9 Ups And 4 Downs From WWE Raw (Feb 3)

3. Ruby’s Back… And She Turned Heel

Let’s get this out of the way: Having Ruby Riott back in action is a positive for the women’s division. She’s a talented wrestler who adds some much-needed depth to Raw.

She came back to a nice applause, only to immediately turn heel because we needed more of those on Raw! (Quick check: Only Becky Lynch is a pure face on the women’s roster. Liv Morgan hasn’t really established herself beyond Lana’s antagonizer, and Charlotte Flair isn’t really trending as a babyface right now.)

Also, her big return after nine months was to possibly insert herself at least tangentially into the Liv Morgan/Lana debacle.

And before someone points out that Morgan was her former running buddy who turned her back on who she was – you’re 100% correct. And if that’s the case, why in the blue hell was Liv tangled up with Lana in the first place? Ruby had to be close to returning when they inserted Morgan into the Lana/Rusev/Bobby Lashley fiasco.

Oh right, WWE and long-term planning are on two different planets.

Fortunately, this isn’t some grotesque mistake. It just fell flat for multiple reasons, making her “big return” more of an afterthought. “Oh hey, Ruby’s back, and she’s punching Liv, and now Lana’s attacking Liv. Hey, where’d Ruby go?”