doors opened at 6:15 (scheduled to open at 6:00) and the place was disturbingly empty to start. The cheapest seats in the house were mostly tarped off but it wasn’t a huge portion of the arena.

(Arena before the show)

At around 7:25, we saw a long package on Wrestlemania XXXII with each match shown (out of order for some reason). You would think they would have something other than Wrestlemania by this point but that’s what they’re still sticking with for some reason.

Superstars started at about 7:35 and had two matches.

1. Sami Zayn b. Curtis Axel at 4:38 with the Helluva Kick. Zayn was the perfect choice to start a show as that music is infectious and makes you want to have a good time. The crowd was red hot to start and it carried through most of the show.

2. Neville b. Jinder Mahal in 8:27 with the Red Arrow. This was longer than it should have been and Mahal is still nothing more than a warm body in the ring. Neville’s flips are still amazing to see and they kept the fans fired up but it would have been a good idea to save either Neville or Zayn for a pick up during the middle of Raw.

Rusev came out before Raw started and yelled about how last night’s title change was a joke. The ring crew wasn’t done changing the Superstars set yet so Rusev yelled at them as well. It was some of his better talking and makes me wonder how much damage is done when he’s heavily produced.

The arena was mostly full by the time the show started. There were empty seats on the hard camera side but that happens at almost every show.

The opener was much longer than I was expecting but the crowd stayed hot throughout, which you almost never see for a match that long. Reigns was getting some good reactions from the crowd and a lot of it might have to do with him moving to the midcard. It’s a lot easier to deal with him when he’s not being shoved into the main event no matter what reactions he receives.

The fans weren’t happy about Cesaro and Sheamus being announced as a tag team.

New Day got a strong reaction, as you would expect. The near falls had the fans believing a title change was possible and the match kept the energy going again.

Then it all came crashing down. The Stephanie McMahon/Mick Foley segment was horrible and killed almost everything the show had built up to that point. It was just her yelling at Foley for almost three minutes with Foley looking like a scared child. The show never recovered after this and you could feel the crowd deflate as the show went on.

The following cruiserweight tag didn’t help things either. This continues the main problem with the division as a whole: the fans have no reason to care about these people and really don’t know who they are. Cedric Alexander and Rich Swann got an insert promo during their entrances but we didn’t see it in the arena. This was the match where a lot of people left for popcorn and the people who stayed in their seats didn’t seem interested. The wrestling was fine but it was just four guys doing moves to each other until a team won.

Sheamus and Cesaro competing for the fans’ reactions helped a lot, as is often the case when you directly address the audience. The competing continued as they went up the ramp and drowned out a lot of TJ Perkins’ promo.

The fans weren’t happy about Charlotte saying she would face Sasha Banks next week, which is proof that simple heel psychology still works.

The second cruiserweight match wasn’t exactly well received either as the fans spent the match chanting for Harambe (the gorilla who was killed in the Cincinnati Zoo), CM Punk and Randy Savage. Again, good wrestling but the fans didn’t care because we don’t have much of a reason to care. It’s also surprising how long it takes to change the ring ropes to the purple for the cruiserweight matches (they’re covered in purple tape, which is removed after the match).

Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel picked things up a lot with the List of Jericho getting great reactions. Kevin Owens teasing Dean Ambrose had the crowd wondering why Ambrose wasn’t on the show and had me wondering why so many people came to Raw not knowing how the Brand Split worked. Enzo and Cass got the reaction you would expect as they’re still two of the most over members of the roster.

(Zayn, Amore and Big Cass celebrate to end the show)

After the show ended, Zayn came out to save Amore from a further beatdown and posed to close out the night. There was no dark match, which was advertised as Reigns/Amore/Big Cass vs. Jericho/Owens/Rusev.

Overall it was a fun night but as has been said by so many fans, the show is too long. Adding in the extra half hour of Superstars and the overrun, we were there for the better part of four hours. That’s just too much for a regular night of wrestling, which often explains why the fans are so burned out on any given episode of Raw.