Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Monday Night Raw that aired on Monday, August 30. Read at your own risk!
The latest installment of Monday Night Raw was certainly an interesting one, though it wasn't because of Goldberg's news after his bout with Bobby Lashley or something tied to Alexa Bliss. Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax stole the show for many, but it's debatable whether or not it was for good reasons. The two had a long showdown in the ring, and the match was so stiff that some viewers are wondering if the two have a real-life feud going on.
The match started relatively normally between Nia Jax and Raw Women's Champion Charlotte Flair, but during the mid-point, things started to get rough. Flair hit Jax with a particularly rough neck snap as she jumped off the ring apron, and Jax slammed Flair a couple of times, with one time seemingly on her head. Towards the end, the two were literally hitting each other in the face and pulling hair, and suddenly it felt as though this wasn't a part of the program. And fans certainly had thoughts.
"Stiff" may even be an understatement as Nia Jax won the match with a body slam that was way harder than even a behemoth like Brock Lesnar would use to send someone to the mat. Flair appeared to say something to Jax as she sealed the victory with a pin, which is strange because typically, the wrestler slammed would pretend they're unconscious. It's not entirely clear what led to the massive slam or Flair's comments to Jax, but fans have some ideas.
Nia Jax's "no-sell" of Charlotte Flair's striking was a bizarre moment, even if Jax is often booked as the superior physical threat in the women's division. The two did seem to be legitimately hitting each other during that segment, and a few sloppy scripted moves that followed made it appear the two were out of sync. Perhaps the alleged spat was frustration by the two about some mistakes in the performance, though others have suggested it could just be Jax's lack of skill compared to Flair.
Stiff matches between wrestlers in WWE happen, though the circumstances between this alleged Monday Night Raw incident are strange. Nia Jax and Charlotte Flair may have been told to put on a brutal match by talent, but at the end of the day, Flair is the Raw Women's Champ. It would be bad for business for her to be injured due to in-ring antics, and that seemed a possibility during points in this match.
Of course, the WWE is all about perception, so perhaps the goal all along was to make this match between Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax look brutal and uncalled for. After all, Extreme Rules is the next upcoming pay-per-view, and its entire schtick is brutality and matches with "no rules." In short, this could totally be a scripted fight, and both wrestlers just did a great job at pulling in Monday Night Raw fans. Either way, fans seem to want more, so mission accomplished?
If there was a legitimate fight between Nia Jax and Charlotte Flair that was unplanned, I'd expect wrestling insiders will report on it sooner or later. For now, it's fun to assume there was, but I also wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it was all a show to build to Extreme Rules. Whatever the case, there's no denying both superstars kept fans entertained.
Monday Night Raw airs on USA Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET. There are tons of things to talk about in the WWE at the moment, and most of it involves Brock Lesnar. Catch up on the latest here, and guess alongside us as to when he'll finally square off against Bobby Lashley.
