Last week, we saw the WWE Universe’ sweetheart, Bayley become the new RAW Women’s Champion! Tears, smiles and hugs for all! However, we know that being the Champion is never the end of the story, so let’s see what happened this week on the RAW Redux!
First glimpse of women’s action this week comes from the ever-menacing Nia Jax, out tonight to take on local competitor Sarah Pierce (aka. Heather Monroe). I’d honestly say that was one was a record-breaker for the fastest defeat. From bell to bell, which was only 35 seconds, Jax tears through Pierce and finishes her off with a Samoan Drop. Charly Caruso catches up with Nia Jax before she leaves, who asks her about the controversy surrounding Bayley’s title win last week. However, Nia doesn’t care and replies that the only controversy is how she’s not had a title shot. She then threatens that if it was her, she would have broken Sasha’s crutch in two and shoved them down their throats! “I’m putting The Champ on notice!”, she says before she exits the ring. Clear message sent!
Speaking of the Champ, Bayley is out next to address the crowd!
She enters the ring to “You deserve it” chants – after getting hit in the face by the yellow ‘Bayley buddy’ and tripping down the rampway! Much like Sasha before her, Bayley goes on to say how she’s achieved her dream, thanks her Dad, amazed she main evented RAW and won the title blah blah blah…
Before the crowd completely dies, Stephanie McMahon’s music hits the PA and the RAW Commissioner makes her way to the ring to address the controversy around Bayley’s victory. Clearly outspoken about her dislike for Bayley, Stephanie talks about Bayley’s dream – ruining the image, by questioning if it was Sasha that made her accomplish the dream due to her interference last week.
She begins to question the role model figure of being ‘Just Bayley’ – how could someone who is supposed to stand for little girls across the WWE Universe supposed to proudly carry a Championship that ‘she didn’t really earn’? As a result, Stephanie asks if Bayley is happy to relinquish the RAW Women’s Championship to defend her own honour and integrity.
Not so fast, before the confused Bayley is able to handover the title, her bestie Sasha Banks makes her way down to the ring. She warns Bayley not to listen to ‘that garbage’ (Damn, I wish I could call my boss ‘garbage’ to his face!) and shows that all the cheering fans in the audience in their ‘Hugger’ shirts don’t want her to give up the title! Although, Steph is quick to try and stir the pot, trying to hit a low-blow by saying that she only wants Bayley to keep the title because it would be easier to beat her since she can’t beat Charlotte… burrrrnnn!
So, in the end there’s only one person who can make that decision. Taking a moment to weigh up the cases, Bayley replies “HELL NO, I’M NOT GIVING UP THIS RAW WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP!”. Damn, Steph is pissed – but out comes the former Champion, Charlotte who is finally out to address the situation.
The PPV Queen immediately says that she doesn’t mind that Bayley is going to keep the title, because she’s going to take it back at WWE Fastlane. Sasha stops the gloating and says that since she’s fully healed from her knee injury, she’s ready to take on Charlotte right now for ‘old times’ sake’. Forever in a battle of verbal one-ups, Charlotte states that she’d love the chance to take on Sasha again and put her in a wheelchair! So, Stephanie makes it official – Sasha Banks will take on Charlotte Flair next!
Now, I know I’ve reviewed many a Charlotte VS Sasha match-up, so please excuse me for rushing this one! Just like every other encounter between these two, the chemistry is always on fire and there’s a reason why their clashes dominated 2016. The end of the match sees Sasha hit her classic double knees from the apron onto Charlotte on the floor. Charlotte’s protege, Dana Brooke, makes the slowest Baywatch-esque jog down to the ring. In this time, Bayley sprints from the commentary table and clubs Dana from behind. While Charlotte checks on Dana, Sasha is able to lock in the Banks Statement for the victory! The Boss’n’Hug connection celebrate in the ring, while Charlotte shouts at Dana on the outside – that’s another back-to-back loss for the Nature Girl!
Thoughts: First thing I have to say is poor poor Emma. 17 weeks… just over 4 months… for a failed gimmick that lead to 1:30 minute segment and not be seen on TV the next week. Luckily, the WWE has been much more forgiving when it has come to terminating contracts, remember when ‘creative not having any plans’ was a legitimate excuse? This probably would have been her curtain call a couple years ago. It just really grates me that Emma is there, ready to go, ready to be used and yet the RAW writers are still giving us the same 3 women EACH WEEK!
Secondly… Miss Dana Brooke. I have to say, she looked really good last night, but the relationship between her and Charlotte is so thin these days. They haven’t been close since Clash of Champions last September! Since they haven’t interacted in so long, Dana doesn’t even have the sympathy thing going for her since all of that momentum stopped when Bayley came to the roster. I just feel that if they’re going to keep getting Dana in there to even out the numbers, then at least build up the relationship between the heels – which was getting really good to be fair.
Next, I’m just going to breeze past Nia. I guess she’s going to be put into the mix for the title. I feel like I say the same thing each week, but this girl NEEDS to learn new moves before she goes into WrestleMania looking green, underwhelming and just disappoiting.
Finally, I’ll just comment on Stephanie’s involvement with the women this week. I noticed that people don’t seem to be too keen from the comments section the previous weeks, but overall this has really helped the Bayley character. Sure that was an easy win when you’ve got the biggest heel in the company going against her, but it’s needed because it’s fresh. We saw Bayley VS Sasha, Charlotte AND Nia in NXT so they needed some spice to switch things up and at least give this a ‘big match’ feel. WrestleMania 32 was an amazing platform for the women, so all that starpower is needed going into 33!
Are you as annoyed as me that Emma wasn’t featured this week? Is Nia ready for the tile scene yet? Did you still enjoy Charlotte VS Sasha x3957392? Let me know in the comments!
