It’s the take-home show before Survivor Series and despite knowing that we have two big women’s matches on the card, we still don’t know who will be taking part! The rumour mill has been churning this week, but one thing we definitely do know is that the final slot on the RAW is going to be filled! Let’s see who got that slot in this week’s redux!
As announced earlier in the week, the final slot will be decided in a triple threat match between Bayley, Mickie James and Dana Brooke.
Ahead of the match, RAW Team Captain Alicia Fox is at ringside with the other confirmed team members: Sasha Banks, Asuka and Nia Jax.
A fresh combination, this triple threat was definitely an enjoyable and unpredictable match. With all three playing the face roles, this was more of a ‘spotty’ affair with each women trying to win over the crowd. The pre-match video recap highlights Bayley not being given the spot on the team last week, while the commentary team highlight Mickie’s undefeated run at Survivor Series.
All three seem evenly matched throughout, but when we come back from the break it seems that Mickie has started to win over the crowd. Mickie is able to get the first nearfall with a top rope Mickie Thesz Press, but the pin is broken up by Dana. Mickie hits a sweet neckbreaker on Bayley, but both Dana and Mickie take each other out with a double faceplant. Dana rolls to the outside of the ring and Asuka checks up on her, but Dana doesn’t need her help and hits her with a forearm!
Big mistake Dana! Asuka chases Dana across the ring and flatlines her with a brutal spinning kick. Inside the ring, Mickie and Bayley try to roll each other up for a surprise win. Mickie kicks Bayley in the mid-section and sets her up for the Mickie-T, but Bayley is able to slide out and hit the Bayley-to-belly for the victory! Bayley takes the fifth spot and is heading to Survivor Series! The rest of the team celebrate in the middle of the ring and the RAW Women’s Team looks ready for the SmackDown ladies.
Bayley and Sasha Banks celebrate backstage and they are both thrilled to be on the same team at Survivor Series. Although, Sasha does admit that she did think Mickie would win…
The other Survivor Series match sees a clash of Champions, with RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss taking on the SmackDown Women’s Champion. However, with Charlotte challenging Natalya tonight, her opponent is still in the air.
Backstage, Charly Caruso catches up with Alexa and asks her how she’s feeling heading into this match. She complains that it’s unfair that she hasn’t got the time to prepare for this match, but claims that RAW became the A show when she switched brands. She alludes that she may turn up to watch the match on SmackDown, but warns that she will still prove that she’s the Goddess of WWE at Survivor Series.
Thoughts: Now, I’m sure most of us were waiting for the return of a certain Former Divas Champion, so last night’s women’s action on RAW left us a little underwhelmed. What’s probably more underwhelming is Bayley getting the final slot too. I’m sure a lot of us are split between Bayley and Mickie taking that spot, but stepping back, not being on the team would have done way more for Bayley’s character.
We all know that Bayley’s character has suffered over the last couple of months. She is meant to be an underdog, but they booked her too strong too quickly. She’s now beaten two more contenders (including someone who was just in the Championship feud), so this further detracts from her underdog. The build-up from last week would have been perfect for the crowd to sympathise with Bayley for not being on the team – friction with Alicia, disappointing herself… this is what she needed. Instead, she’s now going to be third fiddle behind the other faces on her team and will probably be RAW’s first elimination. Unless she messes up and causes someone else’s elimination, she pretty much a filler on this team.
Conversely, Mickie needed to be on the team. She had just come off the Championship feud and her character was finally connecting with the crowd again. She would have brought her own undefeated streak and experience to the line-up, but she’s also been higher than Bayley in the food chain lately, so she would have actually looked like a threat within the line-up. Technically, I’d imagine Sasha to have been eliminated before Mickie! However, they’ve now relegated Mickie completely and they run the risk of dropping her to the bottom of the list once again. They really missed out on something here, but here’s to hoping that Mickie remains in the spotlight.
All the other talk about Paige would have been interesting, but I think we all know she’d be better off on SmackDown. RAW has too many protected stars and they’d probably do the same with Paige for the first few weeks. She may not be back soon, but I am eagerly waiting for return.
Finally, the Championship dual is an interesting one. Alexa VS Natalya gives a chance for Alexa to probably have one of the best matches of her career. Alexa VS Charlotte gives us a combination that we have never had before and probably the bigger ‘draw’ for name value. This would also switch the dynamic of the tag match, as Team SmackDown would lose Charlotte. If the WWE were smart about this, they would keep the current match-up, but make Natalya look strong, while giving Alexa the chance to have a solid match which would prove her nay-sayers wrong.
Do you think Bayley should have had the final slot? Are you disappointed that Paige didn’t return? Who do you think Alexa’s challenger will be at Survivor Series? You know what to do in the comments below!
