WWE Raw: Lacey Evans has successfully stepped up her game

With mere days to go before Lacey Evans faces Becky Lynch for her Raw Women’s Title, The Sassy Southern Belle finally feels like a legit challenger.

Last night’s May 13 edition of Monday Night Raw saw the Champ Champ, Becky Lynch, hold a contract signing against her two Money in the Bank opponents, Charlotte Flair and Lacey Evans. After some jaw jacking, the segment ended the same way every contract signing ends: with someone getting put through a table. That someone was Becky Lynch.

At the end of the segment, both challengers stood tall while holding Becky’s belts. Truth be told, Lacey Evans did not look too bad with the Raw Women’s Title in her hand.

In fact, I will go a step further and say that Evans looked great in the segment overall. Even further than that, this is the best Lacey Evans has looked ever since she was announced as The Man’s next challenger. Last night was finally the night that Lacey Evans stepped up her game to become a believable challenger for the Women’s Championship.

When Lacey Evans first stepped eye to eye with The Man the night after WrestleMania, Lacey admitted looked small; she looked out of her element. The outmatch came as no surprise, however, as the most she had done since her call-up from NXT was compete in the Royal Rumble – which was an impressive performance for what it was – and strut down the ramp only to leave in quick succession. She did that last part every week for about three months, by the way.

Needless to say, by time she received her first major title opportunity and feud, Evans remained an unproven member of the roster. It also didn’t help that as out of place as she looked in the title picture, her Southern Belle routine looked admittedly out of place in a modern day setting. Truth be told, you’d expect a character like this to enter the New Generation Era, not a 2019 WWE landscape.

However, with each passing week, Lacey Evans has continued to improve. While her in-ring improvement remains to be seen, her character work seems like a more natural fit for Raw compared to when she first arrived to the red brand. Hard not to improve when you’re working with one of the best mic gals in WWE today in Becky Lynch. Bouncing off of the double champion has paid off in stride for the Sassy Southern Belle and last night was her biggest test yet.

Not only was she expected to hold her own against The Man, but also The Queen. Both women are two of the best promos in WWE – arguably in all of wrestling – and Lacey Evans could have easily been exposed as a fish out of water during the contract signing. Instead, Evans appeared to bring a little extra to the table – literally – when it came to her mic work. She toned down her usual housewife just a bit to deliver a small layer of intensity and a strongly delivered cadence that made her fit right at home next to WrestleMania main eventers.

Lacey Evans did not look out of place at all next to the multi-time Women’s Champions. There’s still room for improvement for someone still new and learning, but if last night is any indication, Evans finally looks like the contender deserving of a Raw Women’s Championship shot. If she keeps this up, she won’t look out of a place at all if she ever gets that title around her waist.