Many people knew the results of RAW heading into the show this week based on it being taped from Manchester, England. This has caused a lot of people to perhaps skip the red brand this week, however, there are a few things we can still go over.
There was only one match this week which is rather pathetic considering that shouldn’t be happening on a three-hour show. The word going around was that Natalya wasn’t present on the European tour due to personal reasons and staying back in the United States. As a result, we saw Becky Lynch team up with Charlotte Flair to face The Kabuki Warriors with the tag titles on the line.
Many people criticized this match even after knowing why Natalya wasn’t in it. For those who may not be aware, she has been teaming with Flair as of late. A couple of things could have been done to make this situation make more sense. Perhaps the titles didn’t have to be on the line, or maybe The IIconics could have faced The Kabuki Warriors instead?
If we take a look at it from another perspective, this could open up the gate for Asuka to face Lynch for the RAW Women’s Champion after Survivor Series. Asuka pins Lynch albeit distraction from Shayna Baszler to retain the tag titles for her team.
A big missed opportunity this week is to build anything for the RAW women’s team for the traditional Survivor Series match. SmackDown has three out of their five selected in Sasha Banks, Dana Brooke, and Carmella, but the other two brands haven’t announced anyone. Let’s start building it.
Other than this match we saw Lana. We heard about sex and more sex.
Let’s get into the Winners & Losers of the week:
WINNER: Asuka
Asuka came off as a whole the best of the night. She pinned the RAW Women’s Champion and also retained her Women’s Tag Team Championship in the process. Asuka has been booked very well since winning the tag titles.
Whether she stays as tag champ and/or goes for the RAW title she is definitely shining on the red brand.
WINNER: Bayley
Bayley walks away as a winner this week mainly because she is staying relevant in the upcoming Triple Threat match at Survivor Series. Many people are counting her out as she is set to face both Becky Lynch and Shayna Baszler. It makes the most sense and would be the most shocking if she did pull out the win.
So keeping her relevant by having her show up to RAW was a good choice. She may have been knocked down by Baszler but she was able to get the last laugh on Lynch as she launched the RAW Women’s Champion into the barricade.
LOSER: Lana
This story is going nowhere. All we hear week after week is how much Rusev was a sex addict but all Lana does with Bobby Lashley is have sex. The segment was also such a misstep. She stated that she cheated on Rusev but she was in a monogamous relationship with Rusev, and then a monogamous relationship with Lashley. Can we get a dictionary to look up what monogamous means and give it to the writers? Please.
As I stated last week, if this storyline was actually progressing and going somewhere then it may pan out. That is a big MAY. For instance, if we had who Rusev “cheated” on her with show up then maybe we can get some mixed tag team matches or something of the sort. The pregnancy announcement wasn’t the answer to solve this as it was then stated it was just a lie to get Rusev to come out.
What were your thoughts on this week’s RAW? Since they didn’t build anything for the traditional Survivor Series match, who do you think will end up representing the red brand? Leave your thoughts in the comment section.
