It’s no secret that Monday Night RAW’s ratings have been on the decline in recent months.  So much so that the owner of WWE, Vince McMahon, acknowledged it and vowed for change and a better product.  Months after his announcement, I have to ask… has Monday night RAW improved?

My personal opinion… no, not really.  I thought we were going to get change?  I thought we were going to get new superstars?  I thought we were going to get a fans product?  I have to argue that none of that has come to fruition.  The WWE has been quite obsequious lately, trying to keep as many wrestlers as they can from going to AEW.

AEW is the “febreeze” of pro wrestling offering a new, fresh and clean start for a lot of wrestlers and fans.  Vince and his family promised the same thing on RAW several months ago, but at the end of the day, it’s still a very stale show in my opinion.  Very little change and the wrestlers that were brought up are being buried, with the exception of maybe Lacey Evans, who I believe they have big plans for.

We were told we would see new faces like Heavy Machinery, EC3, Lars Sullivan, Lacey Evan and Nikki Cross.  We have yet to see Lars Sullivan because of some type of health issue, and all Lacey Evans has done is walk up and down the entrance ramp. Heavy Machinery, EC3 and Nikki Cross have all been pinned in the ring and not in any important storyline or angle.

EC3 and Nikki Cross were not even on tv last week, but we saw Ricochet, D.I.Y., and Aleister Black… it’s confusing?  Don’t get me wrong I am more interested in seeing these guys opposed to the other “call ups”, but it just goes to show that the McMahon’s are not living up to what they promised.

The storylines on RAW are arbitrary at best and they need a top star.  All the wrestlers that the fans are behind right now are on Smackdown.  Becky Lynch is one of the hottest wrestlers in the company and what does Vince do?  Suspends her until after WrestleMania for no other reason than she has a bad attitude.  Seriously?  You based an entire era of your company off of bad attitudes Vince!  A very successful one at that.

Look, I get it, it’s storyline, but I hate the storyline.  Why keep her off TV?  Why not have her run rough shot through every woman on the roster.  Get her to that Stone Cold level that she is compared to.  Take away the suspension and have her earn her title shot by beating everyone in the women’s division each week.

The entire angle is confusing, one minute Becky Lynch is tapping out to Asuka, then she enters the Royal Rumble in place of Lana and wins.  I thought winning the rumble automatically earned you a title shot at WrestleMania.  Now all of a sudden it means not necessarily?  But Seth Rollins title shot is not in jeopardy, I just don’t get it?

This past Monday’s RAW crowd was pretty much silent for the entire show.  I have heard that it’s a lame town and it wasn’t a “hot bed” crowd as they say.  I just think there wasn’t much to cheer about.  No Becky Lynch, no Charlotte Flair, no Kofi Kingston, no Brock Lesnar and a main event match between Ronda Rousey and Ruby Riott… no thanks.

Rousey and Riott had a ninety second squash match the night before and now all of a sudden, we as fans, are supposed to believe that Riott is going to give Rousey a match?  C’mon WWE, you’re better than that.  This is why I can’t wait for AEW to get off the ground and start forcing WWE to be better.

I do like The Revival as tag team champions, but in typical WWE fashion they had them lose to two guys who “supposedly” are bitter rivals on NXT.  Or maybe they are friends now, I don’t really know.  All I know is WWE had its best tag team on RAW lose to two guys that are not even a tag team in NXT.

I get that Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano have been a tag team before and there is history there.  Ciampa and Gargano as D.I.Y. versus The Revival were some of the best tag team matches I’ve ever seen in NXT, but to the crowd in Lafayette Monday night, they thought of D.I.Y. as a couple of jobbers.  And those jobbers beat the world tag team champions.  It’s just lazy writing and booking in my opinion.

I would have had them put up a good fight, but have the match end in a smoz, double count out or better yet a double dis qualification.  You could of had the two teams, who absolutely hate each other, fight until the ref couldn’t keep control anymore.  That would have made both teams look strong and you would have saved your tag team champions.  But instead you have The Revival lose clean and now your tag titles have lost value that they can’t afford to lose and The Revival looks weak.

It feels and looks like they are flying by the seat of their pants when it comes to booking on RAW.  I get that it’s a three-hour show and it’s supposed to be something new every week.  That has to be hard to do, but you can’t tell me they don’t have highly paid, educated writers working on these scripts, and this is the best they can do?

There is a large pool of talent in WWE, use these men and women and book them in a manner that is at least interesting.  And for the love of anything, can we do away with scripted promos?  These wrestlers are athletes, not actors.  Put the people who can talk on the mic and give those who can’t a manager, or at least let them be mysteriously quiet.

Take Nia Jax for instance, she is very awkward on the microphone.  She a big woman and could be a monster, if they would keep her quiet and have her just go to the ring and demolish people.  But instead they have her on total divas chumming it up with everyone and put her in segments where she rarely looks strong.

You, me and all of the WWE universe were promised a better RAW.  If you are seeing something better, please point it out to me, because I am struggling to see it.  It’s WrestleMania season, and fans should be clamouring about what’s going to happen on RAW.  Unfortunately, most of us are complaining and for good reason.

WWE knows that fans will tune in because… we have for over twenty-five years.  I love wrestling but I don’t like RAW.  It’s like that friend who you will always be there for.  You love them and would do anything for them, but sometimes they get on your nerves and you just don’t like them.  And maybe you need a small break from them.  That’s how I would describe my feelings towards RAW these days.

It was announced that Roman Reigns will be making an appearance on Monday to update everyone on his health.  I am looking forward to that, and pray it’s a good prognosis.  RAW could certainly use Roman Reigns right now.  Let me know your thoughts on RAW, is it any better in your opinion?  Or are you as confused as me with the storylines?

As always thanks for checking out GoHomePWB.com, the people’s wrestling blog!