6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (Results & Review - 8 Jan)

3. Money Match In The Making

Rhea Ripley Nia Jax
WWE.com

A year ago, few – if any – would have predicted that Nia Jax versus Rhea Ripley would be a match that cynical WWE fans would be anticipating. But here it is a year later, and…

Jax is on the roll of her career since returning to WWE last year. She defeated Becky Lynch clean last week in what was arguably her best match – ever. Monday, she bullied Michael Cole (which made her a babyface in some people’s eyes) and announced herself for the Royal Rumble, threatening to take the title from either Rhea Ripley or Iyo Sky.

Cue Ripley, who noted that she eliminated Jax from the Rumble last year (with a little help from 10 other women) and warned Nia to keep Rhea’s name out of her mouth if she wins the Rumble this year.

The staredown between the two women actually felt like something special. There’s no chance Nia unseats Ripley at this stage in her reign, but damn if they haven’t done a bang-up job building Jax up to look like a real mountain for Rhea to scale.

Advertisement
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.