9 Ups And 9 Downs From WWE SummerSlam 2018

by Scott Carlson

1. Rousey Dominates Bliss

Ronda Rousey Alexa Bliss
WWE

While the WWE Universal Championship was a booking disaster, they got the Raw Women’s Championship match exactly right.

“Rowdy” Ronda Rousey basically ran through champ Alexa Bliss, offering Bliss an opportunity to attack her from behind (Alexa grabbed a chinlock to no avail) and then destroying her with her spinning Samoan drops and judo throws before locking in an armbar for the submission victory.

Sure, there’s a legit question about whether Rousey is “ready” to be champion, but there’s also the adage about striking while the iron is hot. Ronda is probably the most mainstream superstar WWE has right now, and waiting until she is “ready” to carry the division wasn’t an option.

Truth be told, WWE has done a good job protecting her thus far, and if they can continue to do that, then more power to the company in moving forward with Rousey as women’s champion.

Advertisement
Contributor
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.