I stopped watching in 2015/2016 and only started watching again because of the buzz surrounding the Cody/Rock saga (as well as CM Punk’s return). Once Rock turned heel, I was all in. I started catching up on the Bloodline angle, watched some of the PPV matches I missed over the last few years, and started youtubing guys like Gunther, Cody, Drew, LA Knight, Melo, etc.
I’ve been watching Raw on a semi regular basis since Mania and it’s by far the best I’ve ever seen it during the three hour era. Under Vince, you would get maybe a few episodes of Raw all year that were worth watching in its entirety—the go home show before a big PPV, the night after a big PPV, and the episodes of Raw on the Road to Wrestlemania.
This week’s RAW is essentially building towards a filler PPV during what is traditionally a down season in the WWE calendar and I still found it to be an enjoyable watch. These types of RAW were never watchable a decade ago.
The opening promo with the Judgement Day, tornado tag match, Gunther/Orton promo, Punk/Drew brawl, Bronson/Miz match, Sheamus getting attacked by dude, Sami/Bron match.. each one of these segments/matches either served a purpose in building towards a PPV match, getting a guy over or were simply an enjoyable match/angle that didn’t feel like an insult to the viewers intelligence.