Christian's Wasted Return, Bobby Lashley Loses Momentum, More WWE Raw Fallout

When the Raw ratings fall, WWE dips into its bag of legends and produces a few to help steady the ship, as witnessed Monday night with appearances by Christian, Ric Flair and Big Show.

All of the Hall of Famers and former world champions could not change the fact that the post-Backlash broadcast was a mess of a show that did more to diminish the quality of the product than create intrigue or excitement.

From Bobby Lashley's descent back into relationship drama and the overexposure of MVP (despite his continued excellence), the show was more bad than good and did very little to create hope about the future of the flagship with a new creative direction beginning next week.

A Wasted Return for Captain Charisma

With five minutes left on the Raw broadcast, it became apparent that the "match" between Christian and Randy Orton wasn't really going to be a competitive bout of any kind. It would, instead, be an angle that would hopefully set up the next chapter of The Viper's rivalry with Captain Charisma and Edge.

Not even that happened, though.

Instead, Ric Flair hit the ring and, in a moment that shocked absolutely no one with even a shred of exposure to Naitch's career, turned on Christian with a devastating low blow.

A punt later and Christian's teased return to the squared circle proved wasted on a taped, throwaway show that never felt particularly inspired.

We know WWE has never valued Christian in the way it did Edge, nor did it see him as a genuine main event competitor, but to even tease his first match in six years and deliver the dud of an angle it did to get out of it was massively disappointing.

An entire broadcast was devoted to the possibility that fans would see one more match out of the former world champion and instead, all they were "rewarded" with was another lazy Flair turn.

Like the rest of the broadcast, it was a letdown. 

Bobby Lashley Loses Momentum 24 Hours After Gaining It

At Backlash, Bobby Lashley turned in his best performance in a WWE ring in over two years.

One night later on Raw, he lost any and all momentum he had built via his show-stealing performance against Drew McIntyre at the pay-per-view.

Instead of being presented as a badass who took McIntyre to the limit, he was the subject of another "crash TV" segment in which he demanded a divorce from wife Lana.

Then, he teamed with MVP, losing in short order a tag team match in which McIntyre and R-Truth defeated them soundly to retain The Scottish Psychopath's WWE Championship.

The usage of the talented Lashley left some to wonder why so much effort was put into establishing the former United States and ECW champion Sunday night, only to unravel it just 24 hours earlier. Unfortunately, that is a question that is asked all too often in modern WWE booking.

The worst part? Given how up-and-down Lashley's run has been over the years, there is no telling if he will ever be able to be totally heated up again. 

Lana Finds the Next Chapter of Her Story in Partnership with Natalya

On the surface, Lana and Natalya have nothing in common.

On WWE television, one is a Ravishing Russian and pain in the ass. The other is a celebrated in-ring performer and wrestling royalty. They could not be more polar opposites.

Anyone that pays attention to their social media, though, knows that they are friendly off-screen and it appears that their misery Monday night will forge a new partnership between the two in front of the cameras.

After talking down to Liv Morgan following a disappointing loss to The IIconics, The Queen of Harts found herself confronted by Lana, whose night had been equally miserable. In that moment of commiserating, they found common ground that could very well spell the latest chapter in both's careers.

Lana is a limited in-ring worker but she could benefit exponentially from working in a tag team with Natalya. If that is not the direction WWE wants to take, there are worse options that pairing her with the third-generation competitor as a mouthpiece or manager.

Considering there are no female competitors currently on the roster with a manager, it would be fresh, if nothing else. 

With nothing else on the horizon better to do, pairing Natalya with Lana is far from the worst idea WWE has had for either one of them.

Is WWE Risking Overexposing MVP?

A smart booker uses MVP to elevate and escalate talent in need of a mouthpiece to reach their fullest potential.

Vince McMahon overuses and overexposed him, pushing him ahead of the talent.

That is what we saw Monday night, when MVP was all over the show.

He was the focal point of an in-ring segment with Lashley and Lana, then he was all over the backstage area in multiple vignettes. From there, he had a match with Lashley against Drew McIntyre and R-Truth that did neither him nor Lashley any favors, essentially negating the impact of everything else he did on the broadcast.

Make no mistake about it, MVP is great and has a ton left to contribute to the WWE product. But McMahon is clearly banking on nostalgia surrounding the character to attract interest. It is not working, nor is it benefiting the stars of today.

As usual, McMahon and the creative team latched onto something that was working perfectly fine as it was and overexposed it to the point that's lost its value and now, is just another part of a three-hour slog through sports-entertainment mediocrity.