Robert Roode Returns, Aleister Black's Just a Guy, More WWE Raw Fallout

On the heels of a surprisingly good Clash of Champions pay-per-view, WWE Raw continued its tradition of delivering a fairly "meh" broadcast that created more questions and criticisms than acclaim.

Robert Roode returned to challenge WWE Champion Drew McIntyre and predictably lost.

Aleister Black continued his descent into the undefined, the Mysterio family continued their over-the-top soapiness and a new, thrown-together tag team left fans scratching their heads.

Dive deeper into those developments with this recap of a very ordinary, supremely uninspiring episode of WWE's flagship show.

Robert Roode's Unremarkable Return

Robert Roode made his return to television Monday on Raw, answering Drew McIntyre's open challenge for a WWE Championship Match in the night's main event.

He was, as he has always been, impressive between the ropes, showing off the skills that made him a top-shelf talent in both TNA Wrestling and NXT before his call-up to the WWE main roster. And, like he has more times than not on Raw and SmackDown, he lost a hard-fought match to a guy in a more prominent spot than he.

Roode returned to Raw in what was a perfect microcosm of his WWE career to date.

He arrived with a bunch of hype and was immediately diminished via a loss that could have been saved for anyone else on the roster.

Instead, The Glorious One settled back into the position he was in before he left.

It is clear there are no immediate plans for the former NXT, United States and Tag Team Champion. If anything, another run at gold with partner Dolph Ziggler should not be counted out. Considering the lack of depth in the tag team division, it may be a blessing.

As for singles matches in high-profile positions, this appears to be Roode's immediate and long-term future with his current place of employment.

Rightly or wrongly so.

Aleister Black Loses Music, Entrance as WWE Turns Him into Just Another Guy

Not all that long ago, fans expressed the very real possibility that Aleister Black could be a modern take on The Undertaker, a Superstar with incredible presence and aura the likes of which this generation had not yet produced.

Then came the main roster call-up and the systematic stripping down of the mysterious Black persona.

Monday night represented the complete overhaul as Black emerged from the locker room to new theme music, his unique entrance in which he rises from the depths of the abyss gone.

He was...just another guy and it was immensely disappointing.

It was the latest chapter in a story that is depressing for an audience who once looked to the tattooed Dutchman as the future of the company. He had all the tools, including a presentation that set him apart from everyone else around him.

With so many elements of that character stripped away by a main roster creative team that never really "got" the persona to begin with, it appears as though Black is destined to be the one-dimensional character that so many others were flattened into.

That is not to say that Black will not still enjoy considerable success in WWE.

Again, he has the tools between the ropes and can still cut an engaging promo. It will just be three-times as hard to separate himself from the pack as it would have been if Vinnie Mac and the rest of his creative brain trust had recognized the potential of Black from the start and embraced his uniqueness.

Mysterio Melodrama Continues

Monday's Raw represented the latest chapter in the Mysterio family melodrama, a soap opera storyline manipulated and driven by Seth Rollins' continued torment of future Hall of Famer Rey that has come to include the lucha legend's entire family.

While family drama has oftentimes made for some extraordinary WWE television, this ongoing storyline, now setting 19-year-old Aalyah up for a larger role on the Raw brand, has surpassed its sell-by date.

The creepy teases of a romantic relationship between the still-teenage performer and the 32-year-old Buddy Murphy is one thing. The lackluster explanation for the latest chapter of the program, a cheap ripoff of the illegitimate child story involving the same family from 15 years ago, only enhances the creative shortcomings.

Much like Stephanie McMahon in 1999, Aalyah absolutely has the potential to become a breakout star and major part of WWE programming well into the future, as does her brother, Dominik. If that is the intention and the company can benefit from having two legacy performers excelling, good for them.

But the subpar soap opera storylines, far below those from the Attitude Era in terms of quality and emotional investment, rarely work to anyone's benefit. This does not have the makings of one ready to break that trend.

Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke Make for Most Uninspired Duo

Take a young woman in the midst of the greatest run of her young career, fresh off a high-profile pay-per-view match that wrapped up one of the best storylines of the entire year, and inexplicably shove her into a new tag team with another performer who has a long and dubious history of being on the wrong side of creative favor.

That is what WWE Creative did to Mandy Rose, essentially erasing any and all traces of the momentum she built for herself with her performance at SummerSlam in August, and booking her in a tag team with Dana Brooke.

Why?

Just because.

WWE Creative, rather than working to find something even slightly interesting for the valuable Rose to do, just inexplicably threw her into a tag team with Brooke that has no rhyme or reason for existing. It is a thing for thing's sake that will do neither woman any good in the long run and only serves to cool off one of the more interesting performers of the year.

Considering how many stars have made their way to Raw, only to see their momentum stunted and their growth nonexistent, it should not be a major surprise that WWE Creative did Rose like that. But it is, if only because she appeared to be well on her way to stardom.

Now, she appears poised to wallow in the mangled mess that is the women's tag team division, where depth is an issue and the champions are another thrown-together team destined to break up and feud sooner than later.