Raw Aug. 2, 2021: Listing two things that WWE got right

In a lot of ways, an episode of Raw often resembles the summer television landscape prior to the influx of streaming services and summer series’: a rerun. Tonight’s edition of WWE’s flagship program felt no different.

The Aug. 2 broadcast not only featured three rematches from the previous week, but fans also saw a number of matches end with either a lame DQ, a distraction, or a surprise rollup. Riveting stuff. And that’s before you get to the parity booking.

That said, the show wasn’t without its redeeming qualities. Now, there weren’t many of these to point out, but it’s still important to point out the bright spots on what was an otherwise underwhelming show.

These are the three things WWE got right on the Aug. 2 episode of Raw.

Nikki A.S.H beats Charlotte Flair without outside interference

To be clear, there is still plenty to quibble with when to comes to how WWE has booked Nikki A.S.H. since she became Raw Women’s Champion. None of that changed in this No Hold Barred match against Charlotte Flair.

A.S.H. still came across as a fluke champion, and her winning this match due to Charlotte essentially beating herself didn’t alter that perception (A.S.H did hit a neckbreaker to score the pin), but at least she picked up the victory without any outside help.

When WWE announced this match with that No Holds Barred stipulation, most fans likely assumed A.S.H. would get her win back thanks to some help from Rhea Ripley, thus “protecting” Flair in defeat.

But WWE chose to have the almost superhero win on her own merits, which worked far better than what most assumed would happen. Sure, it’s the bare minimum one should expect from the Raw Women’s Champion, but it could’ve gone worse.

Putting Damian Priest over

Damian Priest had himself a good Monday night. Not only was he the highlight of a Miz TV segment that seemingly existed to encourage viewers to change the channel, but he also picked up a pair of victories over John Morrison.

The first came in singles competition, where Priest pinned the former ECW World Champion with his South of Heaven chokeslam after about four minutes of action. Then, following a Sheamus attack and a Ricochet save (which was nice to see), Priest pinned “Johnny Drip Drip” with The Reckoning in a tag team match that lasted a little less than six minutes.

While the tag match felt repetitive given how it ended with the same result as the one-on-one bout, WWE made an effort to establish Priest as a threat to Sheamus’ United States Championship. It would be cool to see the promotion apply this strategy to other wrestlers on the roster, but at least they’re doing it here.