TLC is just a couple days away and as tension rises between our Championship feud and the long-awaited debut of Asuka, who will be able to make their final point in the take-home RAW before the big day. With a division brimming with top talent trying to make a stand, who will be able to head into TLC on a high?
We see another Asuka promo, which reminds us all that she’s coming to the main RAW roster in just a couple of days. Backstage, Renee Young catches up with the woman who won the opportunity to face her last week, Emma. Once again, Emma is frustrated that all the talk is about Asuka and not herself. She continues to boast about her impressive victory over most of the roster, being a ‘Social Media Superstar’ and as always… starting the Women’s Revolution.
Before Renee can reply, RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss joins the conversation. She starts to feed Emma’s ego – even admitting that she ‘single-handedly’ started the Women’s Revolution. She wants to thank Emma for bringing women up, unlike Mickie James who body-shamed Alexa last week by calling her ‘biscuit butt’. She wants Emma to be her tag partner tonight to take on Mickie James and… whoever she can find – Alexa jokes that Betty White might be free. Emma who seems appreciative of Alexa’s ego rubbing, accepts the offer. It looks like the devilish duo have formed an alliance for tonight!
Before we get to the tag match, we’re treated to a ‘grudge match’ of sorts with Alicia Fox taking on Sasha Banks. Alicia says in an insert promo during the entrances that last week, she wasn’t tapping out to Sasha, but she was ‘scratching her nose’. She’s out this week to prove that she deserves respect and she “wants her t-shirt!”
Sasha is straight out the starting blocks for this match and locks in the Bank Statement almost right away. Alicia is able to use her long legs to reach the ropes and soon uses her tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to gain control of the match. At one point in the match, Alicia seems to hit a stiff elbow on Sasha, which causes Sasha to hardway bleed. Interestingly, it seems that the referee doesn’t notice and doesn’t take out any gloves. After fighting out of a resthold, Alicia tries to hit another backbreaker, but Sasha lands on her feet and manages to lock the Bank Statement once again. This time, Alicia taps out just like last week and has a classic ‘spaz-out’ in the ring.
But it’s not over… when Charly Caruso attempts to interview Sasha backstage (who is now cleaned up), Alicia jumps her from behind and throws her into a table holder. Sasha tries to put up a fight, but after getting driven into a multi-material recycling bin, the damage has been done. Referee Darrick Moore runs in to try and stop the assault, but gets pushed down by Foxy. Other referees run down to stop Alicia and tend to Sasha who has taken a lot of damage.
BREAKING: @AliciaFoxy has been fined an undisclosed amount of money for shoving referee Darrick Moore earlier tonight on #RAW.
— WWE (@WWE) October 17, 2017
It is later revealed that Alicia Fox has been fined for her actions, but now another match has been added to the TLC night. Sasha Banks will get her chance to get revenge as she will take on Alicia Fox on the TLC Pre-Show this weekend!
Now onto the tag match, following the segment earlier it seems that Emma and RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss are on the same page. Mickie James makes her way out and this week, her tag partner is Bayley!
The dynamic of this match is for Alexa to stay away from Mickie and for Emma to do all the work. Alexa once again using her mind games to get the others to do her dirty work for her! However, Bayley still has a chip on her shoulder as she also wants to get her hands on Alexa, who was the one to take the title from her.
When we get back from the commercial break, it seems that Emma has managed to get the advantage and she’s working over Bayley. She even boots Bayley into the ring barricade, targeting her supported shoulder that she had previously injured. When enough damage has been done, Alexa then gets that tag and she starts to inflict her own. After flinging Alexa into the ropes, Bayley manages to get the hot tag and Mickie finally gets her hands on Alexa!
Mickie hits her classic forearms, a neckbreaker and her Thesz Press from the top rope! She goes for the cover, but gets clubbed in the head by Emma. Bayley runs into the ring to take out Emma, but receives a nasty slap from Alexa for getting involved. As Alexa turns around, she receives a Super-Mick Kick right to the chin and gets laid out for the 3 count! Mickie James has pinned the Champion!
Bayley and Mickie celebrate their victory backstage, until Charly Caruso stops them for a chance to get a word with Mickie. She asks about her thoughts about Alexa’s comments about Mickie’s ‘veteran status’. Mickie gets straight to the point and says that she isn’t phased about being called an ‘old lady’. What’s more important is that she can’t wait to bring the RAW Women’s Championship to her son! She wants to whip Alexa’s ‘biscuit butt’ all over TLC and become the 7 time Women’s Champion!
Charly Caruso (she’s getting that work today!) also caught up with Emma backstage following her loss and also asks about her thoughts heading into TLC. She corrects her since Alexa was the one who took the fall, so she should be wishing her luck. Emma tells us that she’s going to cause what everyone will call ‘the upset of the century’. Is Emma really ready for Asuka?
Thoughts: So we now have 3 womens matches at TLC and while this is amazing, they’ve really missed out on a chance to add some stipulations to this and I fear that the crowd are really going to die on one of them. The WWE Universe (really hate using that phrase) can be a fickle crowd and for an event like this, you’d expect the women to at least use a table, ladder or chair in at least one of their matches.
Either way, tonight’s booking was interesting. Mickie VS Alexa has been so promo based, which is where both of these women excel, so we’ve all been waiting for these two to get into it. Sure this tag match was super short, but it will be interesting to see what these women can pull out of the bag this weekend. It’s been a strong feud and I really hope this isn’t just some filler until Asuka enters the picture. They’ve done such a great job of making Alexa the coward and I’m personally pulling for Mickie to get the upset here.
The biggest development is clearly Alicia VS Sasha this week. This isn’t their first encounter, but they do tend to have a hit and miss chemistry. This week was one of their miss weeks, I don’t know if it was the injury that caused things to get cut short but it wasn’t a good showing. The backstage brawl took me by surprise and I’m sure they will put on a decent match, but the only thing that will interest me is if Alicia Fox wins… but I highly doubt it.
Finally, this time next week Asuka will fully be a part of the RAW roster. With women like Alicia and Mickie at the forefront for a change, it’s actually interesting to see who will have to take the backseat when Asuka arrives. I personally don’t see her remaining face for very long though… but I’m pretty sure Emma won’t be pulling off the upset this weekend…
Seriously, where is Nia Jax? What are your thoughts about tonight’s tag match? Are you happy we’ve got a third match rushed onto the card? Sound off in the comments below!
