This was such a strange “Raw” to put in front of a presumably Punk-enhanced viewing audience, mainly because none of the matches were anything to write home about. It didn’t help that a large percentage of “Raw’s” top in-ring competitors were cutting promos and not wrestling — Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Sami Zayn, Jey Uso, Rhea Ripley, Drew McIntyre, Shinsuke Nakamura, Becky Lynch, GUNTHER, Chad Gable — none of these people wrestled Monday night. However, what many of them did do is begin setting up what are presumably their primary feuds for the next couple months until the Royal Rumble, and I am pretty excited for most of what it seems like we have coming.

The match between Bronson Reed and Ivar got thrown out and turned into a brawl, so it seems like that’s going to be a thing; if the brawl segment is anything to go by, we are in for some real good matches coming out of that one. Shinsuke Nakamura’s mystery target turned out to be Cody Rhodes, which is higher-profile than anything I saw coming and has the potential to be an amazing program. Meanwhile, with Cody off getting misted and The Judgment Day dealing with Randy Orton and apparently also The Creeds now, the World Heavyweight Championship situation appears to be coalescing around the deeply entwined characters of Seth Rollins, Jey Uso, Sami Zayn, and Drew McIntyre, and it’s pretty hard to think of another foursome I’d rather watch fight over a title right now.

Call me an optimist, but all that sounds awesome to me, and I expect next week’s “Raw” (which features both Zayn vs. McIntyre and Rollins vs. Uso for the championship) to be a return to form from an in-ring standpoint. I certainly can’t wait to watch these three stories play out, in particular. Some of the newer members of the viewing audience might just be here for CM Punk, but to me, Punk is just a distraction. The draw is in these stories that were set up on Monday night, on a show that’s been excellent of late without Punk in the fold. And we have two full months to watch them play out heading into the Royal Rumble.

Written by Miles Schneiderman