5 Ups & 9 Downs From WWE Raw (Fb 28)

3. Winning Matters

Normally, beating your tag champs a week before they’re slated to defend the titles would be a “down” here, but we’re going to give it positive marks for two reasons.

First off, Alpha Academy versus Kevin Owens & Seth Rollins was a pretty good tag match. All four men hit their marks perfectly, with KO and Rollins playing the pseudo-faces in peril nicely. Their tandem offense is clicking more and more as they tag, and the finishing combo of buckle bomb, Stunner and Stomp is a lethal combination.

Winning was also important to the most makeshift team in next week’s tag title match, to show that they have a legit chance, and to cast doubt on the outcome. But it also works because Alpha Academy has been winning their matches of late. The Raw tag champs have beaten RK-Bro, the Mysterios and Street Profits during the past two months, which makes their loss mean something, but also doesn’t make them losers. (There’s a distinction there.)

If your champs are winning a bunch of matches, you can occasionally have them lose a bout without derailing or damaging their momentum. WWE loves to beat their champs in non-title matches all the time, and it makes the challengers’ victories meaningless. Winning matters, especially when your champs are the ones racking up the victories.