5 Ups & 9 Downs From WWE Raw (Feb. 22)

4. Ripley En Route To Raw

Call this a tenuous up at best.

It’s not that Rhea Ripley herself should be doubted, but given WWE’s track record with NXT superstars of late, it’s questionable whether the company will manage to ruin The Nightmare upon her formal debut.

Last year, Ripley was poised to topple Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 36 and really break through. Instead, she lost to Flair and disappeared back into NXT. So her call-up now could be that dream finally realized, or it could be the beginning of breaking her down as a performer, having her go 50/50 with Nia Jax and lose to Naomi on a distraction roll-up.

But we’ll be optimistic until we have reason to doubt and really worry about her future.

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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.