7 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Jan 16)

Ups...

7. Nia Remains A Menace

It looks like WWE is intent to drag out the feud between Sasha Banks and Nia Jax, and they’re doing it in a way that works on a couple fronts.

A couple weeks back, Jax attacked Banks and her injured left knee. She has continued that assault each week, following up Monday by ambushing Sasha while she was testing out the knee in the ring. (Of course, WWE cameras caught all the action.) The attack lasted only a few seconds, but it was enough to put The Boss down again with Nia standing over her.

It was a really simple and effective way to have Jax play the role of dominant heel bully, build sympathy for Sasha and keep their rivalry going without (over)exposing anyone in the ring. At some point in the coming weeks, Banks will get healthy and challenge Jax, and we’ll hopefully see the feud grow in the ring, but this bully beatdown backstage and during a medical evaluation works too.

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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.