8 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Monday Night Raw (September 25 - Results & Review)

4. Tegan's Time

Natalya Tegan Nox
WWE.com

A short match with Natalya wasn't the total story behind Tegan Nox's night on Monday's Raw, and good thing too. 2:36 from the three hours available was nowhere near long enough for the two to get their point across, and was again a reminder that WWE takes exactly as much as it gives with the women's divisions.

But the whole thing gets an "Up" because of how it represented such an impressive recovery job from last week. It was leaked that Nox was the original plan for Becky Lynch's open challenge, and the NXT Champion acknowledging that was a uniquely smart touch. In referencing how she'd expected the 'Girl With The Shiniest Wizard' to burst though the curtain instead of the seasoned pro Natalya, 'The Man' had already tacitly put her as a viable contender.

Nox taking her advice, taking the opportunity then taking advantage was a good a one-night rehab for an AWOL character as you'll see in WWE, and being propelled into a top spot for next week's show has added one last stake to the Lynch/Tiffany Stratton No Mercy build. This was both giant leap and baby step for Nox; how exactly it now all plays out just became one of the bigger hooks for next week's show.

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Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett