7 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (August 13)

by Scott Carlson

1. Rousey Routs Security

ronda rousey security
WWE.com

For as long as most fans can remember, beating up no-name security guards has been a staple of WWE television. Throw a bunch of local talent in black shirts and watch them get treated like Star Trek redshirts.

This wrestling trope has almost always been successful at making a male superstar look strong, so why couldn’t it work for a woman too?

That’s exactly what happened Monday when Alexa Bliss announced she had hired personal security – four black-shirted men. The security personnel provided a wall between Bliss and Ronda Rousey while Bliss taunted her SummerSlam opponent. But when she and Ember Moon turned their backs, Alexa pounced – and then immediately hid behind her security blanket.

But Rousey wasn’t having it and took out three of the men in short order. The fourth wisely fled.

It was a simple storytelling device that hasn’t been used for women (at least, not in memory). It made Bliss out to be a desperate champ who will do anything to retain her title, and Rousey and unstoppable force who will plow through anything. Nicely done.

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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.