7 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (6 Feb - Results & Review)

1. No Escape From Dumb Stipulation

NXT showed us just this past weekend that a steel cage match where escape is not one of the three outcomes can be a really good, successful bout. So why did WWE feel the need to make the blood feud steel cage match between Bayley and Becky Lynch pinfall, submission or escape?

The result was a match dragged down by both women (including babyface Lynch who allegedly wanted to punish Bayley) climbing slowly to escape and being brought back into the cage repeatedly. It was painful at times as they had to do these contrived climbs, fights on the top rope, and then both spill back to the ring so neither had the advantage to escape.

The sad thing is that you could have done all the same big spots – including the fight on top of the cage – without that stipulation and the outcome of the match wouldn’t have changed one bit. But then, the spots would have looked better because Lynch or Bayley would be going up to set up for a bigger move instead of trying to get away from the other.

Becky in particular looked bad trying to escape repeatedly after she fought for this match. What virtuous hero(ine) gets their rival trapped in a steel cage and 2 minutes in tries to flee said cage?

It’s a shame because this was a good match, but it was impossible to fully enjoy, especially given that NXT had shown the WWE Universe how it could be done just two days earlier.