5 Opportunities WWE missed on this week's RAW - Hyping up top face, pushing rising star (April 21st, 2020)

Last night's RAW carried on from the preceding week's theme wherein we saw a good number of decent matches but nothing really stood out to make the headlines.

WWE Champion Drew McIntyre was in the thick of the action once again as he challenged Seth Rollins to a match at Money in the Bank and the Monday Night Messiah gleefully accepted the same.

Aleister Black continued his dominance as he went on to qualify for the MITB Ladder Match and seems like a favorite to go all the way as of now. Zelina Vega too managed to shine, while her associate didn't fare that well. And as usual, we had the occasional squash matches.

While WWE is bound to be affected by the coronavirus pandemic, I don't feel this is the best that the company could be doing, especially in the build-up to one of their iconic PPVs. Having said that, let us look at five opportunities that WWE missed on RAW this week.

#5 Treating the fans to the spontaneity of Kevin Owens

The Prizefighter is certainly being missed

Okay, seriously. Just where is Kevin Owens? The guy has money written all over him, whether you talk about his promo game or his skills inside the ring.

Fans have been very vocal about how much they would like to see The Prizefighter engage in something meaningful following his huge victory at WrestleMania. However, those pleas have fallen on deaf ears so far.

Yes, these are testing times and WWE could be facing some complications as far as getting Owens involved is concerned. But like I said earlier, KO need not necessarily need to be fighting to entertain the fans.

Just look at his promo on the RAW after WrestleMania where talked about his fighting spirit. That alone was enough to keep the fans, including me, on the edge of their seats, leaving everyone guessing how Owens would be involved next. So going that route alone should do the trick.

In any case, that's still a better way to go about than not having The Prizefighter feature at all. If WWE don't plan to feature him at all till Money in the Bank, it makes even more sense to build hype for Owens with the help of vignettes. Given how over KO is, that alone would help maintain the intrigue for RAW following MITB.

#4 Giving Murphy his much-needed push

The former Cruiserweight Champion Murphy has already established how good he is in the ring with his part-involvement in the Roman Reigns whodunnit angle followed by a brilliant series of matches against Aleister Black. The Best Kept Secret had embarked on a winning run in late 2019 before his losing streak against The Dutch Destroyer.

Murphy finally found his calling again after he reunited with Seth Rollins and ended up winning the RAW Tag Team Championships before eventually dropping the titles.

Murphy is destined to be a big player in the near future. Following weeks of absence, he finally had the chance to work towards the same in a Money in the Bank qualifier match against Rey Mysterio which he unfortunately lost. While I don't have a big issue with Mysterio participating, he's at that phase of his career where he should be putting over up-and-coming Superstars.

The Master of the 619 has nothing more to prove and has already talked of retirement. So WWE could have taken a gamble and allowed Murphy to pick up a monumental victory while giving him a chance to finally endear himself to the mainstream audience at the same time.

#3 Preventing Kairi Sane from losing all momentum

If there's one female Superstar who's grown really popular in the last month, it's Asuka. As a result, we have now seen her branch out of the Kabuki Warriors angle involving Kairi Sane. Yes, the Empress of Tomorrow has been seen cheering Sane from backstage but she's primed for a singles run nonetheless.

Sane, on the other hand, needed the Kabuki Warriors to stay relevant. She's already finding it difficult to find her rhythm and a one-sided loss to Nia Jax last week didn't do her any favors. So a rematch of the same, for Jax to essentially bulldoze The Pirate Princess, has all but killed her momentum entirely.

Yes, Kairi Sane was never really able to build a reputation for herself since moving on from NXT but she's shown just what she's capable of on the Black and Gold brand. WWE could've decided to give her mojo back but that wasn't to be.

Sane and Shayna Baszler were involved in a compelling feud on NXT. So in case WWE were planning to stall Baszler's progress in the title scene, they could've done that by digging the past. Unfortunately, that's no longer possible.

#2 Giving Bobby Lashley what he wants

Bobby Lashley made his WWE return to resounding applause back in 2018 on the RAW after WrestleMania 34. The All Mighty had been vocal about the fact that he wanted to fight Brock Lesnar and fans worldwide were hopeful of this feud finally taking place.

Unluckily for Bobby, his booking has only gone from bad to worse with each passing month. Right from the unwatchable angle involving Lashley's sisters and Sami Zayn to his current Kayfabe marriage with Lana, Lashley's storylines have only managed to disappoint fans during his current run.

There seemed to be a ray of hope though. Lashley and Lana finally seemed to be headed for a split. But this week on RAW, Lashley simply spent his time flipping tires and nothing else with Lana constantly fawning over her husband's display of strength.

At this point, you have to ask the question. Just what was the point of that segment? And why is WWE not going ahead with the divorce angle? This could've given Lashley the freedom to finally move on to better things. It's about time he took on the big stars that he was always meant to. Unfortunately for Lashley, WWE Creative doesn't feel the same.

#1 Making Zelina Vega's faction shine collectively

Last week on RAW, a major triumvirate consisting of Andrade, Angel Garza, and Austin Theory made its presence felt on the Red brand. They were being led by the ever-so-brilliant Zelina Vega. The likes of Akira Tozawa and Tehuti Miles were the first two victims of this faction.

However, this week, the faction decided to poke their noses in Drew McIntyre's business and the result was every member getting hit with the Claymore. Yes, this did indeed make The Scottish Psychopath look like the dominant WWE Champion that he claims to be, but at what cost?

There were certainly some bright spots for Zelina Vega and her associates this week. She herself shined in a commentator's role and her altercations with McIntyre, Aleister Black, and Montez Ford were box office, to say the least.

Even Austin Theory looked good in defeat in his Money in the Bank qualifier. But then, to end the show in a scenario where McIntyre took all three members out just by himself and delivered multiple Claymore Kicks certainly took a lot of shine off the faction that was only formed last week.