For months now many fans, critics, and journalists have been saying that the wild card rule is hurting WWE’s product. Myself included. We can all agree that using the same six to seven women every week gets stale, no denying that. With that being said, this week’s RAW hit it out of the park.
Sure the same six women were used, along with Sasha Banks who returned just a few weeks ago but it was done right. Two matches (of course having more would have been preferred) and one of them as the main event. At first hearing about Becky Lynch and Bayley vs. Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss in a Women’s Champion Showcase, many people said –why? We will get to that answer a little bit later.
First, there was a match between Lacey Evans and Natayla. Personally, their chemistry together has always been good. It was a solid showing between these two. Nattie coming in with a fire lit under her is always a good thing. She is still selling the injured arm from Becky Lynch at SummerSlam. The match culminated with Nattie attacking Evans in the ropes after Evans brought out her handkerchief to wipe away the nasty. Evans delivered a Woman’s Right to Nattie to pick up the win.
Following the first women’s match of the night came a segment between Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch. The promo was extremely well done. Lynch in the ring, she talks into the camera addressing Banks. She says the reasons why Banks says she left for the past four months was a load of crap.
She explains that Banks had it all. Lynch was struggling to get matches as Banks and Charlotte Flair were being paraded around with championships and accolades. With all of the talent that The Boss has, Lynch proclaims that she was supposed to be her. As a result of this, Sasha is jealous.
Banks comes out to agree with what the champ had to say. It was supposed to be her that should have main evented WrestleMaina, been on magazine covers, the fame, and the money. She says the only reason why Lynch received all that is because Nia Jax broke her face.
As reported earlier, Lynch wanted to go ahead and have a match right then and there. Banks states she doesn’t do this for free, she does it for the paycheck. So she challenges the champion for her title at Clash of Champions. Lynch accepts after letting her know that all she had to do was ask. The Man vs. The Boss is set. Banks ends the segment letting her know that “after Clash of Champions, The Man is going to be The Boss’s bitch.”
Throughout the night, both Bayley and Sasha Banks were interviewed. Charly Caruso and Sarah Schreiber asked questions that appeared to drive a wedge between the two friends. This was perfectly done to have the women stay relevant throughout the show. Bayley also declares that she will not be overshadowed by anyone.
As mentioned earlier, the main event of the night was the Women’s Champions Showcase. This non-title match had Bayley paired up with her best friend’s enemy, Lynch to fight the Women’s Tag Team Champions, Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. The match on paper had many people scratching their heads as to what the point was.
Quickly after the match started, Sasha Banks made her way out to the ramp. She stood on the ramp watching on. The majority of the match saw Bayley isolated from making a tag to her partner. After she was finally able to tag in the RAW Women’s Champion, Bayley spent her time on the floor and not on the ring apron.
As Lynch attempts to fight off both Bliss and Cross, Banks enters the ring and causes the disqualification as she delivers a backstabber to Lynch. She would then reach under the ring to grab a steel chair. She would deliver several blows to her Clash of Champions opponent. Bayley would enter the ring and grab the chair from The Boss’s hand.
RAW went off the air with Bayley delivering several chair shots to Lynch as the crowd cheers with Banks looking on.
Winner: Sasha Banks
She is doing everything right. Heel Sasha is who we should have had all of last year. You know when we were deciding if Sasha vs. Bayley would ever happen? As far as the match at Clash of Champions there has to be some caveat to it. Either it will end in disqualification or something to extend the feud. We haven’t seen a woman’s Hell in the Cell match since 2016 where Sasha faced Charlotte and we need on again. Sasha can win the title next month after the feud builds up even more.
Winner: Bayley
The show ending with Bayley slamming a chair repeatedly on Becky Lynch was great. It would maybe have been better if she actually did turn on Sasha, but maybe that is later down the road. As far as the current storyline it makes the most sense that she stuck by her best friend.
Losers: Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross
The only reason they are listed as the losers this week is that their appearance did really nothing for them nor their titles. The tag titles are one of the only titles that don’t have a match so far at Clash of Champions. There should be some focus on the titles as opposed to just having them in this match that was more about the storyline then the in-ring work.
What did you think of this week’s RAW? Who were your Winners & Losers? Discuss your thoughts in the comment section.
