5 Ups & 8 Downs From WWE Raw (Feb 1)

1. God Forbid Charlotte Look Weak

Naomi Charlotte Flair
WWE.com

Let’s get this straight: Charlotte Flair has the established issue with being distracted by her father and Lacey Evans during her matches. So when Ric Flair’s music hit, who got distracted and pinned on Monday night?

Asuka, the Raw Women’s Champion. Because of course she did.

During a triple threat tag match for a future “title opportunity,” Lacey and Ric came out to distract Charlotte, who immediately tagged out to Asuka, looking disgusted. And in what can only be described as WWE’s inability to make Charlotte ever look weak in any way, the writers had Asuka look at the Queen confused, herself distracted by the kerfuffle, and then ate a Rear View, with Naomi pinning the champ.

Let that sink in: the goal is for Evans to get heat on Charlotte, so she’s been distracting and interfering in her matches. So in this match that’s necessary for Flair and Asuka to regain the tag titles they lost the previous night, it’s the Raw Women’s Champion who loses, not the woman who needs to look vulnerable to Lacey’s antics.

Flippin’ brilliant.

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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.