7 Ups & 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (10 Jan)

4. Maryse Taps Out

Maryse The Miz
WWE.com

Kudos to Beth Phoenix for holding her own on the stick Monday night. She matched up nicely with her husband (thankfully, or else this entry would have looked a lot different) and carried the banter decently.

But the most notable part was in how they built Phoenix up as a beast, a powerhouse who can deadlift a Buick and is a wrecking machine. Edge put her over hard, and then when Miz tried to push Maryse into the spotlight and tried to egg her on to say she was going to pummel Beth… Mrs. Miz fled.

It makes sense, as Beth is clearly the stronger and better athlete, while Maryse has been retired and a valet for the last several years. She’s competed in three matches in the last decade, while has wrestled a bit more in recent years.

Maryse never looked comfortable with the tag match when Miz accepted last week, so you’ve got to wonder how Miz will get her back on the reservation in time for the Rumble.

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.