7 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Sept 19)

5. We See Her True Colors Shining Through

stephanie mcmahon raw
WWE.com

As mentioned earlier it’s only a matter of time before Stephanie McMahon reveals herself as a villainous commissioner. Her pandering act, encouraging fans to chant for GM Mick Foley (whom she inexplicably hired in the first place) has felt hollow for good reason: She made a 180-degree about-face overnight without any motivation or explanation.

And while some will say that that is just poor writing, keep in mind that Stephanie is in control of how her character is written, and she’s one of the most well-developed characters on Raw. It would be out-of-line for a logic gap like this to slide through.

Regardless, we saw a few glimpses of Steph tipping her hand, starting when Foley announced a cage match between Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns. When he unveiled the match, Steph shot him a surprised, almost frustrated glance, then followed up backstage lecturing Mick about making such a match less than a week before Backlash. Later, she bickered with Seth Rollins backstage and dialed up her anger when her integrity was questioned, alluding to being in cahoots with her husband Triple H to anoint Owens as Universal Champion.

It might not be a full-on heel reveal, but there’s enough there to let you see that she’s not the pandering fan favorite she pretends to be.

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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.