WWE Raw: Burning Questions to Address After March 28 Show

There are many burning questions in need of addressing coming out of the March 28 episode of WWE Raw, and that is not a particularly great place for the company to be in considering its monumental WrestleMania 32 is upcoming this Sunday night.

From the titanic clash between Roman Reigns and Triple H over the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, all the way down to the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal that will presumably start the night's festivities on the Kickoff Show, the card for this Sunday's Showcase of the Immortals has been woefully underdeveloped. 

But so were the segments that occurred on Raw. That they featured angles and revelations that point toward WWE's seeming disconnect with its audience, its complete and utter tone deafness, suggests that the company either is telling its stories to spite the audience or, worse yet, is completely ignorant to the reactions of their fans.

Whatever the case may be, it is difficult to remember a WrestleMania in recent memory less anticipated than this one.

Monday's broadcast, which did some things well and many not, did not help matters.

Neither do these two questions facing the company in the wake of another unsatisfactory Raw.

1. Is This the Most Tone-Deaf WrestleMania Ever?

Credit: WWE.com

It certainly seems that way.

The stubbornness in regards to Roman Reigns' push and the complete rejection of him by fans in the role of franchise babyface will one day be looked back upon as the definitive element of this year's march to WrestleMania. The fact that the company had the opportunity to alter plans but stayed the course, despite the clear disdain for the undefined character that the fans have expressed, is damning evidence to the contrary of its insistence that it listens to its fans. 

Add to that the revelation of Eva Marie as the fifth member of Team Total Divas and the use of the midcard talent, and you have the perfect recipe for a show that, while it is likely to be great, is defiant in the face of fan backlash.

With every passing week, it is as if Vince McMahon knows exactly what the fans want but is so set in his ways that he relishes in the idea of sticking it to them. Like, if he shoves it down the throats of the masses for long enough, he will somehow make it work.

That was the case with John Cena. Despite the pockets of fans that still boo him heavily, they have more or less accepted the character. But after a decade of watching that same character go undeveloped, there is no way the audience is willing to sit back and watch it happen against Reigns.

In a day and age where fans have been enlightened to extraordinarily talented women's wrestlers via NXT and the Four Horsewomen, it is unfathomable that the company could trot Eva Marie out as a babyface and expect people to cheer her. The character works so well in NXT because she believes she is better than she actually is. 

Her status as a reality show star does not translate to fans cheering her.

And then there is the wealth of talent trapped in the midcard, guys like Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler and Kevin Owens who deserve to do so much more meaningful things but are stuck in a ladder match that had zero hype aside from the same six-man tag team match we have witnessed on a seemingly weekly basis for the last year.

Never before has so much animosity been built up through a blatant disregard for what the fans have to say—not to mention prior to a show as important as WrestleMania.

2. Is This the Most Underdeveloped Undercard in WrestleMania History? 

Credit: WWE.com

Monday night featured what was, perhaps, the worst final build to a series of undercard matches in WWE history.

United States champion Kalisto and Ryback hyped their title match on Sunday's broadcast by...standing face-to-chest and staring at each other. Six of the seven guys involved in the ladder match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship battled in a tag match that did nothing to make anyone want to see them throw caution to the wind in such a breathtaking gimmick match, let alone explore the issues between the Superstars.

Then there was the build for the Triple Threat match for the Divas Championship, which featured Ric Flair getting involved in one of his daughter's matches for the umpteenth time and costing her opponent a victory in the same repetitive bit of booking we have been exposed to for months now.

Factor in the Divas tag bout, which was born of a conflict between Brie Bella and Lana that has never been thoroughly explained, and a feud between The Usos and Dudley Boyz that lost focus somewhere around the heel turn that necessitated it, and the undercard is a jungle of mismanagement and disappointment.