5 Ups And 6 Downs From WWE Raw (Nov 11)

3. Contracts? What Contracts?

bayley becky lynch
WWE.com

Remember way back when, all those days ago when Brock Lesnar quit SmackDown to go to Raw to hunt Rey Mysterio?

There was actually a reason for it: SmackDown wrestlers were contracted to Fox and could not appear on USA, and vice-versa, Raw wrestlers could only show up on USA and not appear on Fox.

The typical intra-brand wars between Raw and SmackDown during Survivor Series season looked to be in jeopardy, but NXT talent didn’t have the same restriction, so they’ve been “invading” both brands. Problem solved, right?

Cue Monday night. Shayna Baszler showed up to harass Becky Lynch during her match, only for Bayley to show up out of nowhere and attack Baszler, and then Lynch.

Wait, weren’t SmackDown superstars contractually obligated to only show up on Fox? That they couldn’t just waltz onto Raw and USA? Didn’t Brock quit the blue brand for that very reason?

WWE, don’t make “rules” if you can’t enforce them for even a month. It’s embarrassing.

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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.