5 Ups And 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (June 10)

4. Bliss’ Manipulation Continues

Lacey Evans Alexa Bliss Nikki Cross
WWE.com

We’ve speculated on Alexa Bliss using Nikki Cross, which was likely but not 100% proven, but we got the proof Monday night.

Bliss took the opportunity to trash Bayley – her Stomping Grounds opponent – to Cross, saying that she was a “master manipulator” when they were down in NXT, which obviously isn’t true, but it was an attempt to throw Nikki off and be more loyal to Alexa. It fits perfectly with Bliss’ character, looking for any advantage.

But kudos to Nikki, who got used as a human shield by Lacey Evans during the champs versus challengers tag match, which lead to Cross looking warily at her afterward. It was a subtle thing, but you could see Nikki smiling one second, and looking suspiciously at Lacey the next.

It was subtle, but it was enough to hope she won’t be characterized as a gullible goof, which is WWE’s go-to trope for babyface wrestlers.

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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.