Red Brand Fails to Deliver with Money in the Bank Hype and More WWE Raw Fallout

If you thought Raw was mediocre last week, the creative staff behind WWE's most celebrated weekly television show somehow found a way to make Monday's broadcast that much duller.

Not even the contract signing between Seth Rollins and AJ Styles to cap off the show was enough to drag it out of the doldrums, leading to a missed opportunity to leave a lasting impact on fans as the company prepares for Money in the Bank on May 19.

Dive deeper into the company's creative misstep and the other takeaways from Monday's broadcast with this recap of the April 29 show.

Lack of Spark Leads to Pedestrian Show as Money in the Bank Draws Near

AJ Styles delivered a Phenomenal Forearm to Seth Rollins, driving the universal champion through a table to cap off the show. The brand's four participants for both the men's and women's ladder matches at Money in the Bank were announced. The Miz and Shane McMahon continued their feud.

Yet, despite all of that, Raw still felt flat and unenergetic.

Those are two adjectives that have come to define the red brand in this era of WWE programming. A lack of urgency, too much of the same and uninteresting creative have plagued the flagship show and taken it from "must-see" to "I'll check it out eventually" television.

Monday's show was a slow, steady show that featured the feuds Raw wants to highlight en route to Money in the Bank but failed miserably in giving fans a reason to care about any of them.

There was the tired pull-apart brawl, the contract signing that ended with a table spot and the booking of a pay-per-view gimmick bout on a show already jam-packed with them.

At a time when the creative team should be experimenting, coming up with new and interesting in the wake of the Superstar Shake-up, the only thing fresh about the show is a few of the faces that have not been on the red brand in a while.

Otherwise, everything and everyone feels interchangeable.

That is not at all the reputation the most storied show in WWE history wants to earn, or can afford to, this soon after WrestleMania. 

Women's Ladder Match Field Highlights Lack of Depth in Raw Division

Three of the four women who will represent Raw in the Money in the Bank Ladder match on May 19 are former champions. Naomi, Natalya and Alexa Bliss have all held multiple championships in WWE, while the fourth, Dana Brooke, has shown great promise in recent months.

Still, one cannot help but point out how lacking the women's roster on Monday nights is.

This is a division that once touted the likes of Charlotte Flair, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Nia Jax and the recently departed Ronda Rousey.

Now, it has Becky Lynch at the forefront as champion, an untested Lacey Evans and the aforementioned crop of talent that is mostly underwritten.

Bliss is one exception, a true heel who has competed in some of the highest profile women's bouts of the last two years. In fact, if one had to choose a potential Raw winner, she is the only realistic one.

That is more of an indictment on the writing team for doing nothing of note with Naomi over the last two years, for wasting Dana Brooke's potential, and for booking Nattie as a sidekick for too long.

Let the Burial Commence

Earlier Monday, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com reported The Revival's Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder had been offered lucrative contract offers from WWE but were yet to accept. It was a report careful not to say they had declined the offers, but Monday's booking sure made it feel that way.

First, the former Raw tag team champions were caught in the showers, where Wilder shaved his partner's back. Then, the duo went to the squared circle and lost, again, to current titleholders Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins.

Chants of "shave your backs" rained down from the stands, threatening the no-nonsense demeanor of the throwback tandem.

As if it was not bad enough that the self-proclaimed "Top Guys" had been beaten down and de-legitimized over the years by booking that was, to put it lightly, less than stellar. Once a tag team that many believed would spark a revolution in that division, they are now just two guys being poked fun at and beaten into mediocrity with every passing week.

Firefly Funhouse Makes for Highlight of the Night

The best thing Raw has done post-WrestleMania is the reintroduction of Bray Wyatt in the Firefly Funhouse vignettes.

Yes, it is only two weeks in and there is plenty of time for the writing staff to screw things up, but Wyatt has been nothing short of extraordinary in the brief glimpse of the fresh character we have seen to this point.

The former WWE champion has flirted the line of good taste, using the role of a Mr. Rogers-esque kids show host to bring about what he swears is a change of heart. Yet just beneath the surface, it is obvious the dark cult leader is still there, as evidenced Monday by his emphasis on the audience following him.

The twisted brilliance of the vignettes has been a welcome change, the lone spark of life in an otherwise dull and uneventful product.

Of course, the question will be whether or not Wyatt can get the character to translate from the vignettes to the squared circle, something he often struggled to do with the original incarnation of his character. That time will come, though, and we will get the answers we seek when it does.

For now, enjoy the incredibly original, fun segments the performer is bringing us because we damn sure are not getting anything like them elsewhere on the show.