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Fastlane is just a few days away, and WWE RAW delivered a big episode where Bobby Lashley kicked off his WWE Championship reign. Lashley defeated The Miz once again to retain his title and prove his dominance.
Alexa Bliss continued to target Randy Orton on WWE RAW and cost him his match against AJ Styles. When will ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt return to continue his rivalry against The Viper? And will Mustafa Ali finally win his first major title in WWE this week?
William Regal made two big announcements on WWE NXT last week. He declared the upcoming TakeOver: Stand & Deliver event and revealed that the show will be held over two nights. He then unveiled the NXT Tag Team Championships and crowned Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez as the first Champions.
However, Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart won the titles from Kai and Gonzalez just an hour later. Also in the show, Finn Balor defeated Adam Cole and then came face to face with Karrion Kross. Will fans finally get the dream match between these two Superstars?
WWE SmackDown saw Edge and Daniel Bryan argue it out in the ring to kick off the show. Both men are looking to main event WrestleMania, and things are heating up between the two WWE veterans. Who will main event WrestleMania from SmackDown this year?
Big E retained his Intercontinental Championship against Sami Zayn but was attacked by Apollo Crews after the match. Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair, on the other hand, got an unpleasant surprise during the episode.
Let’s take a look at five things that must happen on WWE RAW, NXT, and SmackDown this week.
#5 RETRIBUTION must ruin the United States Championship match on WWE RAW
At WWE Elimination Chamber, Riddle defeated John Morrison and Bobby Lashley in a Triple Threat Match to become the United States Champion. Riddle pinned Morrison to win the title that was held by Lashley at the time. Since then, Lashley has already broken through on WWE RAW by becoming the new WWE Champion.
Riddle has not defended his United States Championship yet but is scheduled to make his first defense on the upcoming episode of WWE RAW. Riddle will take on Mustafa Ali, the same man who defeated him on the show a couple of weeks ago.
RETRIBUTION played a major role in Ali’s victory last time, but Riddle got some revenge when he took down Slapjack last week on WWE RAW. However, the barefoot Superstar will have to be on his toes this week as he cannot afford to lose the match thanks to another distraction.
While WWE could allow the two men to have a conclusive end to the match, they must let the match end in disqualification or no-contest instead. RETRIBUTION must be allowed to interfere just when Riddle is closing in on a victory, and allow this rivalry to stretch for longer on WWE RAW.
With WWE Fastlane coming up, the creatives could look to take the rivalry further and even push it all the way to WrestleMania 37, where Riddle and Ali could end up having a good match.
#4 A Fastlane match between Sheamus and Drew McIntyre must be booked on WWE RAW
One of the biggest rivalries on WWE RAW right now is the one between two former best friends, Sheamus and Drew McIntyre. The two were on the same page on WWE RAW for quite sometime before McIntyre’s WWE Championship tempted Sheamus.
The Celtic Warrior never got a shot at McIntyre’s title one-on-one, but the rivalry between the two men is still ongoing even after McIntyre lost the Championship. Last week on WWE RAW, the two men competed in a no-disqualification match that ended in chaos.
Both men charged at each other with steel steps hoisted over their shoulders, and the collision took them both out for good. This week, WWE must continue to build the rivalry between the two men and give them a match for Fastlane.
On this week’s WWE RAW, McIntyre must challenge Sheamus to a Last Man Standing match at Fastlane. Adam Pearce must then make it a number one contender’s match for the WWE Championship.
Since Bobby Lashley does not seem to have a contender for the title at the moment, the number one contender’s match could allow the victor to challenge The All Mighty at WrestleMania 37.
#3 Jordan Devlin must challenge Santos Escobar to a WWE NXT Cruiserweight Championship match
Jordan Devlin won the WWE NXT Cruiserweight Championship in January 2020. The Irish Superstar hasn’t had a great reign as Champion thanks to the COIVD-19 pandemic.
WWE was forced to book an interim NXT Cruiserweight Championship tournament to find a replacement for Devlin. Santos Escobar won the tournament to become the interim Champion in May 2020.
However, Devlin believes that he is indeed the true NXT Cruiserweight Champion, and he will arrive in the United States to appear on NXT this week. WWE has booked a great storyline where the heel Escobar isn’t too happy with Devlin’s arrival.
This week on the show, WWE must allow Devlin to come out and talk about how hard he’s work in the company to become a Champion. He must then challenge Escobar to a title unification match for NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver.
WWE will be looking to book some big matches for the next TakeOver event that will take place just before WrestleMania 37. This match could light up the event and give 205 Live fans something big to look forward to.
#2 Dexter Lumis must take away Johnny Gargano’s title on WWE NXT
Dexter Lumis has had an interesting rivalry with The Way on WWE NXT. Lumis kidnapped Austin Theory not long ago, and it seems like Theory doesn’t seem to mind that too much.
The Tortured Artist continues to get under NXT North American Champion Johnny Gargano’s skin, and he’s won over Theory and Indi Hartwell over the past few weeks. However, WWE has booked a match between Lumis and Theory for this week’s show.
This could turn out to be an interesting contest, and fans will once again watch The Way have some awkward encounters with Lumis.
WWE must allow Lumis to defeat Theory on the show this week and then take off with Gargano’s North American Championship. This will make the storyline between Lumis and Gargano more interesting in the weeks to come.
Gargano can then be forced by Lumis to challenge him to a title match for TakeOver: Stand & Deliver. The entire angle could allow The Tortured Artist to go on and win his first title in WWE.
#1 Seth Rollins must defeat Shinsuke Nakamura on WWE SmackDown
Seth Rollins’ return to WWE SmackDown hasn’t proven to be too good for the Superstar. Rollins tried his best to win the 2021 Royal Rumble match but was unsuccessful. Since then, he’s tried to recruit Cesaro but failed in that venture as well.
Cesaro knocked Rollins down a few weeks ago and delivered a big Cesaro swing to leave the former Universal Champion dizzy. He then defeated Murphy a couple of weeks ago, as Rollins watched on from the commentary table.
Last week, The Messiah lost his cool and attacked The Swiss Superman during his rematch with Murphy. Rollins took Cesaro down with a Stomp and tried to inflict more damage, before the officials stopped him from doing so.
Fans watched as Shinsuke Nakamura confronted Rollins backstage after the angle. While The Artist could plan to join Rollins’ Vision and get a push on SmackDown, WWE must book a match between the two Superstars instead.
Rollins must be allowed to defeat Nakamura in the match and then take The Artist out of action for some time with a couple of Stomps. This will allow Cesaro to return in time for WrestleMania to avenge his former partner and challenge Rollins to a match at The Show of Shows.
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