5 shocking decisions WWE made on Raw and SmackDown Live this week

Another reunion?
Another reunion?

The Raw and SmackDown Live episodes after Elimination Chamber both needed to get past the events of the Elimination Chamber and look ahead to Fastlane 2019. As we are now in WrestleMania season where everything with regards to booking of matches and building up those matches for the big event has to happen in such a short time frame, there is no room for wasting time.

But as usual, Monday Night Raw did not heed any of that wisdom, as WWE put on a repetitive showing on Raw this week which saw the fans in attendance literally fall off to sleep. And even though the NXT call ups were expected to get the fans on their feet, and have them screaming as loud as they possibly could, it was not happening.

WWE might not realize, but the casual fans that come to their shows know little to nothing about Ricochet's high flying ability and the awesome rivalry between Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa.

SmackDown Live was obviously the savior of WWE this week once again, as the blue brand's creative managed to book a match card that outdid anything Raw has done in the last year, as there were advancements in storylines, awesome matches, and so many matches booked for the next event.

But if there was one thing Raw and SmackDown Live had in common this week, it was the shocking decisions WWE just kept on making, so let us go through those decisions and see how they will affect ongoing narratives in the future.


#1 Dean Ambrose gets squashed

No going away party for Ambrose from the looks of things
No going away party for Ambrose from the looks of things

Dean Ambrose, if there was a name more popular among WWE fans in 2014 than Dean Ambrose, please comment it down below. After The Shield had split in 2014, the world was ready to see the chaos Ambrose was going to cause, as he had been teasing his wild side for quite some time, but we were yet to see it.

When WWE gave us the almost unhinged version of Ambrose we all wanted to see, fans ate it up, as Ambrose was on fire, some even dubbed him the next Stone Cold, but a few years later - here we are discussing how WWE will book the man on his exit from the company.

It's so funny how things change in wrestling, as many of you will remember the Shield ripping 3MB to shreds back in the day, and now the former 3MB member, Drew McIntyre, is squashing the leader of The Shield.

Everyone knew Ambrose's departure from the company was not going to be a bed of roses. We are not sure whether WWE is still working us or not, but it was truly shocking to see Ambrose get in the ring with McIntyre and get flattened in a matter of minutes.

This is a former WWE Champion (if that still means anything these days), a man we expected to revolutionize Raw with his heel turn, now getting battered by Drew McIntyre. Well, at least it was McIntyre doing the squashing instead of another 3MB member.

youtube-cover

#2 A victory no one saw coming

Mandy Rose of all people, WWE is unpredictable
Mandy Rose of all people, WWE is unpredictable

Asuka has been missing for the last few weeks, and it is no shock that rumors have been circulating on Asuka's absence, and those rumors state that Asuka's absence was due to WWE having no plans at the moment for her.

Well, WWE having no plans for a superstar they have just plucked from NXT or made champion is less shocking than realizing the sky is blue, as so many times we have seen top stars winning matches that define their career only for WWE not to have a plan in place to continue their hot streak.

Stars like Sanity, Dana Brooke, Tye Dillinger (from 2017), and now the new US Champion R-Truth who has not been on SmackDown Live for about two weeks now, do WWE not have plans for them as well?

So what does the creative do with Asuka on her big return to the ring? What else but job her out to Mandy Rose.

This was a great decision for Mandy, as she is a star that will never be as good as Charlotte in the ring, but does have something that makes WWE interested - her marketability.

Rose is a cover girl, and WWE isn't afraid of pushing her in that direction, as she has proven in the past she deserves to have a place in the upper ranks of the women's division, due to offering something different in the women's revolution.

But the fact that she put down the person that was unbeatable a few years ago, someone that put down Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Ember Moon, is just shocking and beyond understanding.

youtube-cover

#3 NXT Invades WWE

The raid has begun
The raid has begun

Who remembers when WWE called up four NXT Superstars at the beginning of the year and said they would place them in brands over the next few weeks, and how the company made a point that these stars will be at the center of the action?

Yeah, almost all of you remember (maybe most of you), but it seems like most at WWE have forgotten, as Lacey Evans, Heavy Machinery, Nikki Cross, and EC3 have been loitering around Raw and SmackDown Live over the last few weeks without really doing much. But hey maybe it isn't WWE's fault as they have WrestleMania on their plate right now, so these NXT stars won't be a huge priority for them at the moment.

But why does the company do the same thing again, only a month later with four of the biggest stars in NXT right now, and botch their debuts? Now there are many fans out there that want to see those four men in that picture above on Raw and SmackDown Live as soon as possible, but the truth is that everything has a proper time to happen.

So it was shocking to see WWE call these individuals on Raw and SmackDown Live to showcase their talent. It was something that should have been saved for the night after WrestleMania, as the crowd on Raw this week was the worst crowd to debut your hottest future stars.

youtube-cover

#4 Kofi gets his chance

Kofi with a chance
Kofi with a chance

Kofi Kingston is not a superstar that many would have imagined a year ago would be in the main event of Fastlane challenging Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship in what could be the match of the year if WWE plays their cards right.

It will be the main event because the possibility of Brock Lesnar defending his Universal title at the show is lower than him actually appearing on Raw. So, the main question with regards this match fans are clamoring about is whether Kofi will actually win the WWE title.

Well, many feel that WWE is doing this so the fans can have their 'almost moment' with Kofi at Fastlane so Daniel Bryan can move on to a 'bigger' feud with someone like John Cena or Shawn Micheals (rumors!). But Fastlane could be the day Kofi can say he won the WWE title, as something just feels different about the way WWE is booking this feud.

It feels as if WWE struck gold with Kofi at the Elimination Chamber, and now they are perhaps running with it, and maybe they should run with it up till WrestleMania. But whatever happens in this feud, the fact that the people's underdog Kofi is getting a world title shot in the main event of Fastlane is just shocking.

#5 The Sheild back together?

Could it be?
Could it be?

Have you ever seen WWE drop something faster than Dean Ambrose's heel turn? One minute Ambrose's character turned in what is probably going to go down as the most shocking heel turn of the past few decades, only for WWE to literally drop the ball on this white-hot angle a minute later.

Heel Ambrose is something fans wanted for a really long time, as Dean was a natural at playing a villainous character, and if you watched his work on the indies, his ability to get intense can't be described in words.

You just have to watch him go absolutely crazy in some of the most extreme matches and wild promos you could ever see, but his heel persona in WWE was not so much like his work on the independent scene.

Instead of trying to improve him, WWE just had him drop the entire gimmick, as Ambrose turned into a babyface on Raw again, started using his old theme song, and even reconciled partially with Seth Rollins backstage.

With Ambrose on his way out, could WWE be planning one more Shield reunion? Well, if it ain't broke, keep doing it until it doesn't work anymore, and it seems we could be heading in that direction in the future.

youtube-cover

Meet the man who called CM Punk the softest man alive HERE