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A few major WWE rivalries have been brewing while Fastlane rapidly approaches. The company has been looking to give fans a great build-up in the coming weeks in order to make WrestleMania 37 a monumental event.
On WWE RAW, Bobby Lashley made his first WWE Championship defense against the man who he defeated to win the title. Lashley came out on top, and now the WWE Championship picture is wide open.
Meanwhile, Randy Orton had another unpleasant encounter with Alexa Bliss, and Riddle defeated Slapjack in a non-title match on the red brand.
Over on WWE NXT, William Regal made two huge announcements and awarded the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship to Dakota Kai and Raquel González. Surprisingly, these two Superstars were unable to retain the titles for 24 hours, and this rapid title change surprised many fans.
In Wednesday night's featured match, Finn Balor took down Adam Cole after Kyle O’Reilly distracted his former ally. After Cole's loss, will Karrion Kross finally get back in the NXT Championship picture?
Finally, WWE SmackDown continued to build toward the Universal Championship matches for Fastlane and WrestleMania 37. In an eventful episode, the most surprising decision was Tamina and Natalya's victory over Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair.
Here's a look at the five biggest questions from RAW, NXT and SmackDown this week.
#5 Will the build-up to Randy Orton vs. 'The Fiend' stay interesting until WWE WrestleMania 37?
At WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs 2020, Randy Orton and ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt competed in a Firefly Inferno Match. While the match-type tilted the contest in Wyatt’s favor, The Viper came out on top to end 2020 on a strong note.
It’s been almost three months since fans have seen Wyatt appear on WWE RAW. But three months later, the rivalry between Orton and Wyatt is still alive. Orton’s work on the mic and Alexa Bliss’s supreme performance have kept the feud fairly engaging up to this point.
Many fans expected The Fiend to appear during the 2021 WWE Royal Rumble Match and attack Orton, but that didn't happen. Likewise, fans predicted that The Fiend would appear during the RAW Elimination Chamber match, but Wyatt's absence continued.
While Bliss and Orton succesfully kept the rivalry going on Monday night, was it enough to keep the fans interested on the road to WrestleMania 37?
WrestleMania is four weeks away, and there are still a few episodes of RAW left to build this rivalry and announce the match between Orton and The Fiend. But it's fair to wonder whether it would have been better to have The Fiend return and build the rivalry himself for a few weeks.
#4 What’s the plan for Bobby Lashley at WWE WrestleMania 37?
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley made history when he won the gold earlier his month. He defeated The Miz to win the title, and he defeated the former champion in a rematch on RAW this week.
While it was exciting to watch Lashley win the title and quickly retain it this week, many fans want to know what WWE has planned for him at WrestleMania. One potential path has already been eliminated from consideration.
WWE could have delayed this rematch and given it to the fans at WWE Fastlane. There, Lashley’s next challenger could have attacked him and set up a match for WrestleMania.
It's unlikely that The Miz will get another shot at the title anytime soon, so it will be interesting to see who emerges as Lashley’s challenger for WrestleMania.
Will WWE book a match between McIntyre and Sheamus with a shot at the WWE Championship on the line?
That potential plan could prove to be the best way to go from here, but allowing McIntyre to attack Lashley and get back in the title picture would have proven to be more effective.
#3 Why isn’t MSK getting in the WWE NXT Tag Team Championship picture?
WWE newcomers MSK made an impressive debut late last year, and they went on to compete in the 2021 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Wes Lee and Nash Carter showed their skills with a great performance in the tournament. The duo went on to defeat the Grizzled Young Veterans in the finals to win the Dusty Cup.
With the victory, MSK earned a shot at the NXT Tag Team Championship, but this match hasn't been teased yet. In recent weeks, MSK have failed to turn their attention toward the titles that they should be competing for.
Instead, the Grizzled Young Veterans attacked MSK backstage and asserted their dominance, taking Lee and Carter out of competition. MSK returned to NXT this week and went straight after their enemies in order to get some revenge.
While it’s good to see the two teams clash in a compelling rivalry, why isn’t WWE pushing MSK into the NXT Tag Team Championship picture? Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch have been lacking solid challengers for far too long, and their title reign has been quite unimpressive.
With TakeOver: Stand & Deliver right around the corner, WWE must work toward getting MSK back in the title picture, as the duo has already earned a shot at the Tag Team Championship.
#2 Why did WWE take the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship from Dakota Kai and Raquel González?
WWE NXT general manager William Regal was scheduled to make two huge announcements on this week’s show. First, he revealed the date for NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver before he made another buzzworthy move.
Raquel González and Dakota Kai were invited to the ring, and Regal unveiled the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship. Regal then named Kai and González as the first-ever NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions.
While fans expected the first-ever Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic winners to hold onto the gold, Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon defeated the champions in a title match on Wednesday night.
This development was a rather surprising decision, as Kai and González have a lot of momentum in NXT. They've been booked as an unstoppable force, so it was stunning to see WWE take the titles off the duo so quickly. This loss could significantly damage the pair's standing as a team.
While Gonzalez will likely contend for Io Shirai's NXT Women's Championship, Kai’s status has deteriorated after the shocking loss.
#1 Why did WWE have Bianca Belair take the pin on SmackDown?
Bianca Belair has been one of the most dominant Superstars in WWE SmackDown for some time now. Belair won a rivalry with former SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley earlier this year, and the Role Model gave the EST the boost she needed.
Since she won the 2021 Women's Royal Rumble, Belair had been on a roll. She even defeated Shayna Baszler on SmackDown last week to pick up even more momentum.
The creative team booked her in a tag team match alongside her WrestleMania opponent on this week’s show. Belair and Sasha Banks competed against Tamina and Natalya, but the charismatic pairing lost the match due to Reginald's interference.
This result was surely surprising, especially when one considers that Tamina pinned Belair to pick up the victory. Tamina has been a lower-card Superstar for a long time, and Belair is riding high heading into WrestleMania.
WWE clearly wanted to build up some tension between Banks and Belair, but why did the creative team have The EST take the pin?
There were many other ways WWE could have built up the clash between Belair and Banks, and having The EST take the pin was a questionable decision that made the fan-favorite look weak on Friday night.
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