10 Things We Learned From WWE Raw In The UK (May 8)

6. Floundering

The Miz Maryse Dean Ambrose
WWE.com

It wasn't just Bayley who was subjected to the harsh realities of a Women's division crippled by a series of titanic booking errors in 2017.

Mickie James has always been inordinately popular in front of UK crowds, but her heel arrival and tepid babyface turn on SmackDown Live! has neutered responses to her either way. The company have made their mind up on her role, which appears to represent a disconnect from the crowd's response to her initial comeback at November's NXT TakeOver: Toronto. Clearly inserted as a warm body and nothing more following her return, WWE seem content to trot her out as a more capable Dana Brooke or Alicia Fox to do the honours for whomever needs a rub at the time.

And speaking of Noam Dar's main squeeze, it was another rotten night for the former Divas Champion as she managed not to keep her shoulders down during Sasha Banks' match-winning pinfall as part of their ice cold showcase.

Presumably kept separate from the earlier brawl in order to infer a separation in storylines, the match almost felt like it didn't belong on the show, and certainly didn't help 'The Boss' despite her comfortable victory.

Especially in comparison to the thriving female league on Tuesday nights, Raw's own division has at long last collapsed under the weight of one too many failures.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett