7 Ups And 5 Downs For WWE Raw Superstar Shakeup

4. Moon Needs To Rise

ember moon mickie james
WWE.com

Whoever booked the Ember Moon/Mickie James match should be ashamed.

Moon made her main roster debut last week on Raw, scoring the pinfall for her and Nia Jax by taking down former Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss. But on Raw Monday night, Ember faced Mickie James in what normally would be a singles showcase match for the newcomer.

Instead, the veteran James controlled much of the match and got most of the offense in, limiting Moon to some moves in the beginning and a burst at the end, including the eye-popping Eclipse. The problem with Mickie being on offense so much is that Ember is still largely unknown to the casual audience and really needs to shine in front of the fans.

James is still a fantastic wrestler, but no one was expecting her to win, so did she need to dominate 75% of the match? As with Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt, this is a minor issue that is easily correctable and shouldn’t hurt Ember. It just felt like a step sideways instead of a step forward.

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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.