6 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (July 8)

3. A Stipulation That Makes Sense… And Raises The Stakes

Nikki Cross Bayley
WWE.com

When they announced a Beat the Clock Challenge to determine who would pick the stipulations for the SmackDown Women’s Championship, one thought popped up: What stip would favor one person over another?

A tables match, object on a pole, falls count anywhere… none of those matches necessarily would favor Bayley or Alexa Bliss over the other. But after Nikki Cross won the challenge, she immediately informed Bayley that she would be assisting Bliss in a 2-on-1 handicap match.

This definitely makes things more interesting, as Cross has been brainwashed by Alexa into believing that she is the maligned one. But what happens if and when Nikki has Bayley down in a pinning predicament and Bliss loses it?

The stipulation clearly favors the challenger(s), but the added intrigue of whether Cross is duped or wisens up during the match is an added bonus.

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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.