6 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Raw (Aug 1)

by Scott Carlson

1. Changing Face Of Raw Women’s Division

Bianca Belair Asuka Alexa Bliss
WWE.com

Normally, if you were starting out Raw by writing out Becky Lynch via an injury angle due to a real-life injury, you’d think that spelled disaster for the women’s division.

But these are (apparently) different times, as Bayley, Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky (that’s going to take time to remember) made an impact Monday night. The trio wrote off Lynch and tormented Bianca Belair all night, and the women’s division itself, attacking Asuka and Alexa Bliss, two former women’s champions.

All of this led to a competitive match between Belair and Sky that then saw Asuka and Bliss come to the Raw Women’s Champion’s aid late in the match and braw with Kai and Bayley. Just like that, we have two sides formed, with Bayley’s Control (assuming that’s the name) group trying to be disruptors, and the established stars of Belair, Bliss and Asuka standing their ground.

This doesn’t even count Rhea Ripley – who’s busy beating up Dominik Mysterio – Carmella, Queen Zelina, Doudrop, Nikki ASH or Tamina, all of whom are capable of being role players in this division.

That’s an impressive turnabout in just 48 hours.

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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.