Becky/Bayley's Raw Cage Match Gets Cancelled

[theironyuppie]

Fightful's reported that the planned Becky/Bayley cage match was turned into an angle due to the Bloodline parts of Raw going long, with several segments afterwards trimmed down but theirs being the most heavily affected. Reportedly the plan was for Becky to win but then be beat down afterwards, so they wound up cutting the match.

There's been a lot of talk about this online, but it's interesting (and unfortunate to me) of how it fits with the feud not really going too well in general, so far, despite it having the mystique of being the least seen 4HW feud. CTRL are getting some 'strong' moments but don't feel rehabilitated, and Becky feels like she's lacking in momentum, which is bad timing less than a week out from a Rumble where you have to imagine she's got a good chance of winning.

[asuka007]

The idea that THIS is what they decided to cut is just BS. There were several things that they could have cut (or at least trimmed down) on this show and still kept a big match that they had been building for weeks.

If I were the women’s roster, I would probably be quite annoyed at how things were handled last night.

[Doo Doo Dickhead]

They really didn't need to do the 6-man tag (as cool as it was seeing Seth vs. Gunther) or (especially) the Bianca vs. Sonya match.

[Finish Uncle Muffin’s Story]

Jan 24, 2023 14:01:38 GMT -5 Doo Doo Dickhead said:

They really didn't need to do the 6-man tag (as cool as it was seeing Seth vs. Gunther) or (especially) the Bianca vs. Sonya match.

I think the larger issue is that people aren't happy with how the women have been treated in the last few weeks. I can see why folks are a little frustrated that the women may be getting less time lately.

I get they've been doing it for thirty years, but I'd also imagine a segment going long enough that you need to cut an entire match out means something went really sideways. They definitely messed up perception-wise by cutting it, but I sometimes wonder if it's as easy as "oh, trim a bit off of this or just move segments around," especially when you need to put a TON of commercials in that last hour to make up for things. Those three hour shows with no commercials in hour one must not always be easy to format.

They can't win, either, because people likely would have been complaining about Bayley looking weak in defeat again, anyways.

[Gerard Gerard]

Worthy sacrifice so Undertaker got to Fred Flinstone his momo now.

[Shy Guy]

I didn't watch raw last night, but I was so unsurprised that this happened. They say they treat the women equally, but of course the moment a match gets some hype to it, especially with it being the first women's cage match on raw in almost 20 years, they just say "f*** it" and bail.

This goddamn company

[XIII]

It just makes it weird that they would cut a match that they hyped in advance that involves one of the most over people in the company and another still popular act but not cut a pointless Charlotte segment, Sonya/Bianca which went like two breaks, and at least part of the six man tag. It’s just a really bizarre thing to do.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

Even the original plan kind of sucks honestly. A big time steel cage match should be a feud ender or at least a big deal. But the plan was for Becky to win and have the heels stand tall which sort of defeats the whole purpose of the match. That's an angle you do for a random TV match. Not this.

[Mayonnaise]

I get it was more an angle so it was easier to cut that, run the angle and get the heat (and you can always run it back later) but it was horrible optics and only proves the Bellas right and help their decision to skip Raw look more on the dot.

[eJm]

Jan 24, 2023 15:11:24 GMT -5 Mayonnaise said:

I get it was more an angle so it was easier to cut that, run the angle and get the heat (and you can always run it back later) but it was horrible optics and only proves the Bellas right and help their decision to skip Raw look more on the dot.

Honestly, it reminded me in a way of how the first Women’s MITB ended. Like, I absolutely get the heat argument etc etc but when you’ve built something up as a big deal on a big show and had it all leading to that point, you don’t do what you did because it a) makes people feel ripped off and b) doesn’t build trust that if you do it again, you’ll pay it off because you’ve taken it away already.

If there were women’s cage matches every few months in the blow off, sure, do that and spice it up and make things different but after everything beforehand? F*** that.

[Renslayer]

Feels like it's leading to something bigger and I'm ok with that. Rather they get an extended amount of time to work their magic instead of rushing through a short match that would make everyone mad anyway

[mistery]

The issue basically boiled down to there being a bunch of other segments that should have been cut before that. The biggest offender being the Charlotte Flair promo and the Bianca/Sonya match. The Charlotte promo was especially bad since it was basically just her burying the rest of the division, with Bianca out there fangirling over her.

I don't think it really needs to be said, but Triple H is an absolutely massive Flair mark. Which is showing itself as detrimental to the rest of the women. There was literally zero reason for Charlotte to be on RAW last night, especially with how awful her promo was, to the point of where even the audience was mixed at best on it.

As for the Becky/Bayley match, I don't think people would have minded Bayley losing, mainly because Bayley has been portrayed as the weak link of Damage CTRL. She never wins any of her matches clean, and Dakota and Iyo have to clean up her messes, so it likely would have fed into the narrative that they are on the way to splitsville.

[r.]

So they have 3 hours and still can't time manage

[john84]

Jan 24, 2023 14:01:38 GMT -5 Doo Doo Dickhead said:

They really didn't need to do the 6-man tag (as cool as it was seeing Seth vs. Gunther) or (especially) the Bianca vs. Sonya match.

More the Bianca/Sonya one IMO because at least the 6-man tag was a continuation of the Bloodline storyline which stole the show last night IMO.

[ThankGodForSidJustice]

Why they felt the need to cut this which they had advertised a week but kept the pointless two segment unadvertised Bianca/Sonya match in it's entirety is beyond me.

Also does anyone find it strange that neither of these two have been announced for the Rumble and we're now past the go home show for Raw? Or for that matter to my knowledge have even cut any promos addressing it. They can announce Zelina Vega and Candice LeRae but can't be bothered to advertise two of the biggest stars in the division? Just shows how awful the build for that match has been. Also makes it extremely obvious that Rhea Ripley is winning as she's really the only possible winner who has been announced and has expressed actually wanting to win the match.

[asuka007]

The thing is, I don’t even think it succeeded in “getting heat” on Damage CTRL either. First of all, the beat down wasn’t especially brutal. I mean Becky was starting to get back up at the end there (which makes it less believable that she couldn’t wrestle).

And Second, no one is talking about the beatdown anyway. They’re bashing WWE itself for the booking.

Also there were zero women’s matches on SD last week either don’t forget.

[Fade is a CodyCryBaby]

I kind of lean with Alvarez on this in thinking it’s not that big of a deal. And odds are the mentality was this could get a blowoff some other time, with more time.

That being said. I get the frustration from some. I legit was looking forward to it so if ppl are upset, I get it. Someone was gonna get f***ed regardless though.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

Has cancel culture gone too far this time?

[06vwgti]

Feels like the usual time management issues that really should have been controlled better...

[Push R Truth]

Worthless Bray Wyatt gets time doing vague bullshit... Becky/Bayley gets cut.


This company.