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WWE spent this week’s RAW mostly focusing on telling us how important the Greatest Royal Rumble event is going to be. They didn’t necessarily do a ton to build up the matches outside of the Brock/Roman match, which was just a 5-minute promo to start the show before both guys disappeared.
This week was another placeholder, which is extremely frustrating. They’re in a weird place right now with the shakeup and the GRR show, followed by Backlash which is more of a show to establish that both RAW and SmackDown will be on every PPV. That doesn’t mean they can’t do meaningful things in the meantime.
I assume we aren’t really going to see anything truly important until the first set of shows after Backlash. Right now it’s establishing new guys and holding in place. It doesn’t need to be that way, but it’s how WWE operates.
I made some pretty boring predictions last week (with the exception of the first one) because I figured not much was going to happen. Let’s talk about them.
- Ziggler goes after Seth Rollins
I said this was a bold prediction because of the state of flux in the brands, and it turned out to be the case. Ziggler and McIntyre teamed up and beat Titus Worldwide in a follow-up to the beatdown from last week. It was a fine match with a solid promo afterward, essentially establishing that they are going to be brutal and that they want to run RAW. They didn’t say whether or not they wanted to be a tag team, but maybe we’ll find that out next week because there’s a lot of work to do to get Backlash put together.
Rollins, who is defending the IC Title at the GRR and Backlash (assuming he retains on Friday) has a match, but Finn is only set up for that same IC Title match at the GRR. Those two teamed up in a meaningless match against the Miztourage, who are in a perfect position to get into something that matters. It won’t happen, but the loss of The Miz as their meal ticket gives them a big opportunity that they aren’t going to be a chance to capitalize on. Oh well.
- The Bar destroy Breezango in a rematch
The Bar ended up getting moved to SmackDown Live last week, so obviously, they didn’t appear. It also makes it a virtual guarantee that Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt will become the new RAW Tag Champions on Friday. That was pretty much the expectation anyway, but the red belts aren’t going to be moved to SmackDown, especially since the SD Live Tag Title match is being held between two SDL teams.
Breezango, unsurprisingly, didn’t appear at all this week. Not in a match or a backstage segment. I guess that’s better than The Ascension, who had yet another chance to be rebuilt now that they are on RAW, but were instead used as two slabs of meat to be deleted by Bray and Matt. It’s not a guarantee that both of these teams are going to be playing the exact same roles on RAW that they did on SmackDown, but I’d be willing to say there’s a solid 90% chance that will be the reality of the situation.
- Dallas & Axel lose to the AOP and break up
The Authors of Pain were another no-show this week. You would think with 3 freakin’ hours they would be able to fit everybody in, but that’s obviously not the case and never has been. I’m not asking for much -- a quick video package or backstage promo/interview isn’t difficult to fit in. Dallas and Axel both ended up staying on RAW and spent the evening trying to suck up to Seth Rollins and Finn Balor, trying to glom onto someone new now that Miz is gone. They were rebuffed by both men and then defeated by the same men later on in a tag match. Holding pattern.
- Bobby Lashley defeats Elias
In a shocking turn of events, Elias actually got a win on RAW this week. He took on Bobby Roode in the opener and beat him with a roll-up and a handful of tights, but a win is a win. Lashley did something far better, teaming with Braun Strowman to defeat Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens in an incredibly fun and extremely entertaining match. Strowman is so over it’s absolutely insane. They need to put the Universal Title on this guy yesterday. Lashley got a great reaction as well, partially because he was in there on a team with Braun, but also because he’s awesome.
- No physical interaction between Roman and Brock, Joe chokes Roman out
Heyman did a lot of talking, as expected. Roman interrupted, as expected. He said only a few words, which is how all of his promos should be, and that was that. Not really an exciting way to build up the match that is going to potentially be Roman’s first Universal Title win and Brock’s last match for a while. No Samoa Joe either, although he did appear in a selfie video promo to say that Roman was going to get beat up by Brock again and that he would be waiting to pick up the pieces.
Overall, I went 0.5 out of 5. I’ll give myself credit for the Roman/Brock segment, even though the half that I got right was part of the course. I’ll take it. I don’t want to put a zero up on the scoreboard for myself. Now let’s talk next week. The fallout of the Greatest Royal Rumble and the hard-sell show for Backlash.
#5 Baron Corbin beats up a bunch of No Way Jose’s conga liners
For some reason, I’m feeling that Baron Corbin is going to wind up winning the Greatest Royal Rumble match. They may have a good guy win it for a big feel-good moment, but if the match isn’t the main event (Roman vs. Brock in the cage is probably going to be saved for last) then it would be safe to have a bad guy win.
