5 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (2 Jan - Review)

Ups…

5. Women’s Title Match Started So Well

Alexa Bliss Bianca Belair
WWE.com

The story to the Raw Women’s Championship match was actually very well told from Bianca Belair’s part.

The champ was blindsided by one of her allies, Alexa Bliss, last week ahead of their title match. Once the bell rang Monday, Bianca hauled off and slugged Bliss down, then stood over her and dared her to get up. When Alexa charged at her, Belair held her at bay by the head and then dropped her again.

That anger and attitude played throughout the match, as Belair wrestled with almost a sneer the entire first half of the match, looking to put her former friend down and using her power game to do it. Bianca looked every bit the pissed-off champion, which is a welcome departure from how WWE usually portrays its babyface champs

Yes, it all fell apart with the Bray Wyatt nonsense later, but let’s not lose the fact that this was a good, character-driven opening to the match.

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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.