7 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Raw (24 Feb - Results & Review)

2. Women’s IC Title Picture A Muddled Mess

WWE Raw Ivy Nile
WWE

What the heck is WWE doing here?

Just to set the scene, Dakota Kai lost in the finals of the Women’s Intercontinental Championship nearly two months ago, won two tag matches, and then got booked in a number one contender’s match against Ivy Nile (who had been targeting new champ Lyra Valkyria) and won. Kai then lost a seven-minute bout (that albeit was pretty good) to Lyra clean, only for Ivy to run out and attack both women, presumably setting up Nile as Valkyria’s next challenger.

What in the blue hell is this crap? After telling fans for the past two years that wins and losses matter, they’ve booked the women’s IC division horribly. Valkyria herself won the title seven weeks ago and pledged to be a fighting champion… and then proceeded to not defend the title until Monday, losing an Elimination Chamber qualifier match in the interim.

There have been more video packages about Lyra that matches, which is a crime because she’s one of the wrestlers who has connected with fans via her work in the ring rather than character-driven material. And having Nile – who hasn’t won a televised singles bout since October – suddenly be positioned as the next Women’s IC title challenger just because she attacked the champ is some pre-2022 booking crap. Do better, WWE.

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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.