So Corbin will win the Rumble and either interrupt or be interrupted by No Way Jose, whose band of merry conga linemen and women will get taken out by Corbin. The men, obviously. I’d love to see him get to nail one of the women with a clothesline. That would get him some massive heat, and he could use it. The guy doesn’t have the speaking ability to really be the big hated guy they want him to be. Either way, some of the posse should get beaten up next week.
#4 Dallas & Axel get defeated by Authors of Pain and break up
Yes, this is the same prediction from last week. The Authors of Pain won’t go two weeks in a row without a presence on the show. Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel could stick around as another team to be used when they need a clear loser, but they have Slater & Rhyno, The Ascension, Titus Worldwide, and Breezango -- they don’t need a fifth pair of losers on RAW. They can just be singles losers instead.
I would love to see at least one of them get a shot at a proper singles run. They’re both talented guys and have proven that they can get the job done when given a chance. They have done their jobs very well as goofballs and lackeys for a long time now. There are plenty of those right now. Give them a shot. I’d be happy with them as a serious tag team as well. They have every reason in the world to get mad and start fighting for their spot. They were drifting around before The Miz and they’re set to drift again. Have them do something about it. The crowd will respond.
#3 Mickie James calls out Natalya, gets Rousey instead
It won’t be a match, but Mickie is going to come out to the ring gloating about beating up Natalya and she’ll call her out for a match, knowing full well that she is hurt and won’t be able to compete.
Rousey will answer the call instead, and James will probably get put in an armbar. Rousey vs. Mickie has been advertised for the upcoming European tour in May, so they might do that match at Backlash, or put Rousey and Natalya in a team together for the show. The only issue is that Mickie doesn’t really have a partner. Alexa is busy with her rematch against Nia Jax for the Women’s Title and it’s doubtful whether she would team up with any of the Riott Squad, who have put all of the women on notice.
I could see Ruby teaming with Mickie just so she could get a shot at Rousey to try to make a statement, only to turn on Mickie during the match and walk out on her, leaving her alone with her angry opponents. Alternatively, they could just run Mickie vs. Natalya with Rousey in Nattie’s corner. There’s no way they put her in a singles match yet.
#2 Jinder gets his win back over Chad Gable
Chad Gable pulled the upset victory over Jinder Mahal only 4 days before his US Title rematch at the Greatest Royal Rumble event. That surely won’t make Jinder happy, and he’ll be in an even worse mood after he fails to defeat Jeff Hardy to win the championship back on Friday. This will lead to him demanding a rematch with Gable, and he will indeed win that match.
Sadly, I don’t have a lot of faith in a push for Gable. I hope to find myself wrong, but he’s a small guy and unless Kurt Angle is pushing for him because he’s a fellow Olympian and Vince McMahon is giving him a shot because of it, chances are that he’ll get a short period of time looking good before he becomes just another face in the crowd.
I have no idea on the timetable for a Jason Jordan return, but based on how much he was mentioned on RAW this week (and last week if I recall correctly) it has to be soon. Pair that with the fact that Gable is now on RAW and Kurt told him that he wanted him as a singles guy, not as part of a tag team, and you have the recipe for a Jordan return that sees him put a target right on Chad Gable’s back.
Maybe that’s how Jinder will get the win. If he is ready to return, though, I think it could happen after the match. Jinder exits while Gable is still down in the ring, and Jordan comes from the crowd and lays a beating on him. Fair warning -- if there’s no match with Jinder, I’m giving myself a full point if Jordan comes back and takes out Gable. I’ll give myself half a point if there is a match but Jinder loses again and Jordan still attacks. Let’s see what happens next week.
#1 Strowman & Lashley challenge Hardy & Wyatt
Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt are going to come to RAW next week as the new Tag Team Champions. I don’t know if they are going to make an open challenge, just cut a weird promo, have a match with one of the aforementioned teams that only exist to lose to the real stars or whatever else they might come up with.
No matter what the case, the best choice for their first challengers is Strowman and Lashley. They’ll probably end up going with The Revival (and I’m giving myself three-quarters of a point if they do) but they need to just go all out from the beginning. The Woken Universe is insane. Strowman and Lashley are monsters who would feel like they belong in that universe. Bray can even try, unsuccessfully, to use their past alliance as a way to draw Braun over to his side.
They can start this feud right away and make it last for quite a while. There doesn’t have to be a winner in the first match, and heck, I’d even have them do a rematch with rules that almost guarantee a winner (like a Last Man Standing match for example) and end without a conclusive winning team in that one too.
Just have them fight like crazy all over the arena and have them keep getting up from things that should end the match. They fight out of the arena and into the darkness, out of the range of the cameras, and we don’t see them again until they fight back into the arena the next night on RAW. Eventually, they do another match from the Hardy compound to blow it off. Or use that to build all the way to Hell in a Cell. I don’t know… just make it out of control crazy.
