8 Ups And 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (July 20)

Downs…

4. A Farewell Gift For Kairi?

We’re hesitant to give negative marks to a good wrestling match, which Kairi Sane and Bayley delivered Monday night.

Sane battled through an arm injury to reverse a Bayley-to-Belly attempt with a rollup for the surprise pin, dampening the spirits of the Golden Role Models. It was great to see Kairi show some of the fire and skill that made her a favorite in NXT but never quite blossomed on the main roster.

However, it’s tough to be glowing about this item if the stories about Sane leaving WWE very soon are true. Some reports state that Monday was actually her last day with the company, meaning that next week’s episode, which was also taped Monday, would be Kairi’s last.

So why give Sane a win over the reigning SmackDown Women’s Champion on her way out the door, especially when it hasn’t been announced ahead of time? She could have had a really competitive match and still lost cleanly and there would have been no shame in that.

This isn’t like when Dean Ambrose left and the Shield reunited and won a couple matches to close out their chapter. Sane is supposedly leaving WWE and pinned a women’s champion clean. Unless Bayley extracts revenge next week, it’s just a baffling decision. Good match, confusing booking.