With Survivor Series coming up this Sunday, a show featuring the Undertaker and a tournament to decide the new WWE Champion, you would think WWE would do everything they can to keep focus on said matches.
You would be wrong.
WWE decided that for the final Monday Night Raw before Survivor Series, they were going to do something pretty cool and close the show out with a Divas Title contract signing. Giving the Divas the primetime slot on a go-home show is actually a pretty big step forward for WWE. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the company took about 25 steps backwards following the segment.
For those who don’t know the background on current Divas Champion Charlotte, the quick version of it is that she is the daughter of WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair, and the untimely death of her brother Reid is what pushed her into wrestling to begin with. Reid was an aspiring wrestler who died of an accidental drug overdose back in March of 2013 at the age of 25.
Fast-forward two years and Charlotte has made a name for herself as one of the best Divas, if not wrestlers period, in the company today. Her lineage has very much been a part of her rise through the ranks, with her father there every step of the way.
During last night’s main event segment, Charlotte was going back and forth with Paige over who would win, with Charlotte saying her family is made of fighters. And then, things took a turn south pretty quickly.
Paige responds to Charlotte by saying that her brother wasn’t much of a fighter, to which Charlotte goes insane and closes the show by beating the hell out of Paige.
So the moment was supposed to inject some emotion into the match and make us want to watch. Really though, all it did was make everyone watching cringe. I have zero interest in this match and now, zero interest in Paige trying to develop herself as the ultimate heel.
WWE is known for crossing the line, but this time they went a bit too far. And it would seem that Charlotte and Reid’s mother agrees that using her son’s death in storyline was a horrible decision.
@WWE @StephMcMahon @VinceMcMahon @TripleH WWEWriters really, that lazy! #CheapHeat #disgusting #disrespectful #cruel #sad ?#RawGreenville
— Elizabeth Fliehr (@EFliehr) November 17, 2015
I mean look, WWE got what they wanted here. The segment closed the show, created controversy, and is the center of the wrestling world today. But still, this was just too much.
Unfortunately for us, something tells me this probably isn’t the last time WWE does something like this. Rather than focusing on the wrestling and all of their in-ring talent, the company insists on promos being their bread and butter.