Greetings one and all, it’s Josue here and I’ll be covering Raw for Alex this week. Last week, we saw Bayley score a big win when she pinned the Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss in tag team action. With SummerSlam nearly a month away, can Bayley keep her momentum going in time for a title shot at the PPV event? Let’s see how things unfold!
This week, Bayley is set to go one-on-one with Alexa Bliss. The Raw Women’s Champion lands the first strike with a slap across Bayley’s face. Bayley responds by carrying Alexa to a corner and stomps at the champ. Alexa reverses, laying in a few stomps of her own but Bayley is able to create separation when she kicks Alexa in the midsection. Just as Bayley is able to take Alexa down, Nia Jax’s music hits and out comes some backup for Alexa as we head to a commercial break.
When we return, we see Nia is at ringside and Alexa in control over Bayley with a grounded Hammer Lock. Bayley gets to her feet, trying to fight out of Alexa’s hold but gets taken down instead for a two-count.
Bayley catches a boot from Alexa which causes the champion to lose her footing and go down. Bayley then sends Alexa to the ring ropes, setting up for an elevated neck breaker from the middle ropes! The crowd is hot for Bayley, who begins to unleash lots of offense with forearm shots, back elbow shots, a side suplex and a flying elbow drop to Alexa from the second ropes of a corner.
Before Bayley can cover Alexa, the champion rolls to the outside ring. Bayley chases after her but Nia blocks Bayley’s path, serving up as a distraction to allow Alexa land in a cheap shot to Bayley.
Alexa tosses Bayley back in the ring as Nia cheers Alexa on. Suddenly Nia is attacked from behind by none other than Sasha Banks! A dropkick to the apron takes Nia out while back in the ring a Bayley-to-Belly takes Alexa down for the three count win! Bayley has now pinned the Raw Women’s Champion for two weeks in a row!
Post match, during a WWE.com exclusive video, Alexa says she isn’t worried about the ‘technicalities’ of the matches she has had with Bayley as she is still the Raw Women’s Champion.
This should be good…@itsBayleyWWE & @SashaBanksWWE face EACH OTHER next week on #RAW to determine @AlexaBliss_WWE's @SummerSlam opponent! pic.twitter.com/2Aar3fPFWX
— WWE (@WWE) July 18, 2017
Later in the evening Sasha Banks and Bayley meet with Raw GM Kurt Angle backstage, who is anxious about coming clean on his “big secret”. Anyone else disappointed that Kurt’s big reveal wasn’t the rumored Dixie Carter affair? All I’m saying is that it would’ve made for one hell of a “WTF? Moment” in 2017 darlin’!
Anyway, back to the heart of the matter, the BFFs explain of a little disagreement they are having at the moment: which one of them deserves to face Alexa Bliss at SummerSlam for the Raw Women’s Title?
In Bayley’s case, she’s been able to pin the champion for two straight weeks now while Sasha already, technically, won her title match against Alexa back at Great Balls of Fire. Sasha argues that had Alexa not pull out that count out stint, she would be a four time Raw Women’s Champion, thus is looking for a fair and proper rematch.
Instead of deciding who truly deserves it more, Kurt books a number one contender match between the two Superstars for next week’s Raw. The winner of that match will go on to face Alexa Bliss at SummerSlam.
Thoughts: So this was probably one of the more safer episodes of Raw. Bayley keeps her momentum going, Alexa remains the target of her peers, Sasha and Nia play supporting roles (for now) and we inch closer to finding out what our Raw Women’s match for SummerSlam will be. Small progression but overall, nothing completely new.
The Bayley/Alexa match was all right – it’s been creative’s direction of Bayley’s character that was always puzzling to me than her ringwork. Bayley is still a fan favorite (how sweet was that small fan interaction Bayley had prior to the match?) so I’m glad to see her pick up steam as she steams back into the title picture.
If rumors are true of a Fatal Four Way at SummerSlam, I’m expecting Nia to interfere next week. If anything, her involvement this week is foreshadowing the inevitable. My only hope is that some tension builds up between Nia/Alexa and/or Sasha/Bayley before the big PPV. Let’s at least try and shake things up WWE. We saw some hint of competition during Sasha and Bayley’s meeting with Kurt, let’s continue with that.
Another question I have this week outside Dixie Carter’s no-show is where the hell is Emma? I’m still waiting to see/hear what she had whispered over to Dana Brooke from the Great Balls of Fire Kickoff show. We saw something on last week’s WWE Main Event but it would appear that storyline is back on the backburner. By the time WWE even remembers building up that segment, its anticipation (if any) will be gone.
What did you think of this week’s Raw? What do you think will happen during next week’s number one contender match? How soon do you think it will be before see a follow-up from the Emma/Dana reunion? Let us know in the comments below1
