In Wrestling Inc.’s staff picks column, the majority of us picked Damage CTRL to get the WarGames win over their babyface counterparts. We should have known better. Shotzi might have just been along for the ride, but Lynch, Flair, and Belair are a legitimate superteam, the three most heavily-pushed women not named Ronda Rousey of the last five years. Beating them would have legitimized Damage CTRL in a way that WWE hasn’t shown an interest in doing since the group formed. But it still would have been the right decision. Asuka joining Damage CTRL gave WWE a second chance at making them feel dangerous and powerful (which is generally the way you want heel stables to look heading into WrestleMania season). WWE opted to give their biggest stars yet another big win, helping precisely nobody.

Granted, there are some storytelling reasons behind Damage CTRL’s loss. The way the finish played out was clearly meant to continue the story of Bayley’s eventual, inevitable ejection, so in that regard it could be seen as the right choice. But there were other ways to do that while still having the heels earn a much-needed victory, and the finish itself involved a confusing twist on the common wrestling self-sacrifice trope and feel flat as a result. It’s very easy to imagine a version of this match that goes the exact same way until that spot, but culminates in a Damage CTRL victory. Instead, it’s starting to feel like the group was only kept intact as long as it has been because WWE had WarGames coming up on the calendar.

Grade: D