7 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Raw (9 Dec - Results & Review)

1. Moves For Moves’ Sake

Without climbing into the minds of WWE brass, there are some reasonable theories as to why they’ve booked triple threats for the women’s secondary title tournaments: they get more wrestlers on television, they can protect superstars in defeat more easily, and they’re more action-oriented than singles bouts.

But just having more moves is not necessarily a good thing. We saw this on Raw on Monday night when Zelina Vega, Lyra Valkyria, and Ivy Nile battled in the first round of the Women’s Intercontinental Championship tournament. The match was indeed very action-based, but it really came across as move-move-move-move with no logic or flow. That can be excused when everything is crisp and eye-catching.

However, this match was sloppy in several parts and had several “see the strings” moments with wrestlers getting in position. Ivy and Lyra at one point were trying to pin the other and rolled and positioned themselves by the corner so Vega could take both of them out with a senton, but it took a good 10 seconds to set up, with the referee having to stop her count at one point.

This was a disappointing performance, but hopefully all three can recover from an off-night.