WWE Raw results (03/24/14): 10 observations from this week's episode

Although there were some good matches Monday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., Raw still came off as kind of flat to me.

The absence (which made complete sense storyline wise) and lukewarm ending to the show didn't help make the show any better than it could have been.

It wasn't the worst show ever, but it was kind of a step down from the last couple of weeks, in my opinion.

Before we get to my observations, here's the full match results from Monday night:

Fatal Four-Way to become No. 1 contender for Intercontinental Championship – Christian def. Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus & Alberto Del Rio. (Will face Big E on Main Event Tuesday)

Sin Cara w/Scooby Doo def. Damien Sandow

Los Matadores (Diego & Fernando) def. Ryback & Curtis Axel

Cody Rhodes w/Goldust def. Fandango w/Summer Rae

Big Show def. Titus O'Neil

John Cena vs. Luke Harper went to no contest

Divas Championship – Naomi def. AJ Lee by count-out

The Shield (Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose) def. The Real Americans (Jack Swagger & Cesaro) w/Zeb Colter

Now on to the observations:

Brock Lesnar-Undertaker ending kind of fell flat

The execution of the final segment between Lesnar and The Undertaker was good and segment itself was cool, but it seemed to fall flat with the fans in Brooklyn.

Lesnar went to the ring with Paul Heyman in tow, as they talked more about how Undertaker's streak was going to end at WrestleMania. The Undertaker's music hit, but it wasn't the dead man. Instead, it was a gang of druids dragging a casket to the ring. The druids dragged the casket right up next to the ring.

Lesnar checked out the casket and eventually opened it, only to find it empty. He then chased off the druids and got back to into the ring. Before Heyman and Lesnar had too much time to call The Undertaker a coward, the casket opened and The Undertaker was now in it. Clearly, he snuck into the casket from under the ring, but it's still pretty cool how it was pulled off.

The Undertaker hopped out of the casket and put his hands on Lesnar for a short time before Lesnar and Heyman escaped.

I'm just not sure how much people are really into this program given the fact that its pretty obvious that The Undertaker will win at WrestleMania. So far, nothing has taken place between the two to make us believe otherwise.

The match itself should be very good. I'm quite confident in that, but no matter how much Lesnar beats the crap out of The Undertaker at WrestleMania, he will still find a way to win.

Lesnar could come closer than anyone has before, but he won't do quite enough to win.

Triple H ushers in the "Reality Era"

Triple H didn't do his usual interview with Michael Cole in WWE.com this past week. Instead, he did the interview live in the ring.

Most of the interview was Triple H talking about how much he's tired of people complaining about things to get what they want. He wondered what happened to our society, as back in his day people earned what they got.

He said that people today have gone soft because they thought what he did to Daniel Bryan last week was too violent, but 10 years ago he would do the same thing and people would love it.

He then said that he was going to usher in the "Reality Era", and the reality is going to be that he will defeat Bryan at WrestleMania and go on to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event.

I thought this was a very good heel promo from Triple H. Although he was clearly playing a heel, some of the things he said rang true, especially the part about how much people complain about things on social media.

By the way, Bryan was not on the show this week because he was not cleared after the injuries he suffered while being attacked by Triple H. It makes storyline-wise, but I think his absence hurt the show overall.

Stephanie McMahon slaps the taste out of Batista's mouth

That may be putting it lightly. Before the slap heard around the world, McMahon, Batista and Randy Orton were having an interesting, but awkward talking segment in the ring to open the show.

The segment wasn't really going anywhere until Batista talked about how much of a loose woman McMahon is. She responded by slapping his fancy sunglasses off his face. The reaction Orton had to the slap was priceless. It looked like he was having a genuine laugh in the ring.

McMahon left the ring all upset, which left Batista and a laughing Orton. Batista wasn't laughing, however, and delivered a spear to Orton.

Other than the slap, this segment didn't accomplish much besides set up a match between Orton and Batista on Raw next week. I don't see how having two-thirds of your main event go at it six days before WrestleMania is productive, but I'm clearly not the one making the decisions in WWE.

The Shield will stay together a little while longer after all

After weeks of build where it looked as if The Shield were going to implode at any moment, The Shield have gotten on the same page in recent weeks and will walk into WrestleMania together to face Kane and the New Age Outlaws in a six-man tag team match.

As a fan of The Shield, I am very happy to see them stick together. However, having them go against Kane and the Outlaws seems like kind of a step down for these three considering how much great work they have done over the past year.

But I can't complain too much. Seeing them decimate The Real Americans after their match Monday was fun to watch. I also like the way WWE has continued to subtly make Seth Rollins look stronger.

I can't say enough about how building them individually has made the unit as a whole stronger. Each of them has had their time to shine as the focus of the group. Right now, it's Rollins' time and he is taking full advantage of it.

Weird ending to John Cena-Luke Harper match

Before the match, a nervous-looking John Cena was in the bathroom looking in the mirror. He looked up and saw the Wyatt Family's sheep mask behind him. When he turned around, it was no longer there. This I thought was kind of cool.

The match between Cena and Harper was very good, in my opinion. I've always liked Harper, but he continues to grow on me every week. His work in the ring is one thing, but the facial expressions and mannerisms he shows during his matches shows me that he's really into his character.

Cena looked as if he was about to hit Harper with the Attitude Adjustment, but the lights went out. When they came back on, the Wyatt Family had Cena tied up in the ropes and had placed the sheep mask over his face.

The crowd in Brooklyn completely ate it up, giving a, "This is awesome!" chant, but the segment ended kind of abruptly and really didn't advance anything.

I liked the visual of a beaten Cena being forced to wear the mask, but what did it really accomplish? Unless I missed something, it didn't really accomplish a whole lot besides getting a cool visual to add to the Eminem video package.

However, I do like how serious Cena has taken Wyatt the last couple of weeks. It's something that we haven't really seen from Cena during his career and it makes Wyatt look more like a threat to him.

By the way, the fans in Brooklyn not only booed Cena (which was expected), but they also cheered very loudly for Harper.

The Miz was beat up by two old men and an actor

If you watched Raw, you saw The Miz get beat up by Hulk Hogan, Arnold Schwarzenegger and actor Joe Manganiello. But in reality, it was two old men and an actor I've personally never even heard of.

However, there were two noteworthy things to come out of this. Firstly, The Miz essentially played the heel in the segment, which is where he should be. He's always been a much better heel than a babyface.

Secondly, he announced that he would be in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania. That means the most must-see WWE superstar of all time will be in a match with 29 other men at the biggest show of the year.

Scooby-Doo and Sin Cara are pals?

The other celebrity cameo was very, very odd.

The world's most famous Great Dane Scooby-Doo appeared on Raw to help promote the movie he did with WWE.

The movie stars WWE superstars John Cena, Triple H, Kane, AJ Lee and Sin Cara. Sin Cara was the one pegged to hop out of the Mystery Machine with Scooby-Doo, which turned out to be a man in a mascot suit.

Sin Cara then quickly defeated Damien Sandow and celebrated with his new four-legged pal.

Poor, Sandow. I mean, really. The guy has so much talent, but he was the one chosen to lose to Sin Cara in two minutes Monday night. You mean to tell me there was no one else that could have done that?

The match was over before people could even realize whom Sin Cara's opponent was, so WWE could have gotten someone else, anyone else to lose that match.

Vickie Guerrero announces Divas title match at WrestleMania

AJ Lee was supposed to defend her Divas Championship against Naomi Monday, but quickly got herself counted out.

Guerrero then came out, called AJ a word that rhymes with witch or pitch or stitch (you get the picture) and booked her in the Vickie Guerrero Divas Invitational for the Divas title. AJ will defend her title against essentially every Diva on the roster, including her heavy Tamina Snuka and the awful Eva Marie.

Like the battle royal, this was done so that everyone could get a nice WrestleMania payday. I don't think there's going to be anyone on the main roster that will be left off the show this year, unlike last year where there were more superstars sitting in the press box with me at MetLife Stadium than there were on the card.

Also like the battle royal, this is sort of lazy booking. Instead of thinking of a good angle for the Divas title match, WWE decided to throw all of them into a match that is sure to be quite the cluster.

However, I am happy everyone is getting a chance to walk down the aisle at the biggest show of the year.

Fatal four-way match was great

As I mentioned earlier, there was some good wrestling on the show and this match was one example of it.

All four guys worked hard and had moments where you thought they could win the match. The fans in Brooklyn were definitely rooting for Ziggler, who came very close, but came up just short to Christian.

It was a good match all around by all involved though.

WWE is selling Goldust masks

You want to know how WWE is marketing and promotional juggernaut? Look no further than it selling Goldust masks.

It's such a good idea that I don't know how it wasn't thought of sooner. Although Goldust doesn't wear a mask himself, his face paint is so distinctive that it's begging to be made into a mask for little kids to beg their parents to buy.

If there's one thing WWE is great at, it is the skill of making money.