8 Ups And 5 Downs From WWE Raw (Jan 27)

2. Charlotte Hogan Strikes Again

Quick, can someone clarify: Is Charlotte Flair currently a babyface or a heel?

Flair delivered what’s becoming her standard promo touting her greatness – you know, less than five years into her WWE career – and bragging, before demurring on who she’d face at WrestleMania. That’s annoying, but less so if she’s the cocky heel. (Incidentally, it might be a bit more entertaining if she took notes from her father on how to give a cocky promo. It has to almost be over-the-top campy to really work well, not be a monotonous rant.)

Asuka came out and challenged Charlotte, and they had a pretty good match that ended when Kairi Sane dropped an Insane Elbow while Flair had the Figure Eight locked in. And then, Charlotte shot up 10 seconds later (with Kairi beating on her) and booted Sane down, then stood tall – seconds after eating Kairi’s finisher.

It might seem like a minor thing, but shrugging off someone’s finisher like that only diminishes that person’s effectiveness as a performer. Do that enough and you shrink the number of viable opponents out there.