RIShane

That Joe powerslam, yikes! Liked the gauntlet match, but the Carmella promo irked me (at least Alexa can pull off those fake-out promos) and seeing Asuka get knocked out by a crappy superkick is frustrating.

In a sense it parallels how Alexa went from consistently cheating to win (on SDL) to suddenly being strong enough to win legitimately (on Raw). The idea of WWE being attracted to "driven" performers is an interesting one. HHH's recent speech on Charlotte Flair at the FYC event may also give some insight into what qualities are most valued.

This is what frustrates me so much about the Carmella push, besides the fact its happening at all. It'd be perfectly fine having Carmella just be a chickenshit heel who cheats to win and then crows about beating her opponents anyway, which would be an approach that plays to her strengths, but WWE is instead trying to simultaneously present her as a strong wrestler, which is laughable given her lack of in-ring talent and the opponents they're having her beat.

Charlotte Flair to appear in ESPN Magazine's Body Issue

Since the Ellsworth spoilers came out, I knew they were going to do something stupid in the Asuka match, and somehow the execution of it was even worse. WWE is always going to WWE, but I am mystified by what WWE sees in Carmella to have her beat Charlotte and Asuka in consecutive PPVs. They couldn't even find a single decent move of hers to put in the pre-match montage, which was just a bunch of crappy superkicks and a crappier dropkick. At least Alexa can generate a crowd reaction without needing outside help, which usually only lasts a week or two anyway. On the upside, though I didn't like the women's MITB ending (though at least it set up the end of Ronda/Nia) with Alexa timing her entry so badly that it made Becky look like an idiot, it was still a pretty strong match. Thought the SDL women shined nicely, and I liked that Charlotte/Becky got some character moments throughout. Ronda being such a good seller already also has me very optimistic of what WWE will be doing with her and Charlotte in future, though who knows, maybe they'll just forget that and run Ronda/Carmella instead, with Ellsworth interfering on the biggest stage of all! AJ/Naka took a little while to get going but was also easily the best of their WWE matches so far.

33 and aging rapidly.

The three-way main event is in the Hidden Gems section, at least.

Indeed.

They are indeed. Ronda and Charlotte in the front row of the poster, along with Asuka, Nia, Alexa, Sasha, and Carmella pictured. (IIconics have been advertised but don't appear on the poster.) Also, its interesting hearing Triple H shift from corporate promotional H to kayfabe H and back again within one two-minute clip.

Being used as a gag in the women's MITB match is fine, but him being involved in the finish of the Asuka match would be pretty stupid and not even respect continuity (Carmella superkicking him after his loss to Beckyy last year), which is probably why WWE will do it.

Hidden Gems is an exciting crop today:

I'm quite interested in what WWE is going to do with the women's matches at Survivor Series this year, I think there's a strong chance they'll do something to tease Charlotte/Ronda whether its a sequence in a Raw vs SDL match or something else. A 4HW vs 4HW match feels like something they'd be more likely to do next year unless Jessamyn and Marina make rapid progress in the Performance Center. I also think Bayley would need some stronger booking for a while to fit in better, given how far she's dropped down the card in the last year.

Its really nice how routine women main-eventing WWE shows feels these days.

Thought it was a step up from the last few episodes of Raw and I enjoyed the women's 4-way match, but it was still heavily marred by filler and tedious segments (Sami/Lashley, Nia/Ronda) that just wouldn't end. The ending of Bayley/Riott also now has me worried that after MITB we're going to see Sasha and Ember helping her against the Squad, and all the teases/tension earlier this year will appear even more pointless. On a positive note, I thought that it had the best use of Kevin Owens in some time, from his banter with Balor (the highlight being him saying that Finn can't beat Braun alone, while he can, though it'd be "taxing" so that's why he's asking for help ) to actually coming through on his promised teamwork against Braun Strowman and delivering a couple of nice frog splashes. The ending bothered me with Strowman looking cartoonishly strong, but I suppose they booked themselves into a corner.

Wisely they're going with the WWE 24 on Raw 25 rather than Raw 25 itself, or else WWE would have to send out an edited version which ends after the Stone Cold segment.

Tristam Shandy is hilarious and has an array of bizarre textual experiments (from marbled pages to add-your-own-response sections) that work 250 years later. For literary comedy, I'm also very fond of the short stories of Donald Barthelme.

There were three panels, each moderated by Stephanie. Panel #1: HHH, Shawn Michaels, Charlotte Flair, Roman Reigns. Panel #2: Braun, Alexa, Jimmy Uso, Naomi. Panel #3: Bella Twins, Sasha, Nia, Ronda.

This feels pertinent:

Ricky had a Life Story of the Dragon DVD set years ago, including a 1984 match with Ric Flair (from Boogie Jam) which still isn't on the Network.

Its a small detail, but I like that Almas isn't having to cut awkward English promos. His Spanish adds intensity to his character, in a similar way to Asuka's use of Japanese in confrontations.

David Cavanagh: Good Night and Good Riddance: How Thirty-Five Years of John Peel Helped To Shape Modern Life.

Quite enjoyed tonight's episode, that's the most time the women's division has gotten in a long time, and they had good matches and got strong crowd reactions even in Corpus Christi--even Carmella got better reactions than she has of late. I suppose you could argue that Charlotte/Becky didn't have a feud progression, but it was still a quality TV match with a nice ending and some cute friendship spots. Cass's promo would have been more effective if it was a little shorter (pun intended), but after Raw's festival of filler and lack of logic, that episode was a breath of fresh air. And Almas's first proper match next week! Good times.