The Empress of Tomorrow vs. The Queen in the main event of this week’s RAW left Charlotte Flair unraveled and unhinged.
Before we get to the main event result, let’s hop right into what was expected from our women’s tag team division. Once again the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions faced one of the same two teams they face week after week. This week it was Naomi & Lana‘s turn in a non-title match.
It is only a matter of time before the champions implode and tonight’s series of events made that one step closer. It just seems to be a very long road! Nothing is really new that we haven’t seen for weeks on end.
Naomi & Lana defeated Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax
Naomi & Lana worked very well as a team early on in the match isolating Nia Jax from her tag team partner. Once Shayna Baszler was able to tag in she grabbed ahold of the match and was keeping Lana back from tagging in Naomi.
Mandy Rose & Dana Brooke then appeared on the stage to recap what went down with Jax last week. Both the attack from the duo on Jax backstage followed up by Jax slipping on the ring apron and falling to the ringside floor. Rose & Brooke took a count-out loss last week in order to avoid the rage that built up in Jax for being humiliated.
This week they played on that very same thing and caused Jax to jump down from the ring apron and head towards them on the stage. This caused Baszler to be left alone and Lana was able to tag in Naomi. They delivered a double facebuster before Naomi got the pin on Baszler.
Moments later Rose & Brooke were backstage being interviewed before Jax chased them off. Baszler then approached Jax and let her know that she better stop being distracted and start paying attention or else. After Baszler walked off, Angel Garza approached Jax and asked her what she sees in Reginald.
We then had another intriguing Alexa’s Playground. As decided last week, Alexa Bliss has broken away from The Fiend, at least for now, and introduced the fans to a new friend – Lilly. This week she added another story to Lilly and explained that they have been friends for a very long time as she shared childhood photos of them together.
Bliss let us all in on a little secret. Lilly didn’t like HIM and she sent a message to the women’s roster. “All you little girls on the Raw roster … Lilly didn’t like HIM, and Lilly doesn’t like any of you.” It appears that Bliss may start getting back in the ring shortly.
Now onto Flair vs. Asuka. It was announced on SmackDown last week that Flair would face Asuka this week’s RAW in the main event. Of course this caught the attention of RAW Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley as both Asuka and Flair have stated they want to take the title off of The Nightmare.
Earlier in the night, Asuka cut a promo saying if it wasn’t for Flair she would be RAW Women’s Champion once again. Flair attacked both Asuka and Ripley last week causing a disqualification in their title match. Asuka vowed to defeated Flair tonight.
Before their match, Flair went out in the ring to continue to air out her grievance for not being part of WrestleMania. She said that all the women in the locker room may not like her but they also don’t like each other and calls them fake. Giving Asuka her respect for being one of the greatest competitors in the world, Flair goes on to say she will defeat her tonight and that she doesn’t need to like her.
Asuka then makes her way out to the ring but before she could get a word out, Rhea Ripley made her way out. Flair let her know that she should take a seat at ringside tonight to watch the main event. Every time Asuka tried to talk, Flair cut her off and told her to be quiet. Flair continued to gloat and rubbed it in Asuka’s face that she defeated her winning streak at WrestleMania 34. Asuka eventually had enough and told Charlotte that she is going to beat her and called her a bitch.
Asuka defeated Charlotte Flair
As for the main event, Ripley was present at ringside as Flair suggested. A request that The Queen would soon regret. As the match comes to its conclusion, Flair tried to put away the former RAW Women’s Champion by locking in the Figure Eight. As she locks in the submission, Ripley pulled Flair from between the ropes behind the referee’s back which caused the hold to break. Flair went after Ripley which allowed Asuka to take advantage to get the roll-up victory.
After the match, Flair lost it. She went after the official and attacked him. Other officials attempted to stop her but she kept going back until eventually, RAW went off the air. On RAW Talk, Adam Pearce confirmed that due to Flair putting her hands on a WWE official she has been fined $100,000 and is suspended indefinitely.
Let’s get into the Winners & Losers of the week:
WINNER: Asuka
Where was this booking when Asuka was champion? She had a promo heading into the show, she called Charlotte the B-word, and she won in the main event.
As most people probably expected Asuka to take the fall, it was a nice surprise to see her pick up the win. Even if it was from Rhea interfering, it was a win nonetheless. She didn’t win clean but oh well.
Although Rhea interfering wasn’t that far-fetched (I mean Charlotte invited her out there), I was hoping for Alexa to end the show. After essentially calling out the women’s roster earlier in the night it would have been nice to see her show up at the end of the show and take out at least Asuka and Charlotte and maybe come face to face with Rhea.
As for Charlotte, I have enjoyed her since returning but not sure with this “suspension” if she will be out again…
WINNER: Alexa Bliss
Another great segment with Alexa and her new friend Lilly. It sounds as though Alexa will be getting back in the ring soon and possibly going towards the title. Alexa vs. Rhea would actually be something different and I would be all for it.
LOSER: The tag team division
At this point, it is like talking to a brick wall, but Shayna and Nia need to drop the titles and go back to being singles competitors. Normally I am not about breaking up tag teams (seeing as there aren’t a ton of them) but to be honest, it has run its course and we keep seeing the same matches over and over again. Partly it is because there is no one else on the main roster brands for them to face besides the two teams on RAW and two teams on SmackDown (and The Riott Squad are barely used). I just feel bad for the talent because it isn’t their fault the booking is so bad.
Overall the Asuka/Charlotte/Rhea moments were pretty good but where this will go because Charlotte is “suspended” we’ll see. I can only assume we are getting Asuka vs. Rhea again at WrestleMania Backlash. It seems as though Backlash is going to be nothing but rematches. At most, Charlotte will be added.
What did you think of this week’s RAW? Who were your Winners & Losers? Leave your thoughts below!
