We’re two weeks away from another history making match, so how will they develop things this week? Surely they won’t make Champion and Challenger face off again… and with all the Twitter drama, maybe a certain Summer Rae may make a return? Isn’t it about time for RAW to make a reply to SmackDown’s challenge for a traditional Survivor Series match? Well let’s hit the Redux!
This week, it’s revealed at the top of the show that both the challenger Charlotte and the Champion Sasha Banks have had exclusive interviews with WWE Hall of Famer Lita.
In a pre-recorded segment, Charlotte speaks first and in classic fashion, she takes the boastful tone. “Lita, I’m a Winner… I don’t prepare, I was born for these moments.” she says, as Lita refers to Forbes ranking her the Greatest Women’s Wrestler of all time and winning 12 straight Pay Per View matches. Lita then recalls Summerslam, where Charlotte took advantage of Sasha’s injured back. Charlotte is quick with her rebuttal, “That’s why I am the very best, because I’m ALWAYS 100%”.
Finally, Lita mentions the hometown advantage, with Hell in a Cell taking place in Boston, Massachusetts. Charlotte shrugs it off easily, “At Hell in a Cell, I will be the Woman to beat… nothing will stop me!”.
Now it’s the Champion’s turn as Sasha Banks sits with Lita. Yep you guessed it, Sasha makes reference to the Women’s Evolution, but don’t worry she doesn’t mention it being her “dream” or “being a little girl” like her recent promos have been like. Lita questions Sasha about her condition, following her back injury at Summerslam. Sasha replies, “I’m back, I’m better than ever… I’m good to go”.
Lita asks if she’s afraid, causing Sasha to switch the tone and say, “I’m trying to prepare myself mentally, but I just know that when I step inside that ring with that Cell over on top of me… there can’t be fear because fear isn’t an option for me”.
Our match this week comes from Dana Brooke taking on Bayley, seeing their feud take another step – but in which direction?
Dana Brooke is out first, forever over-flexing those muscles that we never really see get put to use. Bayley comes out to a great ovation and is straight to business, seeking redemption after Dana attacked her from behind in her hometown last week.
After a quick game of cat and mouse, Bayley is in control from the start of the match. However, Dana counters a corner toss with a straight forearm that Nikki Bella would have been proud of. She unleashes a mean streak, stomping out Bayley and starting to work on her upper back/neck. After a resthold, Bayley takes control and starts to hit her signature flurry of offence, even an outside dropkick under the ‘buckle as Dana tries to run away.
The finish, however, it slightly messed up as Bayley climbs the top rope, only to get her arm wrenched by Dana and tossed into the ringpost. Dana then scrambles Bayley into the ring, packages her up for a pin and attempts to put her foot on the bottom rope for leverage… and fails. Still, she gets the victory and flaunts her win over the WWE Universe’s favourite Hugger.
Bayley is seen being helped backstage in a RAW Fallout clip, described as having back and beck injuries.
Elsewhere on the card, we saw an appearance from our Ravishing Russian Lana who introduces her husband Rusev. The couple begin to celebrate Rusev’s athletic family including #MamaRusev who was a Rowing Champion. United States Champion Roman Reigns is out to ruin the fun, as he steps up to Rusev once again, only this time Lana steps into the middle. Facing off against the Champion, she slaps him in the face, allowing Rusev to dominate Reigns with a brutal beatdown.
We also saw another vignette for the soon to be returning (Or is that soon to be debuting?) Emma (or is that Emmalina?). Taking it from the beach to the city, Emma/lina is seen posing for pictures in dresses on a city rooftop… fun.
Thoughts: If you read my Reduxes, then you know I have a preference for promos and segments over throwaway matches. Plus, if we had some form of Sasha, Bayley, Dana and Charlotte in ring again, I know a lot of you lot would have bitched and moaned, so it was good to use these interviews as the focus.
I’ve said this for the past few weeks, but Charlotte’s acting and promo skills are the best right now. She slayed once again, she’s just so confident and a much stronger heel because of it. In my personal opinion, she’s what Michelle McCool should have been. Sure being a heel is a bit easier than being a face in the WWE, but seeing these improvements in Charlotte as a total package is really making her a star in the business and it’s amazing to see in front of our eyes.
The Dana and Bayley match wasn’t the best and their feud has filler written all over it, but it’s slowly getting Dana over. Sure this botched finish went over like a fart in a church, but since the crowd love Bayley so much, as soon as Dana gets the upperhand, they react. Dana is slowly getting better in the ring too and you can see that she’s really benefitting from working with girls like Bayley and Sasha… but whether I’m interested in seeing her go more than 6 minutes against Bayley at the HIAC pre-show… that’s another thing.
Finally, I’ll use this last slot to address the whole Foley/Summer Rae Twitter beef. First off, God bless social media… something like this couldn’t have happened awhile ago. I just find that while it is very frustrating that she’s not appeared yet and we do need something fresh in the division, I still don’t see why she’d be relevant right now. Y’all rallied for Alicia Fox, now she’s getting squashed by Nia… Calling for Summer now is like having ice cream on top of fried chicken. Wait to finish your main course before you start dessert.
Are you excited for the first ever women’s Hell in a Cell match? Are you interested in the Bayley and Dana Brooke feud? Are you frustrated that Summer Rae has vanished? You know where that comments section is!
