According to a new report, WWE might be burying some of Monday Night Raw ‘s newer talents, given how they were cleanly dominated by established superstars on the October 19 episode of the red brand’s show.
As detailed by Forbes ‘ Alfred Konuwa, it wasn’t surprising that the RETRIBUTION lost its match on this week’s Raw , where the group was defeated by The Hurt Business in eight-man tag team action, with T-BAR being submitted by Bobby Lashley. However, he observed that it was “quite jarring” that WWE seemingly ruined Mustafa Ali’s heel turn, mere weeks after he revealed himself as the man in charge of the recently debuted stable.
In addition to the clean defeat to their erstwhile rivals, Konuwa suggested that the faction was further buried when “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt “singlehandedly” dominated everyone in the group. He added that Ali wasn’t able to justify his turn to the dark side, even if he did finally admit to being the mysterious Friday Night SmackDown hacker from earlier this year.
“A band of fresh faces getting sacrificed at the expense of established stars has been WWE’s self-destructive calling card for years now.”
Konuwa also posited that WWE didn’t properly book Matt Riddle in his initial Raw appearance, where he lost to yet another big-name talent in AJ Styles. This came only a few months after he made his debut on SmackDown and defeated Styles in his very first match on the main roster.
Shortly before he was selected by the red brand during WWE’s recently concluded draft, reports suggested that company chairman Vince McMahon didn’t believe Riddle was ready for a substantial push at such an early point in his main roster run. However, it was also noted that officials still have high hopes for the former UFC fighter, despite how previous rumors alleged that he has backstage heat with certain wrestlers.
Meanwhile, several fans took to Twitter on Monday night and early Tuesday morning to share similar observations regarding the booking of the aforementioned superstars.
“I guess Vince has given up on Retribution already. The Hurt Business treated them like jobbers then The Fiend beats them all up by himself. Yup, that makes them look like a real threat,” wrote one Twitter user.
“So is WWE giving up on Raw Underground? And Retribution? Straight buried by both the Hurt Business & The Fiend. Bring their actual names instead of Slapjack & Mase [sic] etc. Only thing that will save it,” a second person tweeted .
“Matt Riddle…jobber to the stars,” read a third tweet .