RIShane

As fond as I am of much of her NXT work, Bayley is a complicated example. Its not as simple as 'WWE held her back'--rather her weaknesses weren't properly addressed in NXT and they badly hurt her on the main roster. Moments like her post-HIAC Raw Talk promo highlighted issues with improvising on the mic (that when you look back are obvious in NXT, like her awkward guest commentary spot shortly before Brooklyn II), and in general she hasn't really developed as a performer, especially on the mic. You can cover that up in NXT due to its vastly different structure, but it really hurts on the main roster. If you can't talk at least decently or can't act backstage segments well, then it makes it harder for writers to fit you into segments or use you on the mic--this is one reason the dynamics in the Charlotte/Bayley and Bayley/Alexa feuds were the way they were. The booking of the latter was especially bad in some ways, but I think part of why is that they were trying to avoid exposing Bayley's mic issues against someone as good on it as Alexa is. Combine that with inconsistent in-ring performances (the highlight of her WWE run is that excellent 2/13/17 Raw main event with Charlotte, but even that followed a nervous performance at the Royal Rumble), and its a difficult thing.

Exactly. WWE was so set on pushing Carmella that Asuka's streak was doomed either way, and at least she got to have it ended in a Wrestlemania classic rather than a random IIconics beatdown and awkward Carmella superkick. Ironically, I think Becky may have been a better opponent to feud with Carmella while Charlotte was away, but they may well have already been planning this current feud.

Alternate angle of Becky's disguised attack.

Yeah, that promo was cringe, ugh. At least SDL also showed itself as the land where heels and faces really can get along:

"Its 10 o clock. Do you know where your Boss and Hug Connection is?"

"I get older, they stay the same age...."

He was a big wheel at Kent State, you know!

And they indirectly look bad with how easily the Bellas are beating the Riott Squad who Bayley/Sasha basically went 50/50 with in their series of random matches.

Last time was elimination. This time its round-robin, and I'm guessing its all the Raw teams in one group and all the SDL teams in another.

I only hope the PPV ends with Roman prematurely declaring he's vanquished the monster once and for all before Braun returns to continue things.

Becky would only be Sasha 2.0 if they started trading the title back and forth, and that seems very unlikely to me. HIAC is going to be interesting because there's obviously a lot of fan demand for Becky to win the title right away, but I love this character dynamic they have going on with Becky being utterly obsessed with destroying Charlotte while Charlotte is determined to win but clearly still misses their friendship (note her still calling Becky by her 'Bex' nickname even during their promo on SDL), and would be happy to see it go on for longer before Becky gets her moment.

I actually don't think its going to play out that way. While there's a strong chance that Charlotte retains at HIAC, I suspect when Charlotte loses the title, Becky will successfully retain and Charlotte won't win a title again until at least Mania. They presumably set up her equaling Trish so it creates higher stakes for her Mania match, most likely with Ronda. The question for me is whether Becky wins the title in Melbourne or at Evolution--I'm just happy they're getting a strong singles match in Melbourne. The other women's matches announced so far have just been tags--interestingly nothing has been announced for Alexa/Sasha/Bayley.

I enjoyed the then-Iconic Duo's heeling at the 2016 Sydney NXT show. In their hometown, they turned the audience against them by disowning Sydney in favour of Orlando. ?

AJ/Charlotte is basically the mixed-tag equivalent of the Megapowers.

R-Mella (I didn't come up with it, but it works well) should be fun for sure. It segues into the upcoming MMC II, has continuity with the various R-Truth jokes over recent weeks, and its a sensible way to give Carmella something to do now she's out of the title scene. After shows like last night's Raw, its always to be appreciated when WWE does something that makes sense. Liked Almas/Bryan a lot (great chemistry, unsurprisingly), and thought the Charlotte/Becky promo was well-acted and did a good job of building intensity without overdoing it. Joe's promo was good too though I thought the opening 'OHHHH WENNNNNDY!' was a bit much.

Start of Raw: Gargano and Ciampa debut, with high hopes and a continuation of their epic NXT feud on the horizon. End of Raw: Gargano and Ciampa stand side by side, among a crowd of jobbers beating up Roman Reigns.

The Evolution promo is a little challenging until after HIAC because the top talents are involved in title matches there, and even when its a foregone conclusion (Ronda retaining over Alexa), they still can't really give them matches for Evolution yet or risk spoiling HIAC. Its a delicate balance. Also, Ember Moon tagging with Dana felt very random.

?

Heel Becky is intense.

And it was delivered with such hate! Becky's a very good heel and they're really bringing the intensity to this feud. Though its fun to see Becky in one of her final pre-SummerSlam interviews talking about how "lovely" Charlotte is and how quickly they became non-kayfabe friends: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0824/645155/becky-lynch-on-how-charlotte-flair-and-sasha-banks-helped-her/