6 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (July 30)
2. Killing Time
WWE.com
No Sasha Banks this week thanks to international marketing responsibilities, leaving best friend Bayley short-handed in her battle against Alexa Bliss' chief frenemy Nia Jax.
The Raw Women's Champion ringside presence late in the match was more welcome than just about anything else in the turgid third hour of this week's show, especially considering how rapidly the match between the title's two top contenders was shaping out.
Nia Jax's schizophrenic development remains problematic for the company despite what looks to be a certain top-level push at some point down the line. For every good week she has, six near disasters will follow, including this latest run punctuated by falling hard on Emma to get her new finisher over last week, and vastly under-delivering in a match that has usually generated a rewarding outcome.
Bayley too seemed off the pace, perhaps still struggling to find her fire again following the profound mishandling of her character since switching the title to Bliss back in April.
Above all of the time wasting and posturing, the main antagonist for the real big angle was nowhere to be seen. Sasha and Bayley's relationship (and all the history wrapped up within it) means more than the title match itself, particularly with the match set to go down in Brooklyn.
Outside of setting up another clunky fatal four-way a la WrestleMania, there's no money left in this chase.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.
