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None of the matches advertised for WWE RAW took off on Monday Night. Sheamus did not compete against Bobby Lashley, while The Miz never showed up for his match against John Morrison. Meanwhile, Doudrop attacked Eva Marie before their match could get going, and Marie was unable to carry on.
Jinder Mahal and Veer took on The Viking Raiders in a tag team match. Mahal took the pin to award The Viking Raiders the victory. Is The Maharaja’s time in the mid-card going to end soon? Karrion Kross also competed in another listless squash against Humberto Carrillo. Will RAW give Kross a few decent matches going forward?
Samoa Joe delivered a warning to the WWE NXT roster on Tuesday night. The Samoan Submission Machine looks ready to take on any man in the locker room to defend his NXT Championship. Who will step up to Joe first?
Tommaso Ciampa defeated Ridge Holland on NXT before being attacked by Pete Dunne and his men. MSK arrived to make the save and stood tall to close the show. Will Wes Lee and Nash Carter lose their NXT Tag Team Championships to Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch?
The Usos attacked Finn Balor before his big match against Roman Reigns on WWE SmackDown. Balor fought hard but could not put down The Tribal Chief. Will Balor get another shot at Reigns and his Universal Championship soon?
Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair are also set for a contract signing on this week’s SmackDown. Will things go smoothly between the two superstars? What will Brock Lesnar do when he appears on next week’s show?
Take a look at the five biggest questions from WWE RAW, NXT, and SmackDown this week.
#5. Is WWE building Damian Priest for a world championship run?
Damian Priest won the United States Championship from Sheamus at WWE SummerSlam. On the episode of RAW that followed, Priest came out to confront the WWE Champion Bobby Lashley for injuring and mocking Goldberg at SummerSlam.
On this week’s RAW, The Archer of Infamy issued an open challenge for his United States Championship. Sheamus answered the call, followed by Drew McIntyre. The three men competed in a Triple Threat Match later in the night.
The Archer of Infamy had a good match against two former WWE Champions and kept control of the contest for some time. In the final moments of the match, Priest hit The Reckoning to pin Drew McIntyre, picking up the win.
McIntyre has been one of the most protected superstars in WWE over the past year or so. He held the WWE Championship twice for extended periods, and it looked like the company would keep him out of the finish of the match.
Is WWE looking to build Priest as a future WWE Champion? Was pinning McIntyre the push Priest needed to get across as the new big thing on the RAW brand?
It looks like WWE is ready to push The Archer of Infamy. His current United States Championship reign might not last too long as the company can decide to move him into the WWE Championship picture post-Crown Jewel.
#4. Why is WWE humiliating superstars to build the 24/7 Championship scene?
The WWE 24/7 Championship has been nothing more than a joke on RAW for months now. After Reggie won the title several weeks ago, it looked like WWE was ready to book some matches for the title.
However, the company went back to filming ridiculous segments to build the 24/7 Championship picture on RAW. On this week’s show, Akira Tozawa dressed up as a dog during his segment with R-Truth.
It was hard watching the former WWE Cruiserweight Champion perform in such a way on RAW after previously being known as The Stamina Monster. Tozawa isn’t the only one who has humiliated himself in a bid to win the 24/7 Championship.
Why is WWE humiliating capable superstars and making them solely perform in the 24/7 Championship picture? Aren’t Tozawa, Reggie, Drew Gulak, and many others good enough to compete in good matches utilizing the same time that the 24/7 Championship segments take up on RAW?
WWE will need to do something about the 24/7 Championship picture soon. It would be better if the company starts holding weekly matches for the title and building some storylines that can help the superstars involved.
#3. What went down during the match between Nia Jax and Charlotte Flair on WWE RAW?
Nia Jax had a good night on WWE RAW. She first came out attacking Nikki A.S.H. during Rhea Ripley’s match against Shayna Baszler. After Ripley defeated Baszler, she took out The Nightmare to make a statement.
Later on RAW, Jax competed against Charlotte Flair in a non-title match. The two superstars had a hard-hitting contest that was filled with a few botches and questionable sequences. What went down during the match between Jax and Flair? Did the match turn into a shoot?
Even though Jax defeated the RAW Women’s Champion, the match left a bad taste in the mouth. The final moments of the contest were just painful to watch, and it will be interesting to see where this rivalry heads after what went down on Monday night.
Meanwhile, there was no mention of Alexa Bliss’ whereabouts on the show. Will The Irresistible Force find herself in the RAW Women’s Championship scene ahead of Alexa Bliss in WWE?
#2. Is Diamond Mine building itself the way it should be on WWE NXT?
Roderick Strong was once the top performer in WWE NXT. Along with the rest of The Undisputed ERA, Strong was able to carve a niche for himself in WWE. However, after the faction imploded, Bobby Fish was released from his contract while Strong did not have much to do.
NXT brought forward Diamond Mine, and it looked like the faction would become a big deal on the brand. However, WWE released Tyler Rust from his contract and recently added The Creed Brothers to the mix.
On Tuesday night, The Messiah of the Backbreaker defeated Ikemen Jiro to continue his decent run with the faction. However, is WWE doing all that it can do with the new faction? Has the faction been as intimidating as it could have been on the brand?
Early setbacks have already hurt the credibility of Diamond Mine. KUSHIDA’s recent absence has also weakened Strong’s challenge for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship.
Will WWE need to do a lot more to get Diamond Mine ahead? Or will the faction slowly disappear after the new NXT is launched?
#1. Will Finn Balor bring back The Demon King to take down Roman Reigns on WWE SmackDown?
Finn Balor had the chance of a lifetime to win back the Universal Championship on WWE SmackDown. The Prince was attacked by The Usos before his big match against Roman Reigns on Friday night.
Balor still fought on and gave The Head of the Table a tough time in the match. One couldn’t help but wonder how good Balor would have been had he not been attacked before the match.
Reigns struggled to put Finn Balor down and had to resort to some illegal tactics to retain his title. After the match, the lights flickered a little and turned red as Roman Reigns headed out of the arena.
Did WWE tease something big with the flicker of the lights? Is Finn Balor ready to bring his alter-ego back to the ring?
WWE could be aiming to book a rematch between Balor and Reigns for the Universal Championship at Extreme Rules. The Prince could return to his Demon King persona to take down The Tribal Chief for good.
It could be the one match that could really light up the card for Extreme Rules.
