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

DOWNS…

5. Comedy Or Serious?

Akira Tozawa Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE.com

How are fans supposed to receive Akira Tozawa?

For years, Tozawa has been nothing more than a comedy character, decked out in ninja garb and chasing the 24/7 Championship. Triple H ditched the vaguely offensive gimmick, but Akira still has been little more than a background character played for “laughs” in backstage segments. Now, he’s Alpha Academy’s latest project, a goof in a T-shirt six sizes too large.

Monday, Tozawa faced Shinsuke Nakamura in what was pretty much guaranteed to be a massacre. And then Akira hit a small flurry of offense and reversed a Kinshasa attempt into a rollup, reminding longtime fans that this guy actually is extremely skilled… and then he got waffled with a Kinshasa and was put down.

Whatever WWE was going for here, it didn’t quite work. If this is a buildup to Nakamura facing Chad Gable – and with Otis facing Shinsuke next week, that seems to be the case – that could be great, but Tozawa’s mini-arc here just fell flat. And he’s supposed to have an NXT Heritage Cup match Tuesday night. Great way to build that match.

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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 fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.