Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: Raw, recaps, wrestling, wwe

Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah Win Women's Tag Team Titles on WWE Raw

The winners of the women's tag tournament on WWE Raw this week and new Women's Tag Team Champions are Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah. The team defeated Dakota Kai and Io Sky to win the belts that were vacated back in May when then-current champs Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out of the company in protest of its crappy booking of the belts. The new champs won by tricking their opponents, with Aliyah getting a secret tag from Rodriguez while Kai, Sky, and Bayley were distracted by a run-in from Alexa Bliss and Asuka, then winning by rollup while Kai and Sky attacked Rodriguez.

Yes, the screwy finish isn't likely to provide confidence in WWE's ability to handle the tag belts better this time around, but it does protect the Control stable as much as possible since they've just lost their first big match to a randomly-generated team. The common wisdom being thrown around by fans of the Fed is that Banks and Naomi are on their way back soon and need to squash the new champs and regain their titles so they can feud with Control, though the easier solution there would probably have been to just let Control win the belts and have Banks and Naomi challenge. But while WWE has spent decades eroding the goodwill of its own fans, new booker Triple H, at least, has earned a tiny bit of it back, so we'll have to reserve judgment until we see what happens at or after Clash at the Castle.

In other Raw highlights this week, Judgment Day defeated the team of Dolph Ziggler and AJ Styles to give Damian Priest a little bit of heat back after he lost to Edge last week and then the whole stable got punked out by Beth Phoenix. Alexa Bliss, Asuka, and Bianca Belair defeated a team of jobbers ahead of their match against Control at Clash at the Castle. The Street Profits defeated Alpha Academy in a battle of two teams that have been going nowhere for what seems like years now. The Miz lost to Bobby Lashley after Dexter Lumis appeared in the crowd to scare him, though it was never explained how Miz returned from being kidnapped by Lumis last week. When Miz left the building later that night, Lumis was in the backseat of his car. And Kevin Owens beat Jey Uso in the match of the night.

Kurt Angle was in the building and ran through some of his greatest hits, drinking milk with the Street Profits after their victory and holding up signs with Edge. Riddle and Seth Rollins continued their feud via an interview, as did Johnny Gargano and (Austin) Theory. Edge and The Mysterios came face-to-face with Judgment Day after their match, though nothing came of it. Before his match with Jey Uso, Owens cut a good promo on Sami Zayn about how Zayn should be more than a clown for The Bloodline and how Owens would have beat Roman Reigns for the title over a year ago if not for Jey's interference.

Raw is still much better than it was when Vince McMahon was running it, but the honeymoon period may be wearing off and this week's show felt a little drawn out, with some pointless matches and the questionable main event finish. Clash at the Castle is on Saturday, and then we may see some more of the feuds WWE Raw has been building kick into high gear. Watch highlights from the show below.

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