Monday Night RAW December 30, 2019 ended the 2010s in the absolute most WWE way possible.
If you don’t know, well let me painfully relive the segment.
We all know the hot mess of an angle between Lana, Rusev, and Lashley has been raging through the WWE for the majority of the fall. Hell, it feels like two years at this point.
The final RAW of 2019/final RAW of the decade, of course, culminated with the climax of the feud — the wedding of Lana and Lashley. If you were surprised they were going this far with the angle then you’ve not been paying attention to WWE since Vince McMahon took over from his father. OF COURSE, they’re doing a wedding. We have a wedding angle every few years on RAW.
Now with wedding angles — whether it be Daniel Bryan and AJ Lee, Billy and Chuck, Stephanie McMahon and Test, or Kane and Lita — it always ends the same. There’s always some sort of shenanigans that leads to the wedding not actually happening. Whether it’s a run in, a surprise video, or whatever — the wedding never actually happens.
When Lana and Lashley got into the ring and you saw the enormous cake, we all knew someone was in the cake. That someone was obviously Rusev.
However, there was a lot more, and a lot worse that happened during this wedding than usual for an angle of this magnitude in the WWE.
Now, if you think I’m going to rail against the use of Liv Morgan as an objector to the wedding, you’d be sorta right. With the entire build of the “return” and “rebirth” of Liv Morgan, this was not what I was expecting. Credit WWE for actually surprising the audience with Liv’s return as Lana’s former (?) love interest. The deluge of Liv/Lana photos on social media that are happening right now to build “the layers” of this storyline feel a bit forced, but again WWE credit for putting the work in to sell the angle.
The problem I have with Liv’s inclusion in the angle is that I don’t think this was done for anything more than shock value. This whole angle felt like it was ripped directly from an early 2000s episode of RAW, where sexuality was used as shock value, comedy, or cheap titillation. The fact the men in the audience definitely were giving this angle old Daniel Bryan “YES” chant was embarrassing. Are we really that unevolved? Are we really into some sort of flimsy Cinemax fantasy angle? Come on. Can’t say I was overly proud of being a dude at that moment.
Do I think Liv’s going to have a spot at the top of the card in this angle? I honestly don’t…because I don’t think anyone’s clamoring to have Lana in the ring. Could this lead to a mixed tag match, and then Liv slowly fades back down the card? More than likely. Hopefully, I’m wrong and this angle somehow catapults Liv into a more prominent role in the women’s division as she’s massively improved from her days as the cannon fodder of The Riott Squad.
What was God awful about this segment was the fact it was like a 20+ minute segment dominated by Lana once again fumbling through her lines. It was painfully awkward. It was done right shredding the nerves listening to Lana just be God awful again. Do I admire how much energy and passion she puts into her performance? Of course. But, holy smokes remember what you have to say. Lashley, to no one’s surprise, was stiffer than cardboard up there. Then came the requisite objections, all of which were God damn terrible. I will give “Lashley’s first wife” (Karissa Rivera) major credit for taking a hellacious bump.
Also, the amount of missed shots, bad timing, the horrible officiant, the commentary — light me on fire it was bad. Don’t believe me about the production and timing? Look at how bad the Rusev reveal was. That was inexcusably bad production work. Also, let’s talk about how Rusev who was so happy to ditch Lana is now ruining her wedding. Like Matt McCarthy jokes about on the We Watch Wrestling podcast, “Vince is taking us for a ride!” A ride straight to hell.
And the shame of this entire absurd angle, and let’s face it, it’s God damn absurd is that it detracted from a fairly decent episode of Monday Night RAW. The OC vs. Street Profits, Buddy Murphy vs. Aleister Black, Charlotte vs. Natalya, and Ricochet vs. Andrade were all really strong wrestling matches.
But, WWE ended this episode the way they want. They “make movies” and are about sports entertainment, and so it was fitting they ended the final RAW of the decade with an over the top, ridiculous, and controversial angle. Yes, we’re all talking about it, and I’m sure the social media buzz will be there, and in the end that’s what matters to WWE.
So, here’s to 2020. Let’s hope for more great stuff that we saw in 2020 like the Becky/Ronda/Charlotte feud, Walter vs. Tyler Bate at UK: Takeover, pretty much anything from NXT, and Kofi Kingston’s run.
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