7 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (15 May - Review)

3. Nope, Take It Back

Rhea Ripley Natalya
WWE

Last week, this column included an “up” for Natalya being Rhea Ripley’s presumed next challenger for the SmackDown Women’s Championship (you know, the blue belt being defended on Raw between two Raw wrestlers). The thought was that Nattie could provide a good challenger to further cement Ripley’s standing.

But watching Natalya “act” on Raw pretty much killed any goodwill from last week. Nattie interrupted Rhea backstage to defend her not “staying in her lane” last week because she was defending Dana Brooke from a beatdown. Ripley countered that Natalya wasn’t trying to help Dana but rather was trying to make people care about her by glomming onto the SmackDown Women’s Champion. (And I mean folks, where’s the lie?)

The problem here is that Nattie just isn’t believable as the babyface “conscience of the women’s locker room” defending Dana Brooke, another face who fans barely react to when she’s in action. Natalya walking – not running – out last week to “save” Dana also undercut her entire message Monday night and gave more credence to Ripley’s view.

And if the heel champion is making a better case than the face challenger, you’re in trouble. So yeah, sorry, but it’s going to take a lot of effort to put this one back in the positive category.

Advertisement
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.