6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (Results & Review - 9 Oct)

DOWNS…

4. Woof

Nia Jax Raquel Rodriguez
WWE.com

Raquel Rodriguez versus Nia Jax was flat-out not good. That doesn’t deserve some flowery intro or setup. It was just bad.

Firstly, it cannot be understated how incredibly bland Rodriguez’s persona is. You can’t even call it a character, because she has none. Just think for a second: What is Raquel’s motivation? What’s her story? Who is she? She’s a smiling babyface with a wickedly strong back. That’s it.

Rodriguez can wrestle though; however, she was paired with Jax, who hadn’t wrestled in the two years since her 2021 WWE release – and it’s showed in her matches. Their bout was a slog, with the story being Raquel trying to lift Nia and finally succeeding by countering an Annihilator with a powerbomb before Rhea Ripley ran down for a DQ.

Still, a barely passable match (if that) between a smiling babyface with no purpose and a giant heel going through the motions is no buys. The money was all in the post-match melee.

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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.