5 Burning Issues For WWE Raw Tonight (Oct 16)

4. Nobody Is Ready For Asuka

Roman Reigns Braun Strowman
WWE.com

They were words wailed multiple times by the former NXT Champion, as she continued her unrelenting and undefeated path of destruction through the developmental brand. On last week's evidence, the main roster will experience much of the same plight.

Though Emma emerged victorious from the abysmal five-way elimination battle, the match and segment that built up to it was one of Raw's most shambolic.

Bickering over a spot in the match backstage, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Alicia Fox and Dana Brooke joined the Aussie in assembling a chronically awful match littered with botches so powerful that they seemed to have a knock-on effect with the bewildered and befuddled announce team.

Booker T was his typically incomprehensible self, but the ordinarily-steadfast Michael Cole managed to misunderstand the most basic of rules and even the whip-smart Corey Graves wasn't able to steer the ship as it went headlong into a third hour iceberg.

This week, Emma will undoubtedly have some last words for the 'Empress Of Tomorrow' as she aims to do better than her first meeting with the devastating Japanese star. Their show-opening NXT TakeOver: London battle was one of the brand's best ever women's matches. Both would benefit from a Sunday retread of that forgotten classic.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett