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WWE was looking to kick 2021 off on the right foot, and they managed to nail it with WWE SmackDown last week. The show was followed up by WWE RAW, which featured both tag team and non-title matches.
Riddle scored a questionable victory over Bobby Lashley after tapping out to The Hurt Lock, after which he pinned the Champion. The Miz and John Morrison’s patience was also put to the test during WWE RAW.
Xia Li returned to WWE NXT on New Year’s Evil and made an immediate impact. However, the Superstar has a mountain to climb ahead of her, since several top women are waiting in line for an NXT Women’s Championship opportunity. On the other hand, Karrion Kross could not make the desired impact during his slugfest against Damian Priest.
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WWE SmackDown revolved around The Tribal Chief once again, who wasn't too happy with Adam Pearce's decisions on the brand. Apart from Roman Reigns, Shinsuke Nakamura and Apollo Crews managed to impress on Friday night.
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In this article, let's look at the 5 biggest questions from this week's WWE RAW, NXT and SmackDown.
#5 Why did Charlotte Flair show her heelish side on WWE RAW?
WWE RAW hosted a special episode titled 'Legends Night' to kick-off 2021. Ric Flair was among the legendary names that appeared during the show and he got a chance to be featured prominently during WWE RAW. He appeared at ringside to watch his daughter Charlotte Flair team up with Asuka to take on Peyton Royce and Lacey Evans in a non-title match.
However, Ric became more involved in the action than he’d have liked, and ended up costing his daughter the match. Fans would agree that Flair made a mistake, and did not deliberately cost Charlotte the match. The Queen vented her frustration on her father and belittled him, before asking him to leave the arena.
While the segment was solid, the big question it raised was whether or not Charlotte was playing a face or a heel? The Queen returned to competition as a face not too long ago and teamed up with Asuka to win the WWE Women’s Championship.
Ric, on the other hand, is a lovable character who has been making sporadic appearances in WWE ever since his retirement. The entire segment made Charlotte look like the bad guy, and gave the impression that she was playing a heel rather than a face.
Was WWE intentionally looking to plant the seeds to an early heel turn for The Queen? Or was the segment booked without keeping in mind the repercussions it might end up having?
Reports have suggested that Ric made a mistake on RAW and Charlotte went along with the charade and improvised the entire thing. However, if that's the case, it left a bad taste in the mouth for some fans.
#4 Why is Goldberg back for Drew McIntyre on WWE RAW?
The biggest match of WWE RAW saw Drew McIntyre defend his WWE Championship against Keith Lee. While McIntyre proved his dominance in the ring yet again, it was Lee who impressed the most with his jaw-dropping performance.
After the match, McIntyre came across an unwelcome visitor who laid down a huge challenge for The Scottish Psychopath. While Goldberg seemed to be building a rivalry against Roman Reigns again, he chose to challenge McIntyre to a match at the Royal Rumble instead.
Why did WWE not go down the path that was already built and had a lot of preprepared storyline? Reigns vs Goldberg could have been perfect for a grand stage such as Royal Rumble. Is WWE looking to allow Goldberg to pick up another victory at an important show and hold another major title?
Had WWE allowed Goldberg to confront Reigns, the potential victor of the match would have been much more difficult to call. However, giving McIntyre a match against Goldberg makes it seem like the legend will likely be picking up the WWE Championship at Royal Rumble.
Is that why Goldberg is back for McIntyre on WWE RAW instead of The Tribal Chief on SmackDown?
#3 Did WWE lose a Legend Killer on WWE RAW?
WWE delivered one of its best cliffhangers last week when Randy Orton nearly set Alexa Bliss on fire before the show came to an end. Fans were anxiously waiting for this week’s episode of WWE RAW to see what went down after the lights went out last week.
While Orton appeared during WWE RAW’s Legends Night and had a chance to make a statement by taking out some crowd favorites, he decided to do nothing. He only threatened the veterans and berated them verbally.
The Viper is known to wipe out any legend in sight to cement his Legend Killer status even further. However, with such a big opportunity at hand, and after last week’s big segment with Bliss, Orton decided to do nothing big at all.
Orton vented his frustration in his match against Jeff Hardy on WWE RAW and picked up another victory. But has Orton lost his legend killing abilities thanks to The Fiend and Bliss? The Superstar was hesitant to set The Goddess on fire last week, eventually deciding against it, even though he’d done something similar to The Fiend.
After what went down on the latest WWE RAW, it seems like we may have lost the Legend Killer of old.
#2 What caused so many botches during WWE NXT New Year’s Evil?
WWE NXT is known for delivering high-quality matches every week. While the brand is still growing, fans are aware that these matches are usually longer and more technical than many main roster clashes.
During New Year’s Evil, WWE hosted several big matches for fans to enjoy. NXT Superstars never shy away from performing on the big stage, but things seemed a little different on Wednesday.
Karrion Kross and Damian Priest had the first match at New Year’s Evil, and the two men botched a few moves that ended up slowing down the contest. Gran Metalik and Santos Escobar were up next, and fans saw some big moves being botched during their match too. Metalik messed up a hurricana attempt on the apron pretty badly, and Escobar failed to catch The King of the Ropes on a few occasions.
Xia Li never felt comfortable while competing against Katrina Cortez and the two women had some awkward moments during their short encounter. While it’s acceptable for Superstars to have a bad day in the ring at times, the entire show seemed to suffer due to many botched moves.
What caused so many botches during New Year’s Evil? The black and gold brand Superstars are usually very fluid and share great chemistry. Was something causing the WWE Superstars to have issues in the ring?
#1 Has Shinsuke Nakamura turned face? What's next for Cesaro on WWE SmackDown?
Shinsuke Nakamura participated in the Gauntlet Match on WWE SmackDown. While it seemed like Nakamura would just be another heel for a babyface to defeat, The Artist managed to surprise the WWE Universe.
Not only did Nakamura deliver a really good performance but he also managed to pick up several victories, until Adam Pearce arrived.
After taking out Daniel Bryan, Nakamura shared mutual respect with the babyface by shaking his hand, showing signs of a face turn. Following Pearce’s arrival, Nakamura was beaten down by Roman Reigns and Jey Uso.
Indications are that Nakamura may have turned face on WWE SmackDown, but what does that mean for his alliance with Cesaro? The men have had a good run together and have also held the SmackDown Tag Team Championships for some time.
Has Nakamura turned face for the first time in almost three years? Is the alliance between Nakamura and Cesaro over? Is Cesaro going to turn face along with Nakamura, to go after Reigns and Uso?
These are some of the many questions to come out of this week’s WWE shows.
A top WWE star is missing in action
