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WWE Fastlane proved to be a successful pay-per-view for both RAW and SmackDown. WWE RAW has started to build some major rivalries as WrestleMania draws closer by the day.
Rhea Ripley arrived on RAW and challenged Asuka to a title match at WrestleMania. Braun Strowman also got a match for the event against Shane McMahon. Plus, Bad Bunny agreed to face The Miz at The Show of Shows, while The Fiend took down Randy Orton before he confirmed their big match.
Does Strowman really have much to prove in the ring against McMahon? And will Bad Bunny be able to hold his own in a wrestling ring against a former WWE Champion?
On Wednesday, Karrion Kross called out Finn Balor on WWE NXT. Has The Prince figured out The Herald of Doomsday? Or is Balor just playing mind games with the former NXT Champion?
Lasltly, WWE SmackDown hit the nail right on the head once again. Fans watched the Universal Championship picture take an expected turn to make it even more exciting. But has the SmackDown Women’s Championship feud been as good as the other rivalries for the show?
Let’s take a look at the five biggest questions from this week’s WWE RAW, NXT, and SmackDown.
#5 Why is Bad Bunny getting a one-on-one match against The Miz at WWE WrestleMania?
Over the past couple of months, WWE RAW has worked hard to build a storyline between The Miz and Bad Bunny. He was quickly paired with Damian Priest, who moved from NXT to RAW after WWE Royal Rumble.
Priest defeated The Miz on RAW early in his run on the main roster, and he has remained a major part of the storyline involving Bad Bunny. Fans expected Bunny and Priest to team up and take on Miz and John Morrison in a tag team match at WrestleMania.
Instead, The Miz officially challenged Bad Bunny to a singles match at The Show of Shows. Bad Bunny attacked The Miz after he defeated Jeff Hardy. The musical star then accepted The A-Lister's challenge.
Why is Bunny getting a singles match against the former WWE Champion? Shouldn’t Priest have also gotten a chance to perform at WrestleMania and directly help Bunny pick up the victory at the show?
Bunny will likely defeat Miz at The Show of Shows to earn a big victory with The Archer of Infamy’s help. But wouldn’t it have been better to have Priest and Morrison involved in order make the loss a little less detrimental to The Miz? After all, The A-Lister was holding the WWE Championship only a month ago.
#4 Why wasn’t RETRIBUTION’s implosion addressed on WWE RAW this week?
RETRIBUTION came to WWE RAW as a major faction that sought to change the landscape of the brand. The stable initially caused a lot of damage on RAW and SmackDown, but this group quickly started losing value.
Fans once again got interested when former NXT Superstars were revealed as the members of RETRIBUTION, and Mustafa Ali revealed himself as their leader. Still, the faction failed to find success on RAW.
At WWE Fastlane, the faction finally imploded when RECKONING and SLAPJACK walked out on Ali. MACE and T-BAR then took him out with a Double Chokebomb.
It was expected that WWE will address the break-up of RETRIBUTION on RAW this week. However, the same did not happen and nothing was mentioned regarding the faction that was once seen as the biggest thing on RAW.
Why did WWE break up RETRIBUTION without allowing the faction to achieve anything meaningful? And why wasn’t its implosion addressed on RAW this week?
RETRIBUTION could have been so much more under Ali’s leadership. But it looks like the WWE creative team has decided to pull the plug on the faction in an anticlimactic manner.
#3 Why does Bobby Lashley suddenly need help on WWE RAW?
Bobby Lashley has been one of the most dominant WWE Superstars over the past six months. After a great United States Championship run, Lashley won the WWE Championship for the first time in his career a few weeks ago.
WWE could have built Lashley up as the ultimate force in the company heading into WrestleMania. But the creative team seems to have gone the other way by softening Lashley’s dominant character.
Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin helped Lashley defeat Sheamus on RAW this week. Later that night, Drew McIntyre defeated Alexander and Benjamin to take them out of the equation for WrestleMania. Lashley did not seem too happy with his fellow Hurt Business members, so he offered the RAW locker room a shot at his title if they could take out McIntyre for him.
Why is Lashley suddenly afraid of McIntyre? Wasn’t The All Mighty ready to defend his title against anyone to prove that he’s the best of the best?
WWE seems to have lost its way here, as Lashley could have been established as an incredible WWE Champion on the road to WrestleMania. Instead, McIntyre is once again in the limelight because the champion seems like he's afraid of The Scottish Warrior.
#2 Why was KUSHIDA handed a loss on WWE NXT this week?
KUSHIDA is arguably one of the best wrestlers in WWE NXT today. The Japanese superstar has proven his worth time and time again on the black-and-gold brand. KUSHIDA has won most of his big matches in NXT, but he has always failed when it mattered the most.
The Time Stopper has competed for almost all the men’s titles in NXT, and he has failed to win any of them. This past week on NXT, WWE put him in a match against NXT UK’s Cruiserweight Champion, Jordan Devlin.
KUSHIDA came close to victory before Legado del Fantasma arrived to distract both men. Devlin took advantage of the distraction and rolled KUSHIDA up for the three count.
While a victory for The Irish Ace will help him gain momentum ahead of NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, why was KUSHIDA handed another loss during an important match? Couldn’t WWE have ended the match in a disqualification after Legado del Fantasma interfered?
This outcome could have set up a major match between KUSHIDA and NXT Cruiserweight Champion Santos Escobar in the near future.
Unfortunately, having KUSHIDA lose so many championship matches will affect his overall value in WWE. He desperately needs to win a major match before his momentum on NXT is entirely derailed.
#1 Is the build for the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship strong enough?
Bianca Belair won the WWE Royal Rumble to reach the top of SmackDown with ease. The EST has proven herself to be one of the finest workers on the blue brand, and she deserved a big victory to take her forward.
Expectedly, Belair challenged Sasha Banks for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. It was expected that the build for the big match between The EST and The Boss would be remarkable. But in some ways, the journey to this monumental match has been disappointing.
Belair and Banks worked as a tag team, but they eventually failed to coexist. Banks attacked Belair at WWE Fastlane, and the Royal Rumble winner tried to repay her on SmackDown this past week.
Are just attacks after a good way to build towards a WrestleMania championship rivalry? Could WWE have taken this feud even further?
WWE had enough time to build the feud the same way it hyped up the Universal Championship rivalry. It’s always difficult to book two babyfaces in a championship feud, so WWE could have turned one of the women heel at an earlier date.
Fans can expect the match between Belair and Banks to be a great one. But the build-up to the bout could have been much better over the past few weeks.
