Another Monday Night RAW is in the books and the RAW Women’s Title picture seems to be even more confusing than it was before the show started. With Clash of Champions right around the corner, we have two matches booked. What is missing is the RAW Women’s Title on the card.
Tonight, we witnessed the highly anticipated match between the RAW Women’s Champion Asuka and Mickie James. This match would decide who would be champion heading into the next pay-per-view event.
Well, a match that had it all, unfortunately, had quite a controversial and confusing ending. Asuka is still RAW Women’s Champion after the referee determined that James could no longer continue.
The ending of the match saw Asuka with the Asuka Lock applied. James would fight to get out of the submission and would roll through when the official called for the bell. Commentary seemed to be just as confused as everyone else. It was unsure if James tapped out, if she was injured, or what the case was. Jame’s would roll out of the ring and Asuka’s hand was raised.
Initial Thoughts:
I was into the match, until the obvious ending that left everyone confused. Although at the time of this writing, nothing has been confirmed – but i feel like something happened to Mickie. She seemed a little out of it after the match was called.
The referee was tending to Mickie on the outside, but from what I could tell, there were no others assisting.
If you think things couldn’t get more confusing, you would be wrong. The music of Zelina Vega would then hit as she made her way out to the ring.
Earlier in the night, Vega had enough of her associates Andrade and Angel Garza not getting along. She let them know that she couldn’t deal with them any longer and walked away. Now she was storming to the ring to confront Asuka.
Vega says that she has realized that she has wasted some of the best years of her career managing the likes of Andrade and Garza. She called them ingrates just as she feels Asuka is. She adds that Asuka was handed the RAW Women’s Title by one of the greats (Becky Lynch) and all Asuka has done is be reckless with it.
According to Vega, Asuka has wasted all of her time of the stars of yesterday instead of focusing on the best of today – her. She says that she is ready to take the RAW Women’s Title.
Asuka responds in Japanese and laughs at Vega. Vega then slaps the champion across the face as she backs her way up the ramp.
Initial thoughts :
HECK YEAH! Finally! Zelina Vega! What was confusing though was how this came after what happened during the Asuka vs. Mickie match. My thought is that Mickie was going to lose and Zelina was always going to come out and do what she did. I think the ending of the match was unexpected due to whatever the reason why the referee called for it to end. So in the moment, it all became a bit of a head-scratcher. Plus, I guess that Nattie is no longer involved in the title chase?
There was a promo for Mandy Rose‘s trade to RAW. Advertising her move to RAW as “Mandy Night RAW.”
The second and last women’s match of the night was between The Riott Squad vs. Lana & Natalya. It was announced earlier in the day that The Riott Squad would be taking advantage of their number one contender spot for the Women’s Tag Titles. They will be facing the champs of Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax at Clash of Champions on Sept. 27. Baszler and Jax were on commentary during this match.
The Riott Squad would pick up a relatively quick win as they double team on Lana. Riott picks up the pin. After the match, Baszler and Jax rush the ring. The Riott Squad retreats up the ramp and watches as the tag champs take out Natalya and Lana. Natalya is thrown into the ring post and comes crashing down to the ringside floor. Jax cleared off the commentary table in order to deliver a Samoan Drop to Lana through the table.
Initial Thoughts:
Personally as of now, I am more excited about Nia/Shayna vs The Riott Squad at Clash of Champions then I am the singles matches. I can see the match going either way and in the long run, I am okay with that. The dynamic between Shayna and Nia makes it enjoyable. The Riott Squad picking up all the wins and being strong!
Lana does not get enough credit. Her being in matches for the past several weeks shows that she still has the heart to work hard as an in-ring competitor. She took that massive bump on the announce table and it looked great. I would love to see her and Nattie eventually win the tag titles. Let’s be honest, this would be most likely the only title they would give to Lana.
Let’s get into the Winners & Losers of the week for RAW:
WINNER: Zelina Vega
Great promo! Surprising challenge! I want to see it. A lot of people forget just how good Zelina is in the ring. She is a 10-year veteran of the business and unless you followed her before WWE, the casual fans don’t realize that.
It just seems to be at the expense of Mickie and that is where it was hard for me to enjoy the moment as much as I should have.
WINNERS: The Riott Squad
They keep picking up win after win and it is great to see. It is boosting them up the ladder and the fact they both of them are getting pins show just how equal they are making them as individuals as well. Regardless if they take the titles at Clash of Champions or not, they will be champions one day.
LOSER: Mickie James
The ending of the match still leaves me in a confused state at the time of this writing. Regardless of how this match ended, Mickie should be the one to face Asuka at Clash of Champions and that idea seems to be getting further and further away at this point.
Hopefully we get some clarity on where this all goes from here for Mickie, but for this week, she ends up on the losing end of the list.
What were your thoughts on this week’s RAW? Who were your Winners & Losers? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below!!
