5 Things that could happen on RAW next week: Brock Lesnar no-Shows

This week’s episode of RAW felt about twice as long as it actually was. There was some good stuff in there, but a lot of not-so-good-stuff and a ton of disappointment. John Cena gets every opportunity in the world, yet he’s a downtrodden tramp, down on his luck.

We’re not supposed to feel bad for him… but I’m pretty sure we’re supposed to feel bad for him. WWE is doubling down on trying to make the fans cheer Roman Reigns instead of Brock Lesnar, and unless they do it right, which I am not confident they will do, it will bomb miserably. And if they do it the right way, the crowd still won’t be as accepting of Roman as WWE wants. They want to cheer Brock and boo Roman. Let them! There’s plenty to talk about, so let’s get into what I predicted last week for the fallout from Elimination Chamber.

- Tag team competition heats up

Well, I guess The Bar did gloat that there’s nobody left to beat them, so technically they were setting the stage to have someone challenge them. They did it by starting with an average 2 out of 3 falls match, which was another cop-out, since the first fall was 10 seconds long and the second fall was another win from Sheamus and Cesaro, who swept.

I understand the idea of doing it this way to show dominance and great strategy, but it was still disappointing. It was even more disappointing that Titus and Apollo got another title shot, even though they had already lost two in a row. Apparently complaining on Twitter can get you a title match. Maybe that’s what John Cena can do in order to get a match at WrestleMania. In short, tag team competition was stagnant, but they did plant the seed for something to happen next week.

- Jeff Hardy Returns

No Jeff Hardy this week, but there are rumours that he’s going to be back in action in time for WrestleMania, so maybe he’ll show up next week. We’ll see. This week, Matt Hardy didn’t show up at all, even though he got the victory the night before. It was an okay match and the crowd was busy caring about a beach ball in the stands and doing the wave.

I know that a beach ball tends to get the peoples’ attention somehow no matter what’s going on in the ring, but the audience is clearly not invested in Wyatt vs. Hardy. They like Matt, they want to care about Bray, but there’s no reason to care about either man. Bray ranted with some more gibberish this week, seemingly telling Hardy that a war is coming, so I guess we’ll see where it goes. If they want this to work, they are going to have to start going way, way over the top and fast.

- Asuka chooses her WrestleMania title match

Nia did end up losing this past Sunday night, and if the rumours are to be believed Asuka was pencilled in to announce her WrestleMania opponent on RAW this week but plans changed. It seems that she may indeed be gunning for Charlotte so they might actually wait until March 12 to announce it. In the meantime, there will be a rematch on RAW next week between Nia and Asuka, for reasons that I cannot understand.

- Braun Strowman goes on a rampage

Braun didn’t seem all that upset about losing at the Elimination Chamber PPV. It was just another average night, and it was pretty lame, actually. Braun beat up Elias, and to protect Elias he got himself disqualified by using a fire extinguisher. That blinded Braun, who chased Elias around like an idiot, and then the segment… just ended. It made Braun look like a fool and a goof. Apparently, the Intercontinental Title match is going to be a ladder match with Miz, Finn, Seth, Braun, and Elias. Such inspired booking here. Oy.

- Roman Reigns calls out Lesnar, gets Heyman instead

Well, I was somewhat right on this one. Lesnar was actually advertised at the beginning of the show, but he “didn’t show up” and Roman came out and “shot” on him for being lazy. Crap. Just a bunch of crap. It’s not going to go the way they want it to go.

Six weeks isn’t enough time to turn the crowd against Brock and for Roman. You might get a bit less of a negative response for Roman, but it’s going to be a lot of work to even get that. What’s going to happen is that we’re going to get a lot of “You’re a b****!” “No, YOU are a b****!” and the crowd will ooh and ahh because “Oh my gosh they’re shooting at each other!” -- but it will be lame.

Overall, I went 0.5 out of 5. I’m giving myself half a point for Lesnar not showing up. Let’s look a little deeper into what might happen with only five weeks left until WrestleMania.

#5 Miz will be forced to face Elias, but Braun will interfere

Man, this Intercontinental Title mess is, well, a mess. WWE couldn’t come up with a way to get any of these guys on the card in a meaningful way, even though the show is going to be 100 hours long, so they will just put them all in the same match with each other.

