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WWE Champion Bobby Lashley refused to dignify Goldberg’s challenge with a response on RAW this week. Instead, The All Mighty dominated Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin in a handicap match to prove his worth to the WWE Universe.
Will Goldberg push Lashley to the edge and force him to accept the challenge? Or will RAW present him with a new challenger for his WWE Championship?
Nikki A.S.H. suffered a setback at the hands of Charlotte Flair on RAW. Will the RAW Women’s Champion manage to retain her title against Rhea Ripley and Flair at WWE SummerSlam?
Adam Cole defeated Bronson Reed in the main event of WWE NXT this week. Kyle O’Reilly then attacked the former NXT Champion to take their rivalry to the next level. Will NXT book the two men to face each other for the final time at NXT TakeOver 36?
Ridge Holland returned to NXT and helped Pete Dunne and Oney Lorcan pick up a big victory. The Bothercauser seems ready to take over the Black and Gold brand after a gruesome injury halted his rise to the top.
Finn Balor was all pumped to sign his contract for a match against Roman Reigns at WWE SummerSlam. However, Baron Corbin shattered his dreams before John Cena signed the contract for the Universal Championship match.
Sasha Banks returned to WWE SmackDown and teamed up with Bianca Belair. She later betrayed The EST and ended the show on a high. Will Banks get a shot at Belair’s title at SummerSlam?
Take a look at the five biggest questions from WWE RAW, NXT and SmackDown this week.
#5. Why did Keith Lee lose by submission once again on WWE RAW?
Keith Lee was away from WWE RAW for quite a long time. He made his return to the brand by coming out to challenge the WWE Champion Bobby Lashley a couple of weeks ago. Lee put up a great fight against Lashley but ended up submitting to the Hurt Lock.
This week, Lee was booked for a match against WWE NXT Champion Karrion Kross on RAW. Kross got into a rivalry with Jeff Hardy last week, but plans were changed after Hardy tested positive for COVID-19.
Lee and Kross had a good match on RAW that was filled with some great spots. However, the NXT Champion locked Lee in the Kross Jacket and forced him to tap out.
Why did WWE book Lee to lose two matches by submission right after his return on RAW? Will the losses hurt his credibility in the coming months?
The Limitless One is seen as one of the biggest rising stars on the main roster. He’d picked up some massive victories after his move to RAW from NXT.
It was surprising that WWE booked him to lose to a top champion by submission once again on Monday Night. These losses could end up moving him back down to the mid-card for some time.
#4. Why is WWE following the same championship storyline on RAW and SmackDown?
WWE has been building towards some big storylines for the upcoming SummerSlam pay-per-view. Edge looks set to take on Seth Rollins on the show, while SmackDown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair could end up facing Sasha Banks.
It looked like Roman Reigns would defend his Universal Championship against the returning John Cena at the pay-per-view. However, Reigns turned down Cena’s challenge and decided to give Finn Balor a shot instead.
WWE RAW will likely host a match between Damian Priest and Sheamus for the United States Championship. Goldberg returned to RAW a couple of weeks ago and challenged Bobby Lashley for the WWE Championship.
Surprisingly, just like Reigns, Lashley also seems to have turned down Goldberg’s challenge for SummerSlam. Why is WWE following the same storyline for the top titles on RAW and SmackDown for SummerSlam? Will Lashley also end up in a match against Goldberg just like Reigns against John Cena?
It looks like that will be the case if WWE is looking to have some big stars compete at the Biggest Party of the Summer. However, the creative team could have built the two storylines differently.
#3. Why is the WWE NXT Champion appearing more on RAW than his own brand?
WWE seems to be building towards a mammoth rivalry for TakeOver 36. Samoa Joe appeared on NXT last week and offered to resign before announcing that he is now an active member of the roster.
He asked NXT General Manager to grant him a match against Karrion Kross, and William Regal was more than happy to make the match official.
Kross will now defend his NXT Championship against Samoa Joe at TakeOver 36. Judging by how things have been going on RAW and NXT, is WWE already giving away the result of the match at TakeOver?
The Herald of Doomsday has competed in two matches on RAW over the past couple of weeks. He only appeared on NXT for a few seconds a couple of weeks ago to take out William Regal and did not appear at all this week.
WWE could end up moving Kross to the red brand for good after SummerSlam. Therefore, it looks like Joe will be defeating Kross at TakeOver to take his NXT Championship away from him.
Who will help Regal handle things on NXT after Joe’s resignation? Or will the NXT GM finally gain full control over the brand after The Samoan Submission Machine’s early resignation?
#2. Did WWE NXT plan Dakota Kai’s turn perfectly?
Raquel Gonzalez won the WWE NXT Women’s Championship on the first night of TakeOver: Stand & Deliver. She defeated Io Shirai for the title and has since proven to be a dominant champion for the NXT brand.
Gonzalez has taken down almost all of the top women in NXT to defend her title and prove herself as a top champion. Dakota Kai has been by her side for most of her title defenses and has helped her extend her reign to almost four months.
This week on NXT, Gonzalez came out to challenge anyone in the locker room to stand up to her and take her title away. Soon after, Kai turned on her best friend and expressed her desire to take the NXT Championship from her.
Fans had been waiting for quite some time to see Kai turn on Gonzalez. However, the NXT creative team was patient in their approach and pulled the trigger only after Gonzalez ran through the other women in the locker room.
Did WWE plan Kai’s turn perfectly? Will the two women meet at NXT TakeOver 36 for the title? It looks like WWE did well to wait some time and make this storyline more meaningful. It could finally lead to a title run for Kai who has been a top performer for the brand for quite some time.
#1. Was Baron Corbin the right superstar to take out Finn Balor on WWE SmackDown?
Finn Balor challenged Roman Reigns to a Universal Championship match on WWE SmackDown last week. Reigns hesitated just a bit before accepting Balor’s challenge.
This week on SmackDown, the two superstars met in the ring for an official contract signing ceremony for the match at WWE SummerSlam. Everything was going according to plan before Baron Corbin interfered and took out The Prince with a few vicious strikes. He then tried to sign the contract before John Cena attacked him and signed the contract instead.
The angle can be seen as a good bait and switch by WWE. But was Corbin the right superstar to take Balor out of the match? Did he have any reason to take Balor’s place in the Universal Championship match at SummerSlam?
Corbin showed up earlier in the show to beg Cena for money before falling for the Attitude Adjustment. WWE could have ended his night there, and brought in Sami Zayn during the big segment.
Zayn and Balor already had a story going, and his interference would have made more sense on SmackDown. The angle would have allowed WWE to continue the rivalry between Balor and Zayn while bringing Cena into the picture.
