WWE Raw: Burning Questions to Address After May 16 Show

WWE Creative has been scrutinized countless times over the last six months for its lackluster writing, its shoddily built story arcs and its undefined characters, leading to burning questions from both Raw and SmackDown on what seems like a weekly basis.

The Internet has become a wasteland of harsh criticisms and fantasy bookers who think they know how to compile rivalries and script shows. The writing staff can do no right, the keyboard warriors would lead you to believe.

That is, until it does.

Post-WrestleMania, WWE has come up with compelling stories and rivalries that have made the company's programming the best it has been in well over a year. An infusion of young talent, an emphasis on fresh new rivalries and a twist on the stale authority-figure element have viewers actually looking forward to the show in ways they were not as late as the build toward The Showcase of the Immortals on April 3.

The rejuvenation of Raw brings us to the first burning question coming out of the May 16 episode.

1. What Took So Long for WWE to Institute Its New Era?

Last fall, WWE was in dire straits creatively. Programming was as stale as it had ever been, with repetitive matches and uninteresting storylines that leaned heavily on the tired trope of heel authority figures. Fans had been there, done that and bought the T-shirts by the truckloads. Even as this year's WrestleMania approached, one could not help but feel underwhelmed by the product.

So why did management wait as long as it did to make the necessary changes, to realize that the same faces in the same matches simply would not cut it anymore?

Would the biggest event of the year not have benefited from the inclusion of stars like Enzo Amore and Big Cass, The Vaudevillains and Apollo Crews? Sure, Baron Corbin made his mark in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but imagine how much more effective he could have been with some actual build behind him.

The pushes for AJ Styles, Sami Zayn, Cesaro, Kevin Owens and even The Miz have all helped to freshen up a very stale, tired and monotonous product and in the process deliver some outstanding matches to an audience desperate for them.

It is just a shame that it took so long, and that WWE had to present such an underwhelming WrestleMania 32 to realize how much change needed to occur to generate excitement about the shows again.

Are Raw and SmackDown perfect? No, but one can already see that WWE Creative is investing itself in stars up and down the card rather than focusing primarily on the main event scene.

There are more stories, more colorful personalities and superb wrestling, all lending credibility to WWE's claims of a New Era.

2. Who Thought The Shining Stars Was a Good Idea?

Primo and Epico may be talented professional wrestlers, but nothing they have done and nothing WWE has put together for them has ever suggested they were anything more than an opening match team.

Here we are again, another repackaging, another push out of the gates, and the team was met with silence by fans in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Monday night.

The vignettes were uninteresting, the characters undefined. For everything that WWE Creative has done right, most of which was just covered, its continued inability to get Primo and Epico over remains evident.

From the onset, it was obvious that The Shining Stars would not work. Now, management and fans alike will sit back each week and watch the act die a slow, agonizing death while more interesting teams like Enzo and Big Cass, The Vaudevillains, The New Day, The Dudley Boyz and The Club revitalize the tag team division.

3. Can Ric Flair Just Go Away?

Monday's main event angle included a contract signing between Natalya and Charlotte for their WWE Women's Championship Submission match at Extreme Rules. While on the surface it may have looked like a great way to get exposure for the title and women's wrestling as a whole, deep down it felt like an excuse to get Ric Flair more spotlight.

The Nature Boy took center stage by the end of the segment, taking a hard slap from Stephanie McMahon and selling it as if he had been shot.

"Woooo" chants filled the arena, and Flair overpowered his daughter's presence, undermining the champion. What started as an honest attempt to get her heat has turned into a sideshow, with Flair interjecting himself in every match and even ruining what were some exceptional matches.

While it was fun at first, Flair needs to go in order to preserve the legitimacy of the women's division and his own daughter's star. As it stands now, she is entirely dependent upon him being at ringside, but she needs to grow and develop her own persona.