Just like Miz had to wrestle Seth Rollins and Finn Balor as “potential” WrestleMania opponents (which is a silly premise, by the way) Kurt Angle will put him in the ring with Elias next week for the same reason. Braun will interfere in the match looking for revenge from this week, and we’ll be one step closer to the announcement of a 5-man (or more, potentially) ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship.

If John Cena hadn’t whined so much and jumped ship over to SmackDown, he probably could have gotten into this match. All of the other guys who didn’t win the Elimination Chamber match will be in it, so why not Cena? Gaps in logic are fun!

#4 A bunch of tag teams challenges The Bar

After their victory on RAW this week, Sheamus & Cesaro said that there was nobody left to beat. They haven’t beaten The Revival, which they pointed out on Twitter after RAW, and I don’t think they’ve defeated Gallows and Anderson, either. I don’t know if other teams will try to join the fray, but at least those two teams will answer what was essentially a challenge by Sheamus and Cesaro this week.

This could turn into something good, but I hope WWE actually spends some time doing this right. There are 5 episodes of RAW until WrestleMania. That’s the perfect amount of time to build up a good two-on-two feud that leads into a hot match at the Show of Shows. Will we get that? It’s hard to say. Hopefully, we’ll know the match soon. If not next week, then the week after is a necessity.

#3 Alexa Bliss costs Nia Jax her match with Asuka

I have no idea why they’re doing a rematch next week. Asuka defeated Jax, the end. There are no stakes in this match, and there wasn’t even any build for it. It’s just happening. Such is the state of Monday Night RAW. I’m sure the match will be fine if it gets 7-10 minutes. And actually, I guess I do know why they’re doing a rematch. So Alexa can accidentally cause Nia to lose again, which will heat up their feud again, and probably cause Asuka to say “enough of this crap” before just moving off to SmackDown to challenge Charlotte and get away from the drama.

If WWE is building to Asuka vs. Charlotte, Nia vs. Bliss and Sasha vs. Bayley I’ll be ecstatic. They are the three matches that make the most sense (even if the Bliss/Jax story has been all over the place, there’s a lot of history there) and that’s three singles matches for the women at WrestleMania. That’s amazing. THAT is what a revolution looks like. Not “historic” or “first time” matches. Matches with stories and build behind them, with meaning. I hope this happens, along with another match with more women on the pre-show. A RAW vs. SmackDown match, I’d expect. There’s hope!

#2 Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor

Seth Rollins and Finn Balor will go one-on-one on RAW next week, with vaguer “maybe” implications for their matches at WrestleMania. There won’t be anything actually on the line, except that “maybe” the winner will get a shot at the Intercontinental Championship. Both men have made it known that they want a shot at The Miz, so Kurt Angle will have them wrestle each other. One man will win, one man will lose, and we’ll still get a 5 (or more) man ladder match at WrestleMania. At least, if they do it, they’ll give us a really good match.

I wonder if the idea of Miz vs. Rollins followed immediately by Miz vs. Balor was a play on what Seth Rollins did last week in the gauntlet match. The show got good ratings, so they were trying to replicate it. That’s the feeling I got while watching this week. It didn’t work and the scene is a muddled mess, but the matches were good and in the end, sometimes that’s all you can really ask for.

#1 No Brock Lesnar, but Paul Heyman appears

roman reigns — Roman Reigns roars his grievances about Brock Lesnar

I was expecting this to happen this week, but they went the full way with it and had neither man show up this week. Next week, Roman will continue to be salty, and Paul Heyman will indeed be in attendance to address his complaints. He will probably just brush it off and call himself and Brock smart businessmen, and use the line “I’m just an advocate” when Roman takes a few steps in his direction with an angry look on his face.

The only way WWE has a shot at making this work is if Brock completely flippant about the whole situation. He laughs at Roman and the fans, proud of the fact that he can come and go as he pleases. He has to confirm that he doesn’t take this seriously. It’s all just a big payday for him. He knows he’s dominant and doesn’t believe that people deserve to see him on a regular basis. They’ll still buy a ton of his merchandise and chant “Suplex City” like idiots.

Doing this gives them a chance to have the crowd possibly get behind Roman in this fight, but in my opinion, it’s still a long shot. Like I said at the very beginning, the crowd wants to cheer Brock and boo Roman. WWE should just let it happen.