6 Ups And 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (August 31st)
1. PPV Quality Matchup, FF Quality Match
Paige versus Sasha Banks is a matchup that has the potential to be a top-flight PPV bout, something that could rival Sashas match against Bayley at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn. Paige has been wrestling more than half her young life, and Banks has proven that shes one of the best in the game right now. So you would think that when they first squared off, it would be a bid deal But youd be wrong. The two met for the first time as part of the Beat the Clock challenge (Charlotte beat Brie Bella, and Becky Lynch defeated Alicia Fox) for PCB members to determine the number one contender for the Divas Championship. Worse yet, the match consisted of both women frantically going for pinfalls since Paige had to beat Charlottes time of 1:40 (she didnt, and the match immediately ended). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzRPHm2PRwU It was a total waste of time and should be fast-forwarded and deleted from memory, which really is a shame to say that. What doesnt make sense is that there are other women on the roster who could have come out and hung with Paige for two minutes Emma, Natalya and even Cameron could have been called upon. It also bears mentioning that Sasha had nothing to gain other than the satisfaction of preventing Paige from getting a title shot. Why not say that if she wins in a quicker time, then she gets the title match? It would add real stakes to the bout beyond playing the delay game.
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.