WWE Raw: Burning Questions to Address After Sept. 19 Show

Rather than create intrigue about Clash of Champions, WWE Raw generated a stockpile of questions about the company's storytelling.

The final Raw before the Sept. 25 pay-per-view left the audience wondering why WWE is intent on showcasing Mick Foley and Stephanie McMahon, the show's general manager and commissioner, respectively. There remains confusion about Triple H's involvement in Kevin Owens' coronation and muddled narratives in the tag team division.

Why isn't Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson chasing The New Day's tag titles more interesting? Why is WWE wasting The Realest Guys in the Room on The Shining Stars?

Those are among the questions left floating around after Raw came to a close in Memphis, Tennessee, on Monday night.

Where Is Triple H?

The man who set everything in motion has disappeared.

Triple H attacked Seth Rollins three weeks back, opening the door for Owens to win the WWE Universal Championship. Why The Game attacked his former protege and what his relationship is with the current champ is anyone's guess.

In fact, that's what the narrative has been reduced to—guessing.

McMahon told Rollins on Monday's Raw that she didn't know what compelled her husband to do what he did, but she did offer some educated guesses.

WWE has chosen to leave The Game's intentions a mystery rather than milk the drama of the situation. The delay, as Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet pointed out, has not made for compelling TV:

The company may be waiting for Clash of Champions to have Triple H leap back into this story, but the audience is going to need more of an explanation about what's going on to care.

Will the Cruiserweights Continue to Stand in the Spotlight?

Even on a night when Rollins leaped off the top of a steel cage, the arrival of the cruiserweight division was the most thrilling part of Monday's Raw.

Brian Kendrick outlasted Rich Swann, Gran Metalik and Cedric Alexander in a Fatal 4-Way match to decide who would first challenge T.J. Perkins for the brand-new Cruiserweight Championship. WWE brought them all aboard after they all impressed in the Cruiserweight Classic tournament over the past two months.

On night one, the high-flyers had plenty of airtime.

The four-way battle was the longest match of the night at just over 15 minutes, per CageMatch.net. WWE also introduced the cruiserweights in two video packages.

Is that an indication of where they fit into the WWE hierarchy, or was that a result of it being their welcoming party? 

WWE has struggled when trying to balance its midcard acts with its headliners or attempting to incorporate the tag team and women's divisions. The cruiserweights are set to add a number of new names, including Jack Gallagher and Lince Dorado.

Introducing all of them while continuing to tell all of Raw's other stories will be tough. As exciting as it was to see Swann soar and Alexander flourish on Monday, one has to temper expectations. WWE being able to harness the potential of the cruiserweight division is no safe bet.

How Does WWE Fix the Tag Team Scene?

The New Day is set to face The Club at Clash of Champions for the tag team titles. The Shining Stars have been clashing with Enzo Amore and Big Cass for weeks.

Neither rivalry has any juice.

And rather than increase the hype around the Tag Team Championships on Monday's Raw, WWE slapped too many stories together. The New Day joined forces with Sami Zayn, Amore and Cass against The Club, The Shining Stars and Chris Jericho.

The three feuds taking up the same stage didn't work. An underwhelming segment preceded what Kyle Fowle of the A.V. Club called "a throwaway 10-man tag match."

The New Day has been in need of a quality rival squad for a long time. Gallows and Anderson looked primed to fit that role, but their pursuit of the champs has been a bust.

Too much bad comedy early on held the story back. A lack of clarity is now getting in the way. What are The Club's issues with The New Day? What have the heels done to earn their title shot?

These kinds of unanswered questions have hurt the feud. 

The Shining Stars' shtick isn't clicking, either. Who would have thought that wrestlers trying to sell Caribbean timeshares wouldn't work?

Amore and Cass are being wasted against them.

WWE must turn up the intensity between The Club and The New Day to boost that angle. As for Amore and Cass, they are currently the victims of a thin tag division post-draft.

Raw should consider trading for The Vaudevillains or Breezango to give WWE Creative more options when it comes to tag team wrestling on Monday nights.

When Will WWE Learn to Scale Back Its Use of Authority Figures?

Raw is reverting back to its stagnant recent past. Too much time is being dedicated to showing off the turmoil involving the show's management. Authority figures remain too high a priority.

The energy WWE created by crowning Owens the universal champion is starting to fade. Blame Raw for focusing too much on its bosses rather than the titleholder himself. 

As Kate Foray pointed out on the Raw Breakdown Project, Foley appeared six times during the show on Monday night, and McMahon popped up three times. 

The camera pointed at Raw's GM more than it did its top titleholder. The authority figure-heavy 10-minute opening promo was nearly as long as the entire women's division total airtime (15:49). 

That can't continue. It creates an imbalanced, boring show. But WWE doesn't seem to realize that.

Last week's Raw fell to a 1.88 rating, continuing four straight weeks of viewership decline, per James Caldwell of PWTorch. Pulling out the same old playbook each Monday is not the way to curb that drop.

WWE has to push Foley, McMahon and all the tired family drama to the background and let the wrestlers take center stage.