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This week's episode of WWE Monday Night RAW was the final stop for the Red brand ahead of this weekend's Royal Rumble pay-per-view. The show itself saw the return of WWE Champion Drew McIntyre, Goldberg, and even Edge who are all set to be part of this weekend's show. However, the latest episode of RAW certainly didn't live up to the usual go-home hype.
This week's show was heavily reliant on filler content once again and despite being seen as the company's flagship show, there were several botches that seemed to go unnoticed throughout the three hour broadcast.
Many of these botches and mistakes could have been easily avoided. The production crew, WWE Superstars and even the broadcast team seemed as though they were having a rough night on Monday Night RAW.
Here are just five botches and mistakes you might have missed from last night's episode of Monday Night RAW.
#5. Is WWE star Shayna Baszler really known as The Queen of Bakes?
Ahead of their WWE Women's Tag Team Championship match this weekend at the Royal Rumble, Charlotte took on Shayna Baszler in a one-on-one match. The Queen of Spades wanted to leave an impression on Charlotte after weeks of issues with her own partner. But ahead of the match, Charly Caruso had quite the slip of the tongue.
Charlotte was interviewed backstage and asked about facing The Submission Magician. When Caruso asked about Shayna Baszler, she tripped over her name and called her The Queen of Bakes. Of course, if Baszler enjoyed that in her spare time then that would be an interesting nickname, but it wouldn't strike fear in the hearts of her fellow WWE Superstars.
Caruso was able to quickly recover and continue the interview with the former WWE Women's Champion and despite the slip, The Queen didn't seem as though she was fazed. Instead, the Women's Tag Team Champion looked completely focused on her upcoming match with Baszler and then headed straight through the curtain when the interview was over.
Luckily for Charlotte, the match with Baszler didn't last very long at all, since Nia Jax decided to interfere and build up their showdown this weekend. Jax, Baszler, and Flair will all be pulling double duty this weekend at the Royal Rumble since all three women have been added to the Women's Royal Rumble match as well.
#4. Nia Jax botches the chokeslam on fellow WWE star Dana Brooke
Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler teamed up with Lacey Evans this week on WWE RAW after the match between Charlotte Flair and Baszler ended in disqualification, as a result of Nia Jax's interruption.
The six-person tag team match came to an end when Nia Jax and Dana Brooke were the only two women left in the ring and Jax was able to throw Brooke off the top rope. This was then followed up by a chokeslam and a leg drop that swung the momentum in Jax and Baszler's favor ahead of this weekend's WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
A few months back, Mandy Rose was legitimately injured at the hands of Nia Jax, but luckily Dana Brooke didn't suffer the same fate even though she was the victim of a botched chokeslam.
The aforementioned bump was one of the nastiest spots of the match and left Brooke holding her head from the impact. Reports following the match claim that the RAW star is completely fine and didn't need medical attention after the bout was over.
#3. Shayna Baszler doesn't make it back in the WWE ring for the 10-count
Shayna Baszler's match with Charlotte Flair came to a quick conclusion this week on WWE RAW when Nia Jax interfered and forced the disqualification. After Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke came down to help Charlotte, Lacey Evans then arrived to even the numbers. This led to a six-person tag match pitting the heels against the babyfaces.
The match came to an interesting conclusion ahead of the ad-break when Charlotte and Shayna Baszler were fighting on the outside. Because of how long it took for The Queen of Spades to throw Flair back into the ring, Baszler was counted out as a result.
The women in the match all looked surprised and it was initially believed that this was another ploy to force WWE fans to return to the show after the ad break. But this may not be the case at all.
PWInsider reported that this was actually a botch and Adam Pearce coming out to restart the match was all improvised. This is why the match was restarted and Nia Jax was then able to pick up the victory for her team.
#2. Former WWE Champion AJ Styles was waiting backstage
R-Truth added some comedy relief to last night's WWE RAW and decided to ask WWE Official Adam Pearce for a shot at being in the Royal Rumble match this weekend.
Truth thought it was the Money in the Bank match, which confused Pearce. As part of the segment, AJ Styles interrupted and the two men were then put into a match later in the night which would allow Truth in the Royal Rumble match if he could win. As expected, Truth did not win against Styles.
The issue with the segment was that when Adam Pearce was walking over to R-Truth in the backstage area, AJ Styles can be seen backstage with Omos waiting to interrupt the segment. He can be clearly see behind the WWE Official before he was shouted over by R-Truth.
It doesn't seem as though this was supposed to happen since Styles was standing in a doorway, waiting for his cue to come over and laugh at the fact that R-Truth didn't know that the Royal Rumble was this weekend.
#1. WWE's Shelton Benjamin forgets to take off his COVID mask
WWE RAW Tag Team Champion Shelton Benjamin was part of a gauntlet match against Riddle last night on RAW, but ahead of the match, MVP hosted The VIP Lounge.
When the four men made their way to the ring to be part of the segment, Shelton Benjamin was spotted still wearing his COVID face mask. It took the RAW Tag Team Champion a while to realize that it was still on his face. When Shelton did realize about the same, he swore as he took it off, which showed that the Champion wasn't happy about his mistake.
MVP looked over at him as he removed the mask and it was clear that he didn't see the funny side of the situation either. The positive here is the fact that the WWE Universe now know that Superstars are forced to wear masks backstage, and many are adhering to the protocols at a decent level.
Benjamin and The Hurt Business came up short last night which means that Riddle will now be handed a future United States Championship match. It has been implied that this could happen at The Royal Rumble.
