4 Ups & 8 Downs From WWE Raw (Dec 19 - Review)

Downs…

8. A No-Win Situation

You can sympathize with WWE wanting to put Rhea Ripley over as a dangerous individual, whether it’s against women or men. But they put themselves – and Akira Tozawa – in a no-win situation Monday night.

After Tozawa cost Judgment Day a win by throwing water in Dominik Mysterio’s face, Ripley slugged Akira and challenged him to a match. That’s where it all went wrong. Tozawa couldn’t – and wouldn’t – punch Rhea, so he accepted a match where he spent the entire time begging off and just evading her. He did counter a powerbomb attempt with a hurricanrana and allowed Ripley to post herself, but then Akira went for one big offensive move – a senton – missed and Rhea nailed Riptide for the win.

Other interactions with Ripley and men on the roster have worked because they were outside the confines of a match – ringside confrontations, brawls and other situations. Rhea slamming Luke Gallows was an incredible moment, but it worked because it could be a one-off during a chaotic ringside brawl, not during a match where Gallows would be on the defensive.

Tozawa looked stupid for accepting the match and then acting like he didn’t want to be there. Then why agree to the match in the first place? They would have been better served to have Dominik provide a distraction right away, Ripley get a couple of cheap shots, another distraction or interference, Riptide, goodnight.

It was a good idea, and Ripley looked impressive as hell. But this "dipping a toe in" by having Tozawa agree and then not being a willing participant is not a sustainable deal.