4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (9 February - Results & Review)

4. New Presentation, Same Crappy Vibes

Natayla Maxxine Dupri
WWE

From all reports, Natalya Neidhart is a respected figure in the wrestling world, and her Low-Key Legend character has received rave reviews from her appearances on the independents.

However, none of that has translated in WWE, where “Nattie” had her debut singles match against Maxxine Dupri Monday night… and it went to a double count-out in mere seconds as the crowd went mild.

Had Nattie battered Maxxine all over the place and brutalized her on the floor until the referee counted to 10, this might have worked. Instead, Dupri picked an ankle out of a slam attempt and hit a spinkick before they rolled to the floor, where Nattie finally took over by driving Maxxine into the steps and post before bouncing her head off the announce desk and locking in the Sharpshooter.

*sigh* If there’s any hope of getting this character over with fans who have watched Natalya flail away for nearly 20 years, she needs to batter someone into a quivering mass of jelly. A bog standard WWE no contest with a submission on the desk because that apparently hurts more is just a waste of everyone’s time.

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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.