The WWE do like to throw a curveball at us now and again, but last night just left me with a big overwhelming sigh. I remember just over a year ago, I joined Diva Dirt and was super hyped about the brand extension and with that came Sasha Banks’ first title reign. Now a year later, she’s defending her title for the fourth time for her fourth reign… it’s safe to say that the feeling isn’t the same.
Our appetiser for tonight’s action starts with a backstage segment with Emma and Mickie James. Much like last week, Emma is still unhappy that she’s not being given the recognition she deserves for starting the Women’s Revolution. Mickie calls her delusional, especially since Nia Jax made easy work of her last week and ‘#GiveEmmaCPR’ was trending last week. So once again, Mickie issues a challenge and says that if Mickie loses, Emma can never say that she started the Women’s Revolution… but if she loses, then Mickie has to tweet anything that Emma has to say.
Fast forward to the match and it’s another quick affair. Emma debuts a new theme, which I can only describe is something from Christina Aguilera’s Bionic phase… it’s a no from me. They tend to be evenly matched throughout and it’s much in the same vein of their previous encounters – Mickie with her upbeat striking offence going against Emma’s more slow and aggressive nature. The end of the match sees Mickie hit a kick on Emma and she attempts to do a Sunset Flip, but Emma gets the better of her and sits on her for the 3 count! The losing streak is over and Emma beats Mickie!
After the match, Emma grabs a microphone and takes a microphone shouting that she started the Women’s Revolution as she walks up the rampway. She continues it backstage on the RAW Fallout, but this time she’s complaining that she needs merchandise and ‘made’ the likes of Sasha Banks and Bayley, so she deserves a hashtag! So she comes to the conclusion that she needs to start a #GiveEmmaATShirt to voice her problems!
For our main event for the night, we know that Alexa Bliss is going to use her rematch clause to battle Sasha Banks for the RAW Women’s Championship. Ahead of the match, we catch her at an interview where she brings up the fact that Sasha has never successfully defended the title before. Tonight, she aims to expose the Boss and everyone will see the Goddess reclaim her throne.
Next up, our new Champion Sasha Banks is interviewed and claims that while Alexa is right with her comments about never successfully defending the title, she aims to change that and make history. She aims to put her in her place and having the crowd chant “You Tapped Out!” by the end of the night!
Time now for the maaaainnnn event with Alexa Bliss making her way out first, followed by the 4-time RAW Women’s Champion Sasha.
The start of this match is quite a fast pace with Bliss going on the early offence, but Banks is also on the mark to try and take out Alexa’s arms. After feeling each other out, it’s Sasha that gets the offence when she hits her signature double knees on Alexa to the outside of the ring.
When we come back from the break, it’s Alexa who is now on the offence. The ident recaps Alexa throwing Sasha into both the barricade and the side of the ring during the commercial break, which has turned the tide of the match. Alexa then continues in traditional Bliss-style with her chokeholds and scrappy offence to try and slow down The Boss. When Sasha is able to gain some offence, she attempts to do her running knees and roll up Alexa, but she’s taken out with a slick looking Sunset Flip!
Alexa can only score the near fall, but gives Sasha a nasty forearm to squash any momentum. She goes for her old Glitz Flip, but Sasha rolls up and hits a shining wizard for her own near fall! After a bit more action, Sasha goes up top but gets knocked on the top turnbuckle – Alexa climbs up and manages to hit a Superplex on The Boss!
Slowly Alexa manages to roll onto Sasha for a cover, but she’s countered into a Banks Statement! Alexa managed to then roll Sasha into a pinfall and uses her momentum to throw her into the ropes. Choosing her time wisely, Alexa hits a devastating DDT to get the 1.. 2.. 3! Sasha Banks loses her title in another short reign and Alexa Bliss is once again the RAW Women’s Champion!
Coming out to celebrate is Alexa’s mate, Nia Jax! Applauding her mate and smiling as she walks down to the ring, Nia raises Alexa’s arm in victory! She then charges at Sasha in the corner to add insult to injury. Nia then puts alex on her shoulder to raise up her new Champion… but her expression changes and she dumps Alexa with an Electric Chair Drop!
Nia grabs the RAW Women’s Championship and raises it above her now former freind to indicate that she’s coming for that title as the show closes.
When asked about her actions on Fallout, Nia makes it clear that she’s tired of waiting. Now, she wants to make her own opportunities.
Thoughts: So from this week’s Redux title and my intro paragraph, I’m pretty sure you can tell that I’m annoyed with the action on this week’s RAW. We’ve seen the crowd absolutely turn on Bayley, we’ve got Sasha Banks once again losing a title after her first defence, we get Emma’s losing streak ending for a pointless B-feud and we have Nia Jax standing tall in the most obvious turn ever… a woman who has lost every single #1 Contendership opportunity since her main roster debut – what are they doing with the RAW women?!
As the title of my review suggests… what’s the point?
What was the point in Sasha Banks losing the title again? The title on her set up the perfect picture for the heel turn that we are dying for and it would have been a great set-up for the crowd to like Bayley again. Let’s also add to how this is the FOURTH time that she has lost the title on her first defence, which completely dashes her credibility. We all hated the hot potato reigns last year and it burned out our interest in Sasha, fast forward a year and it’s another blip in the record books. I don’t even want to see her have her rematch with Alexa because I would actually flip out if she won the title again.
What was the point in Emma changing her theme and breaking her losing streak? First off, this new theme is a mess. As I mentioned, it sounds like something from Christina Aguilera’s ‘Bionic’ phase and we all know how that went… Emma has been on a losing streak since she made her return and while this wasn’t acknowledged, it made perfect sense for her character. Now, they’ve jobbed out Mickie James (another women that has been booked horrifically) and they’re going down this ‘Emma started the Revolution’ angle. I love Emma, but seeing her bang on about something from 2013 has been done. There could have been so much potential with Emma in general, but it seems like they have no idea what to do with her.
What was the point in Alexa winning the title? Now, while I see that everyone is polarised with Alexa – her last few matches with Sasha have been a very strong run. However, her character needs some refreshing. Losing the title knocked her off her perch a bit and would have been a fun way to revitalise her character to chase back her gold, but instead she’s got the title back… and it’s pretty much back to where we were when she came to RAW the first time. I give it until Survivor Series when we start getting bored of her gimmick unless they really switch things up during this reign.
Finally, what was the point in Nia Jax turning on Alexa now? I mean… this has been brewing for awhile, but it could have been done ages ago and now really isn’t the time. Nia has impressed now and again, but if they wanted to pull this trick then they really should have pulled it off for Summerslam instead of giving Sasha this pointless reign. I get that they’ve been holding the finger on Nia and she definitely has improved, but I’m still not convinced. For me, I just feel like this should have been done following triple threats – but instead we’ve wasted our time investing in a 6 week program which will forever be etched in history with a pointless 7 day Championship reign.
Overall, it’s just really messed up booking and when you have a solid tournament with better booking choices in the Mae Young Classic, then it really shows that there’s a big creative problem on RAW.
Do you think I’m being too harsh? Are you interested in seeing Nia VS Alexa? Do you think Sasha will ever get a decent reign? Are you a fan of Emma’s new theme? You know the drill!
