WWE Raw: Burning Questions to Address After December 21 Show

The December 21 episode of Raw may have been cloaked in grandeur and glitz as the special Slammy episode of WWE's flagship show, but beneath the bright lights and gold statues rested a show that killed any and all momentum the company had built over the last week.

Roman Reigns was essentially shoved to the background in favor of an awards show where half of the winners did not bother to show up. Having the WWE world heavyweight champion and the babyface the show should be structured around walk off to end the first segment and not return until the closing moments of the main event is hardly how one would maximize his usage.

Then there were the actual Slammy Awards themselves, which often make for one of the worst shows of the year. Taking time away from the ring and compelling storylines to try to be funny or topical never works, and that was again the case Monday night.

And finally, there was the return of Seth Rollins as he hobbled to the podium to accept his award for Superstar of the Year. While it was nice to see a winner actually pick up his award, it feels as if a major storyline development was missed by having the former WWE champion accept his prize in person.

All three of those topics have led to burning questions in the wake of Monday's show, questions that can, and will, have both long-term and short-term effects on WWE programming.

1. After Finally Building Roman Reigns into an Accepted Babyface, Why Shove Him to the Background?

One of the biggest issues facing Reigns was the fans' willingness to accept him as a babyface. So one week after WWE finally achieved that through some stellar booking, why would it shove him into the background to suit its faux awards show?

It was a development that could have hurt the character significantly had it not been for the masterful heel performance of Stephanie McMahon, who knows how to work the crowd just like her father and was spectacular in convincing the fans in Minnesota to get behind Reigns early in the broadcast. 

Without that segment, the new champion would have been ice-cold when he came through the crowd to assist Dean Ambrose later in the night, something that could have halted any and all momentum he had built over the last seven days.

To assume Reigns is somehow bulletproof now that he is champion would be a monumental mistake on the part of WWE Creative, one that it simply cannot afford to make at this point—especially if Reigns is counted on to take part in one of the main events of the rapidly approaching WrestleMania.

2. Why Waste an Entire Episode of Raw on the Slammy Awards?

The Slammy Awards episode of Raw is traditionally one of the worst shows of the year. WWE tries to be too cute, to pat itself on the back with some grand awards show when the audience really just wants to see wrestling.

Monday night, the flow of the show was hurt severely by WWE's insistence in presenting meaningless awards to people who could not even be bothered to show up and accept their trophies. It was a monumental waste of time that could have been used to better tell the stories of Reigns, The League of Nations, Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler and Ambrose.

Going forward, WWE must consider throwing the Slammys on its revolutionary network rather than taking a week off to present them, with the odd wrestling match thrown in for good measure. Otherwise, it will hit the same roadblock every December, at a time when the march to the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania should be in full effect.

3. Why Was Seth Rollins Brought Back So Early?

The return of Rollins should have been a big deal. It should have been saved for a meaningful episode of Raw or a major pay-per-view event. He should have been greeted with one of the biggest pops of his career.

Instead, he was trotted out on a pair of crutches, his knee still recovering from being torn apart back in October. And why was such as return hot-shotted to a meaningless episode of Raw in December?

So he could accept an award that has no prestige whatsoever.

WWE wasted a major occurrence on a throwaway segment that no one outside of the Rollins fangirls who populate Twitter will remember past Wednesday. It sacrificed a defining moment for a hashtag and some cheap buzz that could have been accomplished any number of other ways.

It was a disappointing flub on the part of a writing staff that earned goodwill for its contributions seven days ago.