We’re 6 days away from the last RAW PPV before the big one, Fastlane! We know that RAW Women’s Champion, Bayley, will be making her first title defence against the PPV Queen, Charlotte Flair. However, we also know that other Superstars have been involved with the picture, so let’s see what happened on this week’s RAW Redux!
This week, the match-up screens reveal that Charlotte and her protege Dana Brooke will be taking on the team of RAW Women’s Champion Bayley and her bestie Sasha Banks.
Out first is the Mentor/Protege duo, this is the first time we’ve seen these two tag together in months. Charlotte takes to the mic and talks about her shock at ‘just Bayley’ not relinquishing her Championship last week and that she’s ‘destined to be a one-hit wonder’.
It’s not long before Bayley comes to the ring to defend herself. She mentions that once a dream is achieved, you move onto the next one – walking into WrestleMania as the RAW Women’s Champion. Her bestie, Sasha Banks, comes to join the argument to show support for her friend. In pure WWE Writing genius, Sasha calls Charlotte a ‘stupid face’ which draws a chant from the crowd.
Sasha is ready to fight and is ready to start their tag match right now, but Charlotte reveals that Dana isn’t her partner tonight (much to Dana’s surprise)… her partner is Nia Jax!
In a match that was clearly meant to show that Nia means business, she remains dominant throughout. Getting off to a weird and slow start, Nia and Charlotte are in control for most of the match. Midway through the match, Charlotte is thrown out of the ring and Dana goes to check on her, only for Bayley to drop her with a Bayley-to-belly!
When we get back from the commercial break, the commentary team state that Dana has been sent to the back following an injury to her ribs. Charlotte also seems to have received some damage as there appears to be some blood down the side of her face. She remains in control until Bayley gets the hot tag and the faces finally gain steam in the match. The end of the match sees Nia drop Bayley with her typical running block, Sasha tries to hit a crossbody, but Nia catches her and slams her onto Bayley. With the wind knocked out of Bayley, Nia seeks to hit the last finishing blow with a brutal leg drop to fully knock whatever wind was left in her lungs. Nia Jax has pinned the RAW Women’s Champion!
Backstage, a sore Bayley and Sasha are seen post-match. Sasha mentions that she wants to be in Bayley’s corner at Fastlane, as they both know what hijinks Charlotte is known for. However, they are interrupted by RAW Commissioner, Stephanie McMahon! Much like previous weeks, she stirs the pot by questioning if Sasha just doesn’t want Bayley to share the limelight. As a result, she decides to give Sasha a chance to share the spotlight as she’s made a match for her at Fastlane… against Nia Jax!
Finally, we hear from Nia Jax who once again vows to ‘walk all over the Boss’ at their upcoming match!
Last, but definitely not least the WWE revealed that 2017’s Hall of Fame ceremony will see the induction of The Glamazon Beth Phoenix! The vignette highlights her career including her ‘I Quit’ match against Melina, her tables match with Natalya against Lay-Cool and her Royal Rumble appearance in 2010. Her music hits the arena as the audience cheer on! Congratulations Beth!
Thoughts: So I guess the Nia Jax push is happening: running into people, scoop slams, hair biels and leg drops. YAWN. Seriously, I was honestly rooting for Nia when she debuted, but everything has fallen so flat over these last few months. She’s boring. I come with the Awesome Kong comparisons EVERY WEEK because Nia fails to deliver to be anything like her. Even with Beth Phoenix getting her shine, it only highlights even more that Nia Jax couldn’t hold a candle to her either!
WrestleMania 32 was probably the best WWE women’s match in WrestleMania history. I will outright say that Nia Jax is not ready to be put in such a high-profile match and there is every chance that she is going to be even more exposed. Heck, even this week’s match showed how off she is with timing and how limited her ability is! This is the first time eve, that I actually wanted to see Dana Brooke wrestle since I’m so damn bored of Nia and her infinite running charges into people as a main offensive move.
At the moment, my hopes in a stellar match for the RAW ladies are not high and if things continue at this rate – we will see an overused combination of Charlotte, Bayley and Sasha with the green-ness of Nia Jax. SmackDown’s women look like they will blow any of the possible RAW combinations out the water. I can call my predictions for next week’s RAW already – Charlotte is winning that Championship back, Bayley will try to get her rematch and Nia Jax is finally going to take out Charlotte… and much like this week’s crowd reaction, there’s a super high chance that we won’t care.
Do you agree that Nia Jax isn’t ready? Do you feel that she is doing a great job and the freshness that the other 3HW need? Do you have a “stupid face”? Send us in those comments!
