Welcome back to another round of Quick Takes—a post that indulges in the topics that aren’t worth dedicating a full article to, but are still on my mind.
Each week, I try to cram in as many smaller talking points as I can via a speedier process, and I invite you to chime in with your own thoughts about these topics and anything else by keeping the discussion going in the comments below! Drop some more talking points in there for everyone to chat it up about, too!
Without further ado, let’s get into this week’s topics.
Monday Night Raw’s New Theme is HORRIBLE…for Raw
As a song on its own, it might not be bad. But JEEEEEZ is this the worst intro theme Monday Night Raw has ever had based on it not doing its job as a theme.
The whole point of an intro song is to set the tone. The tempo for this is way too slow in my mind to represent something that is supposed to be action-packed and energetic. Even when it picks up speed, it still has more of a vibe of something that would fit a horror film trailer more so than the atmosphere of Raw.
I could see this working really well for a lot of other sports, but not WWE. You can’t go from this to Michael Cole or Tom Phillips introducing the show the same way you did as if you had the “get pumped up for some fights” songs like Burn it to the Ground and Thorn in Your Eye.
And again, that’s not a knock on the song itself. On its own, it’s totally fine. It’s all about how it’s placed as a theme song for Raw.
I love Edvard Grieg’s classical piece Morning Mood from Peer Grynt. You’d recognize it (if you don’t, it’s this song). It’s absolutely wonderful. But that doesn’t mean that it should be the new theme of Friday Night SmackDown, does it?
So the Draft Already Doesn’t Matter Again, Right?
Leading into the 2020 WWE Draft, we had Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose traded to Raw 2 weeks prior. We also had waaaay more than the “once per quarter” crossovers with the Brand-to-Brand Invitational, such as Braun Strowman popping up on Raw several weeks in a row.
This week, after the draft, we’ve already seen Otis show up on Raw as El Gran Gordo and The Riott Squad compete on the red brand despite being sent over to SmackDown.
Is it the most important thing in the world to flip out over? No. But it’s just another example of WWE setting up rules just to completely ignore them, immediately. Then, they wonder why fans don’t trust their word when they say things. Remember how Triple H said we should all stick around and see the “unique” and interesting way they would replace Roman Reigns with Braun Strowman at WrestleMania? Or how Rhea Ripley losing to Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania would make sense in 3-4 months? Yeah….
Le Dinner Debonair
Boy is this one of those “love it or hate it, or maybe both” types of segments.
Chris Jericho is really hit or miss with some of this hokey stuff. When it’s good, like The List, I absolutely love it. When it isn’t so good, like how practically everything he says gets trademarked these days even if it isn’t particularly funny or catchy, I just roll my eyes and ignore it. To each their own. It’s a personal preference thing. You can fully love or hate any of his act just the same.
When it comes to these types of song and dance routines, I typically hate them. If I were to watch an actual show with this on it presented in a legitimate way, rather than a parody, I would be looking at my watch. But these guys did it as a big middle finger to people like myself and the readers/writers of this site and more. That’s what’s fun about it.
This angle hasn’t been about MJF attacking Jericho from behind or some sort of “you screwed me out of a title match so now I want revenge” story. It’s two douchebags out douchebagging each other. They’re supposed to be similar to the point where it’s nauseating having them play off their mirror image. Opposites attract, but these guys have the magnetic poles both in sync to repel.
The key with this is that it didn’t go on too long. A good joke doesn’t overstay its welcome. Family Guy was guilty of taking a funny idea and running it into the ground. You don’t just slap a 6 minute song onto a 22 minute episode and say “that’s the joke” when it loses its comedic value in the first 10 seconds.
This, on the other hand, was built up with a different joke regarding the steak, went into the absurd song and then looped itself back around like some old 50s act punchline.
They can’t do it again. This isn’t some “wow, that was great, so do it for the next 5 weeks” type of things. For this one particular show, I thought it was funny. If they do an encore, it will likely ruin it.
Pat McAfee Returns to Save the NXT Roster
I’m a big fan of Pat McAfee being the one behind Ridge Holland attacking Adam Cole, as well as screwing over the rest of The Undisputed ERA from their tag title opportunity.
The mask he wore…that’s a different story. That was weird. But McAfee’s performance against Cole was one of the biggest treats of the year. I would LOVE to see him against Kyle O’Reilly and the other members of the group.
It’s a shame Holland is injured and won’t be able to take advantage of this storyline. But hey, we got a belt on Oney Lorcan. That’s pretty cool. Follow that guy on Twitter. He’s great.
McAfee isn’t going to make up for the sheer number of injuries happening right now in NXT, but he’s instantly breathed some new life into the current product with his presence. Call me crazy, but if Finn Balor isn’t able to defend the NXT Championship for a long enough time and they take the title off him, I wouldn’t be opposed to McAfee squirming his way into winning it for a super short amount of time and dropping it to O’Reilly.
What are your takes on these topics? Keep the discussion going in the comments below!
