The biggest winners and losers of last night's Raw (September 2, 2019)

The King of the Ring tournament continued last night, a new challenger emerged in the Universal Championship scene, and a heel turn that fans had been waiting for for years finally came to pass. All in all, this was an effective episode of Raw that actually made the most of the "wild card" rule, possibly for the first time ever.

Who got the most and least out of last night's Raw? Let's take a look.

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Winners: Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler

Yes, this pairing is still as random as the day is long, but if they're going to get pushed as a tag team, this wasn't a bad start. Collecting wins over low-tier teams is the way you get started on the road, after all.

Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode won't electrify the dilapidated tag team scene in the company, but for them personally, it's better than doing nothing. This is particularly true in the case of Robert Roode, who's last notable feat in WWE came when he won the 24/7 title on its first night and then lost it to R-Truth.

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Loser: Natalya

Natalya just had a match with Becky Lynch, then she was involved as a peripheral figure in the feud between the champion and Sasha Banks that developed just after SummerSlam. Last night, she was in a match with Lacey Evans and lost to her.

It was evident immediately that Evans had been called up from NXT too soon and it was evident again last night, as this match did little to inspire the viewer to stick around. Natalya losing to her looks bad.

At some point, WWE is going to have to work on Evans' limitations if they will continue to feature and push her near the title picture. Sending her back to NXT is certainly an option.

Loser: Cedric Alexander

Cedric Alexander has been on a roll for the past few weeks on Raw, so WWE did what everyone knew they would do and had Baron Corbin beat him in the King of the Ring quarterfinal, because of course. Despite the less than satisfactory results - to put it lightly - WWE continues to push Baron Corbin. This was a fine match, but most people will agree that it had the wrong result.

At least Alexander found himself embroiled with the OC during a backstage segment that night, giving him some direction after the tournament. Alexander vs. AJ Styles would be an exciting match, to say the least.

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Losers: The Viking Raiders

It feels like I say this every week now, but WWE continues to feature the same segment.

It's time for the Viking Raiders to do something interesting or go away. This stuff isn't building their credibility at all.

Did they really need to leave NXT for this?

Winner: Bray Wyatt

Bray Wyatt challenged whoever the Universal Champion is to a Hell in a Cell match at the eponymous pay-per-view next month. That will, in all likelihood, be Seth Rollins. That's a major advancement for Wyatt and no doubt an exciting prospect, so this is an easy win for now.

There is a danger, though. If he were to lose, all the momentum he's built up would collapse and he would fall yet again into his choke artist pattern.

It's beyond obvious that Wyatt would be the most exciting choice for champion at this point. With this being the time that WrestleMania plans start to germinate, it's clear that the Fiend would have more options for big rivalries on the red brand heading into the biggest show of the year than Rollins would. Let's hope WWE keeps that in mind.

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Winner: Bayley

Bayley's reign as SmackDown Women's Champion hasn't been that memorable, if we're being honest. She looked very much just a placeholder for Charlotte Flair to eventually get revenge for what happened at Money in the Bank.

So, she took advantage of the "wild card" rule and joined Sasha in attacking Becky Lynch.

This makes for some confusion in terms of alignment, as she'll be defending her title against a heel Charlotte Flair, but confusion isn't always bad. It gives a hook to her story on SmackDown.

Will Charlotte join the other three horsewomen in beating up on her arch-rival Becky? Will she come to her aid again?

We'll see what happens, but whatever it is, it's made Bayley the most interesting she's been since becoming champion.