Last night's RAW was the fallout show from SummerSlam, where we saw a big debut and the beginnings of where WWE would head with the Red brand as the fall season looms. Who got set up in a big way last night on RAW? Who fared the worst?
Winner from RAW this week: Nia Jax
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This might be an odd couple pairing for a while. Shayna Baszler has said she was setting her sights on the RAW Women's Championship again, but found herself fighting alongside Nia Jax against Sasha Banks and Bayley.
If Sasha Banks and Bayley turn on one another, they'll probably have to lose the tag titles as part of that? Might WWE be setting this up on the red brand?
Even if not, Nia Jax got the most out of this because a path has opened for her to be more than just a foil on RAW programming in the immediate future.
Winner from RAW this week: Aleister Black
Aleister Black made his return to RAW last night and took on a darker persona, attacking KO on the Kevin Owens Show.
This is a good move for Black, who had run out of steam as a babyface, getting repeatedly shunted to the sidelines or put in random feuds that never went anywhere. Taking on a new, darker tone could make him stand out a little more, as RAW seems to lack main event level heels behind Randy Orton. It remains to be seen where this feud with Kevin Owens will go, but already Aleister Black is much better off than he was doing whatever it was he was doing against Seth Rollins' group and then getting passed over for the likes of Dominik Mysterio anyway.
Now we wait and see where this latest turn will take him.
Losers from RAW this week: Apollo Crews and Bobby Lashley
This feud between Apollo Crews and MVP's faction has passed its sell-by date. This segment on RAW between the United States Champion and Bobby Lashley did nothing to increase interest in such a feud. It would be better off if all of them went their separate ways rather than using stunts like this to prolong it needlessly.
Losers from RAW this week: Mickie James, Lana, and Natalya
Mickie James' return to television is always a nice thing to see, but this segment didn't help anyone. We can give credit to RAW for trying to build depth to its women's division, but this wasn't the way to do it.
Would any one of these women appear credible as a challenger to Asuka after things like this?
The answer to that question is obvious and really all you need to know. While it may be trying to build multiple non-title storylines in the division, but that doesn't mean the effort can be reduced to something like this.
We'll just have to see where the feud goes from here.
Winner from RAW this week: Keith Lee
The debut wasn't perfect by any means, but Keith Lee did well on his first night on the RAW roster, inserting himself into the feud between Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre and then taking on the former in a big match.
Unfortunately, he would be sidelined a bit during those hostilities and only win by disqualification, but the fact that WWE is putting Keith Lee in segments with those two shows that the company is high on him.
We'll see where this goes.
Winner from RAW this week: Asuka
Asuka showed up last night to reestablish her reign at the top of the RAW women's division and she did it well, once again submitting Sasha Banks, this time in a lumberjack match which gave hints about the coming period on the Red brand, with Shayna Baszler preventing Bayley from helping Sasha Banks.
This foreshadowed both a potential Baszler-Asuka rivalry and coming dissension between Bayley and Sasha Banks, with the SmackDown Women's Champion again not being able to help her best friend win a big match.
When will the fireworks go off? We'll just have to see.