7 Ups And 5 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Jan 15)

by Scott Carlson

1. Top Women Collide

asuka nia jaxx
WWE.com

The moment they announced that Nia Jax and Asuka would face each other on Raw, you had to figure there would be some sort of inconclusive finish. A clean pinfall would either end the Empress of Tomorrow’s undefeated streak or take away the mystery of whether Jax could stop Asuka.

But rather than go the route of a countout (the assumed ending), they had Asuka and Nia beat on each other, with the smaller superstar trying to chop Jax down with kicks, strikes and submission holds. Ultimately, it was a Jax getting her knee (which was locked in a kneebar earlier) trapped in the steps that led to it giving out, resulting in the referee calling for the bell.

It might have been an unsatisfying ending for fans, but there was no way they’d book a definitive finish on free TV for this first-ever encounter.

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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.