10 Things Post-WrestleMania 38 Raw Told Us About WWE’s Future
6. WWE Must Scrap “Contender Matches”
Seriously, get rid of these things.
What's the point of WWE's "Championship Contender Matches"? Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley lost to reigning Women's Tag-Team Champs Sasha Banks and Naomi on Raw but...still get a crack at the belts next week? Apparently, Adam Pearce doesn't watch the show and a chat with him was all the prospective challengers needed.
Inconsistencies like this drive fans crazy. The "Contender Match" gimmick has been lame from the start, but at least see it through - uninspiring or not, it can be a useful tool to set up pay-per-view title bouts. However, it has no purpose whatsoever if WWE just happily ignores the results of matches.
Yeah, this is up there with the "Wild Card Rule" as one of those booking tropes this company can't go steady on. Worse, this example was totally avoidable. Someone in creative had to know that fans would be left scratching heads by both the loss and Pearce's off-screen decision.