3 Ups & 7 Downs From WWE Raw (31 Oct)

by Michael Sidgwick

1. A Hot Main Event

Asuka Alexa Bliss
WWE

In something of a shocker, in a match made earlier in the night - what did "WWE officials" have planned for the main event of an important televised show? - Alexa Bliss and Asuka dethroned Women's Tag Team champions Dakota Kai and IYO SKY.

This was really worked and very dramatic by the finish. IYO in particular did a great, unique job with the the "down, not out" story beat by taking a cut-off facebuster, tapping to the Asuka lock unsighted by the ref, and, moments later, missing a PK to Alexa Bliss only to catch her with a back heel to the jaw. Amid all that, Asuka and Kai exchanged a quality exchange of kicks. The timing of the near-misses was blood-pumping

Amid that, Bayley and Bianca Belair built their Last Man Standing match at Crown Jewel with a Bayley to Belly through a table that made you want to see a Last Man Standing match.

The pop was immense for the title switch, but then, it always is. It's a cheat code. Until this story gets good for longer than a week, this was probably an aberration - but a fairly electrifying one, actually.

The booking was puzzling. Shouldn't the heels have all the power and "momentum" ahead of WarGames, to make the babyface reckoning all the sweeter? That's of course assuming that the babyface team is going to win, which you'd expect (or hope) to be the case, since Damage CTRL is cold, the story is cold, and it's been dragging on since the summer.

Bad comedy, mostly generic in-ring action, the same eye-rolling heel verbiage you've heard for years and years: meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!