7 Ups And 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Jan 9)

6. When Setbacks Are OK

bayley nia jaxx
WWE.com

You would think that the new #1 contender to the Raw Women’s Championship getting pinned cleanly by the woman she beat last week would be a negative, but Bayley’s defeat Monday was anything but.

Sure, a top contender losing just weeks before a big match is rarely a good thing, but in context it made sense. Bayley and Sasha Banks got a tag match against Nia Jax and Charlotte Flair, but Banks was injured, so it really was a 2-on-1.5 match. When you throw in that Bayley is supposed to be an underdog most of the time, it made even more sense for her to lose this match.

It’s easy for Charlotte (and Nia) to cast doubt on Bayley now, but fans know that she was outgunned. If the deck is stacked against Bayley and she keeps fighting, then fans will likely continue to rally to her side.

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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.