3 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (22 December - Results & Review)

UPS…

3. Perfectly Competent

Rhea Ripley Iyo Sky
WWE

What else can you realistically say about Asuka versus Rhea Ripley in a match that was ultimately meaningless and ended with a distraction rollup finish?

Ripley and the Empress of Tomorrow seesawed for a good 10-plus minutes, with neither woman gaining a clear advantage. Asuka had an edge with Kairi Sane at ringside running interference, and when Iyo Sky hobbled down to try to even those odds, she got dropped onto the apron on her bad back.

When Rhea went to check on her friend, Asuka rolled her up for the pin. The end.

However, the match was worked pretty well, and it kept the Women’s Tag Team Championship feud front and center, so it merits passing marks for a taped, holiday episode of Raw. But any other time of year, this would get a “down” for being little more than filler.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.