10 Must-See WWE Matches, Moments, And Segments This Week (Oct 7)
4. Backstage Interviews Involving Principle Characters Perfectly Set The Stage For The Main-Event
One of the major complaints about WWE television over the years has been how they handle featured matches. With so much time to fill, on Raw in particular, it has often seemed as if two wrestlers were sent out solely for the purpose of filling a quarter hour or two, minus the attraction of stakes that are paramount to creating emotional investment in a match.
It was refreshing to see the variety of backstage segments and interviews that led up to the Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks match for the Women's Championship on Monday. Banks set the tone with her emotional retelling of her childhood dream to Bayley, who right before the main-event was involved in taking out Dana Brooke, removing her from the equation before the match ever began.
In between, Charlotte continued her excellent run of heel promos, setting the stage for her eventual comeuppance at night's end; lest we not forget the typically well-done video package, featuring the history between champion and challenger dating back to NXT, that aired right before the match.
The little stuff matters and attention to details are one of the things that can make Raw and Smackdown compelling every week. Overall, Raw this week had a much better flow to it than usual thanks in large part to the running Banks-Charlotte narrative throughout the show. If you desire to go back and watch the main-event itself again, do yourself a favor and watch the various segments that led up to it as well.