6 Ups & 4 Downs For WWE Raw (22 Sept - Results & Review)

1. Heel Asuka Stumbles Out Of Gate

WWE Raw Asuka Rhea Ripley
WWE

This is a tough one to rate, because Asuka’s character arc has been pretty well done during the past several weeks as she has moved closer to turning heel.

Monday night, she finally crossed over, misting Rhea Ripley and pummeling her after their main event, and then turning on longtime friend Iyo Sky and laying her out, all while corrupting Kairi Sane and making her do the Empress’ bidding.

Wait, Asuka lost that match against Rhea? Due to heel miscommunication? So, her first act as a full-fledged villain was to fail and have the Kabuki Warriors fumble about like Keystone Cops?

Come on.

You could make the argument that the loss was what pushed Asuka over the edge, but she hadn’t even been hinting at any internal conflict in recent weeks. She’s all but screamed, “I am the bad guy here!” each week, and she was demanding that Sane interfere during the match Monday night. She just hadn’t broken out the mist or turned on Iyo yet.

If this was going to be an issue, then don’t book the match. Find another way to do it. The post-match stuff was great (more to come), but the message this sent was that the match and result didn’t matter at all – just what happened afterward. You continually diminish the point of the wrestling (and wins and losses) when you book like this.

The biggest wrestling company in the world, with the most resources at its disposal, should be able to figure out how to achieve its goals without these missteps.

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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.