-Another week of strong tag team wrestling in the WWE Raw women’s division and another week of feeling a little iffy about it. I repeat, I’m not feeling iffy because it’s the tag team division as a whole. Tag team wrestling is important, can fill time, and can be a helluva lot of fun for fans when done right. In this case, I’m still confused over the use of Rhea Ripley as a tag team act. After CM Punk, Ripley gets the biggest pops on the show. She needs to be at the top of the women’s singles division, but instead is doing work alongside Iyo Sky in a tag team. Their work together is a blast, but each time I see it, I remember the opportunity that it’s costing WWE to do it.
A simple parade
-As for the parade of challengers for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships, each one made sense. They had a claim to a title shot and there was a match later in the night to crown a number one contender. Simple, but effective.
-Glad to see Liv Morgan and Roxanne Perez become number one contenders for those tag titles. Running back Riyho vs. Kabuki Warriors would have been easy, but this is more fresh and a lot more interesting.
-Je’Von Evans had an absolutely fine in-ring debut this week after a ho-hum first night on Raw last week. That happened in a commercial break, this happened in a five minute match. Evans is going to be a star that works his way from the bottom to the top. He may not get there, but it seems as if he’s going to have to go the full distance himself in order to do it. In the match this week, he got to show his energy, charisma, and in-ring chops. That was important. The question is, did he interest fans? Time will tell.
A white meat babyface … CM Punk?
-In the last month, CM Punk has very much figured out how to come across as a dominant, but fighting babyface. Last week against Bron Breakker was wonderful and this week opposite Finn Balor — while different — was equally as fantastic. Punk built Balor up into someone worth beating and now will get to beat him next week in front of a Balor home crowd in Ireland. This was all to the point and simple, but it worked because it was both of those things.
-Wow, another Becky Lynch vs. Maxxine Dupri match for the WWE Women’s Intercontinental Championship next week? The world doesn’t need this, but both promos by Lynch and Dupri were fine.
-Don’t change what’s working. That’s the theme of the Raquel Rodriguez vs. Stephanie Vaquer. At least right now. Rodriguez got strong heat on Vaquer for beating her up last week and they doubled down on it this week. Rodriguez vs. Vaquer isn’t a PLE main event or anything, but the story is easy to follow because of the clear babyface and heel lines drawn in the sand.
-Well, Penta and Dragon Lee got the victory over The Vision this week, but they certainly didn’t win. I like the pairing, though.
-The Penta and Lee vs. Vision tag team match existed so Bron Breakker could destroy it. Breakker losing his cool and putting his hands on Adam Pearce was a fine touch, other than the fact that it made the audience excited to see Breakker destroy Pearce. It’s the price you pay when you keep a top star undefined for so long. It’s hard to tell stories when the characters don’t have a constitution. Bron Breakker is a bad ass and his ceiling while in WWE is playing a babyface. For now, he’s a heel and needs to do more to get fans to act like it.
Styles and Gunther go old school
-WWE did a nice job with the AJ Styles vs. Gunther main event this week. Both got promo time and the match felt like it meant a little more after both guys were done. The match itself wasn’t a high-flying or high-paced encounter, but it was a treat to see Gunther’s leg become such a focal point, after Styles said he wanted to make Gunther tap out. Old school. The entire match narrative hung on that plot point.
What did you think for this week’s episode of WWE Raw? Let us know in the comments.
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