6 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (22 Jun - Results & Review)

3. Moves Happening In Front Of Our Faces

WWE Raw Brie Bella Bayley Paige
WWE

For years, the biggest criticism about the Women’s Tag Team Championship was that the titles would disappear off television for months and not be seen or defended for multiple PLE cycles.

Lately, the titles have been a regular feature on Raw and SmackDown, being defended every couple of weeks… in bland, mostly heatless matches with minimal buildup. The tag division has been a rotation of tandems beating the previous challengers to “earn” a title shot, facing Brie Bella and Paige, a duo whose nostalgia pop is dwindling by the week.

Monday, Brie and Paige defended against Lyra Valkyria and Bayley in a match that really was just a series of moves strung together for eight minutes. Early on, they tried some action with all four women in the ring, with the champs controlling with synchronized offense. It… didn’t go smoothly, let’s just say.

The finish saw Lyra hit a fisherman buster, only for Paige to stand right up and hit RamPaige for the abrupt win. It might qualify as passable, but even with this being Paige’s big homecoming to England, the crowd seemed “polite” at best rather than a raucous welcoming committee. That alone should be pretty telling about the match quality.

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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.