If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, the WWE creative team must be rather pleased with itself of late.
The process of recycling successful storylines and making them feel fresh can be a precarious one by nature. When done right, as the WWE did to rave reviews on Raw last week when a late swerve saw Triple H help Kevin Owens win the Universal championship, the results can be spectacular.
But it can be just as easy to alienate fans at the first misstep. This is why recycling can be a dangerous play, due to how easily it stimulates the viewers' cynicism that the execution -- and ultimately the payoff -- will feel too predictable and similar to the past.
WWE took what has too often been its go-to concept -- a heel champion brought into power and controlled by The Authority -- and spiced it up with new participants. The result was a much-anticipated episode of Raw on Monday, with Seth Rollins turning babyface and filling the lead role occupied by Roman Reigns for most of the last year, opposite WWE's on-screen corporate power structure.
Rollins was aggressive and convincing in a red-hot opening segment, in which he was rewarded for the unfair ending last week by receiving a title match against Owens on Sept. 25 at Clash of Champions, the first Raw-branded pay-per-view. The fans' reward on Monday was a pair of spin-off matches -- Rollins defeating Chris Jericho and Owens defeating rival Sami Zayn in the main event -- that produced plenty of excitement despite there being nothing tangible at stake.
But if the show's ending, which capped three hours of equally epic highs and lows, left you with feelings of déjà vu, you weren't alone.
Reigns, conspicuously absent the entire episode, emerged to make a run-in after Owens' victory. Raw general manager Mick Foley soon followed, announcing that Reigns would face Owens in the main event next Monday, with a victory granting Reigns a spot in a triple-threat title match at Clash of Champions.
It's possible that the presence of next week's stipulation was designed with the sole intention of boosting ratings, with the polarizing Reigns already booked to lose the match and return to his current feud with Rusev (although this tweet might suggest otherwise). But the mere threat alone of WWE, already leaning on the crutch of an Authority-centric storyline, doubling down by reinserting Reigns into the main title mix was enough to chip away at the recent goodwill built up with viewers.
While it's true that the fans' frustration for predictable booking has often been misdirected at Reigns, who has done nothing but steadily improve despite being overly pushed, Monday was yet another episode of Raw that ended with Reigns as the last man standing in the ring. In this case, following a match he wasn't even involved in.
Raw has been nothing if not unpredictable in the six weeks following the draft and brand split, which kicked off WWE's self-proclaimed "new era." As a result, the pressure has only increased to live up to that standard creatively by throwing enough storyline curveballs to make the final destination of each feud feel new.
Raw women's division heating up
For as wildly hit or miss as the final hour of Raw was on Monday, there was never a dull moment, which produced a particularly apropos tweet from WWE Hall of Famer Amy "Lita" Dumas.
#RAW is officially off the rails
- Amy Dumas (@AmyDumas) September 6, 2016
Dumas' tweet came on the heels of Alicia Fox's backstage freak-out against Nia Jax, which shared equal qualities of being humorous and cringe-worthy. But it failed to overshadow what was a larger subplot as a whole: Raw's top-heavy women's division nearly stealing the show.
While Raw doesn't possess the female depth of its counterpart Smackdown Live, it has arguably the three most important women in the division -- Sasha Banks, Bayley and WWE women's champion Charlotte -- with each playing major roles Monday.
Banks was masterful in how she toyed with the audience's emotions by teasing what appeared to be the announcement of a lengthy back injury (if not a retirement), only to switch gears at the last minute, intercept Dana Brooke's run-in attempt and challenge Charlotte to a match at Clash of Champions.
Bayley deserves equal credit for how expertly she sold a knee injury (which at first glance seemed real after she badly botched a drive-by attempt on the ring apron) during her upset of Charlotte. While I've never been a fan of champions losing cleanly in nontitle bouts, the comeback victory perfectly showcased the essence of Bayley's gutsy character as she continues to get over in a big way on the main roster.
Hits and misses
• While I'm not exactly sure where Charlotte and Dana Brooke's relationship is headed, credit Brooke for absorbing a stiff backstage slap in a segment that couldn't help but get your attention.
• Seth Rollins delivered a Pedigree to finish off Chris Jericho, which was presented as a message to Triple H, who taught him the move. I'm not saying Rollins needs to bring back his controversial curb stomp that was quietly outlawed in 2015 as a way to get back at Triple H for costing him the title last week. But switching to a different finishing move -- like the Falcon Arrow, for example -- would be a nice start.
• Mick Foley's acting opposite Stephanie McMahon was top notch throughout Monday's episode, including a pair of perfectly executed "Have a nice day" catchphrase drops. Foley appeared to be slightly shaking in fear as he boldly stood up to McMahon and delivered his lines, which played perfectly into the overall storyline.
• There's no need to dress this up with too many words: The "Old Day" segment involving The Club and The New Day was one of the worst that WWE television has produced in many, many years. Most importantly, it undermined the toughness shown of late from Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson with painfully bad comedic attempts from everyone involved.
• It was good to see Bo Dallas back on TV again in something other than a comedic jobber role. A repackaged Dallas not only returned in noticeably better shape, he received the Braun Strowman booking treatment by being given a squash match. It's an idea that would have seemed laughable just months ago, but Dallas pulled it off in vicious fashion, including a series of stiff muay Thai knees to the face of local enhancement talent Kyle Roberts. Dallas has always appeared more talented than the limitations of his character would allow us to see. It's about time we find that out for ourselves.
• Considering the WWE's commitment to relaunching the Shining Stars in recent months with a long series of vignettes, it was good to see them finally get a meaningful televised win with their upset of Enzo Amore and Big Cass. The match also produced a hilarious sound bite with Enzo interrupting Primo and Epico's constant boasting about their native Puerto Rico to say, "Nobody is going to buy a Caribbean timeshare from either one of you."
• Nia Jax still has a long way to go in her development, which is why her recent run of squash matches has been a smart piece of booking. But her theme song "Force of Greatness" is becoming one of Raw's best guilty pleasures.
• While the handling and execution of the Titus O'Neil and Darren Young feud has been far from perfect, they have at the very least produced something different from week to week, often in a very physical manner.
Move of the night
The match between Owens and Zayn produced a number of stiff and physical exchanges, which is consistent with their exceptional rivalry. But Zayn connected on a particularly nasty suplex outside the ring that appeared to end with Owens being dropped on his head. The execution was far from crisp, and the result most definitely unintentional. But the impact raised the ante in an already strong main event with Owens selling it in a way that didn't appear he was acting, which only added to his character's grit.
Line of the night
"Once again Byron [Saxton], you would be mistaken. Hall of Famer Mae Young once gave birth to a hand on Raw, but I think the less said about that the better." -- Raw color commentator Corey Graves