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The first WWE RAW with fans back in the arena was a major one for the company. Nikki A.S.H. won the Money in the Bank briefcase on Sunday and cashed it in on Monday night to win the RAW Women’s Championship.
Keith Lee returned to the RAW ring after nearly six months and accepted WWE Champion Bobby Lashley’s Open Challenge. What’s next for The Limitless One after his loss to The All-Mighty?
Raquel Gonzalez overcame Xia Li to defend her WWE NXT Women’s Championship on Tuesday. Who will step up to Gonzalez en route to NXT TakeOver 36?
Karrion Kross teased Samoa Joe throughout Tuesday night and then took out William Regal to make another big statement. Will WWE punish the NXT Champion for his actions? Or will Joe take matters into his own hands and face Kross inside the ring?
Bianca Belair retained her WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship against Carmella once again. Meanwhile, Toni Storm defeated Zelina Vega in her match on the Blue brand. Will Storm get in the SmackDown Women’s Championship picture soon?
Roman Reigns rejected John Cena’s challenge on Friday night. What will the 16-time World Champion do at The Biggest Party of the Summer this year?
Take a look at the five biggest questions from WWE RAW, NXT, and SmackDown this week.
#5 Why did Keith Lee lose in his WWE RAW return?
Keith Lee returned to WWE RAW for a match for the first time since February 2021 this week. Lee answered Bobby Lashley’s Open Challenge after the WWE Champion made it clear that he was more aggressive than ever before.
Lee proved to be a tough opponent for Lashley and took him to his limits. However, he was unable to finish the job and put the WWE Champion away on Monday Night.
It was good to see Lee come back to RAW after such a long time. But why did the creative team book The Limitless One to lose upon his return to the squared circle? He had a lot of momentum before he was taken off television earlier this year.
WWE could have put Lashley up against Karrion Kross and given fans a top match before handing Kross his first defeat in WWE. The loss would not have hurt the NXT Champion’s credibility much either.
Lee should have been brought back into the mid-card where he could have competed against a heel and started building towards a future title opportunity. Having him lose to Lashley on Monday Night RAW did not make much sense.
#4 Should Samoa Joe have helped Jeff Hardy defeat Karrion Kross on WWE RAW?
Karrion Kross made his much-awaited WWE RAW debut this week. The NXT Champion was immediately put into a match against Jeff Hardy on the show. Hardy brought back his iconic theme song for the match and went on a roll.
Even though Kross shook off everything The Charismatic Enigma had to throw at him, he fell for a pin mid-match. Hardy used the ropes to pin the NXT Champion and handed him his first defeat since his return to WWE.
Many fans were livid with the outcome of the match and believe that the company made a big mistake. Why didn’t WWE simply use Kross’s ongoing rivalry to play a role in his defeat?
WWE could have brought in Samoa Joe to interfere in the match and help Hardy win. The angle would have further fueled the rivalry between the two men and also given fans a reason to tune into NXT the next day.
It’s good that WWE has gotten Kross’s undefeated streak out of the way. However, there were much better ways in which the superstar could have lost without losing his credibility.
#3 Why did WWE RAW book a rematch between Humberto Carrillo and Sheamus this week?
Humberto Carrillo earned a United States Championship match against Sheamus on WWE RAW a couple of weeks ago. Sheamus attacked Carrillo before the match and easily won the contest to retain his title.
This week on RAW, Carrillo once again competed in a match against Sheamus. This time around Carrillo took on Sheamus in hopes of getting another title match against The Celtic Warrior.
After a good match, Sheamus defeated Carrillo again to shut the door on any future title opportunity for the youngster.
Why did WWE book a non-title match between the two superstars this week? Since Sheamus cheated last week, shouldn’t this week’s contest have also been a title match?
It made little sense why Carrillo was given a non-title rematch which he lost again? Damian Priest was also kept away from the match this time around.
Instead, WWE could have used some other angle to build a rivalry between Sheamus and Priest. That could have helped RAW build towards a better storyline for the future.
#2 Why is WWE NXT testing William Regal’s authority to build storylines?
At WWE NXT TakeOver: In Your House 2021, William Regal realized that things were getting out of control. In the final moments of the event, the General Manager revealed that a change would be coming to the Black and Gold brand.
On the episode of NXT that followed, Regal came out to hand over the reins of the brand to the returning Samoa Joe. Instead, Joe claimed that he respected Regal’s work and wanted to work alongside him as the special enforcer on the brand.
Things went well for a few weeks before everything blew out of proportion once again. On this week’s episode of NXT, Joe went as far as to call out Regal’s lack of authority and taunted him for not knowing what his brand’s champion was up to.
Was it the right move to have Joe talk Regal down just weeks after praising his work? Is the GM’s sudden lack of control over the brand going to lead to something bigger?
WWE could have avoided touching upon the topic on this week’s NXT. Since Karrion Kross took out Regal to end this week’s show, it does look like the GM is nothing more than a liability for the brand.
#1 Is Finn Balor going to take John Cena’s spot for WWE SummerSlam?
John Cena opened the show on WWE SmackDown and immediately got to the point. Cena said he was looking for Roman Reigns to accept his challenge for the Universal Championship.
Paul Heyman came out and told Cena that he would have to wait for Reigns to respond to his challenge for WWE SummerSlam. Heyman mocked Cena before ending the segment.
At the end of SmackDown. The Tribal Chief came out to address Cena’s challenge. He made fun of the 16-time World Champion before turning him down.
Right then, Finn Balor came out to thunderous applause. The Prince went on to challenge Reigns for the title, and the champion accepted his challenge.
No time or date has been announced for the two superstars’ match. When will Balor vs. Reigns for the Universal Championship take place? Will Balor take Cena’s spot for the big match at SummerSlam?
WWE will likely stretch the rivalry between Reigns and Cena. However, SummerSlam seems like the perfect place for the mammoth rivalry. Will Cena get his shot at the Universal Championship at The Biggest Party of the Summer?
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