How to Fix the 7 Weakest Elements of WWE Raw Right Now

It's been fairly obvious to any fan who has tuned into WWE Raw these past few weeks that the show has several issues that at the very least should be addressed.

Although it isn't uncommon for Raw and SmackDown to experience peaks and valleys in quality, the Monday night program has particularly been in a rut for a while. Ratings have reflected that for the most part, but even if numbers aren't 't improving dramatically, it's still possible to have a strong show and for the brand to be better more consistently than it has been.

Raw's recent woes can be attributed to multiple things, and most of them are simple fixes. It's more a matter of WWE—and specifically Vince McMahon—wanted to make the appropriate changes and not settle for mediocrity, which is exactly what the brand has become for the better part of 2020.

Of course, the circumstances are far from perfect at the moment and having no fans in attendance for the shows is definitely a detriment, but SmackDown has shown lately that a compelling storyline is sometimes all it takes to get people hooked. Meanwhile, Raw has left fans unsatisfied whenever it's over more often than not.

The upcoming WWE Draft may help with freshening up the rosters, but the overall vibe on Monday nights will stay the same until WWE recognizes Raw's recurring problems and attempt to rectify them.

These are the seven worst elements of Raw right now and how they can be fixed.

Establishing More of a Motive for Retribution and Giving Fans a Reason to Care

Retribution is easily the biggest sore spot on Raw these days, as the faction has done more to hinder the quality of the show since their inception than help it.

For weeks, they appeared on Raw and sometimes SmackDown, wreaking havoc with no purpose. They finally attempted to establish their motives last week on Raw, but not a lot of what they said seemed to make sense.

Their goofy appearances with the unnecessary masks and face paint haven't helped at all, as fans can clearly still tell what their identities are. It truly feels like WWE gathered a group of random NXT stars and gave them new names because they wanted a new heel stable on Raw to shake up the show.

The issue is, Raw already has The Hurt Business and they've been one of the best parts of the program for the last month or two. Thus, Retribution pale in comparison, and the longer this gimmick goes on for, the worse off everyone involved is going to be.

WWE needs to figure out what the endgame of this angle is going to be. Retribution attacking the same Superstars week after week doesn't accomplish anything, and if there isn't a higher power pulling the strings and giving them contracts, then the entire experiment will be deemed a waste of time.

The best solution to Retribution would be to rid Raw of them all together, but the company is adamant about seeing this through, then it should at least try to make it more realistic and not as over-the-top as it's been. It's as complicated as can be right now, and simply saying that the wrestlers were frustrated about not being called up and having them go by their already-established personas would be infinitely easier.

Building Up Future Contenders for Raw Women's Champion Asuka

It's almost unbelievable that with as much female talent as Raw boasts currently that there is such little buzz in the women's division.

To her credit, Asuka has done an excellent job of holding down the fort in the absence of Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair since the summer. Her two reigns as Raw Women's champion have been filled with several strong title defenses, but her recent challengers have lacked credibility.

WWE should be applauded for incorporating fresh faces into the mix like Mickie James and Zelina Vega, but both of their title shots came completely out of nowhere. They also weren't built up very well to where fans could have conceivably seen them as threats to Asuka.

What's worse is that WWE has ready-made challengers for Asuka in Shayna Baszler and Bianca Belair but refuse to have either woman contend for the title right now. Instead, Baszler is in the midst of a pointless WWE Women's Tag Team Championship reign with Nia Jax and Belair has been mostly relegated to Main Event since being called up to Raw in April.

Based on what we've seen recently on Raw, it appears Belair may finally be on the verge of landing a regular role on the show soon enough, but that should have happened months ago. It's also worth nothing that she's still undefeated in one-on-one competition, yet she was overlooked at Clash of Champions in favor of Vega who hadn't won a singles match on TV in over two years until two weeks ago.

Compared to SmackDown, Raw has plenty of women it can build around, but WWE needs to start investing the time into them and focusing their efforts on building up the right talent. It's possible WWE is in a holding pattern until after the Draft, but there will no excuses for this issue after that's over and done with.

Fresh Feuds for Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Drew McIntyre and More

The repetitive rivalries on Raw since the summer have made every episode feel like Groundhog Day.

This can be said for Seth Rollins vs. Rey Mysterio, Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton, and Apollo Crews vs. The Hurt Business. There's nothing wrong with stretching feuds out over several months if it makes storyline sense to do so, but all of these rivalries peaked months ago and have no business continuing.

Most of these storylines started out strong enough, but WWE running them into the ground has made for uninspiring television. It hasn't helped that all three feuds have lost a lot of their creative juice and only exist now because WWE doesn't have any other plans in place for them.

Again, this could be a case where the company is holding off on starting anything new until after the Draft next week, but if nothing else, it's been boring to watch in the meantime. Specifically with the Mysterio and Rollins rivalry, there isn't anything left for them to do with each other after already having multiple matches and the babyfaces giving the heels their comeuppance.

Even without a Draft, Raw has a deep enough roster to where it's not necessary to keep these feuds going. Keith Lee could easily be challenging for the WWE Championship at Hell in a Cell instead of Orton for the third straight month, and Rollins and Murphy could be clashing with each other instead of involving Aaliyah Mysterio.

If fans are seeing the same matches and promo segments week after week, they shouldn't be blamed for not being invested or not wanting to tune in.

Ending the 24/7 Championship Silliness

The 24/7 Championship debuted on Raw in May 2019 in an effort from USA Network to spice up the third hour of the show. Mick Foley even hinted while introducing the title that it could be exclusive to that third hour of Raw, but that lasted for all of one week and it started showing up everywhere.

Of course, that's the nature of the championship and it was created so it could be defended anywhere at any time. It made for some fun, creative segments for the first few months, specifically with 41-time champion R-Truth and Drake Maverick, but once those ran their course, it became a prop with no purpose or entertainment value.

That was one year ago. In October 2020, it's a complete waste of television time, and for it to be defended in formal matches with the same three or four people does nothing for anybody.

R-Truth has done everything imaginable—and then some—with that title. He's made it more entertaining than it had any right to be, but the time has come for it to be deactivated and done away with for good.

WWE has too many titles as it is, and thus a 24/7 Championship division is pointless. Most main-eventers don't bother with it because of how it's mostly been associated with enhancement talent for so long now, so if it's only going to bounce back and forth between Truth and Akira Tozawa, then it shouldn't be on the show.

The Hardcore Championship had a longer shelf life because of the cast of characters that were constantly fighting for it. Meanwhile, Truth and Tozawa fighting at the beach with Tozawa almost getting eaten by a shark isn't nearly as enjoyable.

Less Camera Cuts in Raw Underground and Adding Actual Stakes

Raw Underground eventually replaced the 24/7 Championship as USA Network and WWE's grand idea for something that can be exclusive to the third hour of Raw. That's despite how it tends to start shortly before then most weeks.

Nonetheless, it's been a decent concept thus far that has allowed some of the Superstars from Raw, SmackDown and even NXT to showcase their skills in a different way. It's a unique atmosphere hosted by Shane McMahon and a few of the fights have been exciting to watch.

The two biggest drawbacks of Raw Underground are the constant camera cuts, which drastically hurt its presentation, and the lack of stakes.

The camera cuts are likely a product of Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn, who heads WWE's production department. The rapid-fire camera cuts can be seen quite often on the company's other shows, but they are much worse in Raw Underground and make the concept almost unwatchable.

Ceasing that all together would be a big benefit to Raw Underground, as well as adding a title of some sort for the combatants to compete for. As previously noted, WWE has enough championships as it is, but rebranding the 24/7 Championship into a Raw Underground Championship would be a simple solution for this.

That way, viewers aren't watching random fights every week where nothing changes regardless of who wins. Whether it be a title, a cash prize, a future championship shot, a contract or something else, stakes should be implemented to ensure Raw Underground stays fresh and serves a purpose from week to week.

Non-Finishes Accomplish Absolutely Nothing

Above all else, the constant non-finishes that are featured on Raw every week need to end immediately.

There is at least one or two disqualifications or count-outs in matches per week on Raw, which is compete overkill. In fact, it's gotten to the point where a clean finish to the main event of Raw is more rare than it ending with some sort of shenanigans.

A prime example is how Keith Lee has been on Raw for just over one month now and has wrestled on every episode of Raw in that time. However, only three of the seven matches he's had on Raw since August have ended in a pinfall, and two of them were on the same show with one being a Triple Threat.

Otherwise, he's suffered nothing but disqualification losses to Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton on Raw for the past month and, needless to say, it hasn't done him any favors.

An occasional count-out or disqualification is fine, but two or three every week is unacceptable. If WWE wants to protect the talent involved and not have them get pinned or submitted, then the matches shouldn't be booked in the first place.

In comparison, AEW has been around for a little over one year yet has done a disqualification only once, and it was for a fall in an Iron Man match. That means it's possible for a wrestling company to not rely on them so often and find ways to make it work.

Less of this would be ideal.

Bolstering a Desolate Tag Team Division

Raw needs new blood in its tag team division in the worst way.

Granted, the same can be said for SmackDown and even NXT, but Raw's tag team division is exceptionally bad. The Street Profits have held the gold since early March, and while it's been a fun run for them, a big reason why they've reigned as champs for so long is that they lack credible competition.

Andrade and Angel Garza vied for the titles on multiple occasions but fell short every time, including at Clash of Champions last Sunday. They could very well be split up in the Draft, and even if they aren't, there's a chance Garza may be out injured for a bit.

Additionally, The Viking Raiders will be out of the picture as long as Ivar is on the sidelines with an injury of his own, while Seth Rollins and Murphy are on the verge of splitting up. Dominik Mysterio and Humberto Carrillo were teased as a team at one point, but there's been no word on whether they'll be together for the long-haul or not.

Calling up at least one team from NXT may be an option as well as possibly bringing back The New Day from SmackDown, but beyond that, WWE needs to make a conscious effort to create more tag teams from scratch.

Any two members of The Hurt Members would work, and Apollo Crews and Ricochet can be a temporary tandem as long as they aren't separated in the upcoming Draft. Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode can reunite and two members from Retribution can be paired together as well.

Those are at least four teams to fill the void for now until WWE can start the process of either hiring teams from outside the company or fostering a true tag team division down in developmental.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.