7 Ups & 8 Downs From WWE Raw: In Your Face (Sep 14)

2. Asuka vs. James Underwhelms

This should have been great. It wasn't, and it's as much on the workers as anyone else, sadly.

Micke James cut a solid promo before facing Asuka, saying she was fuelled by knowing this could be her last shot at the Raw Women's Championship, heaping furthering hype on a solid short-term program. Things went south when they hit the ring. Asuka is one of the best in the world and James can still go, though they struggled to work through the gearbox here. A one-paced, sluggish bout was marred by a handful of timing issues and other sloppy moments, particularly when they exchanged pinfalls. Zero drama was generated as they couldn't break out of the early period, turning a potentially excellent bout to "meh."

And then came the finish.

This thing was a shambles. Mickie rolled the 'Empress' through on an Asuka Lock, going for a pinfall, when the referee inexplicably called for the bell. Michael Cole said that he thought James had tapped out, though it was clear nobody had a clue what was going on. Dolph Ziggler was as confused as anyone else on commentary, uttering only a confused "what?", and the ref spent a while explaining the balls-up to James, who was out of the equation immediately after.

Before Zelina Vega emerged as Asuka's next challenger (hey, at least it's fresh), the bout was ruled a referee's decision, with Mickie seemingly unable to compete. She wasn't, though. The bout was called as she executed an offensive move.