4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Monday Night Raw (17 November - Results & Review)
1. Becky Carries Dupri to The IC Title
Is there anything Becky Lynch can’t do?
Lynch paid off her surprising feud with Maxxine Dupri Monday night, defending her Women’s Intercontinental Championship in a match that saw The Man become completely unhinged. For the past couple of months, Lynch has been growing more irritated by everything seemingly conspiring against her, especially referee Jessika Carr, who fast-counted her out in a match against Maxxine several weeks ago.
Monday, Carr drew the assignment, and she immediately drew Becky’s ire. That nearly proved to be Lynch’s undoing as she got booted and covered for a two-count at the bell. From there, Lynch continued to be flustered by Dupri, who stayed in the match just enough before a submission reversal sequence ended with the Alpha Babe frustrating The Man even more.
Dupri avoided a Manhandle Slam and locked in an anklelock with a heel hook, but Lynch powered out. Becky would again start arguing with the ref before trying to undo the turnbuckle pad. This drew out AJ Lee to send Lynch over the top. The champ turned around into a crossbody, and three seconds later, Maxxine had captured the IC Title.
It would be easy to frame this as a distraction finish – a banana peel loss – but Lynch has put in the work in recent weeks of slowly losing her composure when it comes to Dupri, Jessika Carr, and anything else that has worked against her. AJ was another flashpoint for Becky, and she couldn’t control herself.
This honestly should be a really short title reign for Dupri, whose only really good matches have come against Lynch – no one should be expecting her to suddenly be a savant in the ring - but this was a feel-good moment for Dupri, and fuel for Lynch’s hatred of AJ.