7 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Oct. 12)

2. From Punchline To Contender

Lana Natalya
WWE.com

In an era where we’ve seen wrestlers feuding for three, four, five months with no end in sight, it’s refreshing to see a champion defending their title against all comers.

However, watching Asuka defend against the likes of former manager Zelina Vega and now Lana is not what we had in mind.

Lana, most recently famous for being put through the announce desk repeatedly by Nia Jax, won a battle royal Monday night to “earn” a shot at Asuka’s Raw Women’s Championship. Keep in mind this is a roster that includes Shayna Baszler, Jax, Naomi, Nikki Cross, Alexa Bliss and Lacey Evans.

Sure, a battle royal is the most inoffensive/accidental way to earn a title shot, but WWE has spent a month treating Lana as a punchline, with the announcers almost laughing about her getting put through their table during the battle royal, and then minutes later touting her as Asuka’s next challenger.

But hey, WWE is the global sports entertainment juggernaut.

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Contributor
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.