10 Booking Decisions That Hurt Raw In 2021
Monday Night Raw has had a difficult 2021, with the overall quality of WWE's flagship show not being at its best. The red brand is typically seen as the main weekly show for the company, but it has certainly been hit and miss throughout the year, despite the fact that the roster is loaded with talent.
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WWE has all the tools to be putting on a high-quality product every week, but that hasn't been the case for Monday nights. There have been specific moments throughout the year that have hurt the show, with bad booking decisions being made that have stopped Raw from reaching its full potential.
10 The Booking Of Karrion Kross
Karrion Kross joined the main roster as the NXT Champion, which should have been a major deal. Instead, he was defeated on his first appearance on Monday Night Raw and was instantly made to look poor, which shouldn't have happened.
Since then, Kross hasn't had a single storyline and has just bounced around from match to match without any real purpose. It has been a waste of potential, especially because he could offer so much alongside Scarlett if they were booked together.
9 The Booking Of Keith Lee
Sadly, Karrion Kross isn't the only former NXT star that WWE has totally mishandled in 2021. Keith Lee has also been completely ruined by main roster booking, even though he got a hot start by feuding against Randy Orton.
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Lee was then taken off television for long periods. And whenever he returns, it has always been hit and miss with what he's done. It's a shame that he hasn't had more consistent booking because Lee has all the ability to be a main event star.
8 Randy Orton's 'Burns'
The storyline between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt dragged on for far too long on the Road To WrestleMania, to the point where people began to lose interest in things. The tipping point came when they brought fire into the mix.
The storyline went from Orton being burned and then wearing his mask to The Fiend being completely burnt to a crisp. It pushed the boat out when it comes to the 'entertainment' aspect, but that didn't mean that it was good.
7 Alexa Bliss Controls People
Alexa Bliss benefitted from working with The Fiend as her character seriously developed during their time together. However, after they split up and she began working on her own, the booking began to be a problem. Seeing her control people by using her doll, Lily, wasn't a good storyline.
It was very poor booking from WWE's perspective and it hurt Alexa overall. Seeing the likes of Shayna Baszler and Eva Marie pretend to be controlled by the doll was poor storytelling and it summed up why a lot of fans haven't been happy with the product.
6 Short Women's Matches
A big problem that WWE has had throughout 2021 on Raw is its women's division. Once again the company has fallen into the old routine of booking very short women's matches, not giving them the right amount of time to truly get over.
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Rather than giving them long enough matches to truly dedicate themselves and put together a compelling storyline, WWE has often rushed things throughout the year on Monday Night Raw. This has stopped women from getting over in the way that they should, which is why the company has relied upon the same people.
5 The Miz As A Comedy Act
One person that WWE really hasn't gotten the best out of in 2021 is The Miz. Despite the fact he had a very brief run with the WWE Championship, it wasn't a great year for him, which is mainly because WWE decided to book him as a comedic act.
The company pushed him down the route of making people laugh, being goofy and over the top, which was the wrong way to use him. Fans became very tired of his schtick prior to him going away to be part of Dancing With The Stars, and hopefully, there's a change in tone upon his return.
4 24/7 Championship Chases
Another way that WWE has hurt Monday Night Raw via its booking is with the 24/7 Championship. This title is simply causing problems for far too many wrestlers, not getting the true potential out of them with the segments that they're put in.
Seeing lots of talented Superstars spend every Monday night just sprinting after a meaningless title is a problem. WWE is using some brilliant stars in these spots such as Ricochet, and that shouldn't be the case.
3 Feuding Over A Sword
The downfall of Drew McIntyre in 2021 has been a big problem for WWE ever since he dropped the WWE Championship. However, that was never clearer than during his storyline with Jinder Mahal, which was a mess from start to finish.
The fact that their entire storyline was built around a sword summed up how poor it was. There was no reason for fans to ever truly be invested in what was happening because nobody really cared about the sword itself, which just hurt both men.
2 Retribution
It's hard to pin one specific moment where WWE went wrong with Retribution as it really was a disaster from start to finish. WWE did a terrible job booking this group, despite the fact that there was plenty of talent involved in the faction.
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Instead of creating new top-tier talents, the company booked them so poorly that nobody cared about them at all. It was a huge waste of ability and skill, with their booking just making no sense at all throughout their time together.
1 Splitting Up The Hurt Business
By far, the worst booking decision that WWE has made with the red brand this year was breaking up The Hurt Business. On Monday Night Raw, the company had finally created a top faction of heels that were unique and interesting, which led to Bobby Lashley being the WWE Champion.
It created a fantastic dynamic until the creative team decided to split them up for no reason. It left Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander in no man's land, and the fact that WWE has since brought them back together is a sign of how bad this idea was.
