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WWE has had an exciting week. WWE RAW hosted Legends Night where fans watched a few solid tag team and non-title matches take place. However, the match between Drew McIntyre and Keith Lee stole the show as the WWE Championship was successfully defended.
After the title match. Goldberg made his return to WWE RAW where he challenged McIntyre to a WWE Championship match at the Royal Rumble.
Following WWE RAW, WWE NXT hosted New Year’s Evil where a few big matches took place. Raquel Gonzalez showed her dominance by defeating former NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley in a Last Woman Standing match. Plus, Finn Balor once again successfully defended his NXT Championship against Kyle O’Reilly before both men were sent to the hospital.
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WWE SmackDown arguably delivered the best show of the three, where Universal Champion Roman Reigns outshined the rest of the roster. While The Tribal Chief did not compete in any matches during the night, he was involved in two monumental segments.
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Apollo Crews and Shinsuke Nakamura teased a shift in their characters, and it will be interesting to see what they both do this week.
After a great first week of wrestling in 2021, let’s look at 5 things that must happen on WWE’s shows this week.
#5 Lacey Evans must defeat Charlotte Flair on WWE RAW
On last week’s WWE RAW where fans saw several legends appear, Ric Flair decided to show up at ringside to support his daughter Charlotte Flair during a tag team match. Charlotte and Asuka took on Lacey Evans and Peyton Royce in a non-title match to show their dominance.
While Charlotte and Asuka were the favorites to win the match, a mistake from Ric Flair caused Charlotte to be pinned by Royce.
Throughout the match, Evans continued to impress and hit on The Nature Boy, and The Queen was visibly not happy. This led to Charlotte belittling Ric and sending him off backstage.
Keeping that in mind, WWE must book a one-on-one match between Flair and Evans this week. WWE could make things more interesting by putting a Women’s Tag Team Championship opportunity on the line.
On WWE RAW, Evans must be allowed to pick up the victory over Charlotte. This will make things very interesting for the women’s division, and also fuel Charlotte’s possible heel turn. Will WWE look to build towards a RAW Women’s Championship match between Asuka and Charlotte for Royal Rumble?
#4 The Grizzled Young Veterans make an example out of Ever Rise on WWE NXT
The Dusty Rhodes Classic is all set to kick off this week on WWE NXT. Some big teams have been announced for the tournament, and WWE has been able to come up with some make-shift teams to fill the slots.
Last year, the make-shift team of Pete Dunne and Riddle dominated and ended up winning the Dusty Rhodes Cup. However, NXT must focus on building more established tag teams this time around.
While The Undisputed ERA looks like one of the favorites to win the competition once again, WWE must give The Grizzled Young Veterans something to work with. TGYV will compete against Ever Rise this week on NXT, and WWE must allow them to squash their competitors to leave a mark on the tournament.
TGYV is one of the best tag teams on the Black & Gold brand, and it’s surprising that they haven’t won any gold yet. This could be their time to shine and pick up some big victories in hopes of winning the Dusty Rhodes Classic this year. Pushing an established team forward can help strengthen the overall tag team division of the company.
#3 Io Shirai must challenge Mercedes Martinez to a match on WWE NXT
Io Shirai last defended her WWE NXT Women’s Championship in November. The Genius from the Sky defended her title against Rhea Ripley in an extremely physical clash. Shirai has since only competed in one match as part of a team at NXT WarGames.
At the end of December, Mercedes Martinez returned to NXT and attacked Shirai to make a statement. Considering how Shirai is always up for a challenge, WWE must use the angle to book a segment on this week’s NXT, leading up to a Championship match.
The Genius of the Sky seems to have found her next challenger, and WWE must allow her to come out this week and challenge Martinez to a match on NXT. Martinez must then be allowed to accept the challenge, only if Shirai puts her NXT Women’s title on the line.
With Raquel Gonzalez quickly rising as a threat on the women’s roster, WWE must book the rivalry between Shirai and Martinez early to get the Champion back in the zone. Following this rivalry, WWE could look to bring Gonzalez into the championship picture.
#2 Apollo Crews must turn heel on WWE SmackDown
Apollo Crews got an Intercontinental Championship match against Big E on WWE SmackDown last week. The match ended abruptly when the referee counted the pin with both men’s shoulders on the mat and declared the match a draw.
Crews wasn’t too happy with the decision and slapped Big E before the match got restarted. While Crews tried his best, he was unable to defeat the former member of The New Day.
This week on SmackDown, WWE must allow Crews to turn heel completely after showing signs of a heel turn last week. Crews must be shown attacking Big E backstage in an attempt to get a rematch for the Intercontinental Title.
A heel turn could help the Superstar turn his fortunes around after he had a decent run with the United States Championship on WWE RAW. Crews has been a babyface for a long time, and turning heel could possibly allow him to compete against some more top competitors.
WWE could be looking to extend the rivalry between Big E and Crews, and this could be the perfect way to take matters forward on SmackDown.
#1 Roman Reigns must force Adam Pearce to compete in a match against Jey Uso on WWE SmackDown
During last week’s WWE SmackDown, fans got to watch a segment no one was ready for. Roman Reigns opened the night and talked down to Adam Pearce before leaving the authority figure with a warning. The Tribal Chief wasn’t too happy with Pearce booking a match between Kevin Owens and Jey Uso earlier.
Paul Heyman informed Pearce that he’d have to compete in the Gauntlet Match later in the night, and Reigns managed to force Pearce into the ring. After Uso and Reigns took out Shinsuke Nakamura, The Tribal Chief knocked out Pearce and made him cover The Artist.
Pearce is now set to face Reigns at the Royal Rumble for the WWE Universal Championship. However, before he enters the ring with Reigns, WWE must book him in a match against Uso on SmackDown.
Uso is set to compete against Shinsuke Nakamura this week, but the heels must attack him before the match and change the final match of the night. Following the segment, Reigns must threaten Pearce and book him in a match against Uso. The two men could compete in the main event of SmackDown, where Pearce must be allowed to score a major victory over Uso.
This will help make the storyline more exciting and will undoubtedly frustrate The Head of the Table. With the Rumble match on the horizon, such a booking could increase fans’ interest in the match.
