4 Ups & 10 Downs From WWE Raw (June 14)

5. Hey, Here’s Something Different!

Asuka Rhea Ripley
WWE.com

Oh no, wait, it’s the same thing we’ve seen over and over and over.

Rhea Ripley needed a tune-up match on Monday in advance of Hell in a Cell, so WWE dug deep into its arsenal and pitted her against Asuka. This brilliant booking strategy called back to WrestleMania… and the night after Mania… and last match on Raw… and at WrestleMania Backlash.

In fact, Ripley has had nine matches since being called up to the main roster. She has faced Asuka in four singles matches, a triple threat, a tag match and a six-woman tag match, and teamed with her in another tag match. Rhea literally has had one match where she hasn’t shared the ring with Asuka in some fashion.

Remember when this was a WrestleMania match? Now it’s just a weekly occurrence. It’s just insanely lazy booking from WWE. But is anyone surprised?

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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.