5 Takeaways from this week's WWE Raw (2 July 2018)

Seven matches took place as WWE Raw emanated from Sioux Falls, South Dakota this week.

The episode began with a confrontation between Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins, leading to a tag match later in the night, while the first one-on-one encounter of the show saw Curtis Axel record another surprise win over Matt Hardy.

Next up, following the first of two segments showing Sasha Banks and Bayley in counselling with the returning Dr. Shelby, The Authors of Pain defeated Titus Worldwide to continue their undefeated start to life on the main roster.

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Much of the show revolved around Reigns and his multiple storylines at the moment. Teaming with Rollins in his first match of the night, “The Big Dog” and his Shield partner defeated Ziggler & McIntyre via disqualification due to interference from The Revival, who later got themselves disqualified in a tag match against Reigns and Bobby Lashley.

In the women’s division, Ember Moon picked up her first singles victory in six weeks against Liv Morgan, while Nia Jax warmed up for her Raw Women’s Championship rematch against Alexa Bliss by defeating Mickie James.

In the main event, Kevin Owens ran away from Braun Strowman at the start of their match, meaning Strowman won via countout, but the night didn’t end there for KO, as he was locked inside a portable toilet by "The Monster Among Men" and thrown off the stage.

Let’s take a look at five things we learned from this week’s episode.

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#5 Will yet another Roman Reigns PPV match be hijacked?

Roman Reigns will face Bobby Lashley at Extreme Rules

When Roman Reigns’ WrestleMania 34 main event against Brock Lesnar was hijacked from start to finish by the New Orleans crowd, it was a clear sign that fans didn’t want to see “The Big Dog” compete in the headline match at “The Show of Shows” for the fourth year in a row.

Unlike in 2016, when fans gave the same treatment to the Reigns vs. Triple H match at WrestleMania 32 but then audience reactions reverted back to normal, the WWE Universe has continued to let their voices be heard recently when it comes to the Shield member.

Each of his last two PPV matches – against Samoa Joe at Backlash and against Jinder Mahal at Money In The Bank – have been hijacked with chants of "Rusev Day", "CM Punk", "Boring", "NXT", "Delete", and whatever else fans can think of.

With another underwhelming Reigns rivalry expected to be settled at Extreme Rules, this time against Bobby Lashley, it’s safe to assume that the Pittsburgh crowd will probably give a less-than-favourable reaction to two of WWE’s most unpopular ‘babyfaces’.

#4 WWE needs to focus more consistently on the tag division

The B-Team will face Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt for the Raw Tag Team titles

In 2017, every Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Championship PPV match from WrestleMania 33 onwards was among the best on the show, with The Shield, The Bar, The Hardy Boyz, The Usos and The New Day all producing show-stealing matches during that time.

In 2018, however, it felt like the tag divisions were way down the list of priorities for WWE between January and June, and the first notable Tag Team Championship storyline of the year, Bray Wyatt & Matt Hardy vs. Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel, is only just starting to happen.

With Team Hell No reuniting to face The Bludgeon Brothers on SmackDown Live, things are definitely looking up in both tag divisions, so let’s hope that continues once the matches at Extreme Rules are over.

#3 Bayley isn't officially a heel... yet

Sasha Banks and Bayley visited

Dr.

Shelby on this week's Raw

After last week’s brutal attack on Sasha Banks, it looked as though Bayley’s most vicious moment yet in a WWE ring was going to lead to her first heel turn since joining the main roster.

However, this week saw the two friends-turned-enemies feature in multiple counselling segments with Dr. Shelby – Team Hell No’s former counsellor – and there was no sign that “The Hugger” was any more of a heel than “The Boss”.

There’s still time for the one-time Raw Women’s champion to turn heel, of course, but it looks more likely at this stage that the two will emerge from counselling on better terms, just like Daniel Bryan and Kane did in 2012.

#2 Kevin Owens is one of WWE's best characters

Kevin Owens has been terrified of Braun Strowman recently

In all honesty, it’s difficult to find many good things to say about this week’s Raw. If it was a one-hour show including the best parts of the episode, it probably wouldn’t be so bad, but the three-hour broadcast involved far too much filler for this to be seen as an enjoyable episode.

One of the biggest positives, though, was Kevin Owens, who can do seemingly anything WWE asks of him and make it entertaining.

If they need someone to hold a major title because of an injury, Owens is the man. If they need someone to face a rising star to make them look good, Owens is the man. If they need to push someone over from inside a portable toilet, Owens is also (unfortunately) the man.

After several months of storylines focusing on KO’s opponent rather than KO himself, it would be nice if WWE built a rivalry around “The Prizefighter” once his feud with Braun Strowman is over.

#1 Monday Night Raw needs a major title – and fast

Brock Lesnar's last match was at the Greatest Royal Rumble in April

Remember when Brock Lesnar last held a world title, the WWE Championship, between August 2014 and March 2015? Monday Night Raw was lacking its only major championship but, thanks to rivalries involving Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and John Cena, the main-event storylines were still interesting enough to fill the months between Lesnar’s rare title defences.

Nowadays, with Universal champion Lesnar gone from television for longer spells than ever before, Raw continues to struggle for meaningful main-event storylines and, while there wasn’t necessarily before, there’s now a huge need for a major title to return to WWE’s flagship show.

The rivalry between Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler over the Intercontinental Championship has been better than expected, but it hasn’t been the featured story on Raw, with the non-title feud between Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley taking up much of the television time instead.